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Fortune Street review: Occupy Mushroom Kingdom
As soon as you start up Fortune Street, you need to go into the options and turn both "game speed" and "text speed" up to their fastest settings. Then, when you get ready to choose your board and start the game, you must reduce the amount of money required to win by at least half. Even with these utterly necessary precautions, you should probably block out a big chunk of your day to dedicate to Square Enix's board game. At its default settings, Fortune Street will wear out both its welcome and its players before the conclusion of a single game. That is, of course, if you can find someone to play with, which seems unlikely, given the presumably small pool of nearby friends who love Mario and Dragon Quest, love the real estate market, and have nothing going on for the whole day.%Gallery-140943%
Fortune Street favors the board game fan
Of all the surprises Nintendo tossed out during E3, none was as random as Fortune Street. And it's weird whether you know the history or not; if you don't pay attention to old imports, it's just a Mario/Dragon Quest board game for Wii, which is unquestionably bizarre. But for those of us in the know about relatively obscure crossover games, Fortune Street is the left-field localization of a series that has been a fixture in Japan since 1991: Itadaki Street. Itadaki Street, created by Dragon Quest's Yuji Horii, is a video board game series about buying shops on spaces on the board, charging other players for occupying those shops Monopoly-style, and increasing your wealth by clever placement of yourself and your holdings (passing by the "bank" increases the value of stuff you own, as does owning contiguous blocks) and through manipulation of a "stock market." I didn't happen to see the stock market in my quick demo, but I did buy a clothing shop and other assorted businesses on the board ... as a slime, which is pretty wonderful to think about. The corners of the Bowser-themed board had playing card suits (spade, club, etc.) which would deliver a cash bonus if all four were collected and then the Bank was crossed. I didn't hit that milestone, but I did land on one of those suits, which gave me a chance to draw a card for a random effect like more pay for my businesses, or (what I got) the opportunity to buy any one space on the board. Some previous Itadaki Streets have featured crossovers between Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest; the 2007 DS iteration was the first to mix Mario and the RPG mainstay. This first-ever North American release will be out on Wii this holiday season. Check out a trailer after the break.%Gallery-125769%
A road map of Itadaki Street
Having never come out in the US, the Itadaki Street franchise is somewhat of a mystery. But the series has been thrust into our attention with its entry on the DS and the included Mario and Dragon Quest characters. We know we like the characters, and we are vaguely aware of a board game of some kind, but how exactly does the game play?Siliconera, who previously helped us identify all the Dragon Quest folks, has a piece up now about the game that's half review, half tutorial. It's an excellent resource for the Itadaki curious, and should help you in your soul-searching about whether or not you're interested in a Japanese board game about property.
DS releases for the week of June 18th
Welcome to an incredible week for Nintendo fans! This week, the DS (and the Wii as well!) will see some highly anticipated titles make their debut, and a late addition to last week's releases is now available as well -- the budget Brain Buster Puzzle Pak shipped after last week's announcements. Not that we need anything extra after looking at this line-up: Brothers in Arms DS Full Metal Alchemist Trading Card Game Sim City DS Time Ace Transformers: Autobots Transformers: Deceptacons Zendoku While you agonize over your choices this week, let's check out the releases for the rest of the world. It's a big week for Japan -- Phantom Hourglass hits shelves there this week!
Guide to Itadaki Street characters
Confession time! We haven't played a Dragon Quest game since the first one. And that was in the ancient times-- we were basically playing it on an oscilloscope. As such, we don't know any of the characters besides slimes (who could forget slimes?).If you're like us (old and anachronistic), you might need a lesson on who all these adorable Dragon Quest characters are in Itadaki Street. That is exactly what Siliconera has done, because we asked for it just now. Oh, there we go with the anachronism again.Finally, we know the names and origins of Guy Who Looks Kinda Like Dante and Spikey-Haired Guy. Now we're ready for the US version of the game, which will probably never exist.
Square Enix reveals their party plans
We don't usually sit around wishing we lived in Japan, but sometimes there's an overriding temptation that throws everything into a tailspin ... and wouldn't you know that dastardly Square Enix is behind it. The source of our agony? That the fabulous franchise festival known as the Square Enix Party 2007 is going to go on without us. The pain. Thanks to the series of tubes that connects us with Japan, we at least have loads of video to look forward to -- and now that SE has announced a formal list of titles that will be available at the event (both playable and video-only), we're starting to get a little excited. Playable games on display include FFXII: Revenant Wings, Itadaki Street, It's a Wonderful World, and the new Crystal Chronicles for the DS. That may in fact be more Final Fantasy than we could shake a stick at. Also verified: an unknown Final Fantasy title, but we have to admit that it may be attached to those other guys. We won't begrudge them that; we've got plenty of games here to drool over. [Via Wired]
New images from Itadaki Street
Square Enix's Itadaki Street DS, schedule for this summer in Japan, is shaping up to be a pretty good looking little game. We can't wait to see more on the WiFi multiplayer, since that's what board games are built for. Is it too much to hope that this one sees an English release? Ponder that while you check out the screens, which are hidden away behind the jump.
Itadaki Street screens
You know how we are about Square Enix around here. If the SE collective trundled over and popped us in the face, we'd be all right with that. At least, we could get over it. Because we're fans, you know? Serious fans. Which is why we can't resist bringing you all the scans and screens and Square Enix videos we get our grimy little hands on. Today it's Itadaki Street, and new screenshots that feature a number of the characters.Random observation: damn, they really put some effort into making Jessica look busty if it's even noticeable on these screens. Check after the jump for that one and the rest!
Translated Itadaki Street scans
Remember those recent Itadaki Street scans? Dedicated Nintendo fan and amazing translator CTU Kyoto has put them all into English for your reading pleasure. Now you can read all about the Volcano of Death and Jessica's "charming assets" without flipping back and forth through a kanji reference until you give up and toss it angrily through a window. Maybe that last one was just us. Enjoy the updated scans, and thanks again, CTU Kyoto! Having some idea of the information packed into these sets gets us charged up over the game. Too bad it's not finished ... we're ready to throw down over WiFi.
Final Fantasy says farewell to Itadaki Street
Itadaki Street has been praised and favored over the years by Square-Enix fans for its combination of classic Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest characters and placing them in a particularly quirky board game. For a few years now, Itadaki Street has made appearances in Japan with the same concept. But it appears that the wind has changed for the game. Judging from the scan found on the NeoGAF forums, a key element seems to be missing -- Final Fantasy. In place of Cloud rests another all time favorite of the game business, Mario. Why we are sad to see Aeris and Yuffie leave, the new addition to the team seems interesting. Yet it leaves one question -- is this a temporary set back or permanent change? Check out the scan after the break and see for yourself. [Thanks JC!]
