0 to Z of Playstation 1 Games - Action Bass

        

Action Bass is a more of an arcade style fishing game that was released on the Playstation 1 back in December 1999 in Japan, the following July in North America and late September for the European release, the game was developed by Vingt-et-un Systems, and published by Syscom,  Take 2 Interactive and GungHo Online Entertainment

The game certainly lacks the major features of a lot of other fishing games available on the Playstation 1 with Action Bass going for a arcade style of fishing experience with Casting and battling with fish the main staple of this game, unlike other games there are no locations to explore to find the best fishing spot you are restricted to five set locations, during progression in the game the player will unlock new lures.

Options wise it is limited with choice of lure for what you think will work best for a specific area and then cast some skill is required for reeling in the fish with a tension bar for the players rod increasing a decreasing depending on how much tension the fish is putting on the line, too much tension and the line will break, the game also has an aquarium to view the big fish you have caught.

No story for this arcade fishing game

Review were generally average or worse for Action Bass with ranking aggregators Metacritic and GameRankings averaging the game out at 51% and 53.9% respectively with the rating high coming from PSX Nation who scored the game at 74/100 Game Vortex were the next highest at a 69/100 these were really the only two highs in what critics rated a very below average game with Gamecenter only giving the game a 2/10, CNET Gamecenter were no kinder also awarding the game an equivalent 20/100 with the review blurb reading A terrible fishing game that sinks right to the bottom of the pond.

GameSpot and IGN who scored the game 5.2/10 and 5/10 respectively both cited a lack of depth as a likely put off for many fishing game fans, while Gaming Age concluded saying the game is both generic and boring in their C+ rated review of the game.

This is the part of 0 to Z where is visit five online retailers and see what the availability of the title is, and what price you would be looking at if you wanted to pick this title up, the sites that I will be using for this are Amazon.com,  eStarland.com, retrogames.co.uk and Gamedude.com I know the last one is very location specific but from a podcast I listen to and  I have heard they have a huge stock of older games, I will also be including Ebay.com as well

So lets get down to business with Gamedude where this game seems plentiful in supply with Gamedude offing just 25 cents for your copy of the game while if you are in the market for a copy of Action Bass it will set you back just $3, while common in America, Retrogames.co.uk don’t stock this title at all.

So we quickly move on to eStarland.com who have two used variations on sale, a used copy disc only will set you back $1.49 while a complete used copy of the game will only set you back $3.40 which converts to £2.63 in the UK €2.88 in Euro countries and 1886.6 Central African CFA Franc, you can also trade in your copy of the game with eStarland for $1.50.

Moving to Amazon.com and so far this is the most abundant game I have covered with currently 130 used and new copies of the game on the market with a person able to pick up a used like new copy for a little as 25 cents this does however come with a $3.95 shipping fee so $4.20 in total for a like new used copy which converts to 2330.5 Central African CFA Franc, in the Euro region you would be looking at €3.55 and in the UK it would set you back £3.25, a new copy of the game is cheap as well with $5 the cheapest deal on offer for the game.

Ebay like Amazon has a plentiful supply of used copies of the game on sale with a very good quality copy shipped from the UK with free international shipping setting you back $4.13, new copies of the game are harder to come by on Ebay with at the time of writing this only 4 copies on the market, they are more expensive than on Amazon with the cheapest setting you back just under $10 with prices raising as high as $45.

Written by

P J Gibbon