Sega Bass Fishing Review

Original release

Japan: April 1st, 1999

North America: September 9th, 1999

Europe: October 14th, 1999

Game details

1 Player

VMU Compatible

Jump Pack Compatible

Standard Controller

Fishing Controller

VGA Box

Gameplay

Sega Bass Fishing is unsurprisingly a little limited in its scope, especially since it began life as an arcade game. You'll find a spot in the area you're finishing in that you want to cast out to, reel in your lure a little to attract a fish, and then bring in the fish. Rinse and repeat. There are several different lures to choose from, but unfortunately this doesn't bring a large amount of strategy into the game. There's usually so many fish around that at least one of them will think your current lure looks pretty good. The only time that any strategy actually comes into it is when you've reached the final area of arcade mode, where you're tasked with catching a "super bass." There's only a few of them, and they seem to take your lure choice pretty seriously. Unfortunately, this is the only time you're required to choose carefully. Once you land a super bass, the game is over.

That's about the story of this arcade port. It's just too little. There's really not enough here; what's here isn't bad. It's more like too little of a good thing. With some modifications to the arcade style (maybe removing the time limit, it just gets annoying), then this could be a really excellent game. As it stands, it's just sort of alright. Removing the time limit would also have made the game much better because load times are excruciatingly long. Who knows why the hell it takes so long to resume your game right where it ended.

Graphics

Sega Bass Fishing certainly has some great graphics. There's some nice reflections on the surface of the water, and the fish are intricately detailed. I did notice some slowdown occasionally, but this isn't too shocking considering it was an early Dreamcast game. It would've been nice to have some particle effects like some dirt coming off of the bottom of the lake when the lure hits, but I suppose we can't have it all.

Sound

If you know Sega arcade games, then you know what to expect here. Cheap sounding music and an announcer who huffed some paint before recording his lines. It's a beautiful disaster.

Conclusion

Sega Bass Fishing is definitely worth a play. It's a good time killer, but don't expect much more than that. It's purely an arcade game, and you'll only find replay value in it if you absolutely want to continuously better your score. Unfortunately, I didn't have a fishing controller to play this with, but I'm positive that wagging your arms around would make this a better experience.

7.8/10