Wall Street Kid - NES Version 1.0 December 14, 2000 inkhands@yahoo.com ===================== Table of Contents ===================== 1. Introduction 2. Version History 3. Tips 4. Stocks 5. Walkthrough 6. Credits 7. Copyright ================== 1. Introduction ================== Wall Street Kid was released around 1990. I never owned the game, but I rented it a few times. I loved the game and I may be the only person that really loves this game. You play as the Wall Street Kid, but he's never actually given a first name. His last name is Benedict. It seems your relative has died and you stand to inherit his fortune. Yet you have to prove yourself first. You have to prove yourself by earning enough money on Wall Street, buying and selling stocks, to buy a house, a yacht, and finally a castle. You start out with a half million, but you need to turn it into a million by the end of the month for the house. Also, you can go to the bank to get a loan of 800,000, but you'll have to pay it back in a month as 840,000. Not only must you succeed with the business side of the game, you have a fiancee. Her name is Prisila. She will come to you and want you to buy her things such as a car or dog. However, halfway through the game, you will marry her. You have to take her out sometimes on a picnic, shopping, or to the carnival. Otherwise she'll say you're neglecting her. She'll leave you and the game will be over. You also still have to purchase her things when she asks for them, such as a dress, clothes, or a painting. The other thing you have to do is exercise. If you get too greedy the game will end, because you feel so terrible. The options are going swimming, to the gym, or hiking. She'll call you sometimes to tell you that you look awful and that's a good time for you to get some exercise, before the game ends. Everything you do in the game takes time off the clock. The game lasts a total of four months. You only have a few hours a day to buy and sell, take your wife out, or exercise. You have to keep a balance of taking care of yourself, her, and still earn a lot of money. The game gets complicated sometimes, but it really only takes two or three hours to get through the entire thing. You only work on weekdays, but there are two holidays in the game. You also get a week long honeymoon in June. The game starts on April 3rd and ends July 28th. The newspaper lists the date as "This day 1990". There's a box on the right side of the screen listing the date and time. Fifteen minutes passes quickly. There is also time that passes any time you do pretty much anything in this game. However, there are a few things that you can do to be sure you succeed. Just watch the newspaper for information on the stocks, take your wife out some times and buy her things, while also exercising every few days or so. If all of it's done correctly, the game isn't as difficult as one might think it to be. In general, this is just a point and click game. You see a view of the desk. You move to the computer to check information on the stocks, buy or sell, and check your portfolio. To the right is a flower pot. Click on that to take Prisila somewhere. The newspaper automatically comes up at the beginning of a day. However, if you need to see it again, it's easy to find on the desk. There is another machine you click on the right side of the screen to get to the exercise options. You click on the clock at the top of the screen to move forward to the next day, unless you wan to hike or go to the carnival all day. There's not much to control, but a mouse would have been easier, due to all the pointing and clicking in the game. ==================== 2. Version History ==================== Version 1.0 - The stocks, tips, and a walkthrough included in this first version of the document. ================== 3. Tips ================== ---------------------- Buying and Selling ---------------------- - For me this hint is the key to victory, The daily paper lists what types of of stocks are up and down, so it's a good idea to know what stocks fall into what type of group. These stocks go in cycles of one week at a time. There are usually two types that are the most successful each week. For example, one week the blue chip stocks and the cyclical ones might be doing the best. So you certainly want to buy one of those stocks included in one of those groups. The next week it might be growth and speculative stocks. It varies from week to week, but it's always listed in the paper to check on. - The newspaper always lists five hot stocks. You don't necessarily have to buy the one listed at the top or any at all on the list, but it's very wise to get one of them at least. Especially early in the game. To me it was never very profitable to buy a blue chip stock, due to it's high price. It's better to get one of the other types. If it's a blue chip and growth week, then go for the growth stocks. - Some stocks do better than others every time, but in general you can't buy one stock at the beginning of the game and hold it all the way through to win. The stocks go up and down on different days. You really have to buy and sell to get the most profitable stocks at all times. --------------------------- Exercising/Marriage Tips --------------------------- - If you need to keep her happy and exercise both, do your buying and selling. Then take