Konami Wai Wai World


Konami Wai Wai World is a 1988 platformer video game developed and published by Konami for the Family Computer. Released only in Japan, the name, "wai wai" is a Japanese onomatopoeia expressing a noisy or boisterous atmosphere. The game starred a variety of characters pulled from other Konami games and franchises of the time. A sequel, Wai Wai World 2: SOS!! Parsley Jō, was released for the Famicom in 1991.

Gameplay

The player starts the game as Konami Man and can switch between Konami Man and Konami Lady. If two players are gaming, then one will play as Konami Man and the other as Konami Lady. Both players are not able to switch characters until they rescue at least one character from one of the six levels. The player must play through six different selectable levels that take place in different Konami games. Subsequently, the player uses a key to save that game's star character, who then becomes playable. Each character has different abilities to begin with as well as ones they can eventually gain. The player ventures through these first six levels in a sort of nonlinear fashion with gameplay very similar to the original Castlevania games. After these stages are completed, the player plays through a scrolling space shooter stage and then a linear final stage.
The player can regularly visit the lab of Dr. Cinnamon, who gives the player the game's character profiles and refills energy when needed. Through his lab, the player can talk to Saimon, Dr. Cinnamon's brother, who can resurrect any defeated characters at the cost of 100 bullets per character during the game.

Playable characters

The following are playable characters:

Other characters

  • Dr. Cinnamon: Scientist from the TwinBee series, helps the characters throughout the game.
  • Saimon: Dr. Cinnamon's brother who brings defeated characters back to life.
  • Pentarou: Penguin from the Parodius series, transports the player to one of the six main levels.
  • Hanako: Penguin from the Parodius series, replacing Pentarou.

Music

The music during gameplay depends on which character the player is playing as. Each character has their own music, which serves as their theme song. Besides Konami Man, Konami Girl and Moai, all the other characters use music from the Konami games they starred in. The different boss music in the game is also taken from Konami games in which the level is based. Wai Wai World 1&2 Sound Collection was released on a soundtrack CD on May 19, 2014 in Japan and was published by Eg Music Records and D4 Enterprise.

Mobile phone version

The mobile phone version of Wai Wai World omits Mikey and King Kong due to licensing issues. They are replaced with Upa and a giant Penta, with their respective stages being a Candy stage and an Antarctic stage.