NHL Hitz 2003 is the last game of the series to use 3-on-3 hockey, developed by Black Box Games and Exient Entertainment. It was released between September–November 2002 in both North America and the PAL regions. Exient Entertainment were called up to exclusively make a handheld version of the game for the Game Boy Advance (GBA). The GBA version exclusively can be linked up with four GBA's for four different players in a single game.
In gameplay, goalies can stick-handle the puck around, and take a shot on the other net to sometimes score. The rosters are shortened to mainly starters and fan favorites (such as Tie Domi and Bob Probert), with far fewer free agents. The game uniquely includes a rule that can be set to win the game for one of the teams whenever that team leads by a certain margin of goals. For example, if the winning goal difference is set to 5, the first team to lead by five goals automatically wins the game. If the winning goal difference is set to 1, the game is practically a sudden death game.
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