Sea Bass Fishing - Strategy v. 1.0
Written by Magnus Andersson, in May 2002
rubens.barrichello@swipnet.se
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/8867
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Introduction
------------

This document is the strategy of the game Sea
Bass Fishing for Sega Saturn. I will try to
guide you in this strategy how to get the largest
fishes, what lures to use etc. Please note that
my English is far from perfect (I´m from Sweden),
but I have tried
my best. :)

You may spread and copy this document in any
way you like, and you may upload it anywhere on
the Internet, as long as you don´t make any
changes to it, and as long as you don´t sell it
for own profit. Feel free to mail me with your
comments and questions. :)

This document is split into 5 sections:

1. Introduction (you are reading it now)
2. Fishing-control
3. The tides and weather
4. Tournament Mode
5. Free Fishing Mode


2. Fishing control
------------------

When you are standing on the boat, you can
move either left or right to move the boat
in these directions. When you feel satisifed
with the boat's position, press the C-button
to activate the "power" which indicates how far
away from the boat you will throw the
fishing-wire. Press C-button again when you
feel that the right power is on (the best
thing to do is to press the C-button when your
power is at maximum). When the lure has landed
in the water, use the C-button to pull the wire,
and use the L and R buttons to increase or
decrease your speed of pulling the wire (there
are five speed levels available, and this is
indicated in the left part of the screen, with
the green dots). When a fish is approaching, the
camera switches to the water and you will see the
fish approaching the lure. In the very moment as
it bites, press the B-button to hook the fish to
your lure (you need to time this right, to press
the button in the right moment). If you succeed,
the lure will remain still, and you can start
pulling the fish back to the boat. If you fail,
the lure will start vibrating a bit, which means
that the fish is not hooked on too well (the more
it vibrates, the higher risk it will be that you
lose the fish. If the game starts to beep, the fish
could break free from the lure any second). The
risk becomes higher that you lose the fish if the
tension is too low. Avoid this by pulling the wire
at maximum speed (switch this with the L R
buttons). But be careful meanwhile so that the
tension doesn't become too high. If the tension
is at maximum and you still are pulling the wire,
the line will break, and you lose the fish, and of
course, the lure. You only have 12 lures per day,
so don't waste them.

As you are fishing, it is possible that your fish
starts jumping in and out of the water of the
surface. This makes the tension very low, which
could cause you losing the fish. To avoid this,
press "down" on the joypad. If the fish is only
splashing around on the surface, press "up".

As you are fishing, it will also happen very often
that the fish will pull the wire away from the boat.
As it does so, don't pull the wire. The fish will
eventually get tired, and then you can pull the wire
back again. Sometimes the fish pull the wire up to
15 metres at once, sometimes it pulls the wire 3x5m,
but it is unusual that it would pull the wire more than
15 metres totally. A good thing to remember about this
is, that the more the fish is pulling the wire, the
larger fish it will be. You will fight with these
fishes for longer time, so be patient.

When the line is 0.0 metres, the camera switches
back automatically, and the fish is yours.

When you are standing on the boat, you can also
press the A-button to get advise from your
captain, to change lure, and go to the options
inside the boat.

Inside the boat, you can decide if you want to
move the boat to another location, or to go back
to the harbour. You can also listen to the radio
and get a weather broadcast, and also get a clue
about how your rivals are doing (in the tournaments).
You can also check your personal records. You can also
sleep for an hour, if the situation seems hopeless and
you want to try an hour later (this option is also used
for cheating in the second and third tournament, read
on).


3. The tides and weather
------------------------

Before that you start your fishing, you will get a
report about the weather and the tides. To tell the
truth, I can't say very well what the idealistic
weather and tide conditions are, but I have at least
gotten my best results when the weather is cloudy,
with or without rain. 


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4. TOURNAMENT MODE
------------------

Amateur Tournament
------------------

This tournament lasts for one day only, and the
rules are simple. Catch as much fish as you can
during the day (only Sea Bass and Hirasuzuki
counts). The tournament begins at 5:30am and
ends at 6:00pm. For every minute you would stay
out after 6:00pm, you will get a penalty of
1 kilo, so be sure to be back in time (and that
you also have enough time to go back to the
harbour. You captain will warn you when there
is not much time left). If you are more than
30 minutes delayed, you are disqualified.

