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コナミ ワイワイワールド
©Konami 1988
Release: 1988-01-14 (¥5500)
Cartdridge RC825
Platform/action game
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Konami Wai Wai World is an action/platform game by Konami. The evil
Daimaō Warudā has kidnaped six popular Konami characters and holds them
captive against their will - Goemon, Simon (Simon Belmont),
Fūma (Getsufūma), Mikey (Michael Walsh), Moai
(Moai Alexandria) and Kong (King Kong). The scientist Dr. Cinnamon,
alerted to the situation, sends two of his best agents (Konami Man and the cyborg
Konami Lady) to save the day. Their mission is to travel through six different
Konami worlds, and to retrieve each prison key in order to free the captive
prisoners. Once a character is rescued, he becomes instantly playable and can be switched
at any point during the game. Each character also comes with his own set of unique
abilities and a secondary weapon (hidden within each level), and this combination requires
the player to always pick the hero that suits best a given situation - for instance
Goemon is the only one capable of opening treasure chests, Fūma and
Moai can destroy blocks and Mickey can crawl into small openings.
Furthermore, Dr Cinnamon's lab acts as the game's hub from which the player
can visit (or revisit) all six levels in any order, or revive a fallen character
(thanks to Dr Cinnamon's younger brother, Dr. Simon). Defeated enemies
also drop two kind of items - health items (hearts) or ammunition/bullets.
The latter are an important aspect of the game - each character can equip a special
weapon and ammunition is used each time such weapon is fired, and some consume
more bullets than others (reviving dead characters also costs bullets). Like
secondary weapons, special items are also hidden throughout the game, such as
Power Capsules (increases attack), Rice Balls (automatically heals a character),
Potions (restore health) and the Mantle (gives Konami man and
Konami Girl the ability to fly). Finally, when all six characters are rescued,
the player gains access to a last area (through the lab's mysterious third door) and flies
Konami's legendary Twin Bee or Vic Viper ships to face the final boss.
Konami Wai Wai World also features a simultaneous cooperative two-player mode,
and a password system to save the game progress.
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"Wai Wai" is a Japanese onomatopoeia that means "noisily" (a crowd of people who
have a raucous conversation, or noisy chattering) - and Konami Wai Wai World is
indeed jam packed with a boisterous crowd of classic Konami characters. Konami Man,
before he was a playable character in Wai Wai World, made several cameo appearances in
many Konami games such as Road Fighter (Arcade, 1985), King Kong 2
(Famicom, 1986), Goonies (Famicom, 1986) or Moero TwinBee
(Famicom, 1987) to only name a few. Although Konami Lady appeared for the first
time in Wai Wai World, she also made several cameo appearances in later titles, such as
Ganbare Goemon 2 (Famicom, 1989) or in Parodius Da!
(Super Famicom, 1992). Dr Cinnamon is the scientist who created the Twinbee
ships (Arcade, 1985) and the blue penguin who operates the transporter is Penta,
the running penguin from Kekkyoku Nankyoku Daibōken (aka Antarctic Adventure)
released in 1983. The six heroes who need to be rescued are also all based on popular Konami
characters; Goemon is the main protagonist of Ganbare Goemon! Karakuri Dōchū
(Famicom, Arcade, 1986), Simon is Simon Belmont from
Akumajō Dracula (Famicom, 1986),
Fūma is Getsu Fūma from
Getsu Fūma Den (Famicom, 1987),
Mikey is Michael Walsh from
The Goonies (Famicom, 1986), Moai Alexandria is a Moai head from
Gradius (Arcade, 1985) and King Kong is the main protagonist of
King Kong 2 Ikari no Megaton Punch (Famicom, 1986). Finally, the vertical
shooter level features the Vic Viper (from Gradius) and Twin Bee
ships, and the last stage is an unmistakable reference to
Contra (Famicom, 1988).
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A mobile phone version of Konami Wai Wai World was released in Japan in 2006 (picture on the right).
