Ever since the SNES era of gaming, it has been normalized for game developers to include some form of fishing in their video games, more often than not giving it its own minigame that the player can engage with at any time. As gaming has grown and more developers have hit the scene, it has become a joke that all games need fishing minigames. With hundreds of these minigames on the market, it’s only natural to ask: which is the best?
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Judging which fishing minigame is the best can be a near-impossible task because nearly every JRPG and open-world game contains one that would require comparing and contrasting hundreds of minigames. However if one judges them based on qualities such as how the minigame plays, how it tries to make the player feel, and how many fish can be caught; then it can become possible to form a cohesive list of the best fishing minigames across gaming.
10Tales of Arise
Perfect JRPG Fishing
There was no way this list would begin with any genre other than a JRPG, as fishing minigames have become this genre’s bread and butter. It’s a shock it took until 2021’s Tales of Arise for theTales Offranchise to finally add one of Its own. This minigame sees the party member Kisara travel the globe in order to catch 42 different species of fish.
Unlike most fishing minigames in gaming, the type of fish you’ll obtain here isn’t determined by any RNG, but rather the combination of buttons you press after casting your line. Different combinations of buttons in addition to the pond you’re fishing in will determine what you catch. This very unique style of fishing easily secures Tales of Arise a placement on this list. It only falls this low because each other entry had an extra bit of flair going for it.
9Sonic Frontiers
Big’s Redemption Arc
Not even the fastest thing alive is immune to slowing down and doing some relaxing fishing. TheSonicfranchise first introduced fishing in 1998’s Sonic Adventure. At the time it was lambasted by many people, but as time moved on and nostalgia for Big the Cat grew, Sega would please fans by implementing a fishing mechanic into Sonic Frontiers.
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While the fishing in Sonic Frontiers is simplistic (only requiring players to pass a single QTE), it makes up for that simplicity via comedy. Seeing Sonic the Hedgehog become elated over fishing up a large tire or other trash is priceless and makes this minigame worth playing. The fact that it’s also the easiest way to grind currency in Frontiers also helps, though. It must, however, still rank low on this list due to not having much going for it in the gameplay department.
8Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot
Cha-La-Fish-Cha-La
What’s more entertaining than watching Sonic the Hedgehog fish? Watching Goku fish, of course! 2020’sDragon BallZ: Kakarot put a lot of focus on the non-combat parts of the Dragon Ball universe which of course includes Goku fishing for food. This minigame takes advantage of Goku’s prosthetic tail, which the player must wiggle around in the water until a fish bites it.
Once a fish takes the bait (of which there are several varieties you can use), the player must pass two QTEs where Goku will launch the fish out of the water and punch it, of course. While the minigame itself is super simplistic, the mere sight of Goku taking it easy and spending the day fishing is lovely and entertaining enough to earn it a slot on this list. Albeit a low slot as there isn’t a wide variety of fish to catch.
7Tokyo Xanadu Ex+
Stole its Fishing Minigame
Everyone loves the fishing minigame from Trails of Cold Steel, so how could it be made better? By adding an arcade scoring system to it, of course! Another Falcom game, Tokyo Xanadu Ex+ takes that beloved minigame and remixes it with a new flair. Because this minigame is located in the arcade, players will have to spend a certain amount of coins per cast. From there on, luck (and correctly passing a QTE) determines what fish you’ll receive.
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This minigame is downright addicting as the more you fish, the higher your odds of catching a rare fish become. Because rare fish reward you with more coins, this can quickly turn into a gambling addiction. This is also unfortunately why this minigame falls low on this list. The fun of it comes more from the gambling than the fishing itself, which is what this list ranks on.
6Fire Emblem: Engage
Become the Fish Emblem
As theFire Emblemfranchise has pushed further away from being a pure strategy combat based series and added more Persona-lite elements, it was only inevitable that the series would soon add fishing minigames. While the minigame in Fire Emblem: Three Houses became a popular meme, the one that will be highlighted in this list will be the one from Fire Emblem: Engage.
The minigame itself is simplistic like most fishing minigames, as all you’ll need to do is hold your analog stick in the opposite direction of the fish while you mash the A button to reel them in. Once you obtain the fish, there also isn’t much you can do with it other than sell it. Considering how rare money is in a Fire Emblem game, though, that’s a valuable purpose. Not enough to prevent it from ranking low on this list, though. Perhaps the only reason it made it on here at all is that the minigame involves the recurring Fire Emblem character Anna.
