Arcade
Even the so-called sport of fishing is not without its electronic counterparts. A company called Hot-B (logo looks like it reads Hot-13) saw the potential and created a couple of fishing titles for the NES. Their first effort was 'The Black Bass', which accurately simulated the experience of freshwater pond fishing right down to the several minutes of tedious idling in between catches. Though it plays true to the real thing, it seems a bit too... "small-time".
Fortunately, Hot-B upped the ante with their second effort at fish-abducting simulators when they decided to go BIG. How BIG, you may ask?
Well for starters, the ultimate goal is not to catch this...
It's catching THIS!
NOTE: Title and placement of sign may not be entirely coincidental.
If that doesn't bait you into wanting to play this game, let me school you on the statistics of the creature known as "The Blue Marlin":
The BLUE MARLIN is an oceanic sailfish that can grow up to 12-15 feet in length and weigh between 500-1200 lbs fully grown (with rumors of 4000 pounders in some regions). It has a pointed snout just like other sailfish (most notably the smaller "sword fish"), which it uses to impale its prey. It can swim at a top speed of just under 70 mph
(the fastest living thing in water). It has also been known to leap out of the water at heights great enough to clear small sailboats.Blue marlins are pretty much "water cheetahs". They are the gold-medal-winning olympic athletes of the ocean. Catching one is considered the height of manliness in the fishing world. It is the Holy Grail of catches, the blue marlin is.
And naturally, you didn't know this.
But having this oppurtunity in real life may be a longshot, so Hot-B is to the rescue for your NES.
The object in the game is to catch the biggest fish of the day. Only the sailfish class will count. One you accomplish this, you will get to advance into the other locations and will be required to catch even bigger fish. There are 4 total locales to sail aboot. The first area is in southern Florida, the next 3 are in Hawaii.
Once you catch the largest fish in the last Hawaii stage, you win the tournament and the game.
The new locations are one of the biggest improvements over 'Black Bass'. No longer will you be fishing at podunk places like Polecat Creek, Lake Deliverance, or Uncle JoeBob's Fishing Farm. No. Now you'll be at epic tropical places like Cape Canaveral, Kalua, Honolulu, Kaunakakai, and Shuwalawalazingzangwanuipui!
Though you'll mostly be skimming the waters, the surrounding areas have some rather nice scenery. The attention to detail is impressive. You'll see tiny people kung-fu fighting on the beach, cars driving around the freeways, trains rolling along tracks and bridges, and planes attempting to take-off from nearby airports. There are even flashing neon signs on some of the buildings that make references to Hot-B and 'The Black Bass'.
The water is less active, but you'll see swimming schools of fish, flying seagulls, and even the occasional whale. All of these are indicators of where you might find a great catch. Trawling near these is a good tactic.
The basic game simply involves driving your boat around on an overhead-view map, trying to get something to bite your trailing lure. The boat controls similar to the ones in 'Micro Machines', just hold "A" and steer with LEFT/RIGHT.
You can control a multitude of variables by pressing SELECT. A menu allows for viewing information and setting stuff like line length /strength, type of lure, depth. This seems deep at first, but there's actually very little difference in these settings aside from the amount of EXP you get.
EXP? Yes that's right. The Blue Marlin has a subtle RPG element to it. You gain experience points based on the type of fish you catch and what settings you use to do it with. For example: using the weakest line to catch the bigger fish will get you more EXP than using the strongest line. Eventually you will improve your stats and be able to make the bigger catches with more ease. Stats include muscle power, body strength, and skill (which is basically "luck"). Starting stats are at rank "D" but can be raised to "AA". Upgrading all these make you more betterer.
You can select from a variety of unlimited bait to use. It's better to use the best bait possible (live bait), but you will gain more experience points for using the lesser variety. It's not really much of a big deal though. Just aboot any will work for most fish, so you won't spend to long learning what to use. Soon, you'll be a master baiter in no time.
So how do you play this game anyway?
