History Main / FishingMinigame

* ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'', all versions. Some people on the AXA board would go so far as to say that fishing for coelacanths on rainy nights, along with [[VendorTrash selling the fish]] and spending the money on furniture, is the main game in ''AC'' and everything else is the side-quest. One member there claims to have bought a 1.4 million bell mansion after five to seven nights of fishing, compared to the more typical two months of growing fruit. Of course, there are NoCartoonFish, but there are cartoon frogs and octopodes. Along with regular frogs and octopodes. One can be your friendly neighbors, and the other you feed alive to a fat walrus for wallpaper. Frog and Octopus neighbors may ask you to catch a fish for them (to eat), to which you can respond by giving them a frog or octopus you fished out of the water. They have no problem eating it.

* All ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon'' games feature this trope as a fairly enjoyable but not particularly essential side activity. Occasionally fishing may trigger rewards or bonuses in the game. In ''The Island that Grows with You'' (a.k.a. ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonIslandOfHappiness Island of Happiness]]''), catching and shipping 50 fish is the only way to get a certain character to move in. In the [[VideoGame/HarvestMoon1 original game]] you could only fish in a single pond, however future games give you a fishing rod.
* ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'', all versions. Some people on the AXA board would go so far as to say that fishing for coelacanths on rainy nights, along with [[VendorTrash selling the fish]] and spending the money on furniture, is the main game in AC and everything else is the side-quest. One member there claims to have bought a 1.4 million bell mansion after five to seven nights of fishing, compared to the more typical two months of growing fruit. Of course, there are NoCartoonFish, but there are cartoon frogs and octopodes. Along with regular frogs and octopodes. One can be your friendly neighbors, and the other you feed alive to a fat walrus for wallpaper. Frog and Octopus neighbors may ask you to catch a fish for them (to eat), to which you can respond by giving them a frog or octopus you fished out of the water. They have no problem eating it.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening'', for the UsefulNotes/GameBoy, is the first in the series to feature a fishing minigame. The remake on the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch would flesh it out a bit and add the ability to catch [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Bloopers and Cheep Cheeps]].

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening'', for the UsefulNotes/GameBoy, is the first in the series to feature a fishing minigame.

-->'''Noctis Lucis Caelum''', ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'' (and ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasyNT'')

The land equivalent is GameHuntingMechanic.

Fishing minigames also occasionally appear in Western games, mainly those that fall on the more "simulationist" side of the "game"/"simulation" line. Something about fishing is impossibly tempting to simulationists. They're obviously [[{{Pun}} addicted]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Addicted_to_Bass to bass]]. Or maybe they just enjoy boredom. Who knows?

* Many ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' players found Big the Cat's fishing-based story [[ScrappyMechanic annoying]]. It was also shorter than the other modes and had little relevance to the plot.

* Some minigames of this type are present in the ''VideoGame/MarioParty'' games.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' required the player to catch and feed fish to the game's Cid. Feeding him slow fish would kill him rapidly. Moderately speedy fish would also kill him, just more slowly. The only way to save Cid is by a steady diet of fast fish. However, whether he lives or dies makes no difference to the plot, except for character development for Celes. If he dies, however, Celes is DrivenToSuicide via a LeapOfFaith over Cid's death.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' had a fishing minigame, notable because its completion was one of the conditions needed to obtain the Wrymhero Blade, arguably one of the [[InfinityPlusOneSword most powerful weapons in the game]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Summon Night Swordcraft Story 2}}'' has this as a minigame. You can gain points which can be traded for hard-to-find items.

