Virtual Fishing

******************************************************************************* Virtual Fishing for Virtual Boy FAQ by BHodges Version 1.1 Created 05/25/03 Updated 09/18/08 This document Copyright 2003-2008 by Brian Hodges. This FAQ is not to be posted without explicit permission by me. All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. ******************************************************************************* Table of Contents I. Introduction II. Adjusting the Virtual Boy III. Automatic Pause IV. Getting Started V. How to Fish VI. Location Information A. Location A B. Location B C. Location C D. Location D E. Location E F. Location F G. Location G H. Location H VII. My Best Records VIII. Game Review IX. Special Thanks X. Version History XI. Contact Information ******************************************************************************* I. Introduction This is a FAQ for the Virtual Boy game Virtual Fishing. It contains fishing instructions and a mini-review. ******************************************************************************* II. Adjusting the Virtual Boy If you have never used a Virtual Boy before, here is how to adjust the screen. On the screen that says 'Virtual Boy' and has squares in the corners, turn the dial on top until you can see all four squares. Then use the sliding bar until the screen is in focus. ******************************************************************************* III. Automatic Pause If you turn this on, the game will automatically pause after you have been playing for a while so you can rest your eyes. ******************************************************************************* IV. Getting Started Nearly everything in this game is in Japanese. This FAQ should help you navigate the menus. Fortunately, the game uses Arabic numerals, so you can still play this game if you don't know any Japanese. On the title screen press the start button. You will now be on the player select screen. The first three boxes are for selecting a save file. The bottom one show high scores. To view high scores, select the bottom box. You will be presented with eight choices. Press A to view a category, then press B to go back. Press B to return to the player select screen when you are finished. Press up and down on the left control pad to highlight a file and press A to select it. A blank box has no saved data in it. If you select a blank one, you will be taken to the name registration screen. You will have to press A to go past the empty trophy screen. On the name registration screen, use the left control pad to highlight a character, A to select it, and B to move back a space. Move down to the lower right symbol and press A to end. You can only enter your name using the Hiragana syllabary. If you are curious to know what the symbols are in Roman letters: A KA SA TA NA HA MA YA RA I KI SHI CHI NI HI MI YU RI U KU SU TSU NU FU MU YO RU E KE SE TE NE HE ME WA RE O KO SO TO NO HO MO N RO The other 14 symbols on the right side are used to make additional sounds when combined with some of the other syllables. This is the full extent of my knowledge of the Japanese language, so please don't send me emails asking what the people are saying, because I don't know! After you have finished entering your name, a box will pop-up asking for your gender. Choose the top choice for male, the bottom for female. Your name will now have either the 'shield and spear' or 'hand mirror' symbol after your name and you will have the "correct" portrait. You will now be back at the trophy screen and can now play. You win a trophy at a location when you win the tournament there. You can only win one trophy for each location. Winning trophies opens up more locations where you can fish. You will have four options on the left to choose from. The first option lets you play, the second one shows your high scores. The third will show your fishing history, and the fourth lets you clear the current save slot. The fishing history shows the different type of fish you have caught at location "D". Be sure to use the menu to exit after you are done at "D" then fish at another location so that your data will be saved. After you select the fourth option, a box will pop-up. Choose the first option to erase the data in the save slot, choose the second one to cancel. After you choose to play, you will be taken to the overview screen. See the How to Fish section for more info on what to do here. ******************************************************************************* V. How to Fish The overview screen shows a map of the area. You will see several fishing lures, these represent the locations where you can fish. It looks something like this (the letters are my own labeling system, you will only see lures): A B C D E G F H Move the fish icon to a lure and press A. You will see a pop-up screen. Before you win the trophy for that location, you will only have one option available, tournament. After you win the trophy, a second option will be available, time attack. In tournament mode, you compete against six computer opponents to see who can catch the longest total length of fish. In time attack, you will start with a fish already hooked, your goal is to bring in five as quickly as possible without breaking the line. Please note that location "D" is for filling your book, you will be able to fish for as long as you want, but won't be able to win a trophy. You will not get location "G" until after you have won three trophies and location "H" until you have won six. After you select tournament, you will see a guy and a lot of Japanese text, you will see an eight in one line, then another number followed by cm in another line. I am not sure but I believe these are the time limit and the minimum total length of fish you need to win the tournament. You can hold down the Start button to speed through the text. After the text, you will go to your fishing spot and it will say start. You have eight minutes to fish. After every three minutes, a screen will pop-up showing how your opponents are doing. Press B to make this screen go away. The timer stops while these screens are up. Sometimes after you catch a fish or break your line, your opponents will say something to you. I am not sure if they are giving you advice, compliments, or insults, or all three. Press B to make the text go away. If you press select while the rod is not showing, you will get a menu screen. The first option will show you the number of fish you have caught, the length of the longest one, and the total length you have caught. The second option will change your current lure. There are only two lures and I haven't seen any difference between the two, so I usually stick with the default one. The last option is to quit the tournament and return to the overview screen. If you select this option, you will