There's a lot on the line here, so let's get started. Once you get the boat mechanics down, it's time to try to get some fish. Once the your lure gets a bite, your trusty boat companion will alert you on the situation and it's GAME ON!
Yeah... just insert your own joke here.
You will be taken to the reeling screen showing the guy in the fisherman's chair on the boat, and a fishy moving aboot in the background as well as other details.
THE CONTROLS
A - Reel in the fish. Speed of reeling is effected by muscle power stat (I think). Simply hold the button for continous reeling.
B - Adjusts the drag. When the slider is at the top, the drag is loose. Bottom is tighter.
LEFT /RIGHT - Fighting the fish. Effected by body strength (I think). Rapidly move left and right to make the fish tired, or embed the hook deeper if needed.
DOWN - Pull back rod. Acts as a brake so the fish cannot run with the line. However, continuous use will cause extra line stress or loosen the hook.
SELECT - Brings up menu. Can choose to "cut line" (give up) or "reverse boat" (reduce stress on line but reels slower).
The point is to reel in the fish, however a full-strength fish can be difficult. Sometimes you can hold "A" and catch a smaller one immediately, but bigg'ens will require you to "tire" them first. Use left/right to fight until you see the fish is "hazy" (check the bottom-right corner with the marlin). When at least 2 hazy things appear, the fish is exhausted, and you can start reeling it in.
Remember to adjust the drag first (press "B"). It's indicated by the reel in the bottom-center. Set the slider to bottom until the fish is tired, then set it to top so reeling is faster. When you hear a ringing sound, it means there is too much stress on the line. Stop reeling and set the drag to tighten for a little bit.
Sometimes the hook isn't embedded well enough. You can try jerking side-to-side (don't hold DOWN) and letting the fish run with the line for awhile until it's more secured, but most of the time you just need to get lucky with this.
There's a life meter here for own strength, and if it runs out, you'll be too tired to reel. This is rarely a problem though, after you build up your strength.
The learning curve seems intermediate at first, but after a few successful catches, you'll be hooked. You will need to start small at first, but once you're up to "B" stat levels, anything is game.
Curse you Jaws!
Sharks are bad enough, but when they're "evil", you're really in trouble.
Several other unexpected things will occur to hinder the glory of your fish-obtaining. Sharks will sometimes swoop in to steal your catch or even bite off your line. The reel could start smoking and leave you with an important life decision to make (should I pour water on it or stop reeling?). The line could get caught in the propeller. Marlins like to jump, resulting in more choice-making. Depending on which actions you choose, you'll gain more EXP for your "skill" stat.
Once the day is at an end, you can weigh all of your catches. Your largest catch of the sailfish class determines whether you move on. Technically you will only need one good catch to win, but it helps to catch anything that swims your way. Just aboot any marlin-type over 700 lbs will make a splash in the rankings.
ADDITIONAL TIPS
- Pressing DOWN while moving LEFT/RIGHT will tire the fish faster when fighting it.
- You will never need a line length longer than 200 feet. It's easier to get a bite with a longer line, but 200 will suffice even for Marlins (plus the shorter the line, the less you need to reel).
- A good tactic is to set a long line length, then when the marlin's shadow appears, immediately press SELECT and switch to the shortest line. You'll have to reset the trawl, but at least the marlin is uncovered.
- If the hook is really loose at the start of the pull, chances are it's going to come out anyway. Don't bother with it too much (especially with sailfish, they'll need to run with the line too far anyway).
- Lure depth doesn't really matter, but the booklet claim that going deeper in the middle of the day (around 12:00) is more successful. Go shallow for early (8:00) and late (4:00).
- When marlins jump, pull DOWN quickly or you might loose a couple hundred feet.
The game is won if you make it to day 4 and catch the largest blue marlin. Good luck with that. You'll need no less than an 800 pounder (!!) for total victory.
Of course, by the time you make it that far, you'll have the game play down to a science. It will just be a matter of getting the right nibble.
http://nesguide.com/games/bluemarlin/
It's 'The Blue Marlin'. Gotta catch 'em all! What are you wading for!?
