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Wall Street Kid

 
Games: Wall Street Kid
 
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  • Release Date: 1990 06
  • Genre: Simulation
  • Style: Business Sim

Game Description

Wall Street Kid is a stock market simulation from Sofel's "Life Simulation Series." In this educational game you will buy, sell and trade fictional stocks with names like ATNT and YBM, all in an effort to win your late Uncle Benedict's inheritance.

Uncle Benedict was an extremely wealthy man, and Larry the Lofty Lawyer is the executor of his 600 billion dollar estate. Larry leads you, Wall Street Kid, through a fast paced world of high debts and quick stock profits. In order to win the substantial inheritance, you must not only turn a quick buck and buy the right stocks, but you must also "uphold the Benedict standard of living" by pampering your sweetheart and buying a million dollar home.

As the clock ticks down on your substantial inheritance you must pick the right companies with the help of Connie the Arrogant Advisor, Ruth the Ruthless Banker and $500,000 from Larry.
~ Jeff Irwin, All Game Guide

Roots & Influences

This game is part of Sofel's "life simulation series." It is a sarcastic and cute attempt to simulate stock market situations.
~ Jeff Irwin, All Game Guide

Review: Overall

This is a unique title for the NES. Beginning with the story, Wall Street Kid is one of those games that threatens to bring you in and consume you. At least for a couple of days. With a story reminiscent of Brewster's Millions, the Wall Street Kid meets Larry the Lofty Lawyer on April Fools' Day. But Larry isn't the joking sort. He gives the Wall Street Kid $500,000 as part of the late Uncle Benedict's $600 billion estate. The whole story is rather comical and what's more, the drawing gives Wall Street Kid the feel of old-time cartoon characters (somewhere between Richy Rich and Archie).

As part of Sofel's "Life Simulation Series," this game attempts to present every day activities on the glorified stage of video gaming. Whether the purpose is educational or sarcastic, the designers of Wall Street Kid succeed in bringing in many significant aspects of stock market trading. First of all, the market reacts appropriately to changes in interest rates and companies are divided into relevant categories. For instance, you can choose from growth, cyclical or blue chip stocks. Also, every day begins with a look at the "Wall Street Times," a newspaper filled with tips and anecdotes. The naming of the corporations is similarly clever.

Simply attempting to expand your portfolio to the optimal level is fun enough, but Sofel adds to this fun by constructing an adventure-like goal around your conspicuous accumulation. Not only can you buy, sell and trade stocks, you must also keep in shape and pamper your sweetheart, Prisela. All of these things take time, and managing your time is almost as important in this game as managing your money. All of these devices make Wall Street Kid realistic, yet smooth and enjoyable. The story drives the action well, and the Wall Street Kid runs into countless friends and scam artists that educate and entertain.

This game is slow-paced and fairly easy. However, something about its unique offerings and its tongue-in-cheek sarcasm is very attractive. Maybe I just like to play with money, even if it isn't real.
~ Jeff Irwin, All Game Guide

Review: Enjoyment

It has plot, it has mechanics, who could ask for anything more?
~ Jeff Irwin, All Game Guide

Review: Graphics

Cartoonish and mainly static, but enough to do the job.
~ Jeff Irwin, All Game Guide

Review: Sound

Sound and graphics don't sell economic strategy games.
~ Jeff Irwin, All Game Guide

Review: Replay Value

Playing with money is fun, period.
~ Jeff Irwin, All Game Guide

Review: Documentation

Standard, but inside the game are educational icons on the stock market as well.
~ Jeff Irwin, All Game Guide
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Wikipedia: Wall Street Kid
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Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
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Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2008)
Wall Street Kid
Image:Wall Street Kid.jpg
Developer(s) Sofel[1]
Publisher(s) Sofel[1]
License Commercial
Platform(s) NES[1]
Release date(s) NA June 1990
[1]
Genre(s) Tycoon strategy game[1]
Mode(s) Single-player only
Rating(s) ESRB: n/a (not rated)
Media 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

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.

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.

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.

Features

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".

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]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Release information". Game FAQs. http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/nes/data/563475.html. Retrieved on 2008-07-25. 
  2. ^ Based on Crap: The 10 Worst Ideas to Make Nintendo Games About - Seanbaby.com
  3. ^ Wall Street Kid

External links


This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

Copyrights:

Games. Copyright © 2008 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Game Guide ® , a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Wall Street Kid".  Read more

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