Thereâs a Japanese arcade game called Fishing Spirits, that in 2019 was ported to the Switch, then released in the West as Ace Angler. It now has a sequel, and it is not your average fishing game.
Do not think of, say, Sega Bass Fishing here. This is not intended as an accurate representation of the sport/pastime of fishing. Instead, what you need to do here is imagine that Capcomâs Monster Hunter series took over management of the Animal Crossing aquarium.
Thatâs the debut trailer for Fishing Spirits: Fish & Play Aquarium, a new game that was announced in todayâs Japanese edition of the Nintendo Direct presentation.It wasnât mentioned in the Western presentation, so maybe the game is only destined for Japan, but then given Ace Anglerâs release, who knows.
It sure looks like something. Sometimes youâre just chilling, fishing for what appear to be reasonably normal fishes. Other times youâre…yanking adult Great White sharks out of the water? And fighting giant squid? And racing for your very lives against an enormous man-eater in what appears to be a cartoonish bloodsport?
Then there are minigames, and aquarium stuff (you can keep fish youâve caught to inspect them later), and that whole Animal Crossing-style avatar thing thatâs linked to a story mode, and some gacha machine elements, and look Iâm not sure what else is lurking inside this code but the giant ice-encrusted whale looks very cool.
Iâll say this now, I have never played a game in this series, and I donât know if anyone else here has either; I searched our archives and couldnât find a single mention of either the arcade or Switch versions ever being mentioned on the site. But I very much want to play this, so hereâs hoping it gets a Western release at some point in the future.
