The Sega Fish Life is being worked on!

Hello everyone,

I've recently had the privilege to join a team dedicated to thoroughly research and document this rare piece of gaming history that is the Sega Fish Life.
For those who are not aware of the Fish Life, it is a piece of hardware based on the Sega Dreamcast that was exclusively sold to establishments such as hotels and restaurants in Japan. It consists of a main unit and a touch screen. It simulates fishes swimming in a tank that user can interact with using the screen.

Very little is known about the unit because of the rarity of it. We don't have an exact date of release or of the number of units sold.

Five different games were made for it and haven't been dumped yet.

This project has been made possible by the Bolo museum. Please check our website and follow us on social media with the links at the bottom of this post.

I will post updates as soon as work is being done and that I'm allowed to share it.
In the meantime here is a little teaser image

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Stay tuned!

Links:
Bolo museum's website
Facebook
Twitter

 

CONGRATS!!

 

A great project to be involved in. I have seen very few details on this to date so anything will be a bonus. Looking forward to it.

Was it the one that sold on eBay?

 

No, it is a different one. Sadly we don't have the touch screen but we will surely try to find a solution

 

Wow. I've never heard of this before. Very cool, can't wait to find out more.

 

I feel sorry for anyone who would waste $3.6K on what's essentially a glorified screensaver.

 

Very interesting. You have my attention. This looks promising.

 

Thanks to everybody for your interest! This project is made possible by the Bolo museum. You will find more info by following the links at the bottom of the first post.

 

Ah ah ah nice

 

I was thinking that! Very pricey, if I had money to burn I would love to own one though, can’t be many out there.

 

Wow o.o never knew about this. Does this count as a sega Console?

 

That's a tough question. It was never meant for use at home, they only made 5 "games" which are extremely limited in terms of gameplay. There are no controllers, only the touchscreen.

The internals are modified Dreamcast circuits, so is it a variation of the Dreamcast or something completely new?

It is very debatable.

 

W000t :O

Never heard of it before either...but here is a nice article about someone who bought it for 80$ on ebay in 2014 and fully took it apart. Many photos.

http://www.thedreamcastjunkyard.co.uk/2015/02/the-rarest-dreamcast-hardware-on-earth.html


Also someone here on assemblergames posted about it in 2009... :O

https://web.archive.org/web/2013080...-is-this-box-(Dreamcast-Dev-Unit-Pace-Proto-)

 

Wow, thank you for the links!

What's interesting is that the unit is a bit different from the one we have. I wouldn't be surprised if it were an earlier version. Sadly I can't go into details right now.

It's a shame the pics in the second link are dead

 

there is known 2 types of this device, iirc difference is controller board, one for touchscreen (likely Maple FT9 Pointing function, Tablet subtype), and another have something else instead.

curious to do emulation of this device, if its disc will be dumped (?)

 

Just the design alone, together with the SEGA logo...would be worth to "hang around" in my shelf of obscurity ^^

 

It’s a very nice and slick looking item. What I’m wondering is what is the deal with sega and fish? Lots of fishing games, that seaman game, even Sonic Adventure has a whole fishing part. And now this

 

I'd imagine (as an outsider) that fishing is extremely important to Japanese national identity. Not much land for "traditional" meat farming, so lots and lots of fish/seafood.

Why are cars and driving almost a requirement for Western (US) games? Because the US has a long relationship, relatively, with automobiles. Other countries have public transportation.

Plus, fishing is cool.

 

Guess that makes sense. Other than Sonic, I’ve never played any of the fishing games. I’ll have to try one

 

So it will be exposed at the Bolo Museum?
If yes, the next time i'm coming in Switzerland to see my cousin (which has been scolarized at the EPFL btw ), I'll tell him to bring me there