Sentences written about this title, gathered by type from the Japanese and English Wikipedia articles (as of 2026-8-30).
He praised the inclusion of extra teams, the new special moves, and both the old and new animations, and said the new Skill Challenge and Practice modes "really help you improve your game, but more importantly, they inject the game with another layer of raucous, competitive, Open Ice-style fun.
He also said the player switching is finicky and the D-pad-controlled aiming makes it difficult to execute precise shots, but spoke highly of the game's overall fun.
Scott Alan Marriott stated in Allgame, "All in all, NHL 97 is still a fun game to play based on the quality of the graphics and presentation, but a few key issues keep it from being the definitive PlayStation hockey experience.
Air Hendrix made much the same comments of the Saturn version as he had of the PlayStation version the previous month, save that he stated that the graphics are not as sharp as the PlayStation version's, though still the best of any hockey game on the Saturn.
Rich Leadbetter of Sega Saturn Magazine, contrarily, stated that "although the EA effort is probably superior in terms of presentation and optionary, I have to say that I prefer the Virgin title (ever-so-slightly) when it comes down to graphics and gameplay.
Stephen Poole of GameSpot criticized the PC version's difficult passing, nearly infallible AI goalies, and illogical button configuration when using a Gravis Gamepad, but nonetheless considered it "one of the most downright exciting sports titles I've ever played" for its lifelike graphics and animations, comprehensive licensing, customizable settings, and audio commentary.
According to market research firm PC Data, the Windows version of NHL 97 was the 20th best-selling computer game of 1996 in the United States.
He praised the inclusion of extra teams, the new special moves, and both the old and new animations, and said the new Skill Challenge and Practice modes "really help you improve your game, but more importantly, they inject the game with another layer of raucous, competitive, Open Ice-style fun.
Jeff Kitts of GameSpot praised its visuals and realism but aimed some criticism at the handful of glitches.
Stephen Poole of GameSpot criticized the PC version's difficult passing, nearly infallible AI goalies, and illogical button configuration when using a Gravis Gamepad, but nonetheless considered it "one of the most downright exciting sports titles I've ever played" for its lifelike graphics and animations, comprehensive licensing, customizable settings, and audio commentary.
He also said the player switching is finicky and the D-pad-controlled aiming makes it difficult to execute precise shots, but spoke highly of the game's overall fun.
Stephen Poole of GameSpot criticized the PC version's difficult passing, nearly infallible AI goalies, and illogical button configuration when using a Gravis Gamepad, but nonetheless considered it "one of the most downright exciting sports titles I've ever played" for its lifelike graphics and animations, comprehensive licensing, customizable settings, and audio commentary.
It is the sixth installment of the NHL series and the first to be released on both PlayStation and Sega Saturn.
Jeff Kitts of GameSpot praised its visuals and realism but aimed some criticism at the handful of glitches.
Scott Alan Marriott stated in Allgame, "All in all, NHL 97 is still a fun game to play based on the quality of the graphics and presentation, but a few key issues keep it from being the definitive PlayStation hockey experience.
The passages quoted on this page are taken verbatim from the Japanese and English Wikipedia articles.Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) — reusable under those terms. They are the work of the people who wrote them.