On February 16, 2020 I went into the movie theaters for the last time before Covid hit. The movie was Sonic the Hedgehog (2020). After the initial trailer release with the VERY disturbing character model of Sonic, I had low hopes for this movie. There was thankfully a redesign, and I went to see the movie and was pleasantly surprised by how fun the movie was.
I kept the ticket for that movie, (because I like having movie tickets in scrapbooking) and two years later, on April 19, 2022, I went to watch the sequel with a very excited mindset.
Much has changed between the release of both movies: I graduated with a double major at KU, I paid off my loans with the hospital janitor job I had to get after Covid closed all other jobs, my mom passed from cancer, I got a new car and moved to Topeka with a new job as a photographer. There’s probably more things in between, but those are all the big ones I can remember.
Sonic 2 was the video game movie I was waiting for. It has jokes, goofs, laughs, serious moments, and every reference to the video games that I wanted in a sequel.
Very early in the movie, I could tell I would enjoy it. An early scene reminded me a lot of the original SpongeBob Squarepants movie, which I absolutely love. Sonic and Tails find themselves in the Himalayan mountains entering a shady cabin to survive the winter storm. Inside, they find a bunch of scary characters. The part that reminded me so much of the 2004 SpongeBob movie was when the butcher cut off a fish’s head, and it flew to land at Sonic and Tails’ feet, whispering the word “run.” It was exactly the type of humor I love and I’m very glad it was in this film.
There were some weird and off-putting moments that seemed odd originally watching, like the characters dancing to Bruno Mars’ Uptown Funk, but I think the positives in the movie outweigh the negatives.
I don’t know everything about every Sonic game made, but all the game references that I knew and wanted to see in the movie were in there. Eggman’s hover car, his giant robot, even the mean bean machine which I wasn’t even originally thinking about was in there. In the movie, it’s a coffee shop used as a secret lair for Eggman. In the game, at least in Sonic Mania, it’s a bonus boss fight to try and defeat Eggman.
Sonic has had its ups and downs in the game franchise, mostly downs from what I’ve heard, but that’s actually why I started to get into Sonic. I like dumb, bad things. The creepy original version of Sonic is what got me “excited” for the first movie. I wanted to see it just to see it, and I really enjoyed watching it with my friend, and I’m glad we were able to watch the sequel together too.
After the movie, we went to the only place you can go after watching a Sonic movie: Olive Garden. We both just got the classic order of unlimited soup, salad, and breadsticks, but when we were there, we were family. It was good soup and good salad.
As I said earlier, a lot has changed between the release of Sonic the Hedgehog (2020) and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022). While change is inevitable, I hope it won’t be as drastic of changes between this movie and the third. And I am definitely going to get my ticket for the third movie when it comes out.
The Spongebob Squarepants Movie (2004) is a film I adore dearly. I watched it in theaters with my family and we all enjoyed it, even my parents who never watched Spongebob before. However, during some recent research I was doing with the aspects of Western films and how to make Westerns, I discovered something: The Spongebob movie is secretly a western film.
It doesn’t have cowboys and outlaws and everything you would expect from a western, but with all the aspects and conventions of a Western film in mind, it all fits within the scenes of the movie. I think that once I explain myself through how a western genre film is made, by the end of this post you too will realize that it’s part of the Western genre.
For reference, I will be using the website https://storygrid.com/western-genre/ written by Rachelle Ramirez to help explain how the Western genre is made. I personally think it’s the best site to help because it makes every aspect of a Western easy to understand with helpful numbered points.
What is the Western Genre?
Ramirez put it best when she cited Shawn Coyne, “The Western story concerns the role of the individual in a mass society.” Westerns were created to show a changing society and the individual’s role in it. This is shown very well in the video game Red Dead Redemption II (2018), in where the protagonist is a part of one of the last outlaw gangs, and the new ideals and technology of society is slowly creeping up on them, threatening to tear away the only way of living they know how.
Many Western films have the protagonist as a hero and fighting against a lawless world, or a character trying to survive a changing world. Westerns depict the protagonist fighting for freedom. Freedom from what or for who? That depends on the story they’re trying to tell. I think the Spongebob movie fits into the latter form of Western genre storytelling.
Conventions of a Western film
I don’t think I’m going to put the entire plot of the Spongebob movie on here because I’m going to assume that the reason you’re reading this is because you’ve seen the movie. If that’s not the case, I suggest that you go see the movie because it’s really good and funny, plus I will be mentioning a lot of spoilers in here and I don’t know if you’d want an animated movie from 2004 to be ruined for you.
The conventions in a Western genre are usually pretty straightforward, and The Spongebob Squarepants Movie follows them extremely well. I’m going to list out Ramirez’s Western conventions in the order she puts them, and explain how the movie matches with them.
1. The protagonist is up against life and death stakes.
The protagonist, Spongebob, is certainly up against life and death stakes in the film. He is required to get King Neptune’s crown back from the “forbidden Shell City”, and could possibly die on the way getting there. And on top of that, he’s also up against his boss, Mr. Krabs, dying if he does not succeed on his mission. Technically, they did die when they reached Shell City, but their tears short circuited the electric outlet and activated the fire suppression system, bringing them back to life.
2. The harsh, hostile, and wide-open landscape is a character in the story.
This genre convention is probably the most important for a Western. Westerns have a lot of Man vs Nature and Man vs Society, and often they blend into the same thing. I think the film follows this characteristic very well.
The idea where the wild, open land as a character fits in the Spongebob movie by attacking the characters every step of the way to Shell City. Even the two gas station attendees mention it by stating “You two dipsticks ain’t gonna last 10 seconds over the county line!” They lasted 12 seconds before a big tough guy stole their car.
Other moments of the harsh, hostile, and wide open landscape being a trouble for our heroes was when a frogfish pretended to be a sweet old lady selling ice cream, and then the frogfish revealed itself as it attempted to eat Spongebob and Patrick, chasing them for miles until they had to drive the car off a cliff.
Moments like these, and others not mentioned in the film all show how harsh and dangerous the environment is outside the civilization of Bikini Bottom.
