I still remember that when I was a child, I saved half a month's pocket money, ran to the canteen in front of the school, and looked at the pile of colorful pirated cassettes, and my eyes were straight. The boss mysteriously took out a plate of "Super 100-in-1" and said it had all kinds of games. When I took it home and plugged it in, 99 of them were repeated Tetris, except for the 37th one, which was a small game called "Fish Eat Fish" - yes, it was made by Nanjing Tiandou Interactive. The running platform was marked "5.0". I still don't understand what 5.0 means. Maybe it's the GBA emulator version? Anyway, we don't have to choose this year, as long as we can play.
At that time, when fish were eating fish, the picture quality could only be regarded as mosaic level. The baby killer whale looked like a flat marshmallow, and the picture would freeze when swallowing the small fish, but the pleasure of "eating a fish smaller than yourself in one bite" was simply addictive. What I remember most clearly is that there was a bug in the game on the pirated cassette: sometimes after swallowing a fish, it would suddenly shrink when it grew bigger. I was so angry that I slapped the controller. But even so, I still took turns playing with my deskmate. He was responsible for hiding the big fish, and I was responsible for eating the small fish. We cooperated perfectly.
Well now, you can find it just by searching on your mobile phone. It's a high-definition remake, and even the decorations in the aquarium are made sparkling. The smooth animation when swallowing fish and the sound of gold coins jingling, youth is back! But to be honest, I always feel that there is something missing - maybe it is missing the excitement of "playing and suddenly crashing" of the pirated cassettes, and the joy of squeezing in front of the nine-inch TV with my friends next door, eating snacks while cursing "Why does this stupid fish keep hitting me?"
Some people say that pirated cassettes are a trace of childhood, but I think they are just the youth filter for us old players. Without those cassettes that cost 10 yuan each and had the wrong name printed on the cover, how would we have the chance to get to know these games that we still miss today? Whether fish eats fish or otherwise, what we are playing is not a game, it is a time that cannot be returned. 🐬