/vr/ - Retro Games

Diver's Dream (JP: Dolphin's Dream) was an underwater exploration game localized and released only in PAL territories. For a game of its kind it has a very "game-y" bent, unlike the more free-roaming Aquanaut's Holiday or Endless Blue. Your mission is to explore sunken ships and wreckage and recover well over 100 unique treasures, as well as scraps that you can trade in for varying amounts of money. With that you can purchase better diving equipment (you start off with a pair of swim trunks) and weapons (to fend off sharks and dangerous fish). These are also customizeable by the player.

The whole process of venturing ever-father into the sunken ships and caves, only to surface with new treasure and buy even better equipment, is really addictive. There is also a Free Mode so you can explore to your heart's content though, and even during salvage missions you get to roam around very wide areas.

Though the game's cutscenes are pretty ugly and swimming animations are stiff and basic, it's still totally worth playing today. On the PS2, the sorely overlooked Everblue 2 would employ a very similar game structure of diving and salvaging, and I believe it was released in all regions.