3. Hero, Victim, Villain: These three roles are clearly defined throughout the story.
In the order of Hero, Victim, and Villain, those roles are given to Spongebob, Mr Krabs, and Plankton. In most cases with the Spongebob television show, Spongebob is usually the hero and Plankton is usually the villain. However, as far as I can remember, Mr Krabs was never a victim before this movie and never needed to be saved by Spongebob. I could be remembering wrong, but to me this added role of Mr Krabs as the victim further reinforces the idea that this is a Western film.
4. The protagonist’s object of desire is to stop the antagonist and save the victim.
In the song “Now That We’re Men,” Spongebob and Patrick state very clearly what their objective is. Multiple times, in fact. “Get the crown, save the town, and Mr. Krabs.” Sure, there are secondary goals the characters have, like proving they aren’t just a couple of kids, but just about every movie protagonist in any genre has multiple goals. Anything in this movie that is not about them going to get the crown is secondary in the film, because getting the crown, saving the town and Mr Krabs is the plot of the film.
5. The protagonist operates outside the law (selectively or as a matter of course).
I personally don’t see this one fitting in the film. Mostly because it’s a kids movie and the “law” of King Neptune is what they’re following. You could argue that them going on this quest is them operating outside the law because the King’s daughter works secretly behind his back to help Spongebob, but I don’t know if that’s too much a stretch or not.
By the way not having every convention of a Western is perfectly fine! As long as a majority of them are in the film, I think it would still be considered a Western.
6. The antagonist is far more powerful than the protagonist and the victim. The protagonist is more powerful than the victim.
Plankton creates an army of brainwashed citizens, and makes a dictatorship so I would say he’s more powerful than the protagonist. Spongebob is more powerful than Mr Krabs because Mr Krabs is frozen solid and can’t move anywhere or do anything.
7. There is a Speech in Praise of the Villain.
Right before Plankton’s army is revealed, Spongebob’s coworker, Squidward, confronts Plankton and tells him he knows all about his plan to sell Krabby Patties after he stole the recipe while Mr Krabs was frozen.
8. There is a clock which limits the time for the protagonist or antagonist to act.
When King Neptune’s crown was stolen, Mr Krabs was framed by Plankton and Neptune was going to fry Mr Krabs. Spongebob made a deal that he would go on a quest to retrieve it. King Neptune originally gave Spongebob 10 days but Patrick negotiated it down to six, and if they failed then Mr Krabs would burn.
9. The antagonist makes the conflict personal to the protagonist.
Mr Krabs is Spongebob’s boss at the Krusty Krab, so obviously Plankton made this personal when he framed Mr Krabs for stealing King Neptune’s crown.
Obligatory Scenes in a Western and how they fit in Spongebob
In this section I’m going to point out the eight obligatory scenes Ramirez lists and explain how the Spongebob movie has each one of them in it. With the obligatory scenes, they tend to be more specific and I can show exact moments in the movie where it happens, compared to the previous part where I just explained how the movie follows the conventions of the genre.
1. An inciting attack by the antagonist.
The attack by Plankton comes when he steals King Neptune’s crown and frames Mr Krabs for it. This is the thing that starts the whole quest for the crown in the first place.
2. The protagonist discovers and understands the antagonist’s object of desire.
Any time Plankton is the antagonist in Spongebob media, (which is a lot of times), he wants to steal the Krabby Patty secret formula and take over the world. The second scene of the film has Plankton directly say that to Spongebob.
Plankton:[While being stepped on by SpongeBob] Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!
SpongeBob:[Stops running] Eww, I think I stepped in something. [Tries to scrape Plankton off. Plankton yelps when SpongeBob tries to scrape him off]
Plankton: [muffled] Not in something, on someone, you twit!
SpongeBob: Oh. Sorry, Plankton. [Looks at smeared Plankton and pulls him off his shoe] Are you on your way to the grand-opening ceremony?
Plankton: No, I am not on my way over [mocks SpongeBob] to the grand-opening ceremony. [Jumps four times] I’m busy planning to rule the world! [Chuckles]
SpongeBob: Well, good luck with that. [Runs off]
3. Hero sidesteps responsibility to take action.
Like Ramirez states when listing this scene, this is basically taken from the Hero’s Journey way of storytelling. Spongebob goes out of his way to save his boss who thinks he’s too immature to handle anything.
4. Forced out of their status-quo, the protagonist lashes out.
Spongebob hasn’t really been beyond Bikini Bottom before the events of this movie, so when he had to go get the car back from a really tough guy, he decided not to confront him and instead get a distraction from Patrick. That failed and Spongebob briefly argues with him.
The lashing out in this film isn’t very severe I don’t think, however it does show that Spongebob is out of his element in this tough guy bar.
5. The protagonist’s initial strategy to outmaneuver the antagonist fails.
The car is gone for the final time in the film. Driven off a cliff, eating by a large frogfish, and the frogfish was eaten by an even larger eel-looking creature. At this point their plan to get to Shell City has failed because there’s no way to get to the other side of the cliff.
6. The protagonist reaches an “All Is Lost” moment and realizes they must change their approach to salvage some form of victory.
After losing their car and having no hope to get to Shell City and save Mr Krabs, Mindy the Mermaid turns Spongebob and Patrick into men (gave them fake mustaches) so they could brave the rest of the way to Shell City past all the monsters at the bottom of the trench. They changed their approach of doing things: to be men instead of kids, and not be bothered by anything, and by doing that they did make it across the trench.
7. The protagonist expresses their gift at the climactic moment of “Hero at the Mercy of the Villain.”
With traditional Western films, the protagonist’s “gift” is something like they are very skilled in a shootout. There’s no shootouts in Spongebob so his gift is a little bit different. He admits that he’s a kid, and that’s okay. He’s fine with all the names people called him because he’s proud of who he is and being a Goofy Goober, and when he performs his song at the end, his rock and roll guitar ends up saving everyone.
8. The protagonist’s sacrifice is rewarded.
Plankton is stopped and Mr Krabs is saved thanks to Spongebob risking his life for the crown. On top of that, he was also gifted the manager position he deeply desired at the beginning of the film.