her on a picnic and then go swimming for yourself. They both only take two hours each, so that leaves time for other things without taking up all day. Otherwise, alternate. One day go to the gym and the next take her shopping. Just whatever you feel you have time for. - If you want a day to pass quickly and you want to do something productive at the same time, either go hiking or take your fiancee/wife to the carnival. Both of them take up the entire day, but you can only choose them at the very beginning of the day. - Watch the newspaper for reports of accidents or something like that. If there was a problem with the equipment, don't suggest to your wife that you go to a carnival. She'll be very angry and think you have a death wish against her. Same goes for if you read about ticks on the hiking trail or problems with the pools being contaminated. ================== 4. Stocks ================== These are basically rip offs of real life company names. There are four types of stocks - blue chip, speculative, growth, and cyclical. Every week the same type of stocks rise and fall. Early on the same stock will stay at number 1 for days, but later in the game, it switches from one stock to the next. This makes it more difficult to guess which one will be the hottest stock. However, knowing what types of stocks are popular gives you a better chance. It's a weekly thing. Two types of stocks are popular all week and then next at least one of them will usually change to something else, sometimes both will. Basically, any of the stocks included in that type will rise a little. Some more than others though, which is indicated by the five hot stocks of the day list. That varies much more than the type of stocks do. --------------- Blue Chip --------------- ATNT Boing Xearox YBM Yapple -------------- Speculative -------------- Bethleham Chryer Pan Am Strayhound Teradying -------------- Cyclical -------------- Carnivore Centipede Coughman Marrinot Rattel -------------- Growth -------------- American Depress Exconrail Firedman's Reebucks C. Schlob =================== 5. Walkthrough =================== As far as I know, the game doesn't really have one set play through. The same 20 stocks are always included, and they usually have the same starting price each time. They also usually do about as well one time as the next, but they go up and down on different dates. So, what I'm going to attempt to do is just to do one type of walkthrough as I play the game once. This won't be the exact same way it's played every time, but I figure maybe it will give some tips on how to play the game. Besides, certain events happen the same day every time. For example, your fiancee will ask for a party on the same weekend every time you play. So more than anything this will set up the events of the game and when they take place. ------------------ Dates ------------------ April -Mon. 4/3. Ralph calls, but he doesn't offer you the house yet. -Fri 4/7. The fiancee asks for a dog. -Sat 4/8. You actually go to buy the dog. It's usually 1,000 for one of them or 500 for the other, or buy neither of them. Sometimes the price is 2,000 and 1,000 for the dogs. Since this is a minor expense, it usually won't hurt to buy either dog. -Mon 4/10. Ralph calls yet again. He will continue to call every Monday. You can either choose to buy the house by the end of the week or pass on it until the next week. If you choose to buy, you have to have the 1 million dollars by the very end of that week. That' why it's a good idea to hold on on saying yes to Ralph until your last chance, which would be 4/24. -Fri 4/14. Your fiancee needs a new car. The next day you will go and look at them. They are both usually expensive, but you can by either or say no to both of them. This is a slightly high expense and at the least you probably will have to spend 25,000 dollars. It might be wise to pass on this, unless you really have a ton of money accumulated. -Mon 4/24. Say yes to Ralph about buying the house. He'll call you on 4/28 to remind you to have the 1 million dollars the next day. Be sure to sell all of your stocks, or at least most of them, so you have the million in cash. The next day you'll go to the house and buy it. May -Mon 5/1. Doc calls the first time, but he doesn't offer the boat yet. He says he'll call back next week about the yacht. You probably won't have much money after paying the 1 million for the house. So, it might be a good idea to go to the bank and pick up a loan. You have to pay it back, plus interest, after a month. If you get it on the 1st, it will be due back the 31st. -Fri 5/5. The fiancee calls and says you need to get some Tv and stereo equipment for the new house. You agree and so the next day you go to pick some out. The cost is usually either 6,000 dollars for the best and 3,000 for the cheapest, but since neither is high expense, it's not a big deal either way. However, you can choose neither. -Mon 5/8. Doc calls for real about the yacht. He says you can have it by paying 700,000 dollars in cash by Saturday. If you don't have that much the game will end. So it's best to hold off on buying the boat this time, on 5/15/ and 5/22. However, the 22nd is your last chance, so you have to choose it that time. -Fri 5/12. Prisila, the fiancee, wants a new piece of art to put in the new house. So the next day you