Remember a time when the arcade was the king of gaming under a social context, I can still smell that stale smoke on my jacket from the memories. Arcades were big business in the late eighties and into the nineties. With many of them now shut, it’s with a nostalgic take we can now see Sega’s Bass Fishing for the Wii. During the mid nineties, the real money (and graphical power) in the gaming business was accessed through these arcades. Being the home of innovation, when competition began to get heavy from the home consoles, we were introduced to many radically controlled games in moves to give people reasons to stay in the arcade rather than spend their time on ‘inferior’ home console machines. We had; skate boards, jet skis, snowboards, flying bicycles, light guns and even, fishing controllers.

Sega Bass Fishing is a port of one of the most popular games of this era. Ported in its completeness to the Wii, the game is almost exactly the same as the original arcade cabinet version. Although some extra competitive and free-play modes have been added, the main game engine is a straight port of the classic game.

Your main adventure in the game is through the expedition mode which is the same game you played in the arcade but without the constant slamming of coins into the machine. Your unlimited supply of continues allows you to cast your rod in any direction without worry. Your progress in this mode is measured in terms of a time limit so you will be given more time to catch fish if you use your time wisely to catch bigger and better fish. After the time is up you are graded and moved on to another location to find and catch more defenseless fish. By being a console game, you are also given new play modes which take advantage of the fact you have already paid a price for the content included. A free play mode is also on the disc which allows you to customize your own digital fishing trip, choosing time of day, location, weather and season.

Over time your great fishing skill pays off, unlocking new baits and other extras which, although barely changing the game experience, does fill up your bait selection list and your personal satisfaction meter a tad.

Controlling the games is not as original as you would hope sadly. You throw the remote in any sort of action for your on screen representative to do the same. When your bait is in the water you can adjust the line by shaking and waggling the remote, teasing the digital fish with your lure. When you have caught your target, wind the line back in by rotating the nun chuck or pressing the button on the remote. The control scheme is barely more complicated than that in mini-games included in other Wii games, hardly what you’d hope for from a dedicated game to the sport, but definitely something you can pick up and play without any prior knowledge to the activity (just like an arcade game, short and snappy fun).

For a budget priced game, Sega Bass Fishing is an average attempt at bringing a fully focused fishing game to the Wii. Although it is definitely lacking in multi player modes (it has none!) and re playability (once you’ve played for a couple of hours, that’s literally what you can expect for the next few as well), the game definitely does what it says on the box, and the price tag.

Rating: 6/10