If you've ever played Black Bass and thought, "This is fun, but what if it was way bigger and in the ocean?"—well, Blue Marlin is basically that. Same fishing mechanics, but now you're hauling in massive deep-sea fish instead of hanging out by a lake. The scale feels totally different, and the stakes somehow feel higher when you're wrestling with a marlin instead of a bass.

It hit Japan first in '91, and honestly, it's one of those NES games that makes you realize how much was going on in the Japanese market that we didn't get right away. The controls take a second to adjust if you're used to freshwater fishing games, but once you get the hang of it, there's something weirdly satisfying about battling a fish that could probably pull your boat under.

Just don't expect modern fishing sim depth—this is pure old-school, slightly janky, "why is this so hard but also weirdly addictive" NES energy.