The Black Bass
FAQ/Walkthrough
By: Darkstar Ripclaw
The most recent version of this FAQ may always be found at GameFAQs.com
This guide uses Shift-JIS formatting. Some installation work may be
required to view the katakana and hiragana used in this guide.
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Table of Contents
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How to Play [HELP]
Lakes [LAKE]
Lure List [LURE]
Credits [CRED]
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How to Play
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[HELP]
This is the very first Black Bass game ever developed/published by the
Japanese company Hot-B, and was only ever released in Japan. If you have EVER
played any other Black Bass game before, forget a lot of what you recall from
those games, as the controls and overall gameplay in this game is fairly
primitive. Lures are in, but lure colours and special abilities have yet to be
introduced, and weather and time of day appear to be negligent in their effects
on fish appearances.
In turn, however, a single playthrough of the game is pretty streamlined
in contrast to subsequent games. All you have to do every day is attempt to
catch as many Bass as possible, with no attention paid to weight averages.
Start/Continue
--------------
When starting up the game, the default option is 'Start', where you can
enter your name. However, you can select 'Continue' and enter a password that
you may have received from completing a lake and resume from partways through
the game.
Completing Each Lake
--------------------
At the start of the first two lakes, you will be given a 'weight
requirement'. If you have played any subsequent game in the Black Bass series,
you will likely expect a requirement of having a great 'average' weight or a
'record' weight on a single fish. That is not the case for the very first game
in the Black Bass series. Instead, what is required is the _CUMULATIVE_ total -
so if you capture 2 Bass weighing 10kg, this counts as much as 4 Bass weighing
5kg each.
It is also important to note that Bass, and ONLY Bass will count towards
your weight total. You have from the lake's starting time until the ending time
to catch a sufficient number of Bass.
In the latter three lakes, when you enter the actual tournament lakes,
you have the same scenario of needing a certain weight total. In this case,
however, you are not told beforehand what weight total of Bass that you require:
instead, at the end of the day a chart of the top 5 anglers will be shown. It
does not seem you even need to rank in the chart to continue, but it does seem
you need some minimum, perhaps to have simply caught a Bass.
Following the end-of-day rankings on the fifth and final lake, it does
not matter how you did, as the game will end regardless. However, if you ranked
in the top 5, you get an additional end-of-day status review, but will not if
you did not get in the top 5.
These are the five lakes present in the game:
あしなこ - Lake Ashinoko
かわぐちこ - Lake Kawaguchi
やきえとこ - Lake Yakietoko
ぴわこ - Lake Biwa
@（けはらだむ） - Kehara Dam
Fish Types
----------
There are multiple types of fish in the game, some more common than
others - for example, you will not be seeing the mermaid very often.
However, ONLY the Bass catches count towards your weight total.
ばす - Bass (blue fins and tail, white underside, green skin)
いわな - Char (green fins, blue body with white speckled spots)
なまず - Catfish (yellow and brown)
たきたろう - Takitarou (long, slender, silver skin)
にんぎょ - Mermaid
And several other types of fish that the author was unable to capture
while writing this guide.
Lake Information Screen
-----------------------
Upon starting a new game or after finishing a new lake, you will get a
brief overview of the lake. For the first three lakes, you get a choice of what
season characteristics you can have when picking the lake, which would affect
temperature of the water, weather, and possibly types of fish.
つり たいかい た さんか きせつ は
Which season do you wish to fish in?
はる - Spring
しよか - Summer
あき - Autumn
ちくよせんたいかい
District Qualifying Tournament - Gives you Information on Each Category
ばしょ - Location
あしなこ - Lake Ashinoko
かわぐちこ - Lake Kawaguchi
やきえとこ - Lake Yakietoko
ぴわこ - Lake Biwa
@（けはらだむ） - Kehara Dam
てんき - Weather
はれ - Sunny
あめ - Rain
こさめ - Light Rain
すいおん - Water Temperature
かいし じかん - Start Time
しゃうりょう じかん - Finish Time
つうか きろく - Weight Requirement
-------------
Menu Controls
-------------
The controls is where The Black Bass really begins to struggle, and with
the clunky interface you can really see why only The Black Bass II was ever
localised in the English world, while the original was not.
When navigating any menu, pressing the A button scrolls between the
different options, while you use the B button to select a specific option.
