0 to Z of Playstation 1 Games - Bass Landing

      

Bass Landing is a fishing game, the games Japanese release of the game was developed by Tose, while the North American release of the game was developed by ASCII Corporation, both releases of the game were published by Agetec Inc.

The game released first in Japan with a early release on the 14^th of January 1999, North American games had to wait several months before they could get their hands on the game with it releasing on the 29^th of September 1999.

In addition to the initial release of the game in Japan and North America, in 2001 the game was re-released as part of the ASCII Casual Collection, as well as this to coincide with the original release of the game a special fishing set released on the 14^th of January 1999, with the game shipping with Agetec's own Bass Landing Fishing Controller designed specifically for the game.

Bass Landing provides the player with three modes to choose from the first being a tutorial mode, this mode will provide the player with everything they will need for tackling the game, even those with previous experience with fishing games should go through this.

The tutorial is provided in six separate sections with a final exam to pass the tutorial at the end, the tutorial provides the player information on Casting your line, Reeling and Hooking of fish, provides information on Lures, Rod actions, Boat control and depth finding as well as Bass Ecology. The latter has the player learning about the habits of fish during the different times of the year, this section can not be practices and you will go straight to the final exam which is a multiple choice exam.

 

In addition to the tutorial mode there are two other modes to choose from with Free Fishing Mode and the games main mode a tournament mode. Starting with the free fishing mode, this mode is there for you if you just want to fish without the pressure of competing in a tournament.

When starting free fishing mode you have the choice of between 4 lakes, each has their own music to accompany them, this can be disabled in the games option menu once chosen you will have the option of setting the lakes environment, or you can let the computer do it.

If you want to set the Lakes environment yourself you have several options you can modify, the first is pressure this is the difficulty setting, the higher the pressure the more wary fish will be of your lure and line, with bites much harder to get from the fish.

 

The next option you can modify is the season, this has an effect on the fish depending on the season depending on the season and month you choose fish may be less active and harder to catch, weather also takes and effect, while this can be switched off, the water temperature can not and is handled by the computer, the water temperature from yesterday and today also has an effect on how active the fish are.

Other options can also be modified before you start fishing with water quality effecting how easily the fish can see your lure, start time is when you start fishing this largely has little effect unless you start fishing late in the winter you may be fishing in darkness, you can also alter how fast time passes.

The main mode of the game is the tournament mode, once selected you will be taken to your own private room where you can make changes to your tackle box. It will be worth checking the lake information for the current conditions before packing your tackle box with season, today’s weather, water temperature and water quality all major factors on which equipment to take.

For example if the weather is cloudy and the water quality is low a bright lure will be your best option to catch the fishes eye, pressure wise if it is especially high a lighter weight fishing line is your best course of action.

Once you have entered a tournament the standings for it will be updated every 2 in game hours, pressing start will bring up how you are fairing in the tournament. Each tournament has its own set of requirements for progressing to the next tournament, should you fail to qualify this is treated as a game over, if you do qualify you will be taken straight to you private room to prepare for the next tournament.

The game has four different styles of casting with Overhead, Sidehand, Pitching and Skipping available in game, Rods the game has two groups to choose from Spinning Rods and Bait Rods, each rod has its own stats for things like minimum and maximum lure weight, and line strength.

Reels are pretty simple with either a Spinning Reel or a Bair reel to choose from, Lures are more complex, even breaking them down into the two categories of Soft and Hard lures, they range from the bland and simple lures to the more colourful and appealing lures, the latter however is more likely to cause the pressure level to rise

A handful of reviews are available for Bass Landing with the vast majority being far from a disgrace, with most in the above average range, with one review score slipping well below this. As usual though we will start with the best of them which is a close call with five reviews separated by just 7pts. The best though comes from IGN who scored Bass Landing at a solid 77.

The reviewer began by praising their fishing expertise on the PlayStation and commenting that this is the fourth fishing game they have under their belt. And the review has found that Bass Landing is best of them that are currently available. 

With the reviewer calling the game challenging, as a result of the challenge the game felt more rewarding. The review concluded by recommending the game if you are looking for a fishing game for the Playstation and recommended getting the Bass Landing controller as well.

