ReyVGM (16) on 1/31/2024 7:12 AM · Reply · Permalink · Report

I don't know if this is something I can do or if an admin needs to do it, but the NES game Wall Street Kid and The Money Game 2 should be split into different pages. Let me explain.

I don't know who was it that said that Wall Street Kid is a localization of The Money Game 2, but they were wrong and unfortunately the whole Internet has been parroting the same claim for decades now. But of course, most people haven't played Wall Street Kid, and much less, The Money Game 2 to compare both of them and reach the same conclusion I have.

This isn't the same situation of a developer reskinning a Japanese game with Americanized characters (like the SNES' Ranma 1/2 which was turned into the generic Street Combat).

The only similarity between Wall Street Kid and The Money Game 2 is that you have to invest in stocks to make money (same as The Money Game 1). Other than that, they are completely different games. The core gameplay is simplified when compared to The Money Game 1 & 2. The story, characters, art, menus, music are ALL different, stretching the idea of a "localization" pretty thin. Even the password debug menus, only exist in Wall Street Kid and not in The Money Game 2.

This situation is more akin to a "western spinoff" than a localization. You could even say that Wall Street Kid is the 3rd game of the Money Game series.

And there's precedent for something like this. The NES game Flying Warriors was previously thought to be a localization of Hiryu no Ken 3, but in reality it's not. It's a special version of the game that combines the story from Hiryu no Ken 2 with the graphics and mechanics from Hiryu no Ken 3. That's why Flying Warriors is considered its own game and not a localization.

Unfortunately there isn't any official statement I can provide to "prove" this. The only thing I can tell you is to play both games for a few minutes or watch a gameplay video of both games and you'll see how different they are.

Thanks.