For this month's "Maps Of The Month" featurette, I wish to draw your attention to sprays's Wai Wai World (J) (NES) maps.
Konami Man and Konami Lady set out to save the heroes of Konami video games in this wacky crossover game featuring the company's characters and settings.
In platforming stages, you will rescue and play as Simon Belmont III (a descendant of Simon Belmont from Castlevania), Goemon (the "Mystical Ninja" from Ganbare Goemon), Moai Alexandria (a Moai head from Easter Island, and seen in Gradius), and Getsu Fuuma (from Getsu Fuuma Den). There are even licensed characters here that were not originally created by Konami. Still, they had the video game rights to them at the time, including Mikey (from The Goonies) and King Kong (from King Kong 2: Ikari no Megaton Punch). After those first six stages, there's a vertical shooter stage starring Twin Bee (from Twin Bee) and the Vic Viper (from Gradius), and a finale in an alien base (from Contra). For Konami fans, it's fun to see how the environments have been adapted from their respective games to this mash-up.
The game got a sequel a few years later, also on the Famicom. Konami would also mix some of their characters in the Parodius games - none of which got a North American release. Konami Wai Wai Racing Advance is a Mario Kart-style Konami crossover that did get a worldwide release on the GBA, as "Konami Krazy Racers", but DreamMix TV World Fighters (combining Konami, Hudson, and Takara) was once again Japanese-only. So the world hasn't seen much of this "wai wai" action.
So to recognize the effort put into mapping this Japan-exclusive crossover, sprays's Wai Wai World (J) (NES) maps will be known as VGMaps.com's Maps Of The Month for April 2025.
