Sega Marine Fishing

"I Wish I Could Tell You Why I like This Game So Much"

I really wish I could. I, like most people I know, think fishing games are stupid. A computerized reproduction of what could possibly be construed as the slowest ''sport” imaginable doesn’t exactly scream “big fun.” And, for years, I’ve seen various fishing titles for a variety of platforms nested on the shelves and thought “Who would actually buy one of these?” So, a year ago, upon seeing this title at my local game shop adorned with a very low price tag I decided that for the sake of science, I was going to purchase one of these anomalies and see just what the heck a fishing game consisted of, and why so many of them seemed to appear each year.

Needless to say, I ended up liking this, a lot.

I think it’s safe to say that Sega Marine Fishing is by no means a fishing sim. I have never been deep sea fishing before, but I somehow doubt that I would have a 250 pound sailfish on my line ten seconds after casting, if I would go. As strange as it may sound, SMF is an action gamers fishing game. Just short of blasting the monsters with a harpoon (which I’m sure the developers thought of it) this game is all about the fight. The fish chomp on the lure and do everything in their power to get off the hook, or snap your line. You, in turn do everything in your power to drag their scaly butts to the boat so your buddy Marsala can stab them with a pole and bring ‘em in. Those looking for the fine art of lure selection or casting techniques, would probably despise this game, which is maybe why I like it so much. Simply put, SMF is dumb fun, very dumb and very fun, if it was a movie it would probably star Schwarzenegger. Him, and a lot of very big fish.

And speaking of fish, SMF contains just about every fish you have ever seen hanging on a rec room wall, and some you haven’t. There’s sailfishes, marlin, napoleon fishes, blue trevallys, giant trevallys, stingrays, barracudas, makos, the scary looking coelacanth, the scarier hammerhead, tarpons, tunas, dolphin fish, amberjacks, and at least 4 more I’m forgetting, of various shapes and sizes. Each fish carries it’s own set of characteristics, from where they hang out, to their difficulty at reeling in. A marlin, for example, gets very large, but are pussy cats when it comes to fighingt. Where as tarpons (that resemble bulldogs in looks and behavior) can have you breaking a sweat for even the tiniest. This keeps the game for ever getting too easy because you never know what you going to have on the end of your line, or how much trouble it’s going to give you. So no matter how good you get, there’s always going to be one fish out there that’s a little better. At those times I wish the game did include a harpoon feature.

The game is split up into three basic modes, arcade, which mimics the arcade version in which you have a set time to catch the target amount of fish in each level. Mini games, which are more or less worthless except for the “total weight” one where you try to get the most poundage of fish in a set period of time. This works as a fun two player game.

Original is where the bulk of the game lies. This is identical to arcade except that there is no time limit and you have the ability to unlock literally hundreds of items. Here is where the game sucked me in. Not only do you get the reward of successfully reeling the buggers in, but you get a little prize for doing so. These prizes include new characters, clothing, background music, lures, rods, lines, dogs (don’t ask), charms (every fisherman needs a good luck charm), boats, or items for your aquarium. Oh, did I forget to mention that your character is an eccentric millionaire that owns him own museum sized aquarium? Well, he does. You can acquire fish and various strange trinkets (a full sized sunken pirate ship) to stock it with and the switch to the aquarium chill out mode to admire the fruits of you labor. Now, while this might seem like a strange feature (and it is) it’s also one of the coolest features I’ve ever seen in a game. There something about watching the camera swirl about your aquarium, with new age music singing sweetly, and seeing the yellowfin tuna you worked so hard for, swim by. It’s sort of, rewarding. Really, it is.

Now, I know a lot of people that review these types of games would throw in the obligatory “Do not play this game without the fishing controller. You need the fishing controller to derive any pleasure out of this game. Don’t even try playing it without one” at this point. Allow me to say that’s total nonsense. I played, and completed this game with the regular controller, liked it so much that I then bought the fishing controller, erased the VMU, and completed again. So obviously, playing with the regular controller was not a worthless experience. I will say that the game is a lot more challenging with the fishing controller (and I mean a lot more), and it helps with the overall feel of the game, but I don’t think it’s an absolute necessity that some would lead you to believe.

The graphics, despite some collision problem, are pretty great. The fish look and move realistically. The backgrounds look and stand still in the same realistic fashion. The sound and music are great in a much different ways. Besides the sloshing water sound SMF features constant cheerleading by your bud Marsala. Marsala is a very enthusiastic fellow, who flips out in very broken English the entire time. He can be a bit much at first, but like any good fishing buddy, you’ll learn to love him. The music is pretty good and varied for the most part, and if you grow tired of a fields theme, you can always unlock a new one and change it. One thing does remain constant, the fight music.

I feel the need to grant the fight music it’s own paragraph. This is truly something to behold. I wish I could go back and hear the fight music again for the first time, my astonishment was unmasked and raw. Basically, in the world of SMF, whenever you hook a fish you are then treated to the sounds of some Eddie Van Halen clone kicking out some serious metal riffage. It sucks so bad that it actually transcends sucking and becomes the best thing ever. If this was a snowboarding game, fine, the music would be right at home. But, watching a fish struggle with a plastic lure to something that sounds like it’s from Motley Crue’s first record, is confusing, hilarious, and affirming all at the same time.

In short, this game is dumb action packed fun, mixed with total bizarreness, mixed with fishing. Left brain game design gone amuck. God bless Sega for ever putting this beast on the shelves. I think you owe to them to put your preconceived notion of fishing games aside, and pick this up for the paltry sum most places are charging for it. In a time of cookie cutter game design, it’s refreshing to see a game that resembles neither a cookie or a cutter, and still ends up being a blast.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/12/02, Updated 11/12/02