Fortune Street | |
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North American Wii series release
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Genres | Board game |
Developers | Square Enix |
Publishers |
Square Enix Nintendo |
Creators | Yuji Horii |
Platforms | Family Computer, Super Famicom, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS, Wii, iOS |
Platform of origin | Family Computer |
Year of inception | 1991 |
First release |
Itadaki Street: Watashi no Omise ni Yottette March 21, 1991 |
Latest release |
Fortune Street Smart January 23, 2012 |
Fortune Street (いただきストリート Itadaki Sutorīto?, Top Street) (also known as Boom Street in Europe and Australia) is a party video game series originally created by Dragon Quest designer Yuji Horii. It became so popular that Horii decided it should be its own game. The first game was released in Japan on Nintendo's Family Computer console in 1991. Since then, sequels have been released for the Super Famicom and Sony's PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and Nintendo DS. The series was exclusive to Japan prior to the Wii iteration.
The series originated as a minigame within Dragon Warrior III, and proved so popular it was decided that it should be released as an individual game. Horii in a 1989 interview stated he was working on a board game with former Famitsu editor Yoshimitsu Shiozaki and that working in a "completely different genre" to the Dragon Quest games was worthwhile. While creating the first stage, a play test revealed the board was really hard, so a practice stage was constructed and was also too difficult, leading to stage one eventually becoming stage four. In 2011, game creator Yuji Horii stated he had considered bringing Itadaki Street to international audiences.
The games are similar to Monopoly: players roll one die to advance around a board, purchase unowned property they land on and earn money when opponents land on the player's property, and draw cards when they land on certain spaces. The games differs from Monopoly in that players can buy and sell stocks of a block, affecting the value of block's stock by buying or selling that block's stock or by developing a player owned property of that block which increases the value per share of stock for that block. It is not necessary to own the entire block to develop a property, though controlling more than one property of a block allows the player to develop their properties to larger buildings and collect more from opponents. Players must collect a set of four suits to level up and collect additional gold when they pass the starting position/bank. In most versions, up to four players can compete to win each board. To win a player must make it back to the bank with the board's required amount, which includes the total value of the player's stocks, property value, and gold on hand. Minigames and a for more experienced players are also featured.