When you select in which area to fish, chose
the left area. Go through the rules that also
are displayed on the screen, choose your
captain (it doesn't matter which captain you
chose, the choice is all yours). Leave the
lures as they are, there is no need to change
them. When your captain asks where you should
start fishing, select the very north option
(it takes 12 minutes to go there), and start
fishing among the reeds on the very left side.
This place is a usually a great place to get
large fishes. Use your default lure, throw it
out as far to the left as possible, and start
collecting your fishes... :) The beginning hours
are of great importance, as the fish often is
very active at this time, so be sure to catch
as much as possible. Catching larger fishes
later during the day is usually harder (it
becomes slightly easier again in the evening).

Later on in the morning, between 07.00-08.00 when
the fish isn't very active, use a "floating" lure,
which will sink a bit as you pull the
fishing-wire. After 08.00, try a "silent
vibration" lure, and reel at speed 2. Later, at
around 11:00, try a lure from the bottom row of
your lure box, fish a bit deeper and keep speed 2.
Later during the afternoon, try fishing high up
in the water, and keep your speed at 3-4.

It is enough to finish in the top three in this
competition. If you manage to get 100-105 kilo of
fish during the day, you should have nothing to
worry about. But if you want to be sure to win
the tournament, you should try to get around
125 kilo.


Top Pro Tournament
------------------

This tournament lasts for three days. You are
supposed to catch as large fishes as possible
during these days. The five largest fishes
each day will be the fishes that will count
for the tournament. When the tournament is
over, there will be a calculation of the total
weight of the largest fishes (which would be
fifteen fishes, during three days). The one
who has caught the biggest fishes is the
winner. As we are talking about large fishes,
the length of the fishes is of no importance,
only the weight counts). The tournament begins
everyday at 5:30am and ends at 6:00pm. For
every minute you would stay out after 6:00pm,
you will get a penalty of 1 kilo, so be sure
to be back in time. If you are more than 30
minutes delayed, you are disqualified.

For this tournament I found a place which is
close to perfect for fishing, no matter what
the weather is like. When the capatain asks
you where to go in the morning, select the
north-west corner between the bridges (it
takes 8 minutes to go there). When you are
there, steer the boat to the right as far
as possible. Equip any lure that doesn't sink
as you reel it back. Now, throw out the line
at maximum power, straight out, and pull at
normal speed, and keep your lure close to the
surface. At this place you should get plenty
of Sea Basses of various sizes, everything up
to 12 kilo. This is probably the best place
to get fishes in this tournament.

Again, it is enough to finish in the top three
in this competition. If you manage to get a
total of 120-135 kilo of fish during the
tournament (about 40-45 kilos per day), you
should have enough to qualify for the final
tounament. But if you want to be sure to win
the tournament, you should try to get
around 140 kilo (47-50 kilo per day).

How to cheat this tournament
----------------------------

There is also a cheating way to make this
tournament a bit easier, but it requires
that you catch several large fishes during
the first hours everyday. You could feel
very satisfied when you have about 45 kilo
of fish. When you have that much, head to
the harbour. When the results of the day
are shown, make sure that the fisher who
is in second place hasn't gotten more than
40-42 kilos. If he has gotten more than that,
press RESET *immediately* on your Saturn (or
press ABC+START) and restore the game from the
point where you saved the game last time (the
game saves everytime when you either move the
boat, or catch a fish). Go to the harbour
again and see if there is a bigger gap to the
fisher who is in second place (the results are
different everytime). When you are satisfied
with the gap, continue on to the next day and
repeat this sequence for day two. By saving
the game at the right time during these two
days, you would well get a pretty large gap
of 10-15 kilos (or perhaps even more), and that
will make your third day a lot easier. If you
have a separate back-up memory cartridge, I
advise you to make a back-up everyday during
the tournament, in case you would make any
saving mistake later on during the day.


The Sea Bass Classic
--------------------

The final tournamnent. This tournament is
undoubtedly the hardest one, but that's just
how it is supposed to be. This tournament lasts
for three days as the previous tournament, but
in this competition, you only have to catch one
large fish. The fisher who has gotten the
largest Sea Bass during these three days is
the winner. And you really have to win, this
time, a second or third place is not enough, so
you really need a large fish. The size of your
fish has to be at least 155 cm to have a fair
chance to win (the size is the only thing that
matters, the weight matters nothing). To have
a great chance to win, your fish has to be
158-160 cm. And that's almost insanely hard...

