Ridiculous Fishing EX on Apple Arcade is a perfect arcade remix

Vlambeer’s The Ridiculous Art of Fishing — formerly known as The Radical Fishery — has already had one unlikely rebirth. Dutch pair of arcade specialist were in the middle of converting their Flash-based game. The Radical Fishery into a fleshed-out version for iOS when they were gazumped by the launch of a hit clone on the App Store… and then another… and then another. The first one, Ninja FishingIt was hugely successful. Vlambeer fought on, turning the war against clones of the Wild West mobile gaming world into a cause célèbreThe indie developers community and finally released The Ridiculous Art of FishingInstant classic status for 2013.

10 Years Later The Ridiculous Art of Fishing Needed another save. The game hadn’t been updated since 2017 and had compatibility issues with modern devices, but Vlambeer had disbanded in 2020. What should I do? Enter Apple Arcade. Apple’s mobile gaming subscription service offered Vlambeer an opportunity to get the band — Rami Ismail and Jan Willem Nijman, plus collaborators Zach Gage (SpellTowerGreg WohlwendThrees!) — back together for one last job: reworking their mobile stalwart in time for its 10th anniversary.

The results are: Ridiculous fishing EXThe new version of’s angular art has been completely redrawn in 3D without losing any of its chunky, irreverent style. Wohlwend’s distinctively angular art has been completely redrawn in 3D without losing any of its chunky, irreverent style. The game’s silly world of bizarro marine life and heavily armed sport fishing has been fleshed out via the medium of an in-universe TikTok parody. And there’s an expanded new game plus mode. But best of all, there’s a new, competitive daily challenge mode — the Pro Fishing Tour — that deconstructs, rewires, and remixes the game in a way that’s endlessly refreshing, while underlining the brilliant simplicity at its core.

You can also find out more about the following: The Ridiculous Art of Fishing, you fish, ridiculously. The game has a brief, elastic, see-saw gameplay loop that’s hard to put down. The game has a short, elastic, see-saw gameplay loop that’s hard to put down. When you hit a fish, run out of line, or reach the bottom, the lure begins to ascend — now the aim is to snag as many fish as possible on the way up. The fish will be thrown high in the air when you reach the surface. You can then use your weapon of choice (a twin Uzis or blunderbuss), to shoot them into tiny pieces. Spend the money you earn to unlock new upgrades. Go again. As you move to deeper water and more remote locations, your catch increases.

Image: Vlambeer/Apple

Image: Vlambeer/Apple

Every week the Pro Fishing Tour offers a new set of challenges. These are divided into seasonal categories and they increase in both length and difficulty. Every day there’s a different depth, and a rotating set of climate effects: Examples include strong currents that tug at your line, trash that boosts the speed of your hook when hit, a limited number of casts, no reload on your guns, and heavy fish that don’t fly high. Certain fish can also be affected by effects: they may cause darkness when touched or become more valuable if you hit them with a chainsaw. There are also daily quests which offer additional cash for certain meta goals.

Combined with two major rule changes — finite ammo for the guns, and finite fish in the sea — these modifiers transform Ridiculous fishing EX. They can make the game more difficult, or they can make it more rewarding. They always force you to rethink your strategy and engage with the game’s design, even if it appears that the basic functionality is still present. Diablo-like elements are also present in how the seasons reset your upgrades periodically and require you to start from scratch. There’s a newly strategic angle to choosing your upgrades each time, as you respond to the new parameters set each day.

You can now win millions from just one cast instead of thousands. It’s meaningless, because all the upgrades cost more, too, but it’s a fun bit of overkill.

“Ridiculous fishing EX”’s Pro Fishing Tour is designed around competitive leaderboards, but to be honest, I’ve never looked at them. It’s enough for me to log in and find a decade-old, classic piece of game design twisted into an exciting new shape, each and every day.