Wall Street Kid
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| Wall Street Kid | |
|---|---|
 Box art |
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| Developer(s) | Sofel[1] |
| Publisher(s) | Sofel[1] |
| License | Commercial |
| Platform(s) | Nintendo Entertainment System[1] |
| Release date(s) | NA June 1990 [1] |
| Genre(s) | Tycoon strategy game[1] |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: n/a (not rated) |
| Media | NES cartridge |
| Input methods | NES game controller |
| Display | Raster |
Wall Street Kid is a video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System in which the player must prove himself worthy by taking $500,000 in seed money in order to gain a six-hundred-billion-dollar inheritance from the extremely wealthy Benedict family. Successfully investing it in the American stock market results in rewards like going shopping on the weekend and being able to acquire expensive items such as a house. The player is also encouraged to spoil his girlfriend, as all men of the Benedict family pampered their wives. If the player is unable to raise the money needed for a key item, such as a boat or the house, he is disowned by the family, in which case the game is over.
Wall Street Kid is indirectly based on a series of Japanese Famicom games. These games were individually titled as Money Game and The Money Game II: Kabutochou no Kiseki. In both games, the same goal to acquire as much money as possible remains. However, Wall Street Kid uses American dollars while Money Game uses Japanese yen.
Contents |
[edit] Gameplay
Most of the game is spent in a single office in New York City, where the player makes decisions on investments and other matters.
[edit] Office screen
- A newspaper vaguely resembling the Wall Street Journal, which includes vague news items, the status of interest rates, and "Hot Stock" picks.
- A computer (resembling an Apple Macintosh) where the player can buy and sell stocks, as well as research companies.
- An investment adviser who, for $1,000, will give the player an insider hint on a particular company.
- An economist who, for $500, will teach the player a quick lesson about economic matters, such as supply and demand.
- The bank, which loans money to the player after they have a house for collateral.
- A link to date the player's girlfriend by either taking her on a picnic, taking her shopping, or to a local carnival.
- A link for exercise, allowing the player to go swimming, work out, or go hiking.
- A clock that records the passage of time, and allows the player to skip ahead to the next day.
[edit] Goals
The game takes place over four months, during which the player, if successful, marries his girlfriend. Requirements to win the game are:
- Buy a house that is worth exactly one million dollars.
- Buy a yacht to take your wife on a honeymoon.
- Get married to your girlfriend.
- Win an auction for an old castle that once belonged to the Benedict family.
- Raise enough money to purchase this castle at the bid price.
[edit] Features
Additionally, on certain weekends, the player must take his fiancee/wife shopping for expensive items, ranging from a pet dog (from a couple of species) to a painting for the new house (choosing from two different fictional artists). The more expensive the item purchased is, the happier the player's significant other becomes.
All the companies listed in the game are parodies of real companies. For example, IBM is listed as "YBM". Apple Computer is listed as "Yapple Computers". The Greyhound Bus company is called "Strayhound", and Carnival Cruise Lines is referred to as "Carnivore Cruise Lines".
[edit] Reception
Video game writer Seanbaby wrote a "not so nice" review about Wall Street Kid. The review is supposed to be read as a humorous article, mentioning the "Nintendo logic" that plagued in the 1980s Nintendo games.[2]
Wall Street Kid is, so far, the only game to win the highest possible score of 0 (scores are almost always negative) on Something Awful's ROM Pit feature.[3]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e "Release information". Game FAQs. http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/nes/data/563475.html. Retrieved 2008-07-25.
- ^ Based on Crap: The 10 Worst Ideas to Make Nintendo Games About - Seanbaby.com
- ^ Wall Street Kid