The tournament begins everyday at 5:30am and
ends at 6:00pm. For every minute you would
stay out after 6:00pm, you will get a penalty
of 1 cm, so be sure to be back in time. If
you are more than 30 minutes delayed, you are
disqualified.

There is not much advise I can give about this
tournament, except that I never have been able
to get such a large fish at the surface. And
sometimes I feel that all kinds of fishes are
biting *except* for Sea Basses. That is very
frustrating, and when that happens, the best
thing you can do is to move to a new place and
use another lure. Another frustrating thing is
that there are plenty of fishes of the size
140-150 cm, but much less of larger fishes. If
you for example would get 10 fishes of the size
of 145 cm, it would be much better to get a
single one of the size 150 cm...

Overall, it is simply more a matter of luck
than skill to find the legendary sea bass
which will make you the winner of this
tournament. This legendary bass could more
or less be anywhere, so I'm afraid there is
not much more I can say...except for...

GOOD LUCK!!

How to cheat this tournament
----------------------------

Good idea! Since this tournament is so hard...
As I wrote above, you would need a fish which
would be of a size of 158-160 cm, but by
saving the game in the right moment, you can
win this tournament with a smaller fish. Fish
around til that you get a fish which has the
size of at least 147 cm and make sure
meanwhile that nobody else has gotten any
larger fish (check this on the radio inside
the boat). Go to sleep for an hour and check
the radio again that nobody has gotten any
larger fish than yours. If nobody has beaten
you yet, move your boat to another location,
but make sure that a new hour won't begin as
you move the boat (if you move the boat when
the clock switch to a new full hour, the game
will save as usual, but then there is also a
risk that somebody else has gotten a larger
fish meanwhile, and then your fish is useless.
In other words: You have to start over again!
So be careful!). The game will save again.
Do this again and again hour by hour till
that it is time to go to the harbour. When
the results are shown, if you are not in the
first place, reset the game *immediately* and
restore the game from the point where you saved
last time, and go to the harbour again. If you
are in first place on the other hand, go on to
the second day and continue through the second
and third day the same way. I strongly suggest
you to get a fish of at least 147 cm, because
if your fish is smaller, somebody else will
get a larger fish almost every hour, which
makes this procedure almost a hopeless one.
Naturally, the larger fish you have gotten,
the easier it will be to perform this
cheat. :) Again, I advise you to make a
back-up everyday during the tournament
(in case you do have a save back-up cartrdige),
in case you would make any saving mistake
later on during the day.


5. FREE FISHING MODE
--------------------

First of all you will chose what fish you
want to fish for during the day. The bartender
will suggest what fish you should go for. When
you are done with that, chose your captain
(again, it makes no difference which captain
you chose) and area where you want to go
fishing. If you play for the first time, there
is only one area where you can go. You will
get better equipment to access the other
areas by getting larger fishes with special
tags. Some fishes have a red tag, and some
have a yellow one. A red tag gives you a new
set of lures and the yellow one gives you a
better fishing-rod. The yellow tag gives you
access to a new area. The yellow tag is harder
to get than the red one. You will recieve your
prize when you go back to the harbour. 

Just as you are about to leave, another guy
shows up and asks if he can tag along on
your trip. If you accept that he tags along,
say "yes". He will give you (useless) comments
while you are fishing. If you find this
disturbing, don't let him come with you. I
leave this option to you. It makes to change to
the game itself if he tags along or not.

When it is getting late in the evening, you will
be brought back automatically to the harbour
(there are of course no penalities in this game
mode). If you have caught a lot of fish during
the day (like 50 kilos), the bartender will
cook the fish and you will see your meal on a
plate (some dishes look really taste, but a few
look disgusting! For example I once got nothing
but a fish-head on my plate...) This is the only
sort of "ending" you can get in the Free Fishing
Mode.


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I hope that this strategy has been able to
help you a little bit.
Other walkthroughs/strategies I have written are:

(Sega Saturn)
* Guardian Heroes
* Mystaria - The Realms of Lore
* Shining Wisdom
* Sea Bass Fishing 2

(Sega Dreamcast)
* Who wants to be a millionaire?

(Sega Arcade)
* Emergency Call Ambulance

(Sega Mega CD)
* Prince of Persia

(Sega Game Gear)
* Tails Adventure


If you are interested in reading any of these,
just e-mail me. :)

Best of luck, I wish you! :)

Magnus Andersson
rubens.barrichello@swipnet.se