Notably, you CANNOT back out of an option pick - if you click on a specific
season when selecting seasons, you cannot change your mind. Similarly, when
choosing lures, you cannot change lures until after you have cast and either
reeled in or lost your bait, and when you start to pick a lure at a specific
fishing spot, you cannot move again until after you have reeled in.
------------------------
Moving Around On The Map
------------------------
On each lake, you have a large map on which you can move around the
water. Several lakes may have a landmark, such as a torii or a bridge. All lakes
will have spots that do not have a visual indicator from the map that have
above-average sized fish - these spots are numbered on the ASCII maps in this
guide. However, these choice fishing spots can also cause you to lose a large
number of bait when casting.
Once you have moved around and decided where to fish, press the B button
to open up your lure menu.
------------------
Choosing Your Lure
------------------
A list of the different lures and a description of each (along with a
visual aid to identify them by as there is no in-game name of each lure) is
provided in the Lures section. Some lures will float on the surface of the water
and stay there. Others will sink towards the middle of the water level, while
still others will sink to the bottom. A select few are versatile and can go
between two different levels, or even all three levels.
Saying that, in every level your variety of lures is restricted, with
only the last lake offering all but one of the lure types at the same time. The
number of each type of lure you have is also restricted, though using up a
single type does not carry over to the next lake - if you have 3 Pencil Spinner
in the first lake and used them all up, you will have 3 Pencil Spinner in the
next lake. If you used no Pencil Spinners in the first lake, you will still have
3 Pencil Spinner in the next lake.
Finally, each lure has two more important characteristics - its
'bobbing' characteristic and its reel-in speed. The author is not entirely sure,
but lure which bobble may attract fish more. The reel-in speed is not for when
you have caught a fish - rather, it is how quick you can reel your lure back in
on its own. Some lures are VERY slow to reel in, making it feel like forever
before you can recast or move your boat.
-----------------
Casting Your Line
-----------------
When casting your line, press the A button to start a bar line filling
up. When the bar is completely full, it will begin to empty out. To cast at any
time, press the B button, and the extent of the bar's fullness will determine
how far you cast. If the bar has completely emptied out, you will need to press
the A button to start fillin it up again.
Most (but not all the time), casting on a full bar will cause you to
cast too far, resulting in lost bait. The same goes for casting on a very low
bar. Finally, in spots with lots of junk on the surface, such as reeds, logs,
twigs, etc., you need to be careful again with your casting as if the on-screen
visual display of your line lands on one of these objects, you could again lose
your lure (how long to wait until you fill your bar is something that you simply
need to get a feel for with by playing the game for a length of time).
----------------
Reeling Controls
----------------
By pressing the A, Right, and Up buttons, you can reel in your line
before you have caught a fish. You also need to do this to make your lure 'bob'
when a fish approaches to get its attention and make it bite.
When you have caught a fish, hold the Right button and quickly tap the A
and B button to pull the fish in. However, every so often (about every 5 seconds
or so), you need to stop tapping the buttons for about a second, and then start
tapping again. The stop in action for a second appears to reset some sort of
hidden trigger that causes the fish to break your fishing line and break free.
Simply by stopping for one second after every five seconds of reeling appears to
be very effective at preventing your line from being broken, though this method
could be fine-tuned.
When reeling, you may also occasionally lose lure to objects in the way,
such as rock crevasses.
Following the end of your reeling, you are given up to three options. If
you did not lose your bait, the first option is to recast with the exact same
bait in the same location. The middle option, or the first choice if you lost
your bait, is to change bait types. The final selection is to move your boat
around on the lake.
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Lakes
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[LAKE]
Some (but not all) of these lakes are actually named after real-life
lakes in Japan, a fairly cool touch since the English names are all generic
names (one of the fish types, the Takitarou, is also a mythological 'great
fish' in the Far East).
Lake Ashinoko (あしなこ)
------------------------
__ _
| 2\____ /3| Lures Available Locations
| / \ | --------------- ---------
\ |___| | Pencil Spinner 1. Reeds
\ | Float Worm 2. Reefs
| | Popper 3. Reefs
| | Spinner 4. Reeds
| | Sink Worm
_____/ |
| 1 __ 1 | You appear to get plenty of fish appearing both
\./ \./\ | at the depths and near the surface of the water in
\ 4\ the area with the reeds. The reefs do not appear
ｯｯｯｯｯｯｯｯ to have anything special besides a different
appearance, however.
