NES sequels are always hella interesting because you really never know what you are gonna get. Sometimes ya get a mario 2, sometimes ya get a zelda 2, sometimes ya get a mega man 2-6. The first Wai Wai world game was a fun adventurey romp gathering playable friends to explore levels and solve puzzles and whatnot, and this game throws pretty much all of that away to just be focused on linear action. You play as some robot named Rickle or something and rather than being able to switch between different konami characters, the characters work as limited power-ups where you transform into them for a brief period of time, with their health working as a timer. It's neat, but it loses the whole ragtag "getting the gang together" vibes that the first game had, and even then the roster here is nowhere near as insane as the first game. The levels are still fun homages to Konamis output at that time, with goemon, bio miracle bokutte upa, castlevania, contra, twinbee, getsu fuuma den, frogger, gradius, and more all getting some time in the spotlight. My only gripe is that there are a lot of mandatory auto-scrolling levels that just go way too slowly to be interesting, and it makes me not want to replay the game to try the other level paths or character selections, and the game for the most part is quite easy with the exception of the shmup sections which are your typical bouts of gradius-isms. Overall it's pretty bland but still a good time especially if you are a konami fan. The whole game is also playable in co-op, too!

I wish konami would make a waiwai world 3 with all their modern IP but that would require them to actually have to do something. Where's my fan-made doujin Wai Wai world game where all the konami characters have to break into the konami HQ and defeat the people preventing them from getting new games? ill direct it lemme at em

Back when I was hunting down a copy of the first Wai Wai World, I discovered to my surprise that there's actually a sequel! Apparently a much better known sequel, as the resale mall had like a dozen copies of the sequel but only one of the original XD. After how much I enjoyed the first one, I just had to pick up the sequel to see how it compared. The answer to how it compared is, well, tricky to answer exactly, but I did ultimately enjoy my time with it, despite how surprised I was with what I got XD. It took me about an hour to beat on real hardware.

The story of Wai Wai World 2 is similar to the first game in that it doesn't really matter. A big bad guy, similar to the last one, is threatening the Konami multiverse, and Professor Cinnamon is once again sending a hero to save it! However, this time Konami Man and Konami Lady are staying behind, and the professor's newest invention, the robot Rickle is off to save the day with the help of some Konami comrades! You have some returning faces from the first game, as Fuuma, Goemon, and Simon Belmont are here to heck stuff up again, but there are also some new faces as Upa from Bio Miracle Bokkute Upa and Bill from Contra join the party (while Mikey, King Kong, and Moai are left out of this adventure).

The biggest and most immediately obvious difference between this game and the first one is a big shift in genre. Instead of a Castlevania 2-style action adventure game, this is a straight up action platformer as you go through a succession of stages to reach the big baddy at the end. You also don't rescue friends who join your party, and instead you pick between four groups of three characters at the start of the game. You also can't change characters at will, as you need to collect a power up to be able to do that. The power up starts a little roulette going in the lower left (or right, as this is once again a co-op game) corner between the icons representing your three partners, and when you input the button command, you'll swap into being that character.

To add in a further twist, only Rickle can actually take damage and die. Your comrades actually can't die, but they can only stick around for a limited time. They have about a minute to heck stuff up, and each hit they take takes five seconds off of their clock. Your comrades also play fairly faithfully to how they do in their own games, with some exceptions (Goemon throws his smoking pipe only to have it return to him like a boomerang, which I don't think is a thing in the Famicom Goemon games XD). Bill can shoot very far in four directions (sadly not eight like in real Contra), Simon Belmont has his whip and the good range that comes with it, Fuuma has quite short range but hits like a truck, and Upa may have short range with his rattle, but he's also tiny so he's harder to hit, and his hits turn enemies into platforms (just like it does in his own games). The whole thing is such a different approach from the first game that it's not super easy to directly compare them in many ways, but nonetheless it's certainly an interesting approach to putting a new spin on the neat idea presented in the first game.

Further expanding on a way this game is similar to the first is the shifting genres that this game takes place in. While the first Wai Wai World was mostly an action platformer with a shooting homage to Twinbee and Vic Viper at the end, this game has several shmup stages (in both the Twinbee and Gradius styles, complete with their respective power up systems), a puzzle stage, and even a racing stage. It also has a couple points with branching paths, so for example you can pick if you'd rather do the puzzle stage or the racing stage. Even the platforming stages have some variety thrown in, as there are horizontally as well as vertically scrolling stages, and even an auto-scroller or two. Everything is quite competently done, and it makes for a well varied if a bit short romp (as this game isn't terribly hard compared to what you'd probably expect for a Konami Famicom game).

The presentation is quite good, and what you'd likely expect from a late-life Famicom game from one of the greats like Konami. The sprites are big and well detailed, and the music is full of fun remixed tracks from the games they're based on. The only real complaint is that sprite flicker can get quite noticeable at times, as is also so common among more graphically ambitious late-life Famicom games.


