Yeah, we’re not going to lie. The sole (it’s a fish, get it!?) reason we decided to cover this oddball fishing game is due to the gormless expression of that fish on the box art. Magnificent, eh?

Right! we guess that’s it, retrospective review over! Oh, for heavens hake! No… no! We must get more fish puns into this post! So, let’s take a look at this fishy thing in action.

The Joys of Sega Bass Fishing

Just so you know, in Japan this series was called Get Bass (ゲットバス—Getto Basu Tsū).

Multiple developers worked with Sega to deliver the concept and its various ports. Including AM1 (Arcade, PC), Sims (DC, Wii), Cavia (Wii), and Sega (X360, PS3, iOS).

You may think this idea is all a load of pollocks, but think it through.

Because instead of arsing about buying a fishing rod, maggots, and then sitting around in the rain whilst fish ignore you… buy Sega Bass Fishing instead!

Launched in 1997 in the arcades, it was one of many fishing type games that graced the 1990s. For some reason.

Heck, even Nintendo was kind of at it. There was Virtual Fishing for the Virtual Boy in 1995.

Plus, in Ocarina of Time (1998) and Link’s Awakening (1993) you could indulge in all sorts of fishing action.

Sega wanted in on that! The result? We got this fast-paced arcade style fishing romp. It also got a release on the Dreamcast in 1999.

Subsequent releases followed like a relentless onslaught of eels! First on the PC (2001), then the Wii (2008), Xbox 360 (2011), PlayStation Network (2011), and Steam (also 2011).

Sega sure was convinced this fishing lark was worth pursuing. And if you got involved and bought the game, this is what you got to indulge in! Fish!

Yeah, the aim of the game is to go out there and catch FISH.

The “sport” of fishing, as you may know, is rather slow-paced and plodding. That’s why people like doing it, to forget about their woes for hours on end.

Sega Bass Fishing does away with such notions are turns this into the Formula 1 of fishing games. It moves at a hell of a rate.

The Wii version of the game took advantage of the console’s remote controls, too, for added realism!

But the Dreamcast version also came with a specialised fishing controller (a shame Ecco the Dolphin didn’t have something similar).

But the general goal is to hook, and reel in, fish on different lures. There are four stages to indulge in, with goals relating to the weight of a fish you catch.

Plus, there are time limits! But most importantly, Sega Bass Fishing regulates fish catches on weight classes:

• Small one
• Average
• Big one
• Huge

Indeed. And reviews at the time were positive, with some 4/5 stuff going on, although the ports of the game didn’t fair very well.

If you’re absolutely desperate to play this SOB, it’s right there on Steam to this day.

And Then There Was Sega Bass Fishing 2

Fish! WOW Entertainment, a department within Sega, worked on the sequel. It launched in Japan and North America back in August 2001.

Again, reviews were very favourable! One critic even typed out:

“More realistic, but not more fun. This is easily Sega’s deepest fishing title, but it’s alternately too hard or too easy.”

Deep! Get it? We think he was aiming for a fish pun there. Oh well, we think we’ve won out with this post over that one.

We’ve definitely been krilling it big time. Anyway, we’ve haddock with these shenanigans! We’re off to play a REAL video game.