Pros: Easy to play, relaxing, just... fun
Cons: sega's announcers and music, no good if you don't have the fishing controller.
The bottom line: Sometimes when I read it all looks backward.
Overall: 8
Gameplay: 9
Graphics: 8
Sound: 6
Concept: 9
Replay Value: 9

Fishing and videogames don't seem like they would go together. Most gamers I know would make a squirrley sort of whining sound just at the thought of putting a worm on a hook, much less touching or *gasp* gutting a real fish. The general idea of sitting on a boat waiting for a bite doesn't seem like it would appeal to gamers either, unless of course they could bring a GPS unit, sonar fish detector, and their GBA.

But, either despite or because of these things, there is a small niche of fishing video games. And, they're actually pretty fun. Sega Marine Fishing is a great example; it's open like 7-11, and laid back like my man Jack Nicholson. That's my attempt to be street, yo. It'll also keep you coming back like that first free hit of crack. Okay, I'll stop now.

The most important thing to mention about SMF is that you will need the fishing controller to really enjoy it. There are third party ones, but I suggest the Sega brand, which can usually be found for about $10-$15 on eBay if you can't find one locally. Of course, people call me a Sega fanboy so maybe if you don't like Sega like I do, you can deal with the MadCatz or Pelican or whatever other brand makes one. For my money, I want the genuine article.

The meat of the gameplay is in the 'original' fishing mode, though there is a timed arcade mode if you're just looking for a quick game. The original mode is divided into three sections; training, fishing, and aquarium.

Training is vital not only to learn how to play the game and reel the fish in, but also by doing well you gain slots for bonuses in the fishing mode. If you don't have any slots open, you won't be able to earn anything, so returning to the training several times is commonplace. You start with 10 open slots, and can earn up to 10 more each time you train. With hundreds of bonuses to be earned, you'll be doing a lot of the 5 different training challenges, which are basically mini-games. They're actually pretty fun, like the maximum weight challenge where you try to catch as much poundage as possible, but the best one is the casting target practice, because when you miss the announcer says Ohh Noooo in perhaps the strangest way possible. Just imitating that voice around anyone who has played this game will make them bust out laughing. It works for me anyway.

Fishing mode is where you actually catch the fish and earn bonuses. There are three different areas to start with (with two more to unlock) and almost a dozen types of lures to use. There are also several different lures of each type that you can earn (you start with only one or two of each), bringing the total number of lures around 100. There are tons of other items and bonuses to get, too; another roughly hundred for the aquarium (including the fish you can place there), different lines, clothes for your characters, and so on. To earn the items you just have to catch fish, but you can't just catch the same fish over and over. You need to use different lures in different places to catch different fish if you want to get everything.

Fishing mode is where you'll be spending most of your time, trying to earn all of the items. The five areas and tons of different fish give it enough variety that you never really feel like you're working at the game, and in fact I find it really relaxing.

Aquarium mode is a semi-interactive aquarium on your TV. Some of the items you earn in fishing mode can be placed in the aquarium, most notably the various fish but also things like other animals, landmarks (stonehenge and a ziggurat?), rock and coral formations, submarines, and so on. Once you've begun populating your aquarium you can look at it through over a dozen views, most of which move throughout so you can see everything. If you have a large format TV and a cat, you may be able to get some amusing results.

The gameplay in SMF really comes down to lure selection and the act of reeling the fish in. You can select any of your lure types while you're fishing, though you can only bring one lure of each type with you. When you choose your specific lures of each type from the menu, the game gives you an idea of what that lure is good for; sometimes it's general, like "big fish", and sometimes it's specific, like "napoleon fish". This makes lure selection pretty easy and straightforward, so you really don't need to know what a big popper is (ladies, come by sometime and I'll be happy to show you).

Casting and reeling are done well; select your target with the analog stick and a flick of the wrist with the fishing controller casts. To reel in you'll need to use a combination of controller movement and reeling action, and there's a tension meter at the bottom. Create too much tension and you'll snap the line, too little and the fish will slip off the hook. With a little practice, reeling the fish in becomes pretty easy.

I know, I talk too much about minute details of gameplay. I won't apologize for it, I just think it's the most important aspect of a game (coincidentally, I'm right about that). Most of you are probably wondering what it looks like at this point, because you're all a bunch of no good graphics whores. Since this is a Dreamcast game you probably also think it's a slight step above Atari graphics but you would be wrong, as always. The graphics are fairly decent, but are nothing amazing. What most people will probably notice are the fairly poor graphics of the characters you see when the fish are pulled into the boat (or the raft, since I like to use that). However, the underwater graphics and the fish themselves are actually done really well, and still look pretty good today.

Sounds are a weak point. The music is better than most Sega tracks, but not by much. Thankfully there are several different BGM's you can earn for each area and some of them are sedate enough to be tolerable. The sounds of the action aren't bad, the fish make appropriate splashing sounds, but there's not much else there. It's not like fish growl or anything. Of course there's the way overenthusiastic Sega announcer who says a few things other than Ohh Noooo but nothing remotely as funny.

While SMF is a keeper, I do have a few complaints. Reeling fish in becomes ridiculously easy once you get the hang of it. The challenge becomes finding the right lure/fish combo rather than actually having a difficult time catching them. This isn't a such bad thing but some players will get bored with the lack of challenge.

While the game does tell you what lures do what in the lure select menu, they don't tell you when you're actually fishing. You'll need to remember whether it was the big popper or the big pencil popper that you wanted to use on the shortfin makos. This isn't a huge complaint, but it would be nice to know while you're choosing the lures in the fishing mode.

I'd like to see a view in aquarium mode where you're free to roam about as you please. As it is, the camera follows one of several preset paths, and you can pan and tilt it but you can't control where it actually goes. Some people want to look for the whale's butthole (certainly not I).

The game doesn't record weights! I'd like to know what the biggest example of each fish I've caught was. It does save scores from Arcade mode, but that's it.

Those are minor complaints though and aside from the difficulty have no real affect on the gameplay. It's worth noting that SMF is just a fun game to play. I usually pick it up when I just want to unwind for a half hour, and it's great for this. It also appeals to a wide audience, especially non-gamers. I first played it when I visited my brother and some other relatives, and this game was on for hours every day with all of us arguing over who burnt the chicken and who gets to play Marine Fishing.

SMF isn't necessarily a 'must have' Dreamcast game but it's at least a 'must check out sometime'. It really brings you back to what games are supposed to be - fun, not work. It can be played for fifteen minutes or three hours, and there's always something new to do. Even if you get all of the items, which won't happen anytime soon, you can always try Arcade mode or just do a little recreational fishing. This kind of relaxed game is hard to find, and is really worth picking up.