A fishing video game is a

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

genre in which the player

fishes Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

. Usually they take the form of fishing tournaments. Many feature a wide variety of locations in which to fish, fish to catch, and fishing paraphernalia such as

fishing rod A fishing rod is a long, thin rod used by angling, anglers to fishing, catch fish by manipulating a fishing line, line ending in a fish hook, hook (formerly known as an ''angle'', hence the term "angling"). At its most basic form, a fishing ...

s, lures, and

boats A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size, shape, cargo or passenger capacity, or its ability to carry boats. Small boats are typically found on inl ...

. Gameplay usually revolves around reacting quickly to an on-screen trigger that the bait was taken, along with some sort of button press sequence to reel the fish in. Though not as prolific as other video games genres, fishing video games have historically been popular.

History

Fishing Derby ''Fishing Derby'' is a fishing video game written by David Crane for the Atari Video Computer System (renamed to the Atari 2600 in 1982) and published by Activision in 1980. It's one of the first video games developed by Activision. Gameplay ...

'' (1980) by David Crane for the

Atari 2600 The Atari 2600, initially branded as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS) from its release until November 1982, is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977, it popularized microprocessor- ...

, is an early example of the genre. "Fish games" also refers to a type of arcade

redemption game Redemption games are typically arcade games of skill that reward the player proportionally to their score in the game. The reward most often comes in the form of tickets, with more tickets being awarded for higher scores. These tickets can then ...

involving shooting fish. These game first appeared around 2005 in China. These games also became popular in the United States in the mid 2010s, starting in the Pacific rim before spreading in popularity. The legal status of these games has been disputed in many countries and states due to gambling issues, and association with organized crime.

Fishing minigames

Minigames A minigame (also spelled mini game and mini-game, sometimes called a subgame or microgame) is a short game often contained within another video game. A minigame contains different gameplay elements, and is often smaller or more simplistic, than th ...

of fishing are also common inside larger

action-adventure game The action-adventure genre is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Typically, pure adventure games have situational problems for the player to solve to complete a story ...

s. The ''Legend of Zelda'' series is particularly famous for having a fishing minigame in '' The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time'' and '' The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.'' Open world games often include fishing mechanics. This is especially common in simulation videogames, where fishing is required to complete collections, fulfill missions, and obtaining crafting ingredients.

References

{{fishing-videogame-stub Fishing video games