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' has fishing as a craft skill.
** Also, since fishing requires actually equipping a fishing pole, some players keep one equipped at other times as a SelfImposedChallenge or perhaps for the purpose of CherryTapping weaker enemies in a humorous way (though there's also a large fish one can catch that is also equippable, with largely the same results). Before the weapon skill nerf, it was possible for a maxed fishing skill to make your fishing pole an unusually deadly weapon for its level.
** So does ''VideoGame/{{Runescape}}'', but it has a fishing-based minigame too.
** And ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'', which introduced a minor minigame aspect in an attempt to ward off botters. It didn't work, as a botter could simply hack the client and tell the server they mined a fish, and the server gleefully gives it to them every time.
** ''City of Heroes'' does ''not'' have a fishing minigame, however perhaps as a parody it has a fishing emote.
** ''VideoGame/UltimaOnline'' has a full regular skill for fishing.
** ''VideoGame/EverQuest'' lets you fish, but tries its hardest to avoid letting to make money off it.
** The 1.8 patch for ''VideoGame/{{Rift}}'' added a new Fishing skill and a companion Survival skill. You can make cakes with some of the fish.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'' was going to have a fishing minigame, but it was dropped during development. The UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS VideoGameRemake would later bring it back. It's the most elaborate one yet, with a wide variety of fish to catch, and two separate locations (the Swamp and the Ocean), each of which have fish that can't be found in the other. Many fish require use of the transformation masks or other masks to find or catch.

* ''Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles'' has a minigame where you have to pull he analog stick in the direction of an arrow to pull the fish toward you.

* The ''Franchise/{{Suikoden}}'' series has fishing minigames, that double as ways to collect special items and armor (or worthless junk like old shoes.) Of particular note is ''VideoGame/SuikodenV'', where it takes the form of a competition between [[TheHero the Prince]], Subala, [[BumblingDad Logg]] and Lun. Notably, it doesn't really matter if you win or lose the contest; you keep everything you caught regardless.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'' was going to have a fishing minigame, but it was dropped during development. The UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS VideoGameRemake would later bring it back.

* This is the entire point of the ''River King'' series, which is the sister series to ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon''.

* Many ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' players found Big the Cat's fishing-based story [[ScrappyMechanic annoying]]. It was shorter than the other modes and had little relevance to the plot.

* All ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon'' games feature this trope as a fairly enjoyable but not particularly essential side activity. Occasionally fishing may trigger rewards or bonuses in the game. In ''The Island that Grows with You'' (a.k.a. ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonIslandOfHappiness Island of Happiness]]''), catching and shipping 50 fish is the only way to get a certain character to move in. In the [[VideoGame/HarvestMoon1 original game]] you could only fish in a single pond however future games give you a fishing rod.

* ''VideoGame/{{Skylanders}} SWAP Force'' has a fishing minigame. It's first introduced in an early level, where you must capture piranhas to make a river safe. It pops up in a few main and side areas after that, and a fishing hole gets added to [[TheHub Woodburrow]] so you can play it any time you like.

* Fishing makes up a MiniGame for most of the ''BreathOfFire'' games. At one point, if you get a strong enough rod, you can actually snag treasure chests, or even fish-creatures named Manillos, who sell you stuff and usually [[YourMoneyIsNoGoodHere charge you fish]].

** So does ''VideoGame/{{Runescape}}'', but it has fishing-based minigame too.

** VideoGame/UltimaOnline has a full regular skill for fishing.
** VideoGame/EverQuest lets you fish, but tries its hardest to avoid letting to make money off it.
** The 1.8 patch for Rift added a new Fishing skill and a companion Survival skill. You can make cakes with some of the fish.

* ''VideoGame/SummonNight: Swordcraft Story 2'' has this as a minigame. You can gain points which can be traded for hard to find items.

* ''VideoGame/TheSims: Castaway'' for the [=PS2=], PSP and DS all have fishing "mini-games". On the [=PS2=] your sim stands next to a school of fish with a spear, then has to wait for a fish to jump into the air in order to stab a fish. On the DS the scene actually changes to a mini-game where you stab the fish with your stylus. Not sure about the PSP version.

* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy Fables: ChocobosDungeon'' allows you to catch fish. Your storage increases each time you bring a species to the fat chocobo who holds your items for the first time; any others are VendorTrash.