Spotlight Stealers
Konami made many games that have never seen the light of day in the United States or Europe. Some of Konami's Japanese-only games were unique in that they were either mascot-heavy or they were obscure concepts that used the mascots for marketing purposes. Such games, not surprisingly, were prone to include characters from the Castlevania collection as well as castle structures and elements ripped right out of the series' many games. These pages will detail those games and any others that utilize the services of the Belmonts and other heroes and villains of Castlevania.
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Select Your Page
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[Hai No Majutsushi]
[Konami Wai Wai World] [Wai Wai World
2] [Kid Dracula] [Ganbare
Goemon 2]
[Gokujou Parodius] [Battle
Tryst] [Konami Crazy Racers] [DMTV:
World Fighters] [New International Track and
Field]
[Castlevania References] [Borrowed Elements]
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Date Released
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System
For
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Disk Size
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1989
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MSX2
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128KB
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Main Heroes
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Box Cover
Scan
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Manual Scan
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Konami Mascots
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Not Available
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Not Available
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Castlevania Opponent:
Simon Belmont
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What do you do when you're a well-known video game company and you're unsure about the drawing appeal of your newest creation? Why, easy--you throw in a bunch of your famous mascots and use their inclusion as one of the main selling points. Konami did this with Hai No Majutsushi, a mahjong game that was released only in Japan for the MSX2 computer system. Included in this game are eight such mascots.
But as you know, no cast of Konami mascots would be complete without Simon Belmont, Castlevania's most recognizable face. As shown on the game's introduction screen, Simon joins forces with such heroes as Goemon (Legend of the Mystical Ninja), Bacterion (Gradius), Moai (Gradius) and Pentaro the ever-present Penguin to play a little game of mahjong.
Well, actually, you'll compete against them. On the game's menu screen, you can pick the three opponents against whom you want to play; furthermore, you can adjust each of the opponents' statistics in seven categories, if need be, to set a handicap or make the game more challenging.
The goal of each game is to complete a hand, which entails four sets of three (or four) tiles in a suit plus an identical pair of any suit. This can be done in individual sets, triplets or quadruplets (identical), or in sequence (1,2,3; 5, 6, 7; etc.). For more information on how to play mahjong, check this website for details. (Thanks to Enrico De Castro for this information.)
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Date Released
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System
For
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Re-released
For
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1988
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Famicom
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Cell Phones
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Cartridge
Size
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Main
Hero
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Packaging Scans
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256KB
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Konami Man
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Playable Castlevania
Hero: Simon Belmont
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Konami Wai Wai World was only made for Japan audiences, unfortunately. Its story: It seems that someone or something has infiltrated the world of Konami, has teamed up with all of the major villains, and has taken captive of all heroes from the Konami games with their help. It's up to the game's protagonist, Konami Man, to travel to each world and save the heroes from the head villains' captivation. One of those worlds he has to travel to: Castlevania.
Konami Man enters the world of Castlevania only to find himself in those familiar castle halls. Skeletons, bats, slimes, spiders, mud creatures, fishmen, hunchbacks and other monsters will try to stop Konami Man from locating the key that opens the casket that Simon Belmont is contained within. Deep in the castle basement, Konami Man runs into a large one-eyed creature that hops around on two legs. With the ability to transform into an android--Konami Girl, a creation of creation of resident genius, Dr. Cinnamon--Konami Man is able to defeat the creature and earn himself a key.
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Other Media Re-releases |
Heading
back up to main hallway, Konami Man runs into the ultimate evil of the
Castlevania universe--Dracula! Dracula, in classic fashion, teleports
in and out, all around the room, shooting his 3- to 5-directional fireballs
at our hero. (Defeating Dracula isn't necessary, though--you can pass
him right by and head to the room to the left, where Simon is being
held captive; however, if you don't eliminate Dracula, he'll tail you
and make the trek over the many bottomless pits incredibly inconvenient.)
After freeing Simon, he'll jump for joy and furthermore become a playable
ally, and you can then switch to him at any time. Simon controls just
as you'd expect, with his famed Vampire Killer whip in hand and a throwing
cross--after you find the well-hidden sub-weapon, of course. With Simon
rescued, you'll have at your side an ally strong against vampires. And
Simon even comes with his own theme music, Vampire Killer, which
will play while he's in action. Simon's burden is now Konami Man's:
It's now up to him, too, to save the other captured heroes.
Konami
in 2006 re-released Wai Wai World for Japanese cell phones, as part
of its continuing i-mode action-adventure series. Like its Akumajo Densetsu
release, this version of Wai Wai World is very much faithful to the
Famicom classic. The graphics' tone is what one would describe as washed out
compared to its Famicom counterpart, but it still looks and plays the
part.