Screenshots that look like a Western film
The following section is just going to be a slideshow of images in no particular order that I think capture that Western feel, and further prove my point that this movie is a Western. They don’t exactly fit in any of the required scenes or conventions listed, but the appearance of them suggest to me that it’s related to the Western genre.
Hopefully at the end of this I’ve been able to convince you that the 2004 Spongebob Squarepants Movie is a part of the Western genre. The Western genre is definitely not gone even though there isn’t much media made about traditional cowboys anymore. Like other genres, the Western has been able to evolve through time and still become relevant today.
There is certainly modern Western media today, from the more obvious Westworld, to the more reality-driven Western of Breaking Bad, and Star Wars even goes west with The Mandalorian. When I was taught about different genres in film, we basically skipped the Western, basically being told that it was a lone genre, a product of its time and can only be placed in the American Old West. However I don’t think that’s the case anymore. Even if people don’t notice it at first, the genres stay and evolve with the culture.
I knew eventually I’d be back talking about other video games with fishing in them, because there’s so many more that I haven’t addressed at all. Today I have 3 new ones to rank, and if you need a refresher on how I rank these games, or if this is your first fishing post, be sure to check out my first postwhich goes over how I rank each category for the games.
In this post, I will be talking about the games Fortnite, Sea of Thieves, and The Sims 4.
Fortnite (2017)
I didn’t play Fortnite before dropping in to review its fishing, and despite all the jokes and memes made about this game, it’s actually pretty fun to play, and the fishing in it isn’t bad either. Every time I do play now I always try to go fishing in it, and somehow on my very first game I played I got first after I spent the entire game fishing. Going fishing wins games people.
VARIETY OF FISH: 5
I have not caught all of them myself, but according to the Fortnite Wiki, the total number of fish in the game is 41, and a total of 8 actual variants. This means that there are 8 actual types of fish that do different things in the game, but all 41 of them look differently, and I am basing my rankings on that. Sometime you can fish up weapons or old cans, but those aren’t fish and probably illegal?
FISHING LOCATIONS: 4
Anywhere there is water, there will most likely be a spot to fish. Fishing happens best in swirling water, and you’ll know it when you see it. Any other spot in the water is pointless to fish in.
FISHING CONTROLS: 5
I am playing with an Xbox One controller, so if someone were to play on a different console or on PC the controls will be different, but for the Xbox, I use the right trigger to cast my fishing rod, and when I catch something I press the right trigger again. Very simple, a single control. 5 points.
KNOWLEDGE: 3
The fish you catch are completely random. but sometimes you can see one hopping out of the water. There is also a catalog of caught fish, so you could try and guess what it’ll be if you have the entire list.
RELAXATION: 3
I wish I could bump this one up because I really do enjoy the fishing in the game! However, it’s the rest of the game that makes the fishing not as relaxing. The constant storm that shrinks the map, plus all the other players that seem to hate fishing and want to kill you make this somewhat stressful to fish in. Sometimes the storm even closes up over a place without any water so fishing isn’t even possible anymore!
EDIBILITY: Yes +10 POINTS
Some fish you eat give you health, others shields, and some even thermal or a speed boost. Any other abilities the fish give you can be found on the wiki. I haven’t caught any other types myself, but hopefully soon.
OVERALL SCORE: 30/25
Sea of Thieves (2018)
Sea of Thieves is an Xbox exclusive game about pirates on the open ocean. I played it a bit before, but it’s better with a group of people. I recently revisited it to try out the fishing.
VARIETY OF FISH: 4
There are 10 species of fish, and within those species there are 5 variants of each. This is similar to Toontown‘s species and sub-species categories, which is why I am ranking it similarly here.
FISHING LOCATIONS: 5
Certain fish can only be caught in certain areas, and some only at night, but you can always fish and catch something in water, and it’s a pirate game so water is literally everywhere.
FISHING CONTROLS: 4
To me, the fishing in this game reminds me a lot like Red Dead Redemption 2, but better. To fish, you have to press the right trigger to cast, then when a fish bites move against it to tire it out, then hold the right trigger again to reel it in. It’s a very simple way to do it, but it’s more than one control and the first time I tried I snapped the line, but once I got it figured out it worked very well.
KNOWLEDGE: 5
I can clearly see the fish in the water as it’s going for the line, so this game gets a perfect 5.
RELAXATION: 4
Sea of Thieves only gets a 4 and not a 5 because of the struggle between the player and the fish when reeling it in. It’s not like other games where you just tap and it comes back automatically. There’s a bit of work to get the fish, and it’s a satisfying struggle.
EDIBILITY: Yes +10 POINTS
You can eat the fish you catch, raw, in two bites. For some reason you eat it with its bone in, like an apple almost, which is both impressive and terrifying.
OVERALL SCORE: 32/25
The Sims 4 (2014)
I’ve never played any of The Sims before, but my friend Sarah Wright has and she thankfully took me through it and showed me all about the fishing in the game.
VARIETY OF FISH: 5
There are over 50 different types of fish you can catch when you include all the expansions in the game, including sharks and skeleton fish, so this definitely warrants a score of 5.
FISHING LOCATIONS: 4
In just about every area there’s a place to fish. It’s definitely not every body of water, but there are specific fishing signs where the Sim could go. Also apparently you can find fish in the dumpster sometimes.
FISHING CONTROLS: 5
I feel kinda bad for scoring this one so high, but it’s not a 1 because you do fish and it’s not complicated. The way to fish is by clicking on the sign using your Sim and selecting “go fishing.” That’s it. Then they go fishing until you tell them to stop. It it quite possibly the easiest control in any fishing game I’ll rank, but I’m not happy about it.
KNOWLEDGE: 1
You will not know what is being caught at all in the game until it’s collected.
RELAXATION: 3
Because you’re not really controlling the Sim, it’s not really relaxing or stressful, so I decided to give this one an average score. If you pick the right traits for you Sim, like fishing which is apparently something they can have, they will find it very relaxing and be happy when fishing.