go to buy one. These are both pretty expensive, around 50,000 if I remember correctly. You can pass on these, unless you really have a lot of money. -Fri 5/26. Doc will call with a reminder to buy the boat. If you chose to buy it on a week before the final week of May, he will call on the Firday before either way. I always wait until the final week and so he calls the 26th. Be sure to have 700,000 in cash, so you have to sell some stocks. On the next day, you will go to the harbor and purchase the boat. -Mon 5/29. It's Memorial Day. No work to be done on this day. The day is observed and then it passes. -Wed 5/31. If you got a loan on the 1st of the month, it should be due on this day. June -Fri 6/2. Prisila calls and reminds you the wedding is the next day. It's a good idea to make sure you have profitable stocks purchased on this day, because it will be your last chance to do business for a while. After the wedding, you will honeymoon on the new yacht you just bought. -Sat 6/3. Wedding -Mon 6/5-Mon 6/12 you are on your honeymoon. The time passes quickly and your money rises and falls depending on what stocks you owned before you left. You have no chance to buy or sell during this week. The 12th is the first day back to work after the honeymoon. -Sat 6/17. Your wife wants to have a party. You select what type of party you want, either an expensive one or a simple one. It will be either 20,000 or 10,000 usually. I've seen 30,000 sometimes. You can say yes to this, but the money won't actually be spent until the actual day of the party. -Fri 6/23. Your wife calls and wants to buy a new dress for the party you will most likely have. The next day you can buy her an expensive dress for about 20,000 or a cheaper one for 10,000. -Fri 6/30. The lawyer calls to remind you the auction is the next day. If you had a loan, you'll have to pay it off this day as well. Remember to have at least 1 million in cash to take to the auction with you. That's the lawyer's suggestion anyway. July -Sat 7/1. This is the actual day of the auction. The bidding always begins at 2 million. You make your opening bid. The price will rise or fall depending on how much money you actually have. It will go up as high as 10 million. However, it will usually stay in the 3-5 million range. The best way to work this is to ignore the man calling the bid. He always says the current bid, and he asks for the next bid, but it's always a half million more. This will up the price quickly. The least you can add to the bid is 10,000 dollars and that's exactly what you should do. If he says the current bid is 3 million and he's asking for 3.5 million as the next bid, don't do that. Just bid 3,010,000. This will keep the price lower. After you win the auction, you have to pay 10% of the winning bid as a down payment. If you won on 3.5 million for example, then you'll have to pay 350,000 dollars. -Tue 7/4. Independence Day. No work. -Fri 7/7. Your wife wants you to buy her some jewelry for the party. The next day you go and it's very expensive. It's either a necklace, a ring, or a bracelet. Only two of the options are given. They are usually either 70 or 50 thousand. Buy them if you can. She won't leave you if you don't though. Well, unless you never buy her anything. -Fri 7/21. She'll call you to remind you to bring the money for the party. If you are having a party that is, because it's the next day. If you don't have the money, you won't have the party. The next day is the party. -Fri 7/28. This is the final day of the game no matter what. You have to pay off the balance of what you owe to buy the castle. Whatever you didn't pay off with the down payment, you now owe. If you pay it off, the game ends, and you don't have to worry about any loan you might owe at this time. There is only one ending, that I know of. As long as you buy the castle, you will see the ending, the credits roll, and the game is over. ------------------------ Suggested Path ------------------------ 1. Always check the top two types of stocks for a week. Buy one of those stocks, but be sure to buy a cheap one, because having 20 shares of a stock moving up is worth much more than having 7 shares of one doing the same. I usually just buy one stock and don't spread my money out. 2. Get a loan on the first day of May. Try to have enough money to pay off the loan and buy the yacht by the end of the month without getting another loan. 3. Get another loan on June 12th when you return from your honeymoon and try to have enough to pay off the loan and have a million dollars left over for the auction without getting another loan. 4. Bid the least amount you can every time on the castle during the auction. 5. Get another loan on July 3rd after the auction. This is a loan you will never have to pay off, because if you earn enough by July 28th, you simply pay off the castle and the game ends. =================== 6. Credits =================== -The game, where I figured all of this out. I didn't have a manual to look at. -Anybody that ever encouraged me to write. -Anybody that reads this. -The makers of the game. ==================== 7. Copyright ==================== I could make up a long copyright, but I think it's good enough to state that this can't be used without my permission. If you want my permission to use it, then email me. Copyright 2000 inkhands@yahoo.com