Fishing Resort

Nintendo exclusive

Fishing Resort, known in Japan and Korea as Family Fishing (ファミリーフィッシング?), is a fishing video game developed by Prope for the Wii home console. It features 8 different areas for the player to fish and do several "activities". Stores located in areas allow people to purchase items for fishing needs. Players can also take a cruiser and explore the ocean surrounding the "island" where the game takes place.

Released: 4 August 2011
Platforms: Wii
Genres: Sports
Developers: Prope
Publishers: Bandai Namco Entertainment
Modes: Multiplayer Single-player
Country: Japan
Age ratings: ESRB E

About

Fishing Resort, known in Japan and Korea as Family Fishing (ファミリーフィッシング), is a fishing video game developed by Prope for the Wii home console. It features eight different areas for the player to fish and do several activities. Stores located in areas allow the player to buy items for fishing needs. The player can also take a cruiser and explore the ocean surrounding the island where the game is set.

Keywords

fishing
billiards
customizable characters
aquarium

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

The game requires a Wii Remote along with a Nunchuck. The player lifts up the Wii Remote and then swings it down near water to cast. The player picks from a range of rods, varying from Small to Xtra-Large, and a selection of baits and lures. There are more than 200 fish in the game, all of which are catchable by the player at various locations.

Development

Fishing Resort was developed by Prope, a Japanese company headed by former Sega designer Yuji Naka. Naka was approached by publisher Namco Bandai Games after it released We Ski for the Wii, requesting he create a fishing game in the same line. Naka initially declined because of his own disinterest in fishing, but chose to make the game when considering that there may be people like him who lack fishing knowledge and "who may enjoy an accessible fishing game". Rather than market the game to "core fishing fans" like many other games in the same genre, Naka aimed at making Fishing Resort accessible to a broader audience.

"It starts at the very beginning of the game where you come into a resort, a place where you’re going to spend a fishing vacation", Naka explained. "The setting puts everyone at ease. You can relax or go fishing right away." Naka read books on fishing, as well as resort management, to design the game.

Reception

Fishing Resort was met with an overall indifferent response from critics. The game holds aggregate scores of 72.5% on GameRankings and 69 out of 100 on Metacritic.

According to Media Create, Fishing Resort debuted in seventh place on Japanese sales charts for its release week, selling 22,365 units. Namco Bandai shipped 200,000 copies of the game in its first year of release in the region.