EDIBILITY: Yes +10 POINTS
You can’t take the fish out of your inventory and eat it immediately unfortunately, but you can use the fish in different recipes and cook them in the oven. It has to be an oven too, not a grill or stove for some reason, which in my opinion gives you limited recipes, but it’s a video game and all fish cook in ovens I guess.
OVERALL SCORE: 28/25
And with that the next three games are ranked. In the last post I made about fishing I revealed that the best ranked fishing game is Skyrim (somehow) with a total of 31/25. Today that record has been broken by Sea of Thieves with a total of 32/25. I’m okay with this because it uses actual fishing than whatever Skyrim has.
Will that record ever be broken again? Possibly because there still isn’t a game that has perfect 5’s in each category yet. I’m sure each post in the future won’t break it yet, though.
If you know of a video game with fishing that I haven’t looked at and ranked yet, please let me know and I will look into it and try to figure out where it lands in the rankings. Feel free to look at all the other games I’ve ranked so far if you’d like, and eventually when I have at least three new games to talk about I’ll make another one of these!
This is it. The final three fishing games I have on my list. I may add some more in the future, but for now this is all I have.
If this is your first of all my fishing posts, it’s kinda weird that you started on the last one, but be sure to take a look at my first post in order to see how I rank the different categories.
Super Mario Odyssey (2017)
Super Mario Odyssey is the first game I ever bought for my Switch, and I am really glad there’s a short element of fishing in it.
VARIETY OF FISH: 1
Like just about all games in the MCU (Mario Cinematic Universe), the only fish in the game is the Cheep Cheep. They are red with yellow fins, and come in various sizes, but that’s all the fish there are. There are no Bloopers or Toads that look like fish to catch like in Paper Mario.
FISHING LOCATIONS: 1
The only time you are able to fish in the game is in the Lake Kingdom, where you can eventually possess a Lakitu and go fishing in a small pond.
FISHING CONTROLS: 5
The controls are very similar to Paper Mario The Origami King where you look for shadows, cast your line, and wait for a bite. You press the same button to cast and reel in, and the only slightly complicated part it reeling in at the right time.
KNOWLEDGE: 5
Since there’s only one type of fish, you definitely know what you’re going to catch. Sure they’re only shadows, and the largest one is actually a moon, but you know what you’re gonna catch.
RELAXATION: 5
With the calming music and the ability to fish in this little spot, it is very relaxing to fish in this game. Seriously go and listen to the entire Super Mario Odyssey soundtrack. It’s all great.
EDIBILITY: No
Unfortunately, you still cannot eat this fish. You can possess them like Lakitu if you’d like, but you cannot eat.
OVERALL SCORE: 17/25
Toontown (2003/2014)
Ahh Toontown. The perfect world where jellybeans are your fishing bait, and your currency. The game was originally released by Disney in 2003, but after it got shut down thankfully some people made a new version of it in 2014. I would have gone on it myself to play it, but I accidentally forgot my password so I had to do a bit more research and try and remember the fishing for the game rather than getting on and doing it all myself.
VARIETY OF FISH: 5
There are a ton of different types of fish, and multiple sub-types. For example: You can catch the generic “Pool Shark” but there’s also other variations like “Kiddie Pool Shark,” “Swimming Pool Shark,” and “Olympic Pool Shark.”
FISHING LOCATIONS: 4
There is a small area to fish in every single location in the game. Every street, neighborhood, even in your home is a place to fish. This game loves fishing so much there’s even an event called Fishing Bingo.
FISHING CONTROLS: 5
The only thing you need to do to fish in this game is click the mouse to cast in the water, then wait.
KNOWLEDGE: 3
All you see in the water are shadows when fishing. Once you catch some fish then you add it to your catalogue, but before that you have no idea. Also: some fish that are found in one location, may not be found in another, so you at least know what you could catch.
RELAXATION: 4
This is very relaxing overall. The only reason it’s not a perfect 5 is because you use your jellybeans as bait, and once you run out, not only can you not fish, but you’re also broke.
EDIBILITY: No
To be honest, I don’t think you would want to eat these fish. The PB&J Fish maybe, but not the others.
OVERALL SCORE: 20/25
The Walking Dead (2018)
I never watched the television show, but the game is really fun, and real sad too. Seeing as it’s about a zombie apocalypse, it makes sense that some people would fish to survive.
VARIETY OF FISH: 1
There’s only one type of fish to be caught in this game. Maybe all the other kinds turned into fish zombies? Or maybe the game is just being more realistic and not putting all the fish in the same area.
FISHING LOCATIONS: 1
There’s only one river you can fish at, and only at one point in the game is it even possible. There’s even a chance you would miss the fishing in the game if you decide to go hunting instead, but who would ever go hunting instead of fishing?
FISHING CONTROLS: 4
You don’t press a single button, but the controls are not complicated at all either. You use a spear in the game instead of a fishing rod, and that means you need to aim then strike, which may or may not be difficult depending on your timing.
KNOWLEDGE: 3
Clearly I can tell in the game that they are catfish, but the game does not tell you that in any way. The only description it gives you is ‘fish’. However, you can easily see the fish in the water, which is important for this kind of fishing.
RELAXATION: 3
I decided to give this one an average score for relaxation because you need to be a lot quicker than other fishing games to get the fish, and there’s always the threat of the zombie apocalypse looming over you. However, I did have fun and had a generally relaxing time catching these fish.
EDIBILITY: Yes +10 POINTS
There’s no buttons or menu to get the fish and eat them, but because you’re in the wilderness trying to survive, obviously you’re going to eat the fish at some point.
OVERALL SCORE: 22/25
Because this is the final part of my fishing posts, let’s take a look at the best and the worst games that’ve been ranked:
BEST GAME TO FISH
Skyrim – 31 points
This is kind of surprising to me, actually. Skyrim is the best fishing game and there’s not even an actual fishing pole or anything to catch them? Weird. The edibility bonus definitely boosted it a lot, but it is my opinion that fishing should not just be for sport, but to actually eat, so that is why all those games got maybe more than they deserved.
