Fishing Video Games

Video games have become a huge part of our culture and, just like in real life, some games focus on a particular sport or activity. This has included football, basketball, tennis, baseball, golf and mixed martial arts, but fishing is one of the most popular activities that can be simulated in a video game. Whether it’s a way to kill time or an exciting side quest, catching fish has made an appearance in many different video games over the years.

One of the first instances of in-game fishing occurred back in the early 90s when Japanese developer Nintendo included it in The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening. The inclusion of this small minigame proved to be so popular that it has since been featured in almost every other game in the franchise. It shows that even though many video games change their mechanics with each new iteration, there are certain elements that just work and aren’t worth messing with.

This is particularly evident when it comes to fishing, as the pacing in most of these types of video games has you rushing from room to room blasting through hordes of enemies, so a break at the docks can be a welcome change of pace. Fire Emblem: Three Houses is another example of this, as Byleth spends his days at the docks attempting to reel in some catches after teaching at a monastery and training soldiers all day.

These video games tend to fall into two categories – those that use fishing as an optional or trivial minigame, and those that treat it as a full-blown mechanic. Far Cry 5 is a great example of the latter, as it uses the activity as a fun pastime between gunfights and liberating a nation. The premise of the fishing game in this case is simple – cast your line and wait for a ring to move around the circle on the screen, indicating that there’s a fish nearby. You then need to hit the A button at just the right moment to land a catch.

On the other end of the spectrum are those such as Dredge, which is a full-blown fishing simulator. The game lets players visit a number of lakes, rivers and oceans from all over the world to try their hand at hooking some big catches. The title also features a multiplayer mode for some competition and over 100 special “Boss Fish” that are designed to truly put your skills to the test.

In this category we have to include the aforementioned Sims series as well, which features a pretty extensive fishing component. It’s not nearly as deep as some of the other options on this list, but it allows players to customize their bodies of water and decide which types of fish they want in them. This level of customization is something that few other video games offer, and it makes playing a Sims game that much more interesting.