Underwater games...list and why are there so few?

[cyberfluxor]

I just recalled:
Darius Gaiden (Saturn)
It's a side-scroller with bosses that are huge flying fish. There are a few levels that you submerge and have a nice tough time beating it.

[Speedy_NES]

I just remembered X-Com: Terror from the Deep.

I was about to post this game until I saw you mention it...probably one of the best underwater games (mostly underwater anyway)!

Another underwater game is Sea of Dreamland for NES (shmup; one of the NTDEC/MegaSoft/Caltron games discovered in Europe not too long ago). I also remember a PC game that was based underwater from Westwood, but can't remember the title of the game..

[odyeiop]

While I can't think of any completely underwater games, that haven't been listed, I can think of some that have parts under water. Actually there are alot of games that have underwater sequences to them.

It would be interesting, as has been already stated, to see an RPG done completely underwater. Or even something stupid, like "Depths of the Dead". I mean c'mon, if they did typing of the dead, why not =D.

Mmm.. speaking of.. I think I'm going to go play that now.

[CRV]

Submarine Attack for the SMS

[50TBRD]

Final Fantasy VII had some underwater adventures. You fought one of the Weapons underwater and you did the submarine thing that later became the mini game.

A couple of the Sonic games had underwater levels which were some of the toughest in my opinion.

Spider-man and X-Men: Arcades Revenge for SNES had some as well. All of Storm's levels were underwater where you had to release the valves so she could breath. These were usually the ones that I had trouble beating.

I know that Mega Man X5 had an underwater level or at least it flooded from time to time.

Polar Rescue for Vectrex was in a sub, so that counts too.

[ROBOTNIK666]

The third level of Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle for the Genesis takes place underwater.

[Coleman]

Personaly i think that underwater gamming is usually enjoyable but is best used to change up the gameplay in a game that has a different usual style. For example all of the underwater stuff in Mega Man is a lot of fun. Its not revoloutionary but it adds some extra flavor to an already stellar game play experience.
I don't feel right talking about this without mentioning the Mario franchise. Another one of the things that Myamoto did exceptionaly well was to transport the mario gameplay under water. Initially you were just swimming through a water level avoiding stuff and collecting coins, but by mario 3 you were trying to find special suits that would help you while under watter.
And i cant mention mario without talking about Sonic. The sense of speed was never lost just because you were underwater. All though you were moving slowly you were still in just as bug of a hurry to get to that precious air bubble.
All in all i think that the under water experience can add a lot to a great game but i don't think that it is important to find a game that is 100% underwater. When the whole game is all the same in no longer feels different to be underwater - thats just the way the game plays, under water. But added to a game it revitalizes your game play experience and prevents that midgame point feeling of how your just doing more of the same.

[goemon]

Choro Q Marine: Q Boat has some submarine stages, and it has a trailer in it for another undersea game by Takara, Deep Sea Adventure. (I've been meaning to pick it up for a while - it looks cool. It's apparently an action/RPG in a submarine.) Aquanaut's Holiday and its sequel (Aquanaut's Holiday: Memories of Summer 1996) are fun for a while but without any real goals, they get old quickly. That's what I can remember the PS1.

[roushimsx]

Sub Rebellion (PS2)

Good lord did I love that game. It didn't fare well in the reviews, but I thought the mixture of underwater exploration and combat with some pretty well implemented (and sometimes VERY creative) missions was just fucking k-rad super snazzy.

Shame it didn't get more love. It's a true bargain bin gem right now.

[Aussie2B]

Maybe it's just me, but I find most underwater games pretty freaky. While I'm largely okay with 2D ones (although Ecco can be quite frightening in its own ways), it's the old 3D ones that scare the crap out of me. I'm not one to look down on old graphics, but underwater games are one of the WORST "genres" for primitive 3D. They're so empty, open, foggy, and just... blue everywhere. It's REALLY creepy. I've played Treasures of the Deep on one of those Namco demo discs, and while it may be a good game, I could hardly play it more than 5 minutes without it making me extremely uncomfortable.

[tom]

Try Fluid on PSX......listen to the sounds.....and relax....drifting (diving?) along.....finding Nemo....

[Aswald]

Good question.

One thing many such games do is ignore the physics. As you go deeper, the pressure increases (each foot=0.455 pounds/sq. in.). This is why, in that scene from "For Your Eyes Only," an Oxygen/Nitrogen mix was not used- too deep. Instead (if I remember correctly) it was helium. Don't forget the danger of "the bends."