WORST GAME TO FISH
Ghostbusters – 11 points
This one makes sense. The fish in this are actively trying to kill you, so it being the worst fishing game may actually be a compliment. You also attack the fisherman in the game. Ghostbusters might just be anti-fishing, and that’s probably why it scored so poorly.
These best/worst of fishing do not mean much in regards of game quality by the way. Most of the games received the same rankings. They’re all good games, and every game is automatically good if it has fishing in it, so try some of these out if you haven’t before!
And that is all the fishing games that I have right now! Do you know of a game I haven’t looked at and want me to rank? Let me know and I may put out another post of these when I get enough new games.
These themed posts are some of my favorite to write, and I always love doing them and sharing them so I will always be trying to think of some new thing to write about daily or weekly as a big show. It’s just what I like to do, and I have the time now that I’ve graduated.
Check out some of my other themed posts below that had multiple parts:
Welcome to the day of S. It would be amazing if there was a snake you could fish up in any of these games I’m about to list, but we’re not that lucky sadly.
Be sure to check back to the first post to see how the rankings are set up if you need!
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011)
Skyrim is still an incredibly fun game. I recently started replaying it and am enjoying it a lot. It’s an open world game, and those tend to have fish in them so
VARIETY OF FISH: 3
Surprisingly in this massive world, there are not that many types of fish in the game. According to the Skyrim wiki, the only kinds of fish in the game are Abecean Longfin, Cyrodilic Spadetail, Histcarp, River Betty, Salmon. Silverside Perch, and Slaughterfish. If you can’t tell, the last one will try and kill you.
FISHING LOCATIONS: 4
Water is not everywhere in this world, but everywhere there is water there is fish.
FISHING CONTROLS: 5
You don’t actually have a fishing rod in the game, but you are able to dive into the water, and for Xbox controllers, you can quickly tap the ‘A’ button and try to catch the fish.
KNOWLEDGE: 5
When you do attempt to catch a fish, it will tell you exactly what you’re catching, and when caught it’ll show the fish with a little image in your inventory
RELAXATION: 4
The ease of fishing is what makes this score so high, but it’s not a perfect 5 because the fish are so fast, and you end up rapidly tapping the button to try and catch them.
EDIBILITY: Yes +10 POINTS
You can eat probably about 65% of the things in this game, and thankfully fish are one of them.
OVERALL SCORE: 31/25
Spongebob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated (2020)
Spongebob Squarepants: Battle for BikiniBottom was not one of the few Spongebob games I played as a kid. The ones I did play did not have fishing in them however, so it makes perfect sense why the one that does got a remaster and rerelease.
VARIETY OF FISH: 1
There’s plenty of fish in the game, the whole thing takes under water. However, the only fish that can get caught on the hook is Spongebob himself.
FISHING LOCATIONS: 3
The hooks are not located everywhere in Bikini Bottom, but it does seem like there’s one hook located in almost every level somewhere.
FISHING CONTROLS: 3
As soon as you attach yourself to the hook, you just press a button to dive and use the left thumbstick to move around. I don’t know exactly what the fisherman is thinking while you’re doing this, but I bet they’re pretty annoyed.
KNOWLEDGE: 5
You are the only fish that goes on the hooks, so hopefully you know yourself.
RELAXATION: 2
Considering that this type of fishing is actually bungee jumping, it is not very relaxing. However it isn’t too stressful either so that’s why I ranked it a 2
EDIBILITY: No
You are the fish in this game. Why would you want to eat yourself??
OVERALL SCORE: 14/25
Stardew Valley (2016)
Stardew Valley is a fun, relaxing game overall. It’s a farming RPG, so of course fishing is in it.
VARIETY OF FISH: 4
This game is similar to Animal Crossing: New Horizons in that there is a ton of fish in the game, but only certain parts of the year and at certain times do they show up.
FISHING LOCATIONS: 4
There is not water everywhere in the game, but anywhere there is water you can fish. You can also set up a little fishing pond in your farm if you want.
FISHING CONTROLS: 2
This fishing game is probably one of the most complicated on the list. As seen in the photo above, the fish is in a track, and you need to keep the green bar surrounding the fish. Sometimes the fish rapidly moves around and it’s impossible to catch, which is what makes it so difficult.
KNOWLEDGE: 2
You don’t really know what you’re going to catch until you caught it, and then it gives you details on the fish, so there’s a lot of trial/error on fishing.
RELAXATION: 1
Because of how intense the reeling in is, there’s barely any relaxation to have.
EDIBILITY: Yes +10 POINTS
Thankfully, your farmer can cook and eat the fish, which can give a big boost to some stats you have for a short time.
OVERALL SCORE: 23/25
Be sure to check back for the next post where we wrap up our fishing rankings and I’ll state in this list of games which is the best for fishing, and which is the worst.
The third post about fishing, and they’re all pretty fun games in my opinion. Well, they all have fishing in them so of course they’re fun.
If you need a refresher on how I am handling my ranking system, check back on my first fishing post I made.
Minecraft (2009)
Surprisingly, besides both mining and crafting, there’s also fishing in this game. But for some reason they decided not to add that in the title of the game?
VARIETY OF FISH: 2
There’s more than one type of fish, but not many. Just Cod, Salmon, Pufferfish, and what is clearly a clownfish but is labeled as “Tropical fish.”
FISHING LOCATIONS: 5
Like Animal Crossing: New Horizons, you can create rivers and lakes and any body of water you want, and the fish will just appear in them.
FISHING CONTROLS: 4
I was playing this with an Xbox controller, so the controls for me was just using the trigger to cast and the trigger to catch, and for PC users I’m assuming the controls are just the mouse button, so it is very simple to fish, but you will need to make a fishing rod with sticks and string, and in my experience, killing spiders and finding string is hard to come by.
KNOWLEDGE: 2
When using a fishing rod, you have no idea what you’re going to fish up. It could be a fish of any kind, or it could be an item or some garbage. However, in some water locations you can see the fish swimming underwater and you can punch them, catch them with a bucket, or kill them with your sword.
RELAXATION: 5
It is very relaxing to fish in this game, watching the bobber waiting for fish to grab it.
