Mikey McBryan, former star of the History Channel’s Ice Pilots NWT, is set to host the largest retro hockey video game tournament of all-time as part of his new documentary.
The King of ’94 tournament will be held inside the Real Sports Bar and Grill in downtown Toronto this Saturday.
Since Ice Pilots NWT aired its final episode last winter, McBryan has been travelling throughout Canada and the United States working on an upcoming documentary called Pixelated Heroes.
The idea of the film is to examine the roots of EA Sports’ NHL ’94 and its rise to popularity.
Read: Former Ice Pilots NWT Star Turns To NHL ’94 In New Film
McBryan previously told Moose FM it will feature head-to-head match-ups between professional and amateur gamers, professional hockey players and even some of the game’s designers.
But he isn’t stopping there. The general manager of Buffalo Airways is expecting 128 participants for Saturday’s tournament, and told us they’ll be coming from all over North America.
“We’ve got guys coming from all over the Eastern United States but we’ve also got some from California, Arizona, Texas, Pittsburgh and Chicago,” he said.
“Pretty much any city that has a professional hockey team that’s over 20 years old will be represented.”
McBryan says people from across Canada will also be making their way to the tournament, with most participants coming from Toronto and Saskatoon.
The tournament will consist of two brackets: one for Sega Genesis and one for Super Nintendo. All participants will be guaranteed at least three games.
Read: Ice Pilots NWT Wins Canadian Screen Award
While the top three players in each bracket will receive cash prizes, McBryan says they’ll be playing for much, much more.
“Really what they’ll be competing for is bragging rights to see who the best NHL ’94 player is in the world.
“And that’s cross-platform, so the final two guys will play each other on their opponent’s console in a three-game elimination series to determine the best.”
McBryan began filming for Pixelated Heroes in January of this year and says the project continues to develop with every passing month.
He promises a lot of surprises for the forthcoming film, but what could possibly top one of the largest video game tournaments of its kind?
“I’m hoping to go to Florida for the Panthers home opener because they have the only player still playing in the NHL from 1994 and that’s Jaromir Jagr.
“I’m going to cut my hair into a mullet and try to sneak into the dressing room to get one final interview.
“I’m almost at the point where I don’t want it to end because I’m having so much fun but at some point we’re going to have to start putting this all together to make a movie.”
McBryan expects to be filming into January 2016 and hopes to begin post-production work soon after.
According to IMDB, the documentary is expected to premiere next fall.
