| Wall Street Kid |
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| Developer(s) | Sofel | | Publisher(s) | Sofel | | Platform(s) | NES | | Release date | 1990 | | Genre(s) | Life simulator | | Mode(s) | Single-player | | Rating(s) | n/a | | Media | Cartridge | | Input methods | NES controller |
Wall Street Kid is a video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System in which the main character, in order to gain a six-hundred-billion-dollar inheritance from a distant relative, must prove himself worthy by taking $500,000 in seed money and successfully investing it in the U.S. stock market. Wall Street Kid is indirectly based on a series of Japanese Famicom games. These games were individually titles 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.
GameplayMost of the game is spent in a single office in New York City, where the player makes decisions on investments and other matters. The everyday screen offers several options: - 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.
- 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.
The game takes place over four months, during which the player marries (if successful) his girlfriend. Requirements to win the game are, - Buy a house worth a million dollars.
- Buy a yacht to take on a honeymoon.
- Get married.
- Win an auction for an old castle that once belonged to the family.
- Raise enough money to purchase this castle at the bid price.
Additionally, on certain weekends, the player must take his fiancee/wife shopping for expensive items, ranging from a pet dog to a painting for the new house. 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".
ReceptionVideo game writer Seanbaby wrote a "not so nice" review about Wall Street Kid. The review is supposed to be read as humorous article, mentioning the "Nintendo logic" that plagued in the 1980s Nintendo games. 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.
References- ^ Based on Crap: The 10 Worst Ideas to Make Nintendo Games About - Seanbaby.com
- ^ Wall Street Kid
External links- Wall Street Kid at MobyGames
- Wall Street Kid at GameFAQs
- Seanbaby Article on Wall Street Kid - Based on Crap
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