But this also means the density of the medium increases. Therefore, certain things happen. For example, sound is "compressed." The chug-chug-chug of a barge can sound like a buzzsaw blade. The gurgle of an aqualung can sound like a screech.

Worse, still, is the conductivity of shockwaves.

An explosion in the air carries the "shockwaves" to your body. Once there, these waves must encounter a medium of different density.
But underwater, this is not the case. Your body has a density very much equal to water, so, the shockwaves continue through your body. But inside of you are cavities, including the area around the lungs. When the shockwaves reach this point...this is where the tissue damage of those caught underwater near explosions is greatest; INSIDE of you. So it's not just the fact that such explosions "travel further" in water, but this. It's literally the opposite of what happens in the air.
This is why, if you are in the water and something is about to explode, you are advised to at least get your upper body out, if possible.

A curious thing about most games, at least the early ones, is that fire is not affected by the water. Mario could toss fireballs underwater every bit as easily as elsewhere.

[j_factor]

There were a few on Genesis...

688 Attack Sub - early EA game, slow-paced submarine battle simulator, takes place in the cold war

Man Overboard - a Codemasters platformer involving a sinking ship, you have to save the passengers

SeaQuest DSV - remember that show? The game is basically Desert Strike underwater, kind of sucks

James Pond: Underwater Agent - the out-of-water sequels were better

Corporation - well, it feels like you're underwater

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

Lots of people have already mentioned all the great 2D shooters that take place underwater. That's a very nice sub-genre of shooters, in my opinion. Certainly a welcome change of pace form the usual stuff at least.

One game no one's mentioned is Dive Alert for the Neo Geo Pocket. It's an RPG of sorts or maybe more of a strategy-sim game. Honestly it's boring as hell since all the action takes place via a sonar screen full of dots and triangles. Of course, this is probably a much better recreation of what it's actually like being on a submarine than most other sub-games, but it's not very exciting. Anyway, the game is especially agonizing for the first half or third until you can get better equipment and actually get to the point where you can take reasonable evasive actions and stuff.

Another game worth mentioning is Shadow Of Atlantis, which was was planned first for the Sega CD, then 32X CD and finally even for the Saturn briefly. It would have been based on Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea and definitely seems to have been a very ambitious project. It was going to be an adventure game using the sort of rendered FMV seen in Mansion Of The Hidden Souls, but probably quite a bit more lively than that game. It got scrapped of course, but if Sega had put more resources into it, it really might have been a showcase title for the 32X. Maybe, anyway.

I have a half-completed Super Mario Bros. mod I was working on called Super Guppy Bros. that used various hacks and such to turn the game into something of a 2D shooter. One day I'd like o return to that. I can't believe people will actually criticize SMB for allowing you to shoot fireballs underwater...how silly, as if the game is meant to be totally realistic aside from that unforgivable oversight. Why not point out that there's no way koopa troopas would actually be able to support their weight in flight with those tiny wings and only flapping a couple times a second at that? Or that Mario seems to be able to jump approximately 8 feet directly up from a dead standstill?


...word is bondage...

[videogameoverdose]

I've got one for PSX called Aquanauts Holiday. I only tried it once so I'm not exactly sure what it's all about.

I found it a bit confusing too, I just drove or swam around for days, thinking something other than viewing the undersea life would happen.
I did get to see a variety of marine life at times, while empty sea as far as I could see at others.

I guess you could call this game a sleeper, literally!

Did I miss something?

[bangtango]

Everblue 2 is a great game, still, there are themes which are obviously neglected in videogames. Why are there so few underwater games?

To second what DigitalPress himself said, it was simply bad reviews. I distinctly remember an issue of EGM from the late 1980's that reviewed at least two underwater games in the same month. One was "Deep Blue" on the Turbografx 16. Both of them got horrible reviews from Semrad and the gang. They might have even covered three titles, instead of two. I haven't seen the issue in many years.

If I remember right, the Quartermann section of that very issue or one right around the same time spent an entire paragraph ripping some recent underwater movies (like Deep Star Six (is that title right?), Leviathan and The Abyss) saying they were not only horrible movies but would make lousy games.

I never said it, but some people liked to believe that EGM had a knack for not only killing genres but entire game systems with their reviews.

I still remember the pissing match that Ed Semrad had with one of the guys who ported "World Heroes" onto Super NES when he accused both the programmer and Sunsoft of "trying to capitalize on the success of Street Fighter 2" in his review.

So simply blame EGM, like so many others