Lake Kawaguchi (かわぐちこ)
---------------------------
______
|_ \_ _
| | / \
/ \_| \ Lures Available Locations
/ 2 | --------------- ---------
| _ _| Pencil Swimmer 1. Island
| / \__/ Float Worm 2. Torii (Red shrine)
| | Popper
| 1 / Spinner
| |_ Shadow Runner
| __| Spoon
| |
| |
_| | The Island offers especially large fish when fishing around
| / it. However, you have to deal with the possibility of losing lure
\ _/ by snagging it on a rock, and fish often will simply not show up
\_/ at all when casting. The torii does not appear to have anything
special about it, besides being a landmark point.
Lake Yakietoko (やきえとこ)
---------------------------
___
__| \
/ 1 \
| _| Lures Available Locations
| | --------------- ---------
\ \ Pencil Swimmer 1. Logs
| | Popper 2. Bridge
_| 2| Spinner Bait 3. Waterfall
| _| Shadow Runner
|_ | Sink Worm
____| |_
| | |
| / / All three listed locations have fish larger than normal,
\ / | but only the bridge appears to have them with a regular
|_/ _3_| occurrence when casting rather than rarer-than normal.
| | Additionally, you have a good chance of losing your bait
|__| when attempting to cast in the logs.
Lake Biwa ( （ぴわこ）)
---------------------
___
| \
_/ | Lures Available Locations
| | --------------- ---------
\1 | Pencil Spinner 1. Lily Pads
|_/| | __ Popper 2. Tall Plants
| \___/3 \ Spinner Bait 3. Floating Vegetation
/ \ Frog 4. Tall Plants
| \ Plastic Worm 5. Lily Pads
_| | Spoon 6. Lily Pads
_| _| Sink Worm 7. Tall Plants
| 2 | Curved Worm 8. Floating Vegetation
\____ 4 | Squid
\ |
| _| Although there are no really obvious
\ |_____ _ on-screen indications as to where to find a good
\ 5 \___/ | fishing spot, all points indicated on the map
\ | are good spots. Note that the average fish size
\ | is bumped up on this map compared to previous
| | lakes - as a result, fish at the 8 points are
| _ 6| even more ridiculously big. However, you have a
|8| | 7 / increased chance of losing bait on the lily pads
|_| ｯｯｯｯｯｯｯｯｯ and tall plants areas.
Kehara Dam (@（けはらだむ）)
--------------------------
________
| 6 |
\ /ｯｯ
| |
/ \
| | Lures Available Locations
| / --------------- ---------
_____ / | Pencil Spinner 1. Floating Wood
| | | \__ / -| Float Worm 2. Floating Twigs
| | | | |4 | Popper 3. Underwater Trees
ｯｯｯｯ| \ | | Spinner Bait 4. Underwater Trees
\ \ / _| Shadow Runner 5. Underwater Trees
\ \ | | Frog 6. Floating Wood
\ \ | _| Plastic Worm
|_ 3\___| |_ Spoon
\ _| Sink Worm
| / Curved Worm
/ｯｯ | Eel
\ 2/| ___| Squid
\1 / |_|
\ |
/ | Although there are a number of locations, there
ｯｯ does not seem to be anything special about them,
except that some of them may offer exclusive fish that the regular
waters do not - for example, the author only located mermaids in the floating
wood section. The entire map, in any case, is fairly sparse of any fish at all,
let alone bass. You will see this reflected in the end-of-day rankings, where
even the highest ranking angler *might* have 60kg, in comparison to probably
everyone on Lake 4 having 100+ cumulative kg.
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Lure List
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[LURE]
You will not receive every type of the thirteen different lures in every
lake. Even Lake 5 is missing one type of bait, the Spinner.
Because the lures are not given in-game names (the names for the lures
listed here are obtained by matching up in-game appearances with similar lures
from Black Bass 2 for the NES and Black Bass: Lure Fishing for the Game Boy, and
then inventing a couple), visual descriptions are given. Some lures change
colours going from one lake to another, and so these are noted as well.
Additionally, the game lists the lures in the exact same order between
each lake, with blank spots for missing baits. The following lures are listed in
the exact same order as the game lists them, top to bottom, left to right.
