My favorite Games of All-Time #16: The Ocean Hunter - Originally published on 1UP - April 28, 2006

Before we explore the Ocean Hunter we have to set the stage. I'm going to go back in time, seven years ago, the beginning of the end. Back to a time when Sega was the undisputed king of the arcade! In 1998 Sega had developed a slew of games for the Model 3 board. Daytona USA 2, Dirt Devils, Emergency Call Ambulance, L.A. Machineguns (sequel to N.Y. Gunblade), Magical Truck Adventure, Ocean Hunter, Spike Out, Star Wars Trilogy and Sega Bass Fishing. Many of these titles are classics in their own right and I have even made mention of Spike Out and Daytona 2 a few blogs back. By far 1998 was one of Sega's most creative years.

Sega had several arcade divisions back-in-the-day. The most famous being Yu Suzuki's AM2. Less known were Kazunori Tsukamoto and Rikiya Nakagawa of AM1. The team at AM1 crafted one of the most overlooked arcade gems ever, the Ocean Hunter! Ocean Hunter was a great game from a great company. It would even hold up well against the best of Yu Suzuki.

All arcade titles interest me, some more than others. The more creative and immersive the story behind the game the more likely I'll become a fan. I'm not fond of shooters like Virtua Cop or Gunblade N.Y. so it was odd that I would say Sega's best game in 98 was a shooter called the Ocean Hunter (OH).

There are two types of cabinets for the OH, try to find the sit down cabinet with the giant display. Read the Boss FAQ if you want to know what you're getting into. Have a seat, make yourself comfortable, become familiar with the controller. Appreciate the time and effort that AM1 went into the design of just the cabinet itself. The Japanese are industrious people. OH is testament to AM1's commitment to detail.

Many arcade games come with some backstory. "You are in a race" or "you are fighting for your life" or even "you are a pro wrestler." Like all forms of entertainment there is some suspension of disbelief, a chance for you to let yourself get caught up in the virtual world. The Ocean Hunter has one of the best plots I've ever read. Taken from the Japanese flyer for the game.

"In the Seven Seas of the planet, seven terrifying monsters lurk... a new civilization is flourishing, but in the oceans giant monsters attack both boats and harbors with increasing frequency. Frightened for their lives, people put a bounty for the monsters. This game is the story of two young people who head out to defeat the horrible creatures in the seven seas..."

Sounds straightforward right? At least it is a little more back story than is provided in the English flyer. Both flyers are at the Arcade Flyers Database. The story and art from the flyer are mirrored in the art and direction of the game itself.

Visually the game is impressive. Graphics aside the game has a unique design. The world created is highly-stylized, somewhat storybook, and almost Victorian. The names used in the game like Poseidon, Leviathan, the Kraken are mythological and biblical. The ships, science and clothing are fantastic... along the art and fiction of writers like Jules Verne and Alan Moore. Some of you might know it better as a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen-type of world. I'd say OH is a watered-down (no pun intended) version of the LoEG world, scaled to focus on just the adventure.

What sucks for me is that the only images available online are rather grainy and dark. The closest arcade to me that had the game was about 38 miles away, I'm not sure if they even have it any more as I write this. Most of my experiences with the game are from memory. So please bear with me and try to use your imagination as I bring the Ocean Hunter back to life.

Most of the gameplay revolves around you shooting mini harpoons from your sea scooter. If you've ever played a shooter in the arcade then you know that you must face wave after wave of enemies. You are usually on an invisible rail dictating which direction you are going. In this case each level is filled with dangerous uniquely-named fish, shark, rays, jellyfish and eels. There is a mid-boss consisting of a larger fish and eventually an actual boss consisting of a massive creature. Most of the game is frenetic shooting but power-ups and health recharge items (hidden in the game) require a much more refined shot. The bosses can be defeated by finding and exploiting vital areas. None of that is new to arcade shooters. The total package is what sets the Ocean Hunter apart from the other shooters.

When you start the game you are given a cinematic featuring the same story on the flyer. You could skip the cinemas in the game by pressing the triggers on the controller. That would be taking away one of the most important components to the game. If you get a chance try and go through all the cinematics and enjoy the story.

 

As one of the bounty hunters it is your job to stop the monsters of the ocean bent on destroying ships and sailors alike. The characters are unnamed, the one with the long hair is Player 1, the one with short blue hair is Player 2. I'm certain somebody at AM1 (eventually renamed Overworks and then Sega WOW) knows their true names. Your vehicle and weapon is a nifty, repeat-action harpoon gun and underwater scooter. You don't actually get to steer the scooter, only aim the harpoon.

The "Seven Seas" in question are not based on our oceans. In this game the seas and the fish within are unique to each level. There is the Baroque Sea, the Luna Sea, the Tartarus Deep, Texcoco Great Lake, the North Sea, West Sea and Panthalassa: the Sea of Evil. Each environment is special. In one stage you fight within a great sunken ship. In tight spaces shooting quickly advancing eels and avoiding falling debris. In another level you will be taken to the arctic and end up fighting underneath icebergs where deep sea divers are pinned in by sharks.

 

The level designs are great and the detail is all there. Ahuizotl is the monster harassing the waters off Texcoco Great Lake. The lake has a sunken city, designed after Mayan or Aztec ruins. It is easy to get lost in the scenery. If you spend too much time looking at the details in the game you'll end up surrounded by piranha and other underwater nasties.

Your transportation between levels is pretty neat. Your base of operations is a mobile semi-submersible. A large bathysphere (Google it) attached to a balloon and driven by a propeller. A cable drops you into the ocean when you go deep sea diving (on later levels). One can assume it also pulls you up between levels. Still it's one hell of an invention that would make Da Vinci proud.

