Whenever I see video games these days, I always wonder at how small the variety of available games actually is. Except for a few innovative ideas, video game publishers all seem to follow the same pattern: a racing game here, a shooting game there, sometimes a jump’n'run for the kids. True, the graphics are a lot better today compared to when I still played video games. But in terms of gameplay I get bored just looking at the screens in a department store.

Not so in Japan. Not so for Nintendo. I confess I wasn’t happy when Nintendo, facing growing competition from Sony and Microsoft, decided to radically change their business concept and focus on the market for ‘family games’ and come up with more innovative products. Contrary to my expectations, this seems to have worked quite well for Nintendo. And today the Wii and the DS have some of the most enjoyable and creative games on the market — like Stock Trader Shun (or Kabu Trader Shun 株トレーダー瞬).

Just when you thought that everything possible has been tried already, Capcom comes up with an adventure set in an environment that people would rarely consider appropriate for a video game. Stock Trader Shun is … well, exactly what the title says: a game where you trade stocks, earn virtual money and work your way up in the DS world. The game consists of two different parts: one is the trading part, where you try to make as much money as possible, as quickly as you can. The other part is the adventure part, where you explore the city and get to talk to people, who teach you the basics about stock trading and – as you make progress – certain trading ‘tricks’ that will allow you to manipulate the stock movements. Did somebody say ‘insider trading‘?

Anyway, the game is a pleasing pastime and compared to its more serious counterparts ‘Kabushiki Baibai Trainer Kabutore’ (株式売買トレーナー カブトレ) and ‘Wakabayashi Fumie no DS Kabu Lesson’ (若林史江のDS株レッスン) it’s also interesting for casual gamers. Apart from that, anybody learning Japanese and trying to understand Japanese stock trading terms, this is the way to go!

• IGN: Kabu Trader Shun preview
• Wikipedia.en: Kabu Trader Shun
• NDSGame: Screenshots of Kabu Trader Shun