This turned up earlier this afternoon and I've had a few hours play on it.
I've got the Japan version which is called Uchi Tsuri Bass Fishing although I think the US version is out now as well. Import wise about 95% of the text is in english and all the speech is english so no problems for anyone with a JPN wii.
Basically to sum it up it's pretty much an extension of the original Arcade and Dreamcast game. Graphically it does resemble the original but everything looks a lot more solid, better water effects and sharper textures, theres some nice little graphical touches as well like water dripping off the fish when caught, nice ripple effects on the surface, various wildlife like ducks and swans on the lakes. It actually does look far better than a lot of the screen shots I've seen on various sites as well.
Theres 4 modes, GetBass, Tournament, Nature Trip and Practice. GetBass is basically the Arcade game where you have a set time limit to catch a set weight of fish before moving onto the next course. It's broken down into 3 courses which consist of all new stages. The first has the stages Dam, Park, Brook, the Second has Marsh, Country and Canal at the end of both these courses you than get an hidden stage which is Castle where the really big fish are found. Once these have been completed it unlocks the Third course which has the original 3 stages from the arcade as well as the palace.
Tournament Mode has you competing in a league over all the courses, you get a set amount of time to catch as many fish as possible, depending on where you place you get points, so it works like a league table, you can win trophys and different lures in this as well.
Nature Trip mode is probably as close as you'll get to real fishing sim in this, theres no music, you can choose all 15 stages once unlocked which consist of the ones found in GetBass mode as well a few of the hidden stages in the Dreamcast version. You can also choose the season: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, time of Day: Morning, Noon, Evening and Weather: Fine, Cloudy, Rainy all these effect how the fish can be caught.
Practice has pretty much the same options as Nature Trip mode but is more like the arcade game, it has music playing and the time of day is a lot quicker on the clock.
Finally theres an option mode which has records on fish caught, tackle box to see lures won, trophy cabinet, ranking and setup where you can adjust sound, catch quota, time limit and change from lbs to kgs.
Control wise A button brings you to the lure menu, you move the remote in a casting motion to cast, move the remote left or right for line position, strike by lifting the remote up and lower the rod by pointing down, you can reel in by either using the B button or using the nunchuck in a circular motion. I did try using one of those fishing rod addons but it's not worth wasting you money as it controls far better without one.
Music is still great, some nice jazz and dance tunes, pretty much in keeping with the style of the original and Sega Marine Fishing
A few things do let the game down though, no wifi options, it couldn't of been too hard to of even added something like online rankings like the one found in Ghost Squad, also for anyone thats played GetBass 2 on the dreamcast this just seems like a bit of a step backwards seeing as GetBass 2 had multiplayer, choice of character, better tournament modes and the ability to steer your boat and choose casting distance.
Overall though it's not a bad game, it's still lot of fun and has a bit of that old Sega magic we used to remember, if you were a fan of the original then you'll probably love this.
I've got the Japan version which is called Uchi Tsuri Bass Fishing although I think the US version is out now as well. Import wise about 95% of the text is in english and all the speech is english so no problems for anyone with a JPN wii.
Basically to sum it up it's pretty much an extension of the original Arcade and Dreamcast game. Graphically it does resemble the original but everything looks a lot more solid, better water effects and sharper textures, theres some nice little graphical touches as well like water dripping off the fish when caught, nice ripple effects on the surface, various wildlife like ducks and swans on the lakes. It actually does look far better than a lot of the screen shots I've seen on various sites as well.
Theres 4 modes, GetBass, Tournament, Nature Trip and Practice. GetBass is basically the Arcade game where you have a set time limit to catch a set weight of fish before moving onto the next course. It's broken down into 3 courses which consist of all new stages. The first has the stages Dam, Park, Brook, the Second has Marsh, Country and Canal at the end of both these courses you than get an hidden stage which is Castle where the really big fish are found. Once these have been completed it unlocks the Third course which has the original 3 stages from the arcade as well as the palace.
Tournament Mode has you competing in a league over all the courses, you get a set amount of time to catch as many fish as possible, depending on where you place you get points, so it works like a league table, you can win trophys and different lures in this as well.
Nature Trip mode is probably as close as you'll get to real fishing sim in this, theres no music, you can choose all 15 stages once unlocked which consist of the ones found in GetBass mode as well a few of the hidden stages in the Dreamcast version. You can also choose the season: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, time of Day: Morning, Noon, Evening and Weather: Fine, Cloudy, Rainy all these effect how the fish can be caught.
Practice has pretty much the same options as Nature Trip mode but is more like the arcade game, it has music playing and the time of day is a lot quicker on the clock.
Finally theres an option mode which has records on fish caught, tackle box to see lures won, trophy cabinet, ranking and setup where you can adjust sound, catch quota, time limit and change from lbs to kgs.
Control wise A button brings you to the lure menu, you move the remote in a casting motion to cast, move the remote left or right for line position, strike by lifting the remote up and lower the rod by pointing down, you can reel in by either using the B button or using the nunchuck in a circular motion. I did try using one of those fishing rod addons but it's not worth wasting you money as it controls far better without one.
Music is still great, some nice jazz and dance tunes, pretty much in keeping with the style of the original and Sega Marine Fishing
A few things do let the game down though, no wifi options, it couldn't of been too hard to of even added something like online rankings like the one found in Ghost Squad, also for anyone thats played GetBass 2 on the dreamcast this just seems like a bit of a step backwards seeing as GetBass 2 had multiplayer, choice of character, better tournament modes and the ability to steer your boat and choose casting distance.
Overall though it's not a bad game, it's still lot of fun and has a bit of that old Sega magic we used to remember, if you were a fan of the original then you'll probably love this.
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