''Odell Down Under'' is a 1994 game for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

and

Classic Mac OS Mac OS (originally System Software; retronym: Classic Mac OS) is the series of operating systems developed for the Mac (computer), Macintosh family of personal computers by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1984 to 2001, starting with System 1 and end ...

that takes place in the

Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system, composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Released by

MECC The Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium (later Corporation), most commonly known as MECC, was an organization founded in 1973 best known for developing the edutainment video game series ''The Oregon Trail (series), The Oregon Trail'' and i ...

, it is the sequel to '' Odell Lake''.

History

''Odell Down Under'' was released alongside a re-release of its companion game, ''Odell Lake''. The game was recommended for ages 9 to adult. The game was generally praised; ''

School Library Journal ''School Library Journal'' (''SLJ'') is an American monthly magazine containing reviews and other articles for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, wi ...

'' cited the "realistic and beautiful" graphics and detailed field guide as strengths, while ''

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'' called it a "marvelous introduction to life in a thriving underwater community". The game was a finalist for ''

MacUser ''MacUser'' was a monthly (formerly biweekly) computer magazine published by Dennis Publishing Ltd. and licensed by Felden in the UK. It ceased publication in 2015. In 1985 Felix Dennis’ Dennis Publishing, the creators of MacUser in the UK, l ...

''s 1994 Editor's Choice Award for Children's Software.

Gameplay

The player takes on the role of a

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

who in turn must eat, stay clean and avoid being eaten by

predator Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common List of feeding behaviours, feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation ...

s to survive. There are several modes of gameplay. In Tournament mode, the player plays every fish in the game, starting as the tiny silver sprat and eventually reaching the

great white shark The great white shark (''Carcharodon carcharias''), also known as the white shark, white pointer, or simply great white, is a species of large Lamniformes, mackerel shark which can be found in the coastal surface waters of all the major ocea ...

. A shorter Challenge mode picks four random fish (from smallest to largest) instead. The player can choose to play any fish in Practice Mode. Finally, in Create-A-Fish the player creates their own species based on various parameters such as size and agility, which also affect the appearance of the fish. The color, special ability, and nocturnal or diurnal habits are also selected. Special moves, also present for some 'real' fish, include the

stingray Stingrays are a group of sea Batoidea, rays, a type of cartilaginous fish. They are classified in the suborder Myliobatoidei of the order Myliobatiformes and consist of eight families: Hexatrygonidae (sixgill stingray), Plesiobatidae (deepwate ...

's sting and the

cuttlefish Cuttlefish, or cuttles, are Marine (ocean), marine Mollusca, molluscs of the order (biology), suborder Sepiina. They belong to the class (biology), class Cephalopoda which also includes squid, octopuses, and nautiluses. Cuttlefish have a unique ...

's ink squirt. Each fish has different preferences for food, as described in the educational summary before the game starts. The game consists of nine screens, arranged in three levels from the sandy bottom to the reef's top, that various fish, including the player, move through looking for food. To survive, or to gain enough points to reach the next fish, the player's fish has to find enough food (which can include plants, crustaceans or coral as well as fish) to prevent its constantly decreasing energy bar from reaching 0 and death. The other main concern, besides avoiding predators, is health, which can only be repaired by finding a

bluestreak cleaner wrasse The bluestreak cleaner wrasse (''Labroides dimidiatus'') is one of several species of cleaner wrasses found on coral reefs from Eastern Africa and the Red Sea to French Polynesia. Like other cleaner wrasses, it eats parasites and dead tissue off ...

while playing as a diurnal fish, or a

banded coral shrimp ''Stenopus hispidus'' is a shrimp-like decapod crustacean belonging to the infraorder Stenopodidea. Common names include coral banded shrimp and banded cleaner shrimp. Distribution ''Stenopus hispidus'' has a pan-tropical distribution, extendi ...

while playing as a nocturnal fish, and moving next to it. Health takes a serious drop if the fish eats something poisonous to it, often a

sea slug Sea slug is a common name for some Marine biology, marine invertebrates with varying levels of resemblance to terrestrial Slug, slugs. Most creatures known as sea slugs are gastropods, i.e. they are Sea snail, sea snails (marine gastropod moll ...

sponge Sponges or sea sponges are primarily marine invertebrates of the animal phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), a basal clade and a sister taxon of the diploblasts. They are sessile filter feeders that are bound to the seabed, and a ...

. The game also includes a field guide with information about the tropical fish featured in the game. Some versions included a teacher management system, allowing teachers to track students' scores and change preferences such as sound and music.

References

External links

* {{moby game, id=/odell-down-under, name=''Odell Down Under'' 1994 video games Biological simulation video games Classic Mac OS games Life simulation games MECC games Science educational video games Single-player video games Video game sequels Video games about fish Video games developed in the United States Video games set in Australia Video games set underwater Windows games