Sega Bass Fishing was developed by SIMS and published by Sega, and released in 1999. Now this was one of the titles that was in my Dreamcast collection just over a decade ago, and personally I loved it. Its a straight forward fishing game, pick your character, male or female (marvel at the wondrous choices *cough*), then head out onto the lake and bait those Largemouth Bass!
There was an Arcade for sheer pick up and play, or Chamionship Event where players had to fish an entire day, and the fisher with the biggest total weight of scaley critters wins the day. (And goes home with Bass on the menu for the next week).
For added realism Sega Bass Fishing came with a fishing rod controller which allowed you to cast and reel in like a regular Matt Hayes. I cannot comment how well these worked because I was never suckered into getting one. Perhaps 'suckered' is too harsh a word to use as they did look great fun and no doubt thanks to Sega's brilliance in gaming, they worked well.
Visually things were nice enough, with the fish moving underwater as you would think fish would move, then thrashing desperately on the surface as you struggled to reel them in without breaking the line. Different baits and lures behaved just like their real life counterparts which all lent towards a satisfying mess about on the water, as ratty would say.
It wasn't all plain sailing however (cringes at yet another predictable stab at watery puns). Lots of gamers, myself included, bemoaned the severe lack of fish to be able to, erm fish. And for severe see ONE species; yes thats right, players could only go for Largemouth Bass. Other fish didn't like the look of this lake it seemed because this was Bass County and trout or salmon were shunned.
Funnily enough tho, this lack of different fish never seemed to impede on the game as much as it could have. Sure it was an irritation but only ever a minor one, and once you got used to 'Bass Only' you could happily spend a few hours on the lake with its peaceful sounds and simple controls.
This can be found for between £2 to £5 nowadays and is quite a catch at those prices. So reel in a fun title today! *Exits as rotten fruit is hurled at the dire puns*
On 9th September 1999, Sega released a new console to an excited public, the now legendary Dreamcast. Many would argue the first in Next Gen visuals, and online gaming, the Dreamcast was overtaken by Playstation2 but never forgotten. To this day, a decade on, it is still a powerful force in the gaming world. This is my tribute to the console and games, where a poet becomes fanboy.
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