EDIBILITY: Yes +10 POINTS
Just like real life, don’t eat the pufferfish because they are poisonous. They are edible in the game though just like all fish.
OVERALL SCORE: 28/25
Paper Mario The Origami King (2020)
VARIETY OF FISH: 2
Most of the fish you catch will be a cheep cheep, but in one of the fishing spots there’s also Bloopers (white squid). Sometimes, you’ll get a Toad pretending to be a fish, or even a collectable, but there isn’t too much variety in the fish.
FISHING LOCATIONS: 2
The game is not like Minecraft or Animal Crossing where you can just create a new fishing spot, but there’s a total of 3 locations where you can fish in the game, and sometime you need to complete a task for someone to unlock the fishing spot.
FISHING CONTROLS: 4
These fishing controls are very similar to Animal Crossing: New Horizons, in that it is one button to control your casting, and the left thumbstick to aim. I do think fishing in this is just a bit easier, too. Unlike New Horizons, you are planted firmly in one place and cannot move until you stop your fishing, and you can charge your cast so aiming is a lot easier in this game.
KNOWLEDGE: 4
There’s really only a few things you could fish up, so knowing what you’re going to fish, despite all you seeing is shadows, will be pretty easy
RELAXATION: 4
I personally feel really relaxed fishing in this game. The only reason it is not a perfect 5 is because of the waiting time from where the fish see’s the line, and when I can reel it in, and that is slightly stressful.
EDIBILITY: No
Seeing as all the fish are made of paper, and you’re also made of paper, I think it makes sense not to be able to eat any of the fish. I mean, would that be considered cannibalism or something?
OVERALL SCORE: 16/25
Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018)
Red Dead Redemption 2 is one of my favorite games from the last few years. It’s in the wild west, and it has fishing in it.
VARIETY OF FISH: 4
There is a total of 15 types of fish throughout the game, and some large “Legendary Fish” you can catch and sell to a specific person.
FISHING LOCATIONS: 4
Almost every body of water has fish in the game, and once you catch one it appears on your map as a small sketch so you can remember that the fish are located there. For all the legendary fish locations you receive a separate map later in the game.
FISHING CONTROLS: 2
Fishing in this game is more difficult than other games. You need to have the right kind of bait or lure to catch fish easier depending on if you’re at a river or lake, and while using my controller I have to press a lot of buttons to cast the line, and reel the fish in. It actually is very difficult and tiring to reel in a large fish sometimes. Thankfully, there is a tutorial mission early in the game teaching you how to fish. This is probably the most realistic fishing controls in the list of games I have.
KNOWLEDGE: 3
Besides the legendary fish locations, you really just need to start fishing and see what you catch. You cannot see the fish in the water most of the time, but once you catch a fish once in the area, you’ll see it on your map.
RELAXATION: 2
Considering you need to keep the pole up and moving in a certain direction to fight the fish, and you need to manually reel in the line when something is caught, I do not think this fishing is very relaxing.
EDIBILITY: Yes +10 POINTS
Fishing is one of the ways your character can survive. You need to eat a lot to keep your character’s weight up, and fishing is a skill needed in the Old West.
OVERALL SCORE: 25/25
Be sure to check in again for part four of my fishing games! All of those games surprisingly start with the letter ‘S’. It’s stupendous!
We’re back for Part 2 of the ranking of fishing games. There are three more to talk about so let’s get started.
If you need to see how I’ve ranked the following games, then check back to my first postand see how each category is reviewed.
Ghostbusters (2009)
I know what you’re thinking: The Ghostbusters video game had fishing in it?? Yes and no. You could argue that capturing the ghosts in your little proton pack is like fishing, and I’d agree with you, but this post is about fish, and there are actually ghost fish inside the game, so we’re ranking that instead of catching boring regular ghosts.
VARIETY OF FISH: 1
According to the in-game database, the fish in the game are all bundled into one fish possessed by a minor ghost, calling this fish a “Dead Fish Flier.” There appear to be multiple types of fish in the bundle, but they’re categorized as one in the game.
FISHING LOCATIONS: 1
The only time these fish are found is near the end of the very first level. There are not fish in any other part of the game unfortunately.
FISHING CONTROLS: 5
All you really need to to to take care of these fish is use your proton pack, and to do that is just holding a single button. I was playing on my Xbox, so it was a single press of the trigger.
KNOWLEDGE: 3
You can clearly see that they’re fish, and you are able to scan the fish to get even more information from them, like background, and what they’re weak against, but if you catch the fish you cannot scan them.
RELAXATION: 1
The fish attack you and they’re spooky ghosts. There is nothing relaxing about this fishing.
EDIBILITY: NOPE NO NO NO
These are ghost fish. You can’t eat a spirit, they’d just go right through you. They’re also trying to kill you.
OVERALL SCORE: 11/25
Halo: Reach (2010)
Similar to Ghostbusters, there’s not actual fishing rods you can use in the game, but there are fish.
VARIETY OF FISH: 2
There’s definitely more than one type of fish in the game, but it’s not clear on how many, and I do not believe that there’s a lot.
FISHING LOCATIONS: 2
A small number of the multiplayer maps have fish swimming in the water. It’s very hard to tell how many because there’s a lot of maps and the fish are hard to spot sometimes.
FISHING CONTROLS: 5
The only way to “catch” the fish in the game is to shoot them, or throw a grenade at them and you’ll probably get them too, but I would consider the fish caught at that point.
KNOWLEDGE: 2
The game doesn’t tell you exactly what type of fish there is, but they’re visible in the water, and sometimes you get lucky by finding a spot labeled “Koi Pond,” which clearly means the fish there are koi.
RELAXATION: 2
Because the fish are all located on multiplayer maps, and the fact that this is a shooting game, it’s hard to feel relaxed fishing when there’s a lot of other players trying to kill you.
EDIBILITY: NONE
After you shoot the fish they just float a bit on the water. You can’t collect them to eat for health or anything.
OVERALL SCORE: 13/25
Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening
(Original-1993, Remastered-2019)
VARIETY OF FISH: 2
As you can see in the picture above, there’s only a small number of fish at varying sizes.