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Date Released
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System
For
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Cartridge
Size
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1991
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Famicom
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384KB
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Main Hero
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Box Cover
Scan
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Manual Scan
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Konami Man
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Transformable Castlevania
Hero: Simon Belmont
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In Wai Wai World 2: SOS! Parsley Castle, the sequel to Konami Wai Wai World, a new major villain has mysteriously arrived into the world of Konami. Having learned from the mistakes of the last deviant to try this stunt, he gains an edge by kidnapping a woman of great importance, the princess of Konami World. Dr. Cinnamon gets right to work and relays these happenings to Rickle, his robot creation. Unlike the gameplay set in the original, where heroes had to be saved before becoming playable, Rickle has the ability to transform into Konami heroes--mainly the random trios selectable from game's start.
Of course, some of those sets include the most popular hero of Castlevania--Simon Belmont. You won't be able to play as Simon as often as you could in Konami World, in that regard, as he can only be controlled for a limited time after Konami Man collects a power-up that allows him to take the form of one of his allies.
You'll eventually reach a Castlevania level (as part of World 9, which you can reach using the code shown in the leftmost screenshot above), where you'll traverse a graveyard, a chapel and finally the main halls, all along battling vampires, fishmen, Medusas, Frankensteins, wolfmen and many other weird, twisted creatures before facing the boss--a possessed casket with a mean right hook.
You're basically invincible when you switch to Simon, but when the allotted time is up, you'll be hastily switched back to controlling Konami Man. But let's talk about Simon: His control scheme is the same as ever--he'll be bereft of any sub-weapons, but the famed Vampire Killer whip will more than suffice. If you'd like to remain as Simon as long as possible, you'll have to keep collecting power-up symbols and pushing up plus attack when the cycling box highlights the whip symbol. Every time you're struck by an enemy, the clock time decreases by about ten ticks.
What's Simon's reward for once again coming to Konami World's aid? Not much--just another quick mugshot in the credits.
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Date Released
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Systems
For
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Cartridge
Sizes
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1990 | 1993
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Famicom & Game
Boy
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256KB |
256KB
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Main Hero
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Box Cover
Scan
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Manual Scan
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Kid
Dracula
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Re-released
For:
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Japanese
Cell Phones in 2006
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Playable Castlevania
Hero: Kid Dracula
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Unbeknownst to most, Dracula has his very own satirical Castlevania-like game for the Famicom in Japan and for the Game Boy here in the U.S. The Japanese version is called Akumajo Dracula Special: Boku Dracula-kun while we get Kid Dracula. First we'll look at the Famicom game: The game's intro shows the young vampire looking at the moon, which quickly forms into the head of the dinosaur-like creature named Garamoth--no doubt the predecessor to Galamoth from Symphony of the Night. All we know is that this Garamoth is an enemy of Dracula.
As no surprise, his adventure to solve this mystery sees him travel through the familiar castle and its surroundings (look at this castleography-like setup for the castle keep, sent in by Nicholas@NeoPalace.zzn.com) and battle familiar enemies, like zombies, bats, knights and Frankensteins--but only at the beginning. After the initial stage, the game takes you to the sky, to amusement parks, underwater, onto ships, across city skyscrapers, atop a moving train, and finally into Garamoth's fortress. You'll notice that many cultures and groups are parodied along the way, and you'll see many subtle jabs taken.
Dracula's weapon of choice is his ball of destruction, but he can only throw one at a time; however, he can charge it up to throw a bigger, more powerful fireball, and he can do this in four directions--left, right, up and down. Also, he can gain (remember) other abilities as he defeats bosses. Among them: He'll be able to shoot five-directional homing balls; he'll gain an explosive fireball ability; he'll be able to temporarily turn into a bat, to fly over obstacles; he'll be able to fire an immobilizing ice shot; and he'll gain the ability to walk on ceilings.
Boku Dracula-kun is a very difficult, maddening game, and you'll recognize many of its vile tricks and traps from right out of the Castlevania series. You'll also wonder about the sanity of the people who made it. You'll eventually make it to Garamoth (seen in the screenshot directly above and to the right of this text) for what isn't the game's final battle. Instead, you'll find that there's a higher power--you'll find Garamoth's superior to be an ever meaner-looking dragon with devastating electrical power.
In the end, Dracula will finish off this major threat and return to the castle, where his forces await their leader.
The
Game Boy version, which came out three years later, is altogether similar
in look, stage design and mechanics but a bit different in that the story
is more refined: It seems as though Garamoth is back, threatening to head
up his own army, and several of Kid Dracula's allies have already jumped sides.
But he still has some friends: The Reaper and other creatures, like his crew
of bats, will help Kid Dracula, their master, along the way. You'll find some
other surprises in this version that didn't exist in the Famicom game, like
the Jason Vorhees-inspired minor enemy as a wicked boss here, and other such
silliness. Overall: While typical of most NES-to-Game Boy conversions, you'll
find this to be the more polished game.
Re-releases
Additionally, Akumajo Dracula Special: Boku Dracula-kun is another included in Konami's growing library of cell phone games based off of its 8- and 16-bit classics. This i-mode special is another faithful rendition (of the Famicom version, obviously) featuring our old pal Kid Dracula, and it's as of now only available to Japanese cell phone users.
 
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