Verdict: Highly Recommended. This is a platformer that's stood the test of time really well. It's quite short and also challenging in a fair way, and it's well worth checking out if you're able and a fan of these kinds of action games. The gameplay on display is nothing that's going to blow you away, sure, but if you want something familiar yet a little different to spend a retro afternoon on, this fits the bill very nicely.

The first was a not very good search-action platformer, and now this one is a very okay run and gun with occasional shmup and “how many y’all like auto-scrolling levels?”

Everyone has their own level now, and their theme song only plays during that level, which, I mean, I’m not gonna sit here and pretend I didn’t ask for that last time. Also, you don’t really get to pick who you play as anymore, you know, an array of classic Konami characters each with their own strengths and weaknesses tailored to intelligent level design. What do you think this is, Little Samson? No, you jump on platforms and shoot, and hope that you get to play as Goemon or Contra man for sixty seconds instead of the baby. I hate that baby.

I like how Goemon’s level is a little drawn out and makes you wonder when it’s going to end, and the contra level takes less than two minutes, in nods to each of their original games. You also get to see a huge R-Type crawl for the classic Gradius enemy ship with barriers that you have to shoot through, and there’s a TwinBee level with Star Fox perspective. I can’t believe I made it to a day I got to see TwinBee ass.

Game Review - originally written by Spinner 8

Yep, more crrrazy super-deformed fun from the fine folks at Konami. But where’s Solid Snake? Why did my character just turn into a baby? What the hell kind of game IS this?! Well in all honesty, it’s a bunch of games just kinda smashed together. There’s some Twinbee action going on, and a little Gradius, and a lot of side-scrolling stuff. Thankfully the crappy scrolling in the first Wai Wai World is done away with, and the game’s a whole lot easier. It’s still pretty unfair sometimes, like why some small little piddly-ass green thing does three hearts’ worth of damage. It confuses me, which is why this game is cool. Kind of. Ummmm, yeah.

I've never played the original Wai Wai World but maybe someday I'll finally get around to it. This one tries to be more of a simple sidescroller compared to the more exploratory based progression of the previous game. The game actually gives such a poor first impression with a really boring auto scroller and uninteresting shmup section. After that though the game becomes a fun if a little too easy platformer with stuff like Twinbee, Gradius, Frogger and even racing gameplay. This game really does make you feel like you're exploring many Konami worlds.

You play as a guy named Rickle and the player 2 is just called Blue Rickle and yes it is simultaneous co-op. If you grab the C icon, you can change into many Konami stars. You got Goemon from Ganbare Goemon, Upa from Bio-Miracle Bokutte Upa, Simon Belmont from Akumajou Dracula, Fuuma from Getsu Fuuma-Den, and Bill Rizer from Contra. Keep in mind you can only pick from a set of three. This meant I really only tried Fuuma and Bill for one stage since I couldn't use them for my first playthrough. If you had to ask me what I'd rank them from worst to best it would be

Upa < Simon = Fuuma < Goemon < Bill

While this is a fun game it sadly falters in its difficulty. I don't mind an easy game but the character changing really hurts the balance because they don't use the health Rickle uses, only time. This means as long as you keep getting pickups and don't fall into pits, you're pretty golden for most of the game. Only the other gameplay styles might trip you up since they use the lives from the platforming stuff. You don't even go back to checkpoints if you die, which caught me off guard when dying in the Gradius section. I wish actual Gradius games let me do that but that's just me being bad at games.

The game looks nice but I wish it had less flicker and there were glitchy graphics at times though that may be at fault of the fan translation. I liked seeing other Konami characters on the stages at times like Pentaro being on stained glass windows and even funny statues of Ebisumaru. It was surprising to see the stages that represented other Konami games like Stage 1 from Contra, Stage 3 from Akumajou Dracula and Stage 1 from Akumajou Densetsu. There's even a stage to represent the Arcade game Mr. Goemon which was cool to see. The music is nice but idk if it's just me but the songs used from the other Konami games just feel off but it might be because I'm used to how they originally sounded on the console.

Overall it's a good game, almost very good but again that beginning sucks and the stage representing Upa is also pretty bad. The game has some replayability which is nice and it's something I think any Konami fan should play. I just wish it wasn't so easy because I think it be even more fun if I had to try more. Also before I end I just wanna say the Princess you save named Princess Herb looks way too similar to the Princess you save in Detana!! Twinbee. Wait a second, is this the last game for the old Twinbee stuff before they did those new characters and stuff? Huh, how weird. And for gods sake Konami how did both of these games make you have to get way too close to the right of the screen to scroll it? Oh god this "short" review is too long, let me end it now before I keep finding new things to say.