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.
In Aquanaut's Holiday 2, the player takes the role of a world-famous oceanographer. Unfortunately, the press, the government, and environmentalists are constantly bombarding you. Seeing the stress that you are under, your boss sends you on a long-term assignment to get away and recharge your batteries. Go to the last unexplored part of the ocean, map it, talk to the wildlife, and create a coral reef refuge. The best part about the whole assignment is that there is no time limit, no monsters to destroy, and no evil plots to thwart. Just kick back, relax, and do everything at your own pace. What you want to accomplish is Aquanaut's Holiday 2 is up to you. Just don’t relax so much that you drown.
Aquanaut’s Holiday 2 (Aquanaut no Kyuujitsu 2), released only in Japan for the Playstation in 1999, doesn’t vastly shake up the formula the first set forth. Kazutoshi Iida, the game’s creator, considers the first game his worst ever, so he was naturally motivated to improve things for the sequel.
Noticeable right away is how much nicer everything looks, from the shimmering surface of the seas to the well-modeled and -textured sea creatures. There’s a much wider area to explore this time, and there are multiple areas instead of the first game’s single sea. The areas have various themes, too – from warm Pacific waters, to the freezing Arctic, to representations of the world’s great rivers. Support for the Dual Shock controller’s analog sticks and vibration were also added, to great effect.
The reef gimmick is gone this time, but it’s been replaced with a list (in katakana) of all the sea creatures you can encounter. The player can scan each sea creature with the submersible’s sensors, and once this is done the creature receives a blue dot next to its name. The sub is still capable of generating noises, and these let the player interact with animals in the same way as the first game. Sometimes an organism’s dot will be pink instead of blue initially, and this signals that there’s some notable interaction the player can coax out of it in order to turn the dot blue.
The wildlife featured in the game constitutes a large cross-section of creatures from all over the world and from all oceanic habitats - from mild shallows to the darkest depths. There are even a few areas of the game that house life that, shall we say, hasn’t been around much lately? Since this is a pure exploration game, a great deal of the fun is searching for what might be out there. If you’ve ever fancied yourself a Jacques Cousteau or spent hours poring over books about animals when you were little (as I did), this is a game for you.
Something that many who were dismissive of the first game missed out on was the handful of special locations and objects that could be found on the seafloor. Ruins, footsteps in the sand, a deep-sea trench, and more gave the explorer something to brag about upon returning from his or her voyages. Aquanaut’s Holiday 2 has no lack of these, and discovering each one gave me a thrill. Mysterious, repeating noises can be heard in various locations, and often following these will lead the explorer to a discovery. There’s a list of these in your log book, too, but they’re listed in Japanese and with somewhat poetic names instead of plain descriptions. This time around, there are even a few spots where the player can cause the submersible to surface and witness different events (watch for the strange red-and-green icon).
Ambient sound, well-utilized lighting, the color of the water, and murk where appropriate ensure that AH2 has no lack of atmosphere. At the ocean’s surface, rays of sunlight can be seen dancing and bending, but as the player descends into the ocean’s depths, less light penetrates from the surface and a deep sense of quiet envelops the world. The view distance doesn’t extend very far, but this is handled very well as the player approaches landforms or creatures: at first, an undefined shape is visible through the murk, and it gradually becomes less blue (or green) and more solid as the player moves closer. To see some of the bulkier specimens make their presence known in this manner can be an awesome experience. Even though there’s still no way to die or see a Game Over screen, I still encountered some genuinely creepy moments throughout the game.
Manufacturer's description:
Expression, to the utmost limit, the beauty of marine life span a wide variety of 400 species.
Feature up to eight areas of freshwater from the tropics. Also appeared in ancient times we live in a sea of ??paleontology, such as giant plesiosaur.
Automatic tracking system chase the fish on a single lock.
Book functions can be registered fish found.
Look for hard-to-find-organisms corresponding "pocket station!"
Features:
- First person perspective.
- 3D graphics
- Cartoon graphics
- Oceanic Life theme.
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