We take fishing minigames seriously here.

Ratings are based on my entirely subjective and arbitrary criteria.

Legend of Legaia

This fishing minigame is really good for its era, with its own fairly involved mechanic and different fish behaving differently on the line. There are only 2 locations in the game where you can fish, and not a huge variety of species. Furthermore, the secret fishing reward item, a rare summon, is locked up behind 20,000 points. The most expensive regular reward, for comparison, is 6500 points, and most fish reward around 30 points each.
There's also a second secret reward for 50,000 points, a rare and powerful accessory, but it's really not worth it unless you're a completionist.


In terms of design, the fish have bright and appealing colors, highly varied designs, and some are even smaller versions of monsters you can fight in the world!
They do not, however, follow conventional fish anatomy.
Not really sure what's going on here, anatomically speaking. I have to assume there's a clade of vertebrates in this world that modified jaw bones into limbs.


Overall, this fishing game gets 4 out of 5 stars, provided you aren't attempting to get all the secret items.

Final Fantasy XV

A gorgeous game where you, the prince of a fallen city-state, go on a roadtrip around your kingdom to help your subjects, gain the favor of gods, and fulfil your destiny.
Also, you love fishing.
Mechanically speaking, this is a great minigame and you even get a boat in the later parts. The fish are useful for cooking recipes, which give you important bonuses like increased experience.

Unfortunately, this is just a goddamn regular ass fish my dudes.
Brb, going to go summon a god while fighting robots filled with demons made from the former citizens of my kingdom that chase me around via airship, and then take my flying car to a dungeon to kill a dragon, but after that I can't wait to relax and fish up a regular fucking carp.
3 out of 5.
Can't deny it's a good minigame and the fish are lovingly rendered, but I would have really liked to see more interesting designs.

Hades

Very beautiful, very powerful.
While they're just static drawings, given the nature and art style of the game that's entirely reasonable. Each region has its own rare and common fish which fit the theme of the area and take inspiration from real fish while still doing their own unique and fun things. 5 out of 5