get an are you sure? box. Choose the left option to quit and the right option to cancel. Here is how to fish: Press A to cast your line. You can use the left control pad to control the direction of the cast, but I don't see any difference in the amount of fish you catch, so I just cast straight out. Hold down A to reel it in. You will now see your rod in the upper left corner. When it bends, a fish is nibbling at your lure. Press R when the rod is bending to hook the fish. The best time to press R varies on the fish, which in turn vary in location. If you miss, the rod will go up straight, if you got him, the rod will stay bent and you will switch to the underwater view. All you need to do here is to hold A when the fish is not fighting(he will be stopped and when you reel him in, his whole body will face right). When he fights, let go of A and let him run until he stops, then hold down A again. If you reel in while the fish is fighting, your line may break. After you bring the fish to the surface, he will be measured and you can then continue casting. After the eight minutes have elapsed, the words "Time Up" will appear. You will then see a screen with a waterfall and fish above seven portraits (your portrait is in the middle). The fish that reaches the top first belongs to the person who caught the longest total length of fish and wins the tournament. ******************************************************************************* VI. Location Information Listed below is information for each fishing location. I would recommend starting with location "A" first. Except for "D", every location only has one type of fish. A B C D E G F H ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A. Location A Available: At the beginning of the game. Goal: 250 cm Best way to hook a fish: Press R as soon as the rob bends. This is the easiest location to catch fish. They are easy to hook and reel in. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- B. Location B Available: At the beginning of the game. Goal: 260 cm Best way to hook a fish: Press R when the rod is straightening up after the large bend. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- C. Location C Available: At the beginning of the game. Goal: 320 cm Best way to hook a fish: Press R during the second large bend of the rod. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- D. Location D Available: At the beginning of the game. Goal: Best way to hook a fish: Varies This location is different from the rest. Here there is no time limit, you fish as long as you want. The goal here is to fill up your fishing book located on the trophy screen. The book has a total of 18 slots. Please note that in order for your fish to be saved, before you turn off the power, you must use the menu to quit fishing at "D" and then play in a tournament or time attack at one of the other locations. Just go to spot "A" and play a quick time attack. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- E. Location E Available: At the beginning of the game. Goal: 350 cm Best way to hook a fish: Press R during the large bend of the rod. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- F. Location F Available: At the beginning of the game. Goal: 220 cm Best way to hook a fish: Press R while the rod is still bent a little after the large bend. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- G. Location G Available: After you win three trophies. Goal: 340 cm Best way to hook a fish: Press R when the rod bends the second time. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- H. Location H Available: After you win six trophies. Goal: 370 cm Best way to hook a fish: Press R after the fourth bend of the rod. After you win the tournament here, you will see the ending. To see the ending again, you just have to win the tournament here again. On the high scores screen, there is a place for a time attack time for this location, but I don't have that option when I select that location and have no idea how to unlock it. ******************************************************************************* VII. My Best Records ----------------------------------------------------------------- | |Most |Longest |Longest |Best | |Location |Fish |Fish |Total Length |Time Attack | | | | | | | |A |21 |37.0 cm |470.0 cm |1'13"2 | |---------|---------|-----------|----------------|--------------| |B |12 |32.9 cm |311.7 cm |2'34"1 | |---------|---------|-----------|----------------|--------------| |C |16 |37.9 cm |452.4 cm |2'14"4 | |---------|---------|-----------|----------------|--------------| |E |15 |38.7 cm |396.0 cm |1'38"7 | |---------|---------|-----------|----------------|--------------| |F |10 |33.2 cm |251.5 cm |2'22"1 | |---------|---------|-----------|----------------|--------------| |G |12 |56.3 cm |549.2 cm |3'45"0 | |---------|---------|-----------|----------------|--------------| |H | 8 |76.1 cm |517.8 cm |?'??"? | ----------------------------------------------------------------- I have 8 of the 18 fish in my book. ******************************************************************************* VIII. Game Review This is an enjoyable game, the more I play, the more I like it. While fishing (both real and in video game form) might not be for everyone, you should give this game a try. Pros - Addictive gameplay. - Some of the graphics look pretty good. - Winning trophies, unlocking new locations, and trying to fill up the fishing book add to the replay value. - The game has a battery backup and saves all of your scores. Cons - The game could use a little more variety. - Once you get the hang of it, the game feels a little too easy. - The fish animation could be a little more fluid. - Nearly all text is in Japanese, this game would more than likely be better if I knew what they were saying! ******************************************************************************* IX. Special Thanks Special Thanks go to siffer_king for his emails about the game. ******************************************************************************* X. Version History 1.0 05/25/03 Created FAQ. 1.1 09/18/08 Expanded Table of Contents and section labels. Made some formatting changes. Updated How to Fish section. ******************************************************************************* XI. Contact Information You can contact me at Bhodges080@aol.com I would appreciate hearing what you thought of this guide and any thoughts you have for improving it. Be sure to let me know if I have missed anything. Please don't send me emails asking for translations, because as I mentioned before, I can't read Japanese and have no idea what is being said beyond what I have mentioned in the FAQ. Also keep in mind I had to figure all of this out myself, so I may have made some mistakes. ******************************************************************************* End