Pencil Spinner Plastic Worm
Float Worm Spoon
Popper Sink Worm
Spinner Curved Worm
Spinner Bait Eel
Shadow Runner Squid
Frog
Pencil Spinner
--------------
Appearance: Green body, blue spots, white underbody (looks basically like a
miniature Bass)
Type: Float-type, reels in at a decent pace
Float Worm
----------
Appearance: Pink and blue work with white spots at each end
Violet and Indigo work with white spots at each end (Lake 2)
Type: Float-type, reels in very slowly
Popper
------
Appearance: Orange skin with green mottled spots and fin and a blue eye
White skin with purple mottled spots and fin and a yellow eye
(Lake 3)
White skin with orange mottled spots and fin and an orange eye
(Lake 4)
Type: Float-type, reels in at a decent pace, can bobble slightly underwater
Spinner
-------
Appearance: Pink body with blue ornamental ends
Violet body with indigo ornamental ends (Lake 2)
Type: Mid-Depth, floats in around the middle of the water level. Reeling in
with the Right button pulls it up at a slow right (but not with the A
button). Reels in somewhat slow, but not as slow as the Worms.
Spinner Bait
------------
Appearance: Dark Blue and Green handle and wing
White/Ice Blue and Light Pink handle and wing (Lake 4)
Purple/Violet and White handle and wing (Lake 5)
Type: Bottom-depth type bait. Press the Right button to reel it in and keep it
slightly off the bottom of the lake.
Shadow Runner
-------------
Appearance: Green body, orange underbody, blue spots and fins
Purple body, white underbody, yellow spots and fins (Lake 4)
Orange body, white underbody, grey spots and fins (Lake 5)
Type: Float and Mid-Depth. Normally floats, but by reeling in with the Right
button you can bring it down to the mid-depths. Reels in at an
average rate.
Frog
----
Appearance: Purple body and legs with white eyes
Orange body and legs with white eyes (Lake 5)
Type: Float-type lure bait, with a very slow reel-in rate.
Plastic Worm
------------
Appearance: White body and tail with yellow dots
White body and tail with orange dots (Lake 5)
Type: Bottom-depth type bait. Reeling in with the Right button pulls it up at
a slow rate. Has a fairly slow reel-in rate overall as well.
Spoon
-----
Appearance: Egg-like with blue and white stripes
Egg-like with red and yellow stripes (Lake 4)
Egg-like with white and grey stripes (Lake 5)
Type: A lure that can go the gamut from the surface to the depth, and is
manipulated with your D-Pad control for its depth.
Sink Worm
---------
Appearance: Green and orange body with blue spots and blue ends
Purple and white body with yellow spots and yellow ends (Lake 4)
Orange and white body with grey spots and grey ends (Lake 5)
Type: Bottom-depth type bait. Reeling in with the Right button pulls it up
at a slow rate (but not with the A button). Reels in slightly quicker
than the Float Worm.
Curved Worm
-----------
Appearance: Green and orange body with a slight curve, with blue ends
Purple and white body with a slight curve, with yellow ends (Lake 4)
Orange and white body with a slight curve, with grey ends (Lake 5)
Type: Bottom-depth type bait. Press the Right button to reel it in and keep it
slightly off the bottom of the lake.
Eel
---
Appearance: Grey and white body
Type: Bottom-depth type bait. Press the Right button to reel it in and keep it
slightly off the bottom of the lake. Slower reel-in rate.
Squid
-----
Appearance: White body and pink 'nose' section
Type: Bottom-depth type bait. Press the Right button to reel it in and keep it
slightly off the bottom of the lake. Somewhat average rate of reeling in.
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Credits
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[CRED]
A thanks goes to the atwiki page for this game, which gave me some
overview information and controls.
http://www25.atwiki.jp/famicomall/pages/1034.html
Another thanks to this website for more overall information.
http://famicon.s348.xrea.com/entries/19870206_blackbass/
A thanks to the GameFAQs user flounderpounder, whose guide for Black
Bass USA (or Black Bass II) for the NES I used for a bit of reference for
writing for its prequel game:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/users/flounderpounder
http://www.gamefaqs.com/nes/587141-the-black-bass/faqs/33493
Credit also goes to GammaBetaAlpha's FAQ for the Game Boy game Black
Bass: Lure Fishing (of course, GammaBetaAlpha is I, but self-plagiarism is a
thing...)
www.gamefaqs.com/gameboy/581674-black-bass-lure-fishing/faqs/63610
_______________________________________________________________________________
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Wish Upon A Darkstar
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ｩ2014 Darkstar Ripclaw
