NHL 98 — stories left

While IGN and GamePro both cautioned that NHL 98 could not be called the best hockey of the year until NHL FaceOff 98 was complete, they assessed it as "[EA Sports'] best hockey title since its 16-bit glory days" and "a board-battering good time", respectively.

Next Generation stated that "NHL '98 is a very good game and just that much better than the rest of the competition.

However, Hsu's three co-reviewers, while acknowledging the port's faults, still felt NHL 98 to be by far the best hockey game for the Saturn, and even Hsu said it was not nearly as bad as NHL All-Star Hockey '98.

NHL 98 was a runner-up for Computer Gaming Worlds 1997 "Sports Game of the Year" award, which ultimately went to Baseball Mogul and CART Precision Racing (tie).

In 1998, PC Gamer declared it the 17th best computer game ever released, and the editors called it "quite simply the most entertaining sports game around".

Reviews especially praised the advanced AI, fast gameplay, and the ability to change team strategies on the fly, without going to a pause menu.

Critics also praised the sound effects and the graphics, especially the player animations.

While some criticized that the controls are a bit loose, most critics praised the controls, with Next Generation arguing that "since the players are on ice, EA's slippery control is actually quite accurate.

It was the last installment of the NHL series to be released on the SNES, Sega Genesis, or Sega Saturn.

IGN pointed out that thanks to this last feature, "It only takes a little while for those who don't even care about strategy to experiment with new offenses and defenses that match their playing style.

In the United States, the game's Windows version sold 134,714 copies during 1997.