Capcom Brings Stock Trading Game to DS

***wraggster*** · October 28th, 2006, 11:34

Via IGN

In a year full of strange (or unique, depending on your perspective) DS game ideas, perhaps the strangest (or most unique) was Konami's Stock Sales Trainer. Developed by Metal Gear Solid mastermind Hideo Kojima, this game promised to do for stock trading what Brain Age did for brain training.

The Konami game isn't even out yet, and we already have another stock trading game on the way. Capcom has announced Kabu Trader Shun (Stock Trader Shun) for the DS. Picture the Phoenix Wright series with stock trading instead of the courtroom drama, and you'll have the basic idea behind this unique adventure title.

In Kabu Trader, you play as Shun Aiba, an 18-year old who's always dreamed of being a stock trader. Shun has just been summoned by his father's sole pupil, Toru Narasaki, who promises to teach Shun the tricks of the trade.

In addition to offering all the story and dialogue of an adventure game, Kabu Trader features an action-based trading mode. You face off directly against rival traders in the game's Versus Trade battles, making use of special Trading Arts to reach monetary goals as quickly as possible. New Trading Arts can be purchased in a Trading Shop. You also earn new arts by improving your trading rank and advancing through the storyline.

During the versus trade battles, the top screen shows a stock price chart, with the bottom showing how much money you and your rival have. You can select to buy or sell stocks, but aside from this, we're not sure how this "battle system" works just yet.

The look of the game and its anime-style characters will remind some of the Phoenix Wright series. Like that series, the game uses cut-in animation scenes to intensify battle scenes. At a glance, one could mistake this for a stock-trading mini game in Capcom's popular courtroom drama series.

Despite the apparent similarities, the producer and director of Kabu Trader are different from those of Phoenix Wright. The producer of the new game is Tatsuya Kitabayashi, who previously produced Irregular Hunter X and Rockman Rockman for the PSP. The director is Ikuo Ando, who did planning on Demento and headed up scenario for Breath of Fighter V. In a recent interview conducted by Weekly Famitsu, the two revealed that development on Kabu Trader Shun began in Spring of 2005.

To get a first look at the title for yourself, head on over to the game's official flash website. Shun is the girlish guy with glasses. Toru is the dude with the goatee. The female character is Hanako Kirikagura, another one of Toru's students and the daughter in a family of entrepreneurs.

Stock Trader Shun is set for Japanese release in 2007. A US release hasn't been announced, but given the popularity of Phoenix Wright, we'd say it's a strong possibility.