Blue Marlin is basically Black Bass but with way more going on—better graphics, smarter fish, and this weirdly satisfying equipment system where you actually feel like you’re prepping for a real fishing trip. You start by picking your gear (rods, lures, the works), then head out to troll the open ocean. The fish fight back harder here—some of them will straight-up ignore your bait unless you’ve got the right setup.

Once you hook something, it’s a battle of stamina. Your character has a vitality meter that drains as you reel, so you’ve gotta time your button presses or you’ll burn out before landing anything decent. The tournaments get brutal fast—those marlin don’t mess around. First time I played, I lost three in a row before realizing I needed heavier line. Classic NES "figure it out the hard way" energy.

It’s janky in that old-school way where the controls take some getting used to, but when you finally drag a monster fish onto the boat? Pure serotonin.