FISHING LOCATIONS: 1
You can only fish in the small pond in Mabe’s Village.
FISHING CONTROLS: 4
The fishing isn’t too complicated in this game. You press one button to cast out, and the same to reel in. The only slightly difficult part is you may miss all the fish so you need to reel in and try again.
KNOWLEDGE: 4
You don’t know what type of fish you caught until the fisherman tells you afterwards, and there is no type of catalog showing what you had. You can see the fish in the water, however, and attempt to collect a specific type of fish.
RELAXATION: 2
It’s very frustrating when you cast out and miss all the fish, and when you actually get one on your line, very fast music starts playing, so it becomes stressful.
EDIBILITY: NONE
All you can do with your fish is sell them to the owner of the dock.
OVERALL SCORE: 13/25
Be sure to check back for Part 3 of fishing! The upcoming part have games with actual fishing controls in them unlike Ghostbusters and Halo: Reach.
In my opinion, if there is a fishing mini-game within the video game you are playing, then it is a good game. I’m not talking about a video game all about fishing, I’m talking about any game that may or may not be open world, and you can go to a body of water and choose to fish from it or not. There is surprisingly a large number of games with fishing mini-games, and today I’ve decided to list as many as I could, and rank them on how decent their fishing is.
To properly rank the quality of a fishing mini-game, there needs to be certain criteria they have. I have come up with fiveaspects of the game’s fishing to score, each with points that range from one to five:
VARIETY OF FISH
How many fish are in the game, and are possible to fish up? Points range from 1: Only one kind of fish, to 5: A very large number of fish
FISHING LOCATIONS
Where can you fish? Is it any body of water, which would earn 5 points? Or is fishing only legal in a specific area which would be one point?
FISHING CONTROLS
How complicated is the fishing in the game? Do you only have to push a single button once you’ve cast out your line? (5 points) Is there a lot of controls needed to reel in the fish? (1 point)
KNOWLEDGE
I wish I could come up with a better title for this category, but it is essentially whether or not you 100% know what you are fishing in the water (5 points) or if you have no idea what you’re fishing before it’s reeled in (1 point)
RELAXATION
This category somewhat fits in with the controls category, but I believe relaxation is key for fishing games, because in my experience, you aren’t really stressed out by fishing most of the time. 5 points for feeling very relaxed, and 1 point for feeling very stressed.
BONUS: EDIBILITY
Just for fun (and to bump some scores up even more), I’ve added a bonus category that gives 10 points to a game that allows you to eat the fish that you catch. This does not mean that ones that don’t allow you to eat fish are bad fishing games, but being able to cook and eat what you catch does add a fun bonus to the game in my opinion and it gives a bump to the games that show fishing for food and not for sport. This is a simple yes/no scoring system, and points are not deducted if the answer is no.
With all of these categories listed, let’s talk about the games. They are listed in alphabetical order, not what is rated best or worst.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons (2020)
Many previous iterations of Animal Crossing have fishing in them, but New Horizons is the most recent, so I am ranking the fishing in this one.
VARIETY OF FISH: 4
There are a lot of fish in this game. However, many are only available certain times of the day in real time, and only on certain months. 4 is the best score I can give it because the fish I want to catch may not even be available when I get on the game.
FISHING LOCATIONS: 5
You can fish from beaches, rivers, and lakes. Once you get 3 stars on your island, then you unlock terraforming and can create your own rivers and lakes, and fish are able to spawn in them!
FISHING CONTROLS: 3.5
To first catch a fish, you need to build a fishing pole. Then you need to find a shadow in the water. If there isn’t a shadow, you can craft bait for them to appear. Then, you cast your line, and only use one button to do it. Then you wait for the fish to even notice it, and sometimes they don’t so you need to re-cast. The fishing controls are not very complicated at all (you only press one button to cast and reel in), however the process to fish is very long at times, and can make the process tedious.
KNOWLEDGE: 3
As stated before, the fish you see in the water are shadows. You don’t know what you’re fishing. However, the shadows only come in 3 different sizes, and once you fish up something new, it goes into your catalog and you can see what times and months it appears in the water.
RELAXATION: 4
The fishing in this game is very relaxing. The only reason I did not list this as a 5 is because once the fish spots your line, you need to wait for them to actually grab it, and the game tries to trick you by having it touch the line a few times before.
EDIBILITY: NONE
You don’t eat any of the fish you catch, but you can donate them to the museum to look at later, or sell them for some more money.
OVERALL SCORE: 19.5/25
Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017)
This is not actually a game I own, so I outsourced the ranking to my good friend Laurie. All scores and words following this are hers.
VARIETY OF FISH: 4
Hyrule Bass, Staminoka Bass, Hearty Bass, Hearty Salmon Armored Carp, Mighty Carp, Armored Porgy, Mighty Porgy, Snake Carp, Chillfin Trout, Sizzlefin Trout, Voltfin Trout, Stealthfin Trout. Pretty Much all the fish aside from the regular Hyrule Bass offer a resistance/benefit when cooked in a cooking pot and eaten.
FISHING LOCATIONS: 4
Practically any deep body of water has fish, excluding ponds, lakes and rivers in the NW (cold climates). Which hurt to swim in.
FISHING CONTROLS: 4
The standard jump-and-chase-the-fish-in-the-water is kinda difficult, but shooting a fish in the water with an arrow kills the fish and makes it easier to catch as it floats on the surface, lightning arrows and bomb arrows and regular bombs kill fish with in the attack area.
KNOWLEDGE: 5
You can see the fish beneath the water, and when you swim close to them their names will pop up.
RELAXATION: 3
Given swimming takes stamina, you could drown (and lose a heart) chasing them, but shooting fish in a lake and then swimming to catch them is fun.
EDIBILITY: YES +10 POINTS
Yes, you can eat the fish, and cook them. Or freeze them if you’re in a certain area of the map and it’s cold enough. Frozen fish (and other meats) give you heat resistance.
OVERALL SCORE: 30/25
Club Penguin (2005)
Club Penguin is probably one of the most well known computer games of my generation. Even if you haven’t ever played it, you know what it is. Plus there’s fishing in it.