Horses aren’t the only animals in this title
Red Dead Redemption2 is a rare example of an American-developed game including an in-depth fishing mechanic. The minigame’s placement in this game also makes complete sense, however, as an outlaw like Arthur Morgan would need some way to acquire food. It also plays much differently from most other fishing minigames. As this game requires you to press down the L2 button to aim and the R2 button to cast your line, keeping your index fingers in that position while requiring you to rotate the left analog stick to reel in the fish.
This unique control scheme prevents the player from burning the palm of their hand Mario Party-style, which is a cool consideration from Rockstar Ganes. Unfortunately, Red Dead Redemption 2’s fishing minigame must only place in the middle of this list due to only having 12 varieties of fish, a tiny number compared to upcoming entries.
4Like a Dragon: Ishin
Join the Shinsenfishy
The Like a Dragon (formerly known as Yakuza) franchise is no stranger to fishing minigames as every entry in this franchise since Yakuza 3 has included fishing in some shape or form. While the fishing minigames and how they play have varied widely in each entry, it’s hard to deny that Like a Dragon Ishin’s is the best of them all. While the gameplay of this minigame may seem simplistic at first, inky requiring you to cast your line and click the X button once a fish bites it, there’s a shocking amount of unseen depth to this minigame. If a Samurai can fish this well, then one can only imagehow well a Pirate will do.
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While there are only a few set types of shadows in the water, fish in Ishin aren’t determined by an unseen RNG factor, but rather by the type of shadow and position in the water. For example, a large shadow in the top right of the water will always be the same type of fish no matter how many times you cast your line. With a lack of RNG, grinding out the dozens of fish types located in this game can be quite fun as you remember how to catch each specific type of fish, easily securing a placement near the top of this list.
3Final Fantasy XIV
Storm of Fish. Born from Fish
Of course, an MMO with over ten years of content has fishing, it would be stranger if Final Fantasy XIV didn’t have fishing. While the fishing mechanics in this game at a glance appear to work the same as any otherFinal Fantasy XIV Job, leveling up makes it clear that the fishing system in XIV is far more complex than one would imagine. With mechanics like mooching, double hooking and snagging, one may need an entire flowchart document to figure out how to catch certain fish in Final Fantasy XIV.
The variety in fishing doesn’t end at the mechanics involved in it, though, as the locations you can fish in Final Fantasy XIV are also extremely varied. In no other game can you fish in a volcano or on the moon? Each new expansion for Final Fantasy XIV adds more depth to the fishing experience and that’s more than enough to place this game high on the list.
Have you seen any Fishers?
The Shenmue franchise has always prided itself on being an immersive experience where players can get lost in the details of the world. So it was only natural that Shenmue 3 would add to this immersion by introducing a fishing minigame. With 17 unique fishing spots and nearly 20 species of fish to catch and realistic legal fishing hours of 10 AM to 6 PM, Shenmue 3 offers an incredibly immersive fishing experience.
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There’s tons of enjoyment to be had simply taking in the scenery, wasting hours fulfilling weird requests for NPCs or even just fishing in Shenmue III.
The minigame itself involves rotating the right analog stick as fast as possible in order to reel in the fish. It’s nothing too fancy, but Shenmue as a franchise is all about immersion and relaxation, so a lack of excitement isn’t a factor against it. Shenmue 3’s fishing minigame is one of the best in gaming, but it just barely misses out on the number 1 slot because another game put in an entire fishing game as a minigame.
Just don’t do what I did and go for the catch 1,000 fish trophy in Shenmue 3. It took me an entire week of irl time to catch enough!
1Final Fantasy XV
Fishing for Fans and First Timers
Topping this list is a game that featured so much fishing that later patches made loving fish a key element of the main character’s personality: Final Fantasy XV. This minigame has everything you could ask for from fishing. Bait, lines, lures, multiple buttons for reeling, and even QTEs as the fish attempt to escape from you. The true magic of the minigame though is exactly how many fish exist in it.
While many fishing minigames are content with having anywhere between a dozen or twenty fish, Final Fantasy XV goes many steps beyond what is expected, featuring 109 different fish for Noctis to catch. With the large amount of locations you can go fishing combined with this obscene number of fish, Final Fantasy XV stretches the definition of minigame as far as possible. With dozens upon dozens of hours worth of fishing contained in this game, it’s hard to argue against Final Fantasy XV having the greatest fishing minigame ever.
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