7.2 /10 1 Votes
Director(s) Kazutoshi Iida Initial release date 30 June 1995 Mode Single-player video game | 3.6/5 Emuparadise Series Aquanaut's Holiday Genre Simulation game Platform PlayStation | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Release date(s) JP: June 30, 1995
NA: July 7, 1996
EU: October 1995 Developers Artdink, Sony Interactive Entertainment Publishers Artdink, Sony Interactive Entertainment Similar Artdink games, Strategy video games | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Playstation aquanaut s holiday
Aquanaut's Holiday (Japanese: アクアノートの休日, Hepburn: Aquanaut no Kyuujitsu) is a video game for the PlayStation developed by Artdink. The game is an underwater simulation in which the player assumes the role of an overworked marine explorer who returns to the water for pleasure after having brought harmony to the world's oceans. Aquanaut's Holiday was followed by a few Japan-exclusive sequels on various PlayStation consoles.
Contents
Aquanaut s holiday
Gameplay
Gameplay in Aquanaut's Holiday takes place in a first-person perspective and consists primarily of the player exploring vast stretches of ocean, occasionally discovering underwater ruins or treasure, or communicating with underwater creatures. The game has no time limits, enemies, or other obstacles. The game's objective, aside from exploring, is to build a large coral reef to attract a wide variety of fish and other marine wildlife.
Development
Aquanaut's Holiday was developed by the Japanese studio Artdink and directed by Kazutoshi Iida. The game designer was also behind Artdink's Tail of the Sun and later headed development of Doshin the Giant for the Nintendo GameCube.
Reception and legacy
On release, Famicom Tsūshin scored Aquanaut's Holiday a 24 out of 40. The game won a Japan Software Award in 1996. Critical reception has been mixed. USA magazine Next Generation reviewed the game as an import prior to its release in North America, commenting that, "Seen from a first-person perspective, AH's exotic sea life and realistic landscapes soon have you believing you really are exploring the floor of the ocean. And though the gaming aspect is a little on the subtle side, it's enjoyable just swimming around." IGN stated that Aquanaut's Holiday does not truly qualify as a game, but instead "a fun and immersive 3D underwater sim of the most relaxing kind". Shawn Sackenheim of Allgame likewise called the game to be a great stress-reliever and complimented its "beautiful" presentation and "rewarding" gameplay model. Victor Lucas of The Electric Playground agreed that the graphics were mostly impressive, but ultimately found the combination of exploration gameplay and atmospheric music extremely boring. NowGamer was also unimpressed, summarizing, "Unless you’ve got more money than sense, our advice is to save your pennies and spend them on a title that truly pushes the PlayStation to its technical limits without relying on the contents of Captain Birdseye’s pantry."
Aquanaut's Holiday was followed by a few Japan-exclusive sequels. Aquanaut's Holiday: Memories of Summer 1996 and Aquanaut's Holiday 2 were released on the PlayStation in 1996 and 1999 respectively and were later made available for download on the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable in 2008. Another game, Aquanaut's Holiday: Hidden Memories, was released of the PlayStation 3 in 2008.