VARIETY OF FISH: 2
There’s really only two kinds of fish in the game normally: the yellow one and the large red mullet. There’s a third kind that’s grey if you decide to buy a special fishing rod to catch them, but you normally cannot fish it.
FISHING LOCATIONS: 1
You can only go ice fishing in a small hole behind the lodge.
FISHING CONTROLS: 5
The controls are using your mouse and clicking when you catch the fish, so it’s incredibly easy to use.
KNOWLEDGE: 5
You can clearly see down into the water when you’re fishing, so you know exactly when to fish and when to reel in to avoid traps.
RELAXATION: 4
The fishing in Club Penguin is pretty relaxing, the only “stress” in it would be the traps like sharks, crabs, and jellyfish which could ruin your line and force you to grab another bait.
EDIBILITY: YES +10 POINTS
You don’t actually see your penguin eat at all, but it’s heavily implied that the penguins all eat fish, and there’s even a separate pizza making game where fish is one of the ingredients.
OVERALL SCORE: 27/25
That’s all of the fishing for this post, be sure to check back soon for more catching ranks!
It’s certainly an understatement but this is a really weird way to end my four years in college. Like everyone else who’s graduating this year it’s not what we wanted. We’re seeing a lot of “We’re here for you and still want to celebrate. Post this information so we can share it online and celebrate your achievements!” Advertisements are doing stuff similar just with the words “We’re here for you…” and I don’t know, it feels a little disingenuous with the way it’s being presented. When I was actually physically at the KU campus it felt like I wasn’t being recognized much by them so it’s hard to think they’d do something meaningful for me now.
I’m not saying I hated college life. I loved my four years there. I made so many friends throughout my housemates, marching band and the service sorority Tau Beta Sigma. I don’t think I’ll ever forget my time with them. Looking back on it now I think it makes sense why I pursued a double major in Film and Creative Writing. I am a behind the scenes person, and not one who is forefront in the camera.
My first job at KU was Stage Crew at the Lied Center, a year after I also took on the Rights and Reproductions assistant job. The latter is more public in a way, but it is all emails to people and I never talked to customers face to face or even over the phone. I even took the equipment staff job for marching band this last year, and that’s certainly not a visible job to anyone. We’re always some of the first people to arrive, and the last to leave. Even just my instrument was a sort of background instrument for the most part, we were rarely on camera when we were in the stands for football games, and I had maybe two photos total taken by the professional photographers at the games.
I do want to make it clear: I am not complaining about this, I’m just trying to make a point.
All of those jobs I had make perfect sense of why I was in school writing, filming, and editing. All things that are “behind the scenes.” I am completely okay with that, however what I did in college does not correlate to my recognitions that they are offering. I was never “The face of KU.” The only photos I’ve ever seen taken of me professionally from KU were of half my face or just my back. That’s not much to brag about with friends who are literally on the front page of the school’s website right now.
There’s a lot of emails I’m seeing that are asking me to send a photo of myself, a bit of information, and my plans for the future. I can do the first two, but I don’t know anything about the last part. I’ve been trying to apply to a lot of media jobs because that’s what I know, but I haven’t completed many “professional” projects like others in the film school. I know I’m at least recognized by the faculty there, but I do not participate in a lot of extracurricular activities with them because I’ve also been majoring in Creative Writing and minoring in Journalism. Don’t get me wrong I am glad that I’ve taken all those other courses for a new degree, but with times like these you can’t help but think of what could have been.
I am still going to apply to everything I can. I am most likely going to stay at home until I can, and until the pandemic is finally taken care of. I don’t know which job I will be offered in the future, or when/if it’ll even happen because most filmings are shut down, and I have no clue how anyone would be hiring people for film during a pandemic. I’m still going to try.
This site itself has changed a lot since I started it a few years ago. It started out as just a blog site where I write random comedic article-like posts whenever I feel like it. Sometimes it was just me writing and creating the images, and sometimes my friends were able to help create stuff as well.
Now I’m using it as a mix blog site/portfolio where I show off my designs, videos, and artwork. I don’t know if it would be considered the most professional for someone looking for a career now, but I don’t want to change it because that would be changing me. I’m still going to write whatever I feel like in the blog portion of this site, but I’m always going to add on and improve on it. If the places I’m applying to work at don’t like it, then that’s not really a place I think I’d enjoy working at anyway.
I don’t know where I will be a year from now. Hopefully by then everything is open again, but who knows at this rate. Even if I don’t get a job that allows me to be creative, I’ll still be writing and making stuff for me on this site, because that’s who it was originally for anyway. I’ll never forget my time at KU, and I wish some things could’ve been different, but all the stuff I did there and the people I met and the friends I have now helped me become the person I am now, and I am completely okay with who that is.
A year with this round, blue egg with yellow legs and shoes.
What started off as a dumb joke on Twitter became a much bigger thing after an egg hatching on the KU campus was announced for March 7.
The original post I made about Eggy in October 2018 can be found by clicking here.
Eggy Jay became a VERY big deal, which surprised me a lot. As most people who read these blog posts know, I am in the marching band at KU, and I think it’s because of that reason Eggy became something special.
Everyone I know was talking about the hatching. Sure, it ended up to be just some statues, but Eggy is what brought the hype. Many people besides myself tweeted and posted stuff about it, and the Kansas Union twitter account ended up following me because of it.
I wasn’t able to go to the hatching due to the fact that I was on a bus for a band trip, but thankfully the Kansas Union Facebook page had a livestream for it, and I could hear throughout the bus everyone’s phones on the livestream of the hatching. Sure it was just a bunch of statues as I predicted earlier, but just the idea of Eggy made it fun.
But don’t take my word for it. Here’s some interviews from a few people who actually saw Eggy Jay at the hatching:
The story of Eggy Jay started the beginning of my Junior year at KU. The story is still going on, and Freshmen I know are even continuing it.
I am a senior now, about to graduate in a few months. Eggy Jay is the legacy I leave behind, and I am okay with that.
Kristopher K. Online 