Itoi Shigesato no Bass Tsuri No. 1: Definitive Edition!
released on Mar 31, 2000
An expanded game of Itoi Shigesato no Bass Tsuri No. 1
Itoi Shigesato no Bass Tsuri No. 1 Definitive Edition is a Sports game, developed by Hal Laboratory and published by Nintendo. It is the Definitive Edition of the Super Famicom game Itoi Shigesato no Bass Tsuri No. 1.
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(2/15/24 update: My thoughts are about the same, I just reworded a bit and added a lot more now that I've sunk a bunch of time into this game.)
What a nice game! I finally played this recently after being curious about it for quite a while. It's a "definitive" version of a Super Famicom game under the same title. I can't comment on differences as I haven't played the original, but the core gameplay seems to be the same. It's hard to find info on either, as almost every mention of these games is by Mother fans due to the fact it's Shigesato Itoi's game.
This game is surprisingly complex for what it is! You got your usual lures, time of day/weather, et cetera. but the game also goes into detail on hard lures vs soft lures (worms), the two main types of rods, types of lines, bass migration and spawning patterns...too much to list out here. The manual included an extremely wordy fishing terms dictionary as well. If you pause while on the field, there's a little help section with an octopus explaining the basics while the titular man himself goes more in depth. You can catch fish besides bass, but they're just referred to as outliers and you don't seem to actually get anything for them.
Visaully, the game is about your usual N64 3D, but every character is in 2D. Simple designs, but very cute! The character designs are by Norio Hikone and his wife, and most are redesigns of the various animals used for the SFC's promotional material/boxart. (Kuma-san, the bear, is the same.)
SFC boxart vs N64 boxart
You get to talk to the various animals meet throughout the game. Before you head out for the day, you get to choose who'll join you as company. There's a little icon at the top of whoever you bring, and they'll have both visual and audio cues based on whatever is going on, such as if your line tension is too high. If nothing bites your line for a bit, they'll give you some pointers on how to try and attract more fish. They also make comments on the size of your catch, or if you fumbled a fish.
Some of the animals will also give you challenges you can take on, asking you to catch a certain amount of specific sizes of bass. You can get special lures, such as the old promotional ones for the first game, to different locations if you win a challenge. If you don't take on a challenge for the day, you can challenge whoever's out and about to a fishing contest. If you win, they'll give you info on how to obtain a treasure.
Each character has their own unique way of talking and are fairly fleshed out personality wise, considering this is a silly fishing game. They all also have unique sprites based on how well you're doing in a challenge/contest.
The music of the game is nice! I'm not sure how exactly to describe it, but it's very cozy. You get a few various themes depending on the day and where you're fishing. The music stops when you throw out a line, which makes sense but is a little sad. There's nature noises throughout your entire day as well.
I think the only real flaw this game has is the difficulty system. You get your usual easy (labeled "beginner"), standard, hard difficulties. The easiest means you can cast farther + fish bite your line more often, but the sizes of your fish are typically smaller, making some of the later challenges frustratingly difficult. So much for making things easy! While it's not impossible to catch bigger fish, it's noticably less often. Beginner also makes some mechanics null, such as not needing to worry about appeal vs natural color.
Overall, I think the game is fantastic and very cozy. It reminds me a lot of going fishing with my dad as a kid. :) I hope it gets a playable fan translation one day! It's a bit too wordy to go in without any Japanese knowledge. The only reason this rating isn't a solid 5 stars is because of the difficulty thing.
Thanks for reading!
~~~
Unrelated to the actual review: There was a special controller released for this game known as the Tsurikon 64! (lit. fishing + controller) Mother Forever did a nice, short write-up on it.
There was also a self-interview with Itoi and some of the devs at both DICE and HAL Laboratory which goes into the making of the game, competing with other fishing games, and making the game's mechanics. whowasphone404 on Gamefaqs translated the entire thing alongside the game's manual.
There was also an animated commercial for the first game.
What a nice game! I finally played this recently after being curious about it for quite a while. It's a "definitive" version of a Super Famicom game under the same title. I can't comment on differences as I haven't played the original, but the core gameplay seems to be the same. It's hard to find info on either, as almost every mention of these games is by Mother fans due to the fact it's Shigesato Itoi's game.
This game is surprisingly complex for what it is! You got your usual lures, time of day/weather, et cetera. but the game also goes into detail on hard lures vs soft lures (worms), the two main types of rods, types of lines, bass migration and spawning patterns...too much to list out here. The manual included an extremely wordy fishing terms dictionary as well. If you pause while on the field, there's a little help section with an octopus explaining the basics while the titular man himself goes more in depth. You can catch fish besides bass, but they're just referred to as outliers and you don't seem to actually get anything for them.
Visaully, the game is about your usual N64 3D, but every character is in 2D. Simple designs, but very cute! The character designs are by Norio Hikone and his wife, and most are redesigns of the various animals used for the SFC's promotional material/boxart. (Kuma-san, the bear, is the same.)
SFC boxart vs N64 boxart
You get to talk to the various animals meet throughout the game. Before you head out for the day, you get to choose who'll join you as company. There's a little icon at the top of whoever you bring, and they'll have both visual and audio cues based on whatever is going on, such as if your line tension is too high. If nothing bites your line for a bit, they'll give you some pointers on how to try and attract more fish. They also make comments on the size of your catch, or if you fumbled a fish.
Some of the animals will also give you challenges you can take on, asking you to catch a certain amount of specific sizes of bass. You can get special lures, such as the old promotional ones for the first game, to different locations if you win a challenge. If you don't take on a challenge for the day, you can challenge whoever's out and about to a fishing contest. If you win, they'll give you info on how to obtain a treasure.
Each character has their own unique way of talking and are fairly fleshed out personality wise, considering this is a silly fishing game. They all also have unique sprites based on how well you're doing in a challenge/contest.
The music of the game is nice! I'm not sure how exactly to describe it, but it's very cozy. You get a few various themes depending on the day and where you're fishing. The music stops when you throw out a line, which makes sense but is a little sad. There's nature noises throughout your entire day as well.
I think the only real flaw this game has is the difficulty system. You get your usual easy (labeled "beginner"), standard, hard difficulties. The easiest means you can cast farther + fish bite your line more often, but the sizes of your fish are typically smaller, making some of the later challenges frustratingly difficult. So much for making things easy! While it's not impossible to catch bigger fish, it's noticably less often. Beginner also makes some mechanics null, such as not needing to worry about appeal vs natural color.
Overall, I think the game is fantastic and very cozy. It reminds me a lot of going fishing with my dad as a kid. :) I hope it gets a playable fan translation one day! It's a bit too wordy to go in without any Japanese knowledge. The only reason this rating isn't a solid 5 stars is because of the difficulty thing.
Thanks for reading!
~~~
Unrelated to the actual review: There was a special controller released for this game known as the Tsurikon 64! (lit. fishing + controller) Mother Forever did a nice, short write-up on it.
There was also a self-interview with Itoi and some of the devs at both DICE and HAL Laboratory which goes into the making of the game, competing with other fishing games, and making the game's mechanics. whowasphone404 on Gamefaqs translated the entire thing alongside the game's manual.
There was also an animated commercial for the first game.
Earthbound's rival is looking a bit... fishy...