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WAI WAI WORLD 2 SOS!! PARSLEY JŌ
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ワイワイワールド2 SOS!! パセリ城
©Konami 1991
Release: 1991-01-05 (¥6500)
Cartridge RC850
Actrion/Platform game
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Wai Wai World 2 SOS!! Paseri Jō (which translates as
SOS Parsley Castle) is a side scrolling action game by
Konami, and sequel of Wai Wai World originally
released in 1988. After the events recounted in the first episode,
the land of Wai Wai was finally at peace once again.
But one fateful day, the
evil sorcerer Warūmon appears from the shadows, steals the
Parsley castle and plunges the kingdom into chaos. He kidnaps
princess Hābu (aka princess Herbs) and no one stands up
to stop him. No one but one person - the genius Dr Cinnamon
escaped and decides to secretly build a humanoid robot boy to save the
day. The Super Robot Rikkuru, as he named it, has the incredible
ability to transform into several popular Konami characters, namely
Goemon (Ganbare Goemon),
Upa (Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa)
Simon Belmont (Akumajō Dracula),
Fūma (Getsu Fūma Den) and
Bill Rizer (Contra). But there
is a bit of a catch. Firstly, Rikkuru must collect special items
with the letter C stamped on them in order to successfully transform
intro a secondary character (by jumping and pressing up at the same time).
Secondly, he can only transform into three different characters
that the player chooses at the start of the game (out of four teams),
and he can
only change into them for a mere sixty-second period. Additionally,
although the Konami characters are invincible, the time limit
goes down each time they receive a hit (health kits scattered
around each stage allow the player to gain it all back though). Rikkuru
comes equipped with a small laser blaster and the uncanny ability to double
jump (thanks to his ingenious rocket boots). As expected, each character
features its own weapon and characteristics, from Bill and his
multi-directional machine gun to Simon and his long range whip
or Upa and his magic rattle that turns enemies into floating
cloud-platforms. Interestingly, all of them
have the remarkable ability to charge a powerful glowing attack and kill
all enemies on the screen. Wai Wai World 2
consists of nine Konami-themed levels (some of them with alternate
routes) as well as various bonus stages and mini-games that switch the
gameplay around, from shooting action to puzzle solving or racing. A
two-simultaneous player mode is also avaible and allows a second player
to take control of Blue Rikkuru and a password system is
used to allow the player to return to the game at a later time.
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Like its prequel, Wai Wai World 2 SOS Parsley Jō stars a motley
crowd of Konami characters and Konami-themed environments.
The robot Rikkuru (picture on the left) replaces here Konami Man and Konami Lady,
the protagonists from the first game (but they still make a cameo appearance
in the game and guide the players through their journey). This time around,
five Konami heroes are at the center of the game - Goemon from
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),
Bill Rizer is one of the commando fighters from
Contra
(Famicom, 1988) and Upa is the cute baby from
Bio Miracle
Bokutte Upa (Famicom, 1988). A plethora of other Konami
characters appear in the game such as Ebisumaru (Goemon's best
friend), Dr Cinnamon (scientist from Twin Bee), the ship from
Quarth,
Penta the penguin (from Kekkyoku Nankyoku Daibōken
(aka Antarctic Adventure originally released in 1983), Konami Man
and Konami Lady. Even the villainous Warūmon will later appear
in the Twin Bee series as Dr Cinnamon's arch enemy and creator
of the Evil Bee clones. Finally, several sections in the game pay
homage to various forgotten or iconic Konami games, such as the arcade
game Road Fighter, Gradius
(horizontal shooting sections star
the Vic Viper and Metalion ships), Twin Bee (vertical
shooting sections feature the Twin Bee and Win bee ships) and
the oddest of all, the section that plays like Konami's classic
arcade game Frogger!
See Konami Wai Wai World
for more information about the series.
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Wai Wai World 2 SOS Parsley Jō was fan translated in English
in 2003 by Vice Translations.
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Game Staff (Copied from the end credits) :
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STAFF
Program
Boyoyon Shinamon Aoyama
Grasshopper Ogawa
Wan Chin Tokoma
Chacha Yoshida
Graphic Design
Pemopemo Sandā Kawaminami
Ishihara Kamenosuke Aratame Pensuke
Fukada Ranmaru Pāsuke
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Sound Design
Sakagon Mirukushoppu Yūichi
Jientoruman Matsubara Kenchan
Manami Muchimuchipurin Satoko
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G
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Japanese Soundtrack
(along with Boku Dracula-kun
and Ai Senshi Nicol)
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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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I must confess, I am a big fan of the first Wai Wai World,
and it took me quite some time to obtain a copy of the sequel. So
how does the game compare to its bigger brother ? Well, the gameplay
mechanics are drastically different here - Konami removed the
element of exploration (which was a drawback, really) and the game
is a lot more action oriented. You don't have to rescue any
Konami characters anymore and they are now available in
packs of three from the start. Additionally, and unlike the first
episode, the graphic design relies on a Super Deformed
(Chibi) theme where characters have large heads and small bodies,
which fits the game but with a distinctly different feel. Although
I wasn't really impressed by the first couple of levels (and their
rather slow auto-scrolling feature), the game quickly kicks in and
becomes hugely satisfying and fun. Wai Wai World 2 is full
of 'wow' moments, and just when you think you've seen it all, it
overwhelms you with awesome new content - from shooting stages
(featuring Twin Bee and the Vic Viper), puzzle
mini-games, 3D Space Harrier-like bonus levels, car racing
and so forth. My nostalgia glands literally exploded the first
time I battled that gigantic Big Core ship found later in
the game, I just couldn't stop shedding tears of joy. Finally the
game is a lot more linear than the first episode (despite a couple
of alternate routes) and the difficulty is much easier (which is
surprising for Konami standards). All in all,
Wai Wai World 2 is a gorgeous action game and although
the platform levels (which are at the core of the game) are
arguably fairly generic, the rest of the game just constantly
keeps surprising you until the finish line. It is a shame that
this sequel was the last episode of this little known crossover
series by Konami...
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