 

The bosses themselves are a sight to behold. Many of the creatures are based on myth and legend, a few of them are based on dinosaurs like the Plesiosaur and Megalodon.

It isn't enough that you have to fight giant bosses for money. A dinosaur would fight on instinct and run away when shot with a harpoon machine gun. The bosses in the Ocean Hunter are relentless. They chase you, cut you off and corner you. They are tougher than hell and require hundreds of shots to fell. You quickly learn why the bounties on each monster are so high.

 

The last boss in the game is no joke. He, (it?) has several transformations. You know this wouldn't be any type of shooter if at least one boss didn't transform multiple times. The "Sea of Evil" is not as ominous as it sounds. Sure every monster that you have faced turns up there, but the water is not boiling blood (that would have been truly evil!). The boss Dagon is a giant frog-humanoid that hops around the ruins of what looks like Atlantis. After taking enough hits he transforms (rather stands up) into Poseidon. If you dish out enough damage to Poseidon he transforms a third time, his legs fuze into a tail (and even grows a third eye on his forehead) and is renamed Rahab, a gigantic merman.

Shoot with everything you have and make sure you have plenty of credits. This game, like all great shooters, can be a quarter cruncher. When you defeat Rahab you hit the big payday but you are also left with the final cinema before the credits.

Rahab was angry at humanity for polluting his waters. It was then that he sent out his bosses (represented as the fingers on his hand) to reclaim the ocean. Although you started out protecting the ships in the end you have claimed the bounty for creatures, and gods that existed millennia before man. You have destroyed the only ones trying to protect the oceans.

The moral is a heavy pill but the adventure was well worth it. AM1 should be proud of their work and the fact that years later I am still thinking about the game. If only I had an arcade cabinet to call my own... If only Sega had taken that extra step with the IP they created... can you imagine?

The Ocean Hunter could have come out on consoles. It could have been a sister title to a game like Panzer Dragoon or perhaps it could have been like Phantasy Star.

Space may be the last great adventure but it means very little in a videogame. In terms of mechanics not much separates Final Fantasy from Phantasy Star. A turn-based fighting system, an epic plot, players can customize their character... none of that is new. Break that third dimension though. To be able to quest (with direct control) into the sky and underground as well as on land and we have something special. GTA is not a fantasy title but being able to steal and use cars and fighter jets is about a fantastic premise as I've ever heard.

For an RPG, riding, fighting and adventuring on horseback bends some of that reality. Riding on a dragon in all three dimensions opens up the possibilities of the game-playing experience. Fall off that dragon and gravity does us in. Water allows us to experience the same things and more. We can float, we can sink and we can swim in all three dimensions. We can glide on the surface of water or power through it. Very few people have ever seen the bottom of the ocean, who needs outer space when the most exotic and unique forms of life can be found in the big blue? The game also reminds me of an important part of gaming history that is lost for many people.

Arcades were the place for gamers to hang out and socialize. The best players became mini-celebs at the arcade, the social order from school did not apply there. There was no internet to hide behind, people could not be anonymous posters on a message board. If a player showed up to an arcade, and talked shit about the other visitors then they had two options, prove they were something amazing, or leave before they got a beat-down. The rule was the bigger the city the bigger the arcade. The best players drove, or took the bus. Going from arcade to arcade looking for competition. This competition caused beefs to build up between some audiences, with some rivalries stretching coast-to-coast. New visitors were however always welcome at the arcade. That sense of community among active gamers is not as strong today despite chat programs within MMORPG, Playstation, and Xbox Live games.

Before 60" HD Plasma Displays and 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound were in home entertainment centers there was only one place to enjoy games on an epic scale. The arcade was always the home to the biggest displays, flashiest marquees and even custom built cabinets. For 25 cents a gamer did not only play a game, they were treated to an experience. The arcade experience was akin to watching a movie in a theater, the home console just couldn't compete.

Arcade cabinets were a unique beast. Some cabinets were shaped like cars or motorcycles. Some surrounded the player and could flip and rotate a full 360 degrees. The control was not a pad but an actual joystick or steering wheel, the buttons firmer and more responsive than anything the console makers could invent. Some cabinets had players sitting, pedaling a bike, rowing a boat, firing a shotgun or balancing on skis. Can you imagine a God of War game that required you to actually swing blades of chaos at the screen? These were the experiences missing when arcade treasures were translated to the consoles. Many did a good job but none could ever capture the magic of the arcade.

Not many gamers today know or remember the golden era of arcades. The era when arcade games meant more to the game industry than consoles or PC titles. When the arcade crowd was a genuine community, gamers shared common experiences, competed, strategized and had fun all in the same place. The internet and booming console market soon took gamers out of circulation, took away that sense of community and just about destroyed the arcade. At least for today we will raise a glass to one of the last great arcade games.

The Ocean Hunter, like the best arcade games, was bigger than life. By sitting down at a deluxe cabinet players got a sense of scale, a sense of awe. This game was anything but ordinary. By watching the story unfold, reacting at every bump and turn in the game, studying the detail that went into every level, we could tell that the game was much deeper than the display showed. Sega had managed to capture a grand scale adventure, something meant for a movie screen, and compressed it into a few levels. It was something that we could enjoy in one sitting. On paper it all looked so simple. It was about hunting mythological sea creatures with a harpoon machine gun. The actual game transcended all of that. It became a symbol for one of the best experiences that I will ever have the honor to play.

The Ocean Hunter reminds us of what arcade greatness was. It was, and remains the game that I consider one of the best titles ever. It is a game that is long overdue for a second chance. I hope someone at Sega still remembers the legacy of AM1. Track it down if you can, or watch a long play on YouTube so you can get a glimpse of this fantastic experience. I’d like to hear your personal top-10, top-20, top fighting games, top sports games, or top games in any genre. Let me know in the comments section please. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!