Virtual Fishing

Virtual Fishing
Information
Publisher	Pack-In-Video
Platform	Virtual Boy
Device	Virtual Boy
Type	Game
Genre	Fishing, Sports
Play Area	Seated
Game Mode	Single-player
Release Date	October 6, 1995 (Japan); May 14, 2026 (Nintendo Classics, Japan)
Price	5,800 yen (Japan)

Virtual Fishing (Japanese: バーチャルフィッシング) is a fishing game for Nintendo's Virtual Boy, published by Pack-In-Video and released only in Japan on 6 October 1995. The player enters timed fishing competitions along a river, casting from the bank and then fighting each hooked fish in an underwater view. THQ acquired the game for a North American release and previewed it in Nintendo Power in January 1996, but that version was cancelled.

On 14 May 2026 the game was added to the Japanese version of Nintendo's Virtual Boy service for Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack. It was not part of the five-game update released in the West on the same day.

Reviewed 13 October 2026. Release dates, publisher, price, gameplay, 3D presentation, cancelled THQ release, 2026 Japan-only Nintendo Classics release and reception checked against Nintendo, Nintendo Life, Gematsu, Denfaminicogamer, retro-gamer.jp, gavas.jp and archive.org scans of Nintendo Power, Nintendo Magazine System, Famitsu and GameFan. About review dates.

Gameplay

The main mode is a series of fishing competitions. According to a 2009 review in Nintendo Life, the game starts on a map screen showing five competition sites and a training area where the player can learn the controls; the player competes against six opponents. The UK magazine Nintendo Magazine System reported that only two locations are open at the start, and that winning a competition qualifies the player to fish at new ones. According to Nintendo, there is a competition for each type of fish.

Fishing has two stages. From the bank, the player casts a lure and reels it in slowly to attract a bite. Once the line is out, the rod and reel are shown in a small window in the corner of the screen rather than in the main view. When the rod bends, the player has to press the right trigger quickly to set the hook; if that works, the view switches to an underwater scene in which the fish is reeled in. Reeling too fast can let the fish escape, while taking too long wastes competition time. Nintendo Power described the underwater part as a side-angle view of the fish under the surface, where the player lets the fish run and then reels it in.

Each competition lasts eight minutes. Every fish landed is measured and added to the player's total, and the angler with the largest total wins. Competitors' totals are shown at the three-minute and six-minute marks, and the player can switch between two kinds of bait if the fish are not biting. Winning a competition unlocks a second mode for that site. Nintendo describes it as a time attack in which the player races to catch a set number of fish; Nintendo Life wrote that it takes place underwater with a fish already hooked and asks the player to reel in five fish as quickly as possible. Winning more trophies opens two further competitions. A free-play mode has a fishing spot with 17 species of fish, including some that cannot be caught in the competitions.

The cartridge records the player's biggest catches and has three save files. The release schedule in Famitsu listed it as a backup (save) cartridge. All text and menus are in Japanese.

Stereoscopic presentation

The game uses the Virtual Boy's red-and-black stereoscopic display. Nintendo's 2026 description says the Virtual Boy's sense of depth is used for casting in the outdoors and for the fights with fish, and notes that its screenshots are only for reference, since the game itself is shown in 3D. Nintendo Life wrote that the 3D effect "gives you a good feel for the distance between you and different objects", such as trees across the river or a distant waterfall, but that the objects themselves look very flat. It found the underwater scenes more effective, helped by fish swimming closer to or further from the player while being reeled in, but noted that the red-and-black display made most fish look alike, except the catfish. The same review regretted that the rod is not drawn in the main 3D view once the line is cast.

Development

Pack-In-Video published the game. The July 1995 issue of GameFan, in its coverage of that year's Electronic Entertainment Expo, included Virtual Fishing under Pack-In-Video in the Virtual Boy section of its software listing. Nintendo Magazine System gave the cartridge size as 8 megabits. In the release schedule of the 29 September 1995 issue of Famitsu, the game was listed for mid-October at an expected price of 5,800 yen. Nintendo's 2026 announcement lists the game under Marvelous; the copyright notices on the same page include one for Pack-In-Video dated 1995.

Release

The game came out in Japan on 6 October 1995. That was one week before I'Max released Insmouse no Yakata on 13 October.

THQ planned a North American release. Nintendo Power reported in January 1996 that THQ's acquisition group had picked up "a rare Japanese specimen called Virtual Fishing", and previewed an early version of the game. The US release was cancelled; Nintendo Life attributes this to the poor sales of the Virtual Boy.

Nintendo added the game to the Japanese Virtual Boy Nintendo Classics service on 14 May 2026, together with V-Tetris, Jack Bros., Space Invaders Virtual Collection, Virtual Bowling and Vertical Force. Outside Japan, the same update added only the other five games; Gematsu and Nintendo Life both reported Virtual Fishing as a Japan-only addition, and Nintendo Life noted that players elsewhere would need a Japanese Nintendo account to download the Japanese version of the app. The service requires a Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership and a separately sold Virtual Boy accessory for Nintendo Switch 2 and Nintendo Switch, available as a standard or a paper model.

Region	Platform	Date	Notes
Japan	Virtual Boy cartridge	6 October 1995	Published by Pack-In-Video
North America	Virtual Boy cartridge	Cancelled	Planned by THQ; previewed in Nintendo Power in January 1996
Japan	Nintendo Switch (Virtual Boy Nintendo Classics)	14 May 2026	Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack; requires the Virtual Boy accessory

Reception

In the West, the game was covered in previews and magazine features. Nintendo Power wrote that its first reaction to the early version was "No more bass, please", but that it was "pleasantly surprised", calling the game "actually fun in a mindless, fishy way" while declining to give a verdict on unfinished code. Nintendo Magazine System called the idea of console fishing "a bizarre one" and wrote that it is "incredibly easy to land 'em time and time again once you get it sussed"; it summed the game up as "One for the fish die-hards, this one."

Dave Frear of Nintendo Life gave the game 5 out of 10 ("Average") in 2009. He criticized the single competition music track as "Slightly whiney and very repetitive", the sparse sound effects and the messy graphics, and found that catching fish soon becomes easy, leaving hooking them as the only real challenge. He credited the game with keeping the player busy through its competitions, two modes and saved records, and noted that bites come often enough that there is less waiting than expected in a fishing game. In a Nintendo Life ranking of the 17 Virtual Boy games on Nintendo Switch Online, ordered by readers' user ratings and last updated in August 2026, Virtual Fishing was placed last.

Publication	Date	Type	Verdict
Nintendo Power	January 1996	Preview (THQ version)	No score; "actually fun in a mindless, fishy way"
Nintendo Magazine System (UK)	February 1996	Special feature	No score; "One for the fish die-hards"
Nintendo Life	16 April 2009	Retrospective review	5/10
Nintendo Life	August 2026	Reader-rated ranking of Nintendo Switch Online Virtual Boy games	17th of 17