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 five aspects 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!
Kristopher K. Online 