Version 2.0 - June 20th 2026

Happy 1st birthday to World Hockey '88!

To celebrate we have an update so big we had to change the version numbering system! Version 2.0 is a major overhaul of the entire game to address the large majority of feature requests and feedback, and applying an extra layer of polish over the whole experience.

Additions / New Features

System

• Added support for framerates above 60 fps, including unlocked frame cap.

(This feature is somewhat experimental and unavailable in online multiplayer)

Input Handling

• Added the ability to remap controls

Teams

• All teams can now be individually customized with the following parameter s:

• - Difficulty level per position

• - Player name per type per position

• - Default Player lineup

• All players of all teams now have unique names by default (over 1,000 built-in names!)

• Added new teams!

• - Lithuania

• - Estonia

Difficulty

• Added individual difficulty parameters

• Added a setting to toggle adaptive difficulty (rubberbanding)

• Added the ability to define custom difficulty settings

Game Rules

• All game modes now support advanced icing and fighting rules, as well as all new rule additions.

• Added several new rules:

Fighting (Advanced)

• Penalty given to fight winner

Penalties - On/Off

Advanced:

• Max Number of players in the penalty box (1 or 2)

• Length of minor penalty

• Length of major penalty

Tiebreaker (Advanced)

• Overtime period length

Gameplay Modifiers

• Now available in all game modes (including online!)

• Added descriptions

• Added descriptions on how to unlock each of them.

• Added new unlockable modifiers!

• Weightless Players

Players will get launched when they're checked.

• Extra Slippery

Players randomly slip and fall and can knock other players over.

• Supercharged Players

All Players have maximum stats regardless of player type.

Music Player

• Completely overhauled

• You can now skip to the next or previous track with a button press.

• Now supports loop modes (Off, Loop Track, and Loop Playlist)

• Song progress, length, and album artwork is now shown.

World Champion

• Added Beginner & Amateur difficulty levels

• Added "Freeplay" mode, allows full customization of rules and gameplay modifiers but doesn't contribute to achievements.

• World Champion now supports gameplay modifiers and all rule customization options.

Tournament Mode

• Added a new tournament, Baltic Shoreline

• Tournament Mode now supports saving progress!

• Added "Freeplay" mode, allows full customization of rules and gameplay modifiers but doesn't contribute to progress.

• Added two different progression modes "Campaign", and "Full-Bracket"

Campaign Select a team and try to win every round, losing leads to a game over.

Full Bracket All sets are always playable, players can choose teams per-set.

Netplay

• Added support for all game rules

• Added support for gameplay modifiers

• Added support for historic teams

• Added support for full customization

Customization

• Added Arena Lighting

• Added Puck Highlights

• Added alternative Puck Style

• Added the ability to change the center ice logo to one of the two teams (or both!)

Gameplay

• Players now have collision with each other

• Players can now deflect pucks with both their body and head

Improvements

Menus

• All menus have been improved, polished, and/or completely overhauled.

• All applicable settings and rules have the option to reset to default.

System

• Various optimizations

Camera

• Camera position now clamps to the size of the rink keeping the action always on-screen.

This also greatly improves, and fixes a lot of issues with vertical camera mode.

Practice

• Practice Mode now remembers when the controls view is collapsed

Gameplay

• Wristshots can now have verticality

• Face-Off locations after a penalty have been adjusted to follow expected real-world rules.

• You can now switch players when the selected player is knocked down.

• Improved CPU behavior

• Improved Aim-assist

Tournament Mode

• Tournaments older than 1970 now use helmet-less players for all teams

Pucks

• Gravity is much lower

• Better net collision

World Champion

• Current difficulty level now displays in the corner

• Added option to select a random team

Fights

• Fights no longer display the "MASH!" prompt when there are no human players.

Netplay

• Lobby menu now displays lobby name

• Last used lobby name now gets saved.

Changes

Gameplay

• Physics parameters have been significantly adjusted.

Game Rules

• Possible speeds decreased from 5 to 4 (Removed "Steady")

• Supersonic Speed is now unlockable

• Advanced Icing & Fighting rules have been moved from System Settings to Game Rules

Gameplay Modifiers

• Gameplay Modifiers have been moved from Team Setup to Game Rules

Customization

• "Rink Settings" has been renamed "Customization" and includes additional options

• Puck Color has been moved from System Settings to Customization menu

Tournament Mode

• Default value for "Best Of" has been changed from 3 to 1.

World Champion

• New Game is now a sub-menu

• Customization can only be changed prior to starting a new game.

Fixes

Teams

• Fixed several cases where countries use ISO 3166-1 codes instead of their correct team codes.

• Fixed thin vertical blue stripe in the Belgium flag

Crashes

• Fixed crash after attempting to reset some system settings to their defaults

Gameplay

• Fixed two of the faceoff position swap buttons being the same button.

• Fixed an oversight with CPU faceoff pass behavior.

• Fixed icing being called when shooting backwards from the opposing teams zone.

• Fixed player-goalie collision

Localization

• FixedAllFixed various translations missing / not implemented.
• FixedFinnishFixed "Player Settings" and "Edit Lineup" being swapped.

UI

• Fixed Player Location UI displaying for players in the penalty box.

Cosmetic

• Fixed brief screen-jitter during VS sequence prior to a hockey match starting

• Fixed up-facing referee arm band graphics being mis-aligned

• Fixed players leaving the penalty box really slow when there's too many players in the box.

• Fixed being able to control the goalie during the pre-game sequence

• Fixed large vertical sliver on some crowd animation frames

Results

• Fixed changing the ruleset altering the displayed stats.

World Champion

• FixedMAJORFixed Difficulty level never properly being applied when starting a match

• Fixed minor issues with how progress was saved.

• Fixed save file getting deleted if the game was closed during an active champion run.

Netplay

• FixedMAJORFixed several potential causes for desyncs
• FixedMAJORFixed issue where random matches would fail to sync the RNG seed
• FixedMAJORFixed case where player or lobby data does not get sent properly to a joining player

Tournament Mode

• Fixed being able to skip multiple rounds at once by mashing the A button during the result screen.

• Fixed additional cases where CPU vs CPU counts as a win

Save System

• Added failsafe if savefile doesn't load in time before the title screen.

• Added failsafe if savefile doesn't load in time when starting the game via a lobby invite.

Stats

• Fixed team A's stats getting counted twice instead of team B's