Nintendo DS is one of the most popular hand-held systems in Japan and with its popularity comes a variety of different games. With so many games, it’s impossible for all of them to make it into the United States. One game that never made it to U.S. shores is Itadaki Street, which literally translates to Top Street. Itadaki Street is a computer board game created by Square-Enix. The version I played specifically for this review was created for the Nintendo DS and featured a crossover of Super Mario and Dragon Quest characters.
A game of Itadaki Street plays out similarly to a game of Monopoly. Players start with 1,200 gold and travel around the game board purchasing properties. As properties are acquired the street (which is a collection of 4 color coded properties) goes up in value. That is where the similarities between Itadaki Street and Monopoly get a bit skewed. Since Itadaki Street is a digital board game the arrangement of the game board and number of streets are not always the same; there are however many squares that must be in each board. These squares are the bank, casino, inn, lucky square, and chance card squares.
The bank is comparable to the Go space on a Monopoly board; it’s the square where players start at the beginning of the game and it’s where the stock trade transactions take place. Players buy stocks to increase their overall net worth which is an important factor in winning a game of Itadaki Street. Stocks also give players a small cut of any transactions happening on the streets they have stocks in. The bank is also where players earn bonus money upon gaining a level which is achieved via the aforementioned chance card squares. Chance cards are a total of one-hundred different cards that have various effects on the game, such as decreasing a street’s stock value or stealing a property from another player. There are a total of five chance card squares on each board; one is a miscellaneous chance square represented by a question mark which allows the player to pick a chance card upon landing on it. The other four chance squares take their shapes from a deck of playing cards, and also allow a player to pick a chance card. However when a player passes one of the shaped squares that shape is added to their collection. Once all four shapes are collected players can go back to the bank and level up, which rewards them with a cash bonus similar to passing the Go space in Monopoly. The inn square causes players to fall asleep which takes rent cost down to zero for that player’s properties for one turn, the casino square pits players in a random game of chance for high profits, and the lucky square gives whatever player that lands on it a cut of all of their opponents monetary transactions.
Players can buy houses on their properties like in Monopoly; however a player doesn’t need to own every property of a particular street to buy one. All a player has to do is land on any property square they own and they can put money towards a house on one property of their choice. Just like Monopoly the more money you put towards the houses, the more it will cost players who land there. An interesting action players can perform is something I’ve come to call a hostile take-over; to perform this action players must land on a property square owned by an opposing player. After paying the rent players have the option of taking control of that property square but at a high cost. There are two ways to win a game of Itadaki Street, one way is to bankrupt all other players on the board, the other is reaching the board’s preset winning net worth total which varies based on which board is being played.
Graphically, Itadaki Street DS is a beautiful looking game based on Nintendo DS’s standards. The game has a great variety of characters that animate fluidly and there is a variety of stylized backgrounds for each game board. Itadaki Street’s audio leaves little to complain about with much of the game’s music paying homage to both intellectual properties. Fans of both Dragon Quest and Super Mario might be a bit disappointed to know however that they do not take control of any of the characters from either series. Instead, players must create a character that can be dressed in custom attire should they have the gold required.
There are many aspects of Itadaki Street I find enjoyable. First the stock market system, it adds a surprisingly fun twist to an otherwise straight forward system. It’s a good feeling knowing your stocks have paid off when you start getting huge cuts of each monetary transaction. Also being a huge fan of Super Mario, it’s nice to see my favorite characters along with hearing some nostalgic tunes from the series. Even though I can’t play as my favorite characters the game does throw me an olive branch by allowing me to buy items to customize my character. However there are some problems with Itadaki Street as well. Like Monopoly, although there are some strategies, most of the game is factored on lucky rolls. Players only roll one die and it’s not uncommon to have several turns without landing on a vacant property square which can be infuriating. Game times can take several hours forcing players to put in ample free time to complete one board. It’s also an extremely hard game; even the lower ranking opponents can be extremely ruthless.
Personally I like Itadaki Street but in the end it’s a very niche experience. This is game that is built for two types of enthusiast. In the one hand are the hard-core fans of either the Dragon Warrior or Super Mario series. In the other are the die-hard Monopoly fans who don’t mind the added complexity of a stock market and changing game boards. Anyone not in these two categories should steer clear of Itadaki Street DS because it’s not the game for you.
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Back Cover
Jared in Japan 