Wall Street Kid

"Who knew daytrading could be fun"

Wall Street Kid is a game where you day trade your way in to your deceased relatives fortune. Sounds fun? Well when billions of dollars are on the line, you'll need to make some keen investments to get your family's castle back and inherit the cash. While this may sound confusing to some, it is actually a fairly easy (and short) game. All this is also done while showering your girlfriend/wife with everything she could ever dream of. Now is where I break it down in to simpler descriptions.

Gameplay - This game has everything you need to become a Wall Street Kid. You will learn about how to trade stocks, get stock tips, manage your money, exercise, and keep your love life active all in one 8-bit cart. The game starts off with news that one of your relatives has died and will leave his life riches which he has earned day trading if you can manage to retrieve the family castle within so many months. On your way to the castle, you will have many other expenses that you will need to find out on about your own. When it comes to day trading yourself, you can invest in any of the make believe stocks in the game just like you would on the normal stock market. Reading the local newspaper and getting tips from Connie at the local office (which is well worth the $1000 price tag) can help point you towards what you should invest in. Don't know a thing about the stock market? No problem! In the game you can find out whatever you need to know about the stock market for a measly $500. If all else fails and you are in money problems, you can stop by the bank and take out an 800,000 loan for the month. Even though this loan can only be acquired if you have purchased your million dollar house, it really comes in handy in the game. Even though investing is the main point in this game, you will need to exercise regularly unless you are looking for an early retirement due to health reasons. You can do everything from going swimming for 2 hours, to going on a nice 8 hour hike. While the 8 hour hike does wonders to you, it can only be done at the VERY beginning of the day which can prove to be impossible at times. Even though this seems to be the entire game, there is still one more thing to figure in which is your girlfriend. Whenever she asks for something, do your best to buy it for her even if it costs you a lot. If you don't buy her most of her demands, she'll dump you faster than you think. Also, you can keep her interest by giving her things like picnics, taking her shopping, or even taking her to the carnival for a day. Maybe if you treat her nice enough it could lead to wedding bells in someone's future.

Sound - If there is one downfall this game has, it is without a doubt the sound in the game. You'd think a game would have at least 2 songs, but this one does not. Over and over you will hear the same song played and it WILL drive you insane before the game is over. I highly suggest putting your TV on mute and popping in anything in to your music player of preference. If not, you can listen to the oddness as sometimes between the menu changes the music will speed up and/or slow down.

Visuals - This is exactly what you would expect from a NES game. The usually low colored cheesy graphics may not suffice your every need, but the first person type view of your house is a rather interesting aspect for the original Nintendo console. Instead of the usual third person walk around games you see on NES so often, this game gives you a view of your office and a little hand that allows you to click on items you want. While it may not be the coolest thing ever, it suits this game great. You can click on your computer for stock exchanges, the flower to go on dates, another item which I can not figure out that allows you to exercise, or you can click on the clock to advance to the next day. Also on the screen are 3 symbols. One takes you to the bank to allow transactions while the other 2 will allow you to get stock tips and a 500 dollar tutorial of how the stock market works.

Controls - While this section goes hand-in-hand with the visuals of the game, the controls are so very easy to manipulate. The D-Pad moves your hand (or the cursor if that is what you call it.) while the A and B buttons simply choose the options. While the controls are fairly consistent throughout the game, I found them to be just a tad bit awkward at the auction point near the end of the game. Still, I thought they were as good as they can get for an NES game and most likely could not be improved.

Replayability - While this game can at sometimes be extremely easy, it does have a rather high replayability compared to most games like this. All the stocks stay the same, but the effects they carry throughout the game. In other words, in one game the stock could be a real loser while in the next it's the top stock almost every week. Also in the game is the ability to choose things to buy your girlfriend which can change the way the game moves and lead her to leaving you if you are not careful. Even with all these options, I would have to say the replayability still isn't much of a strong point for this game. It would have been nice if a difficulty selection or something like that was included.

The Lowdown
Positives
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1) Teaches you about how stocks work and so forth.
2) The game can actually be educational and fun at the same time!
3) Wall Street Kid? You get to date a chick! It should be Wall Street Man!

Negatives
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1) Extremely annoying music with minimal if any sound effects.
2) No difficulty selection.
3) Game proves to be too easy at times.

Players? - 1 Player
Save Option? - Password
Purchase? - If you can find this game, I would suggest buying it especially considering you should be able to find it fairly cheap. Either way, I would suggest renting it first if you have a place near you that still rents NES games.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/05/01, Updated 08/05/01