If there are three words that will get me to buy your game automatically, it’s “under five dollars.” If there are five words that will get me to buy your game and play it immediately, it’s “under five dollars WarioWare rip-off.” Okay, I’m not sure how many words that is, really. I think it depends on how you write “WarioWare” and “rip-off,” but I feel like I’ve approximated it as well as I can. The point being, I am a complete sucker for a cheap, random game - especially one that is itself filled with cheap, random games. So when I saw Fishlike on⭕ Steam, I dove on thatඣ thing immediately.
If you don’t feel like reading further, Fishlike is basically WarioWare with a lot of aquatic animals. That’s the elevator pitch. Each section of the game contains its own theme - wheth♎er that be something like “fish” or “puzzles” or “fish” again. As with WarioWare, each game gives you a few seconds to figure out what you’re supposed to do. For example, in one mini-game, you catch a fish. In a different mini-game, you catch a fish. In a third mini-game, you are a fish who has to avoid getting caught. There is more variety than that I promise, but even the micro-mini-game based on Snake still has fish in it. Sometimes you also get squid and fro🌠gs. Even non-water games like signing a birth certificate still have water references in them.
But when I say the game is a great WarioWare rip-off, I mean it. Look, nobody holds the patent on superfast mini-games. And I know that Fishlike is not the first game to imitate WarioWare. But unlike Spookware or Atari Mania, I wouldn’t say that Fishlike really “makes it their own.” I mean, honestly, I know I recently wrote about a different Nintend🎐o rip-off that I love, but here it’s just blatant. The game doesn’t have stolen assets or something, don’t worry. And it’s not like there’s a fish version of Wario. In fact, the two main differences between the games arꦅe you use a mouse and keyboard versus a controller and WarioWare has story introductions to each segment, while Fishlike just throws you into the water. I’m not changing that pun.
That’s it. Those are the differences. Everything else heavily cribs from Nintendo’s game. You have four lives per segment. Every few mini-games, the game speeds up. After about ten to twelve games, there’s a larger game referred to as a boss fight. They don’t🍃 even change the language to refer to these things. The sound design is basically the same, too. There is a very similar-sounding guy shouting “Oh yeah!” type stuff during games. And while the mus🎐ic isn’t quite as good as the real WarioWare, it’s not bad. But it is, as you’ve guessed, extremely similar!
Here’s how close Fishlike is to WarioWare: In WarioWare, there’s a bomb at the bottom of the screen with a fuse that’s supposed to mark the time left in the mini-game. In Fishlike, there’s a hook that is still connected to a fuse that’s burning as time runs out. They didn’t even try to change it. I also don&rsq🎉uo;t know if the developer “JJJ” is a company or a person, so I’m just gonna stick with “they.” That said, JJJ do✃es have a mini-game here referencing their only other game, which I feel like is honestly kind of cool. Oh, and the fonts are pretty much the same, too.
On the bright side, well, the game plays like WarioWare! Do you want more WarioWare? Here it is! There’s even a retro section that has old-timey homages to classic games, just like WarioWare. I will say that Fishlike is a bit harder than𓃲 WarioWare. Using a mouse and keyboard isn’t too bad - and they show icons in the corner of each mini-game to help you know what you need to use. But, in practice, some of the mini-games take a few failures before you figure out what the hell they’re asking you to do. Most are pretty simple to figure out, but some are kind of obtuse - or require multiple steps you’re not expecting. It’s never game-breaking, outside a boss battle with a twirling octopus that made me want to break this game.
Aღnd while I may be touting the $5 price tag, you can easily beat this 🐷game within an hour. I know this because I beat this game within an hour. So, even repeating segments after a Game Over, you’ve got a pretty short experience here. That said, again, it’s $5. The game costs as much as a cup of coffee but at least lasts slightly longer. And, like WarioWare, you’re incentivized to come back to see all the mini-games and to do high-scoring runs on remix stages. Even after finishing this game, I feel like it’s got some “play for five minutes” energy I’ll come back to.
Maybe you’re not in the market for a $5 game filled with incredibly fun, albeit slightly used creative ideas. Maybe you want to spend $70 on a looter shooter that may or may not exist by Halloween. Maybe you want a $100 special digital edition of a roleplaying game with exclusive horse armor. I don’t know. Art is subjective or something. But Fishlike is good. Yes, it’s derivative. Yes, it’s flying extremely close to the Nintendo sun. But at least it’s a short, joyful game that completely understands what makes WarioWare great. It doesn’t ﷽try to hide its influence; itℱ just wants you to have a good time.
Also, I’ve got goꦿod news! At the time of writing this column, Fishlike is on sale for 15% off! That’s right, it’s only $4.24 now! Don’t wait for the Fall Steam sale to squint your eyes and imagine you’re playing WarioWare!