A couple of reviews were just behind this one with each rating the game again at a solid number with both Game Revolution and Gaming Age scoring the game at a 75. Starting with Game Revolution with the reviewer calling the game an entertaining ride that falls short of greatness, the review went on to comment that the games novelty of sitting on your couch swinging a fishing poll is short lived with an aching hand, bad graphics and their fishing controller broken.

They concluded by saying the game is a good one for a fishing aficionados who is a casual gamer and is too busy to get out and fish in real life, everyone else though should wait either for the fishing game on Dreamcast or actually hit the lakes themselves.

Gaming Age found that despite a few annoyances Bass Landing offers real fisherman and newcomers alike a chance to have a realistic fishing experience from the comfort of their own home. The review also praised the Agetec controller saying almost anyone can have a good time with Bass Landing.

Dropping down to the two lowest rated reviews next, with the lowest score a 40 coming from GamePro (US) with the review commenting that any armchair anglers out their looking for a down to the details realistic fishing experience will drool all over Bass Landing, praising the multitudes of rods, reels and lures.

However they continued by saying any gamers looking for a fun, engrossing and exciting fishing experience would be better of with Sega Bass Fishing. They concluded by saying Bass Landing is just like real fishing, with all the unpleasant bits and most of the pleasant bits stripped away.

 

The next lowest review score is quite a jump up from GamePro’s with Official U.S Playstation Magazine rating the game at an above average 70. They also praised the games controller, saying it makes the long hours waiting (necessary for an accurate fishing sim) a little more bearable, with the cool looking controller with built in rumble feature.

While praising the controller they did have one qualm with it, they did find that the chord for the controller was on the short side, with caution having to be taken when casting with a risk of your Playstation flying across the room. They concluded while the game may not appeal to casual fans, who will likely prefer a more arcadey title, but sportsmen will find Bass Landing a great catch.

This is the part of 0 to Z where is visit four 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, I’ve heard they have a huge stock of older games, Ebay has now been dropped unless the game is unavailable at other retailers.

So lets get down to business with Gamedude, who have two versions of this game listed, the first is the game without the fishing controller. If you are looking to trade this into Gamedude you will get only 50 cents for the game, if on the other hand you are looking to buy a game only copy of Bass Landing you will be looking at an outlay of $4.

The second version of the game listed is the game with the Agetec fishing controller, if you are looking to trade in your copy of the game with the controller then Gamedude will pay you $10 for it. If on the other hand you are looking to buy the game with the controller, this will set you back $24.

 

Next we move on to Retrogames.co.uk who unsurprisingly don’t stock this North American and Japanese only release, so we quickly move on to eStarland.com, who have three variants of the game on offer, first up is the game itself.

Currently eStarland.com have three copies of the game on its own available, the first is a disc only copy which can be picked up for $4.37. The second copy available comes with no manual this one can be aquired for $5.96, while the final copy on offer comes without the case and can be bought for $6.36, a trade in for the game is also offered with up to $3 paid for a complete copy of the game.

The second variant on offer is the game plus the Agetec controller, which at the time of writing is currently out of stock. The game with the controller is usually available for between $24.67 and $37.95, eStarland also offer a trade in for this with up to $18 being paid for a complete copy with up to $13.50 paid if the box is missing.

Lastly eStarland.com have the Agetec fishing controller sold separately, with one controller currently on the market with them. This controller is priced up at $20, eStarland also offer a trade in for the controller with up to $6.40 paid for one.

Amazon.com up next lets start with the controller on its own, with three currently on the market, with the cheapest being a good quality used controller which will set you back $28.93 once shipping has been added in, this is a few cents cheaper than an acceptable condition controller on offer as well.

The final controller that is on offer is in very good condition but is significantly more expensive, priced at $55.24 once shipping has been factored in, Next we have the game on its own where we find not a single used copy of the game comes complete, prices for a good condition or better but incomplete copy come in at between $7 and $9.

A couple of new copies of the game are available, these come in significantly higher than the used copies with the two currently on offer priced at $89.99 and $90. In addition to the game there is also the game plus the controller copies available, you can also pick up complete copies of these as well.

A good quality and complete copy of the game and controller can be picked up for around $12, prices from this point do start to rise pretty quickly with the next good complete copy priced at $16.50, with another jump after this to $27.47, with a like new copy likely to set you back from $40 up to $45.

Written by

P J Gibbon