NHL 96 was the 9th highest-renting SNES title and the 6th highest-renting Genesis title at Blockbuster Video in its opening month. Game Players named NHL 96 the best Genesis game of 1995. GamePro awarded the Genesis version 2nd Best Sports Game of 1995.
NHL 96 was a popular video game, ranking among the top sellers for both the SNES and Genesis consoles at Blockbuster Video during its first month on the market. It was recognized by Game Players as the best Genesis game of 1995 and GamePro named it the second-best sports game of that year.