The Dreamcast based virtual aquarium, Fish Life, has been given new life thanks to Musée Bolo, the Switzerland based video game museum. Thanks to approval from SEGA of Europe, they have also allowed for the release of the disc images that would run on on the specialized hardware. To help show off the hardware in a broader sense, the museum has also crafted a webpage full of valuable resources that cover this uncommon part of SEGA’s Amusement history.
Fish Life is an extremely rare “interactive experience” that combines a Dreamcast with specialized hardware including a touch screen monitor that allows for players to interact with the monitor by responding to gestures and vocal commands that would cause the fish to react in different ways. Instead of being an arcade game it acts as a virtual aquarium with simple interactivity that would be presented in general public places such as restaurants and hotels. The big draw would be the ability to present different breeds of fish or make other significant changes that would ensure continued use of the hardware. The ability to utilize specially marked GD-ROM discs designed for the hardware allowed to showcase more fish, provide software that could either be an amusing time waster or provide a more realistic depiction of an actual aquarium. Overtime Fish Life all but disappeared becoming one of the most uncommon pieces of SEGA history until recently.
The museum has created a unique spot on their webpage dedicated to Fish Life. You can visit the site here en français and here in English. The page provides thorough documentation about the game’s history, details how the hardware was presented to the public and the efforts it took to preserve the hardware. Biggest of all is that the disc images as well as hardware BIOS and Flash are publically available to download marking a huge net for SEGA preservation.
Be sure to visit the museum’s webpage for more information on Fish Life. If you’ve seen a unit in person before, tell your fellow readers about it in the comments!
[Source: Twitter]
[Video Source: Juppon Gatana]
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WOW. It’s a weird thing to be excited about, but as a huge Dreamcast fan and aquarium enthusiast I’m so glad that all this is being released to the public. I was so interested to find out about this when it went up for auction back when. Thanks for getting this info out there!
So happy to see this finally released to the public, I’ve wanted to check it out ever since I first heard about it! Hopefully they figure out how to emulate the touch screen and voice command in the future to get the full experience. Sega were so innovative back in the day…
Thanks to Musee Bolo and Sega for making this happen!
I wonder if someone could get this to work on a regular consumer Dreamcast (sans touch screen support of course).
I love weird DC stuff like this! Hey didn’t they release the online games collection not too long ago? This is cool! I wonder if we’ll ever see that cancelled 3D Castlevania game for DC?
If possible this summer I go to the museum.
I got a home in the alps, near the border between Italy and Swiss.
Thanks for the info thus, SEGAbits!!! ( )