sega marine fishing is the idealized, let it cook a bit longer form of sega bass fishing. while sega bass fishing is probably the most popular / impactful arcade fishing game, i'd argue that sega marine fishing is the pinnacle of the "arcade style fishing" game. more fish to catch, more eye-catching environments, and less "only proper anglers know how this works" mechanics like water temperature on the hud n shit. more realized vision, and a better theme, although i will admit i'm a sucker for the tropical theming...
i have no way to prove this superiority objectively, but i know in my heart of hearts that there can't be anything else. i don't even like many other fishing games, and while i have fished in real life, i don't go out of my way to do it. sega marine fishing is just... different. it's not even a childhood game, either! the first time i played it was when i bought my dreamcast from a goodwill with a bundle of games for like $50!
(please excuse old photos and taking pictures of my monitor, i don't have any way to capture VGA lol)
it also helps it came with the fishing rod controller, i'm a huge proponent of alternate controllers helping immersion and game enjoyment, and the dreamcast fishing rod with its primative (but satisfactory) motion controls is probably the main reason why i even like it this much.
so much that i 100%ed the original mode, which is a very long, not well documented online mini-game gauntlet alongside catching (probably) every fish with every lure in every location! i honestly recommend that nobody do this! but it helps that you can unlock some very silly things, like a dog on your boat, upgrading your boat to a huge cruiser, or a raft made from "scrap and tires", or adding decorations from your aquarium from metallic versions of fish to a UFO labelled "state secrets"
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also, this charming sombitch that helps you reel in fish and gives play-by-play during the fights with fish, masala! i know that sega bass fishing has a memetic presence just for the over-the-top narration (NOOOOOO! small one...), but i've come to like masala more than the MC in sega bass fishing. and honestly, if sega can put the bonanza brothers in team sonic racing, they could put masala in whatever the next one is that isn't just sonic characters. serious.
i haven't even mentioned the vibe yet, and good lord look at those establishing shots! it might be just because i have a lot of memories being kinda baked while dicking around in arcade mode after doing the original, but the vibe is immaculate! and the music! my god!
just perfect stuff all around. i honestly still put this in my dreamcast more than other more popular "put this game in for 20 minutes every once in a while" picks like chuchu rocket, power stone, house of the dead 2, sega rally 2 (if it didn't run kinda bad on the DC lol). one of the best time killers on the platform, if you have the fishing rod controller.
oh, uh. gameplay. i mean it's catching fish and wiggling the rod and spinning the reel. for all the buzzwords like "advanced fish AI, realistic behavior" and all that, at the end of the day it's basically fishing. i'm not a fisherperson, but fighting a hugeass 300 pound sailfish and winning is real satisfying. everything just melts together into one of my favorite dreamcast experiences, and i wish i could have experienced doing the fish e-mail and online tournaments in it's time
sorry for the rambling, i hope this was informative lmao