However this port was edited - Mickey and King Kong were both nominally
replaced by Upa (the baby from Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa)
and Penta
(from Arctic Adventure), and their stages were modified accordingly into Candy
and Antartic levels (They can both thank the copyright gods for their benevolence).
However, a sequel to the original Famicom was released in 1991 - the game, called
Wai Wai World 2: SOS!! Parsley Jō was available for the Famicom system and
also featured an extensive cast of Konami characters. Interestingly, Konami
also released a racing game called Konami Wai Wai Racing (Aka Konami Krazy Racers)
for the Gameboy Advance in 2001. Although the game liberally borrows concepts from
Nintendo's Mario Kart, it also features a large cast of Konami characters,
such as Goemon, Moai Head or the Vic Viper.
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Konami Wai Wai World Konami Cards
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Like several other early Konami games released in the 1980s/1990s, Konami Wai Wai World
included a numbered collector card also known in Japan as コナミ キャラカード (aka 'Konami Chara Cards' or 'Konami Character Cards').
Each card featured an illustration or a snapshot
from the game (picture on the right), and the back of each card showed a serial number as well as the
game's title. They were randomly included with the games and Konami
produced several variations of each card. That's it, each game included a
card from a series related to the game, it is however not known
how many different card variations were made for each game.
Apparently six cards (on average) were produced for each game, except
for Doremikko (1 card), Exciting Boxing (1 card) and Meikyujin Dababa
(which, curiously, only seem to feature five cards).
The list of
Konami games to include such cards are believed to be :
Ai Senshi Nicol (FDS),
Dracula II Noroi no Fuin (FDS),
Arumana no Kiseki (FDS),
Contra (FC),
Doremikko (FDS),
Dragon Scroll (FC),
Exciting Baseball (FDS),
Exciting Basketball (FDS),
Exciting Billard (FDS),
Exciting Boxing (FDS),
Exciting Soccer (FDS),
Falsion (FDS),
Getsu Fūma Den (FC),
Majō Densetsu II Daimashikyō Galious(FC),
Meikyū Jiin Dababa (FDS),
Metal Gear (FC),
Salamander (FC),
Tetsuwan Atom (FC),
Top Gun (FC)
and Wai Wai World (FC).
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Game Staff (Copied from the end credits) :
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Main Programer
Shinamon Kazuhiro
Progammer
Saimon Tsukasa
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Graphics
Getsu Nakamoto
Kusaka Susumu
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Sound
Rasshaa Sakamoto
Shigechan
Damian Fujio
KONAMI
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G
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Japanese Guidebook
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Japanese Guidebook
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Japanese Comic
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Click on picture to enlarge |
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LK
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Add your Pov here !
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P
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Konami is known for its Parodius crossover series, but I suspect that
not that many players have heard of the obscure Wai Wai World series. Like
Parodius, Wai Wai pays homage to a plethora of Konami characters
borrowed from cult games such as Gradius, Goemon, Twin Bee and
Akumajō Dracula. I'm not ashamed to say that Wai Wai got my nostalgia
glands throbbing with excitement, and hearing the iconic Castlevania theme once
again was enough to tickle my nostalgic itch. So, obviously, this game was designed for
Japanese players who love Konami (and the word "Japanese" is
important here because many of the games/characters referenced in Wai Wai never
made it outside of Japan). Anyway, how does the game stand up ? Well, Wai Wai's
non-linear structure leaves you in the dark from the moment you enter the game - which level
should I pick ? How can I pass this obstacle ? Maybe I need a different character ? And
so forth... But after some grinding, the pieces finally fall into place and the game starts
making sense and is rather fun. But then the unforgiving difficult level kicks in - additionally,
the fact that you have to spend hundred bullets to revive each character adds an unnecessary
burden to an already challenging game (you'll most certainly rely on the password system
instead). All in all, Konami Wai Wai World may not be a masterpiece, but it is
an excellent and enjoyable game that any Konami fan should pick up.
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