"One Of The VERY Few Times The Sequal Stomps The Original"

The Story
He or she who collects the seven legendary Wakuballs will have his or her fondest wish granted. If someone gains possession of a Wakuball, he or she will be filled with the desire to obtain the other six. This story is about the succeeder.

Sound familiar? Well, unlike Dragonball Z, the people in this aren't out for limitless power or universal domination. They're out for things like adventure and getting lost girls home.

Graphics
10/10 - Very nice and animèish. There's lots of colors and details here. Slash's stage is very pretty with lots of colors. Eye candy. The characters are also very well animated. The characters look great even while standing still.

Sound
7/10 - The music is mostly just there. Sometimes it's too quiet to even notice. But I could make out some of the Slash stage music and it's pretty nice. Dandy-J's music sounds like something out of a western movie. But the sound effects were awesome. Lightning bolts, crashing, smashing, slashing... all sound so good. Funny thing though; the characters speak Japanese. The announcer speaks English, but everyone else is in Japanese.

Control
9/10 - Sadly, I learned about the game too late after its release. The game was nowhere to be found and I was forced to play on an emulator with my keyboard. Keyboards are never as good as the real controller. But the controls were overall smooth and responsive. It would be 8, but I'll throw another point on because I'm sure the game was even easier to control on the real thing.

Gameplay
9/10 - You go about the game punching, kicking, and using a special attack or two. Pretty typical. Notice those little balls along the bottom? When one is colored in, you can use a Wakuwaku or Harahara attack. You gain more of these little balls by defeating opponents. After three foes, you fight Bonus Kun. Bonus Kun is a returning character from Waku Waku 7's prequel Galaxy Fight (which sucks, by the way). He's basically just a bonus character. Win, get some extra points and a little experience in playing the game. Lose, just continue along your way. You continue on to fight another three characters, then you fight a black version of yourself. Beat it, fight Fernandez (or Fernandeath as he's called in Japan). Beat Fernandez, win the game. There's lots of humor packed in. Believe it or not, a silly fighting game! From past experience, this wasn't a good mix *cough*Clay Fighter*cough*.

Challenge
7/10 - It really depends on who you're using. Politank-Z is almost unbearable for me. Mauru is almost cheap with me at the controls. There's a tactic you can use to waste almost any computer player (doesn't work on an AI Slash. He always seems to get out of the way). Then there's also what difficulty you're on. I seriously doubt I could ever make it through Hard with Politank-Z.

Replay
10/10 - I didn't really care that there were only seven characters. I still found this game a pleasure to come back to over and over and over. The game's a lot of fun

Pros and Cons
Good Points:
- Awesome graphics.
- Very high replay.
- Great for a good laugh (especially Slash's ending).

Bad Points:
- The music wasn't too noticeable.

Should I Get It?
Well, you can't actually BUY an arcade game. But if you manage to find it, pop in a quarter and enjoy.

Overall
This game is great. There's a reason Waku Waku 7 manga was released in Japan (I'm still kicking myself for passing up a copy). But it was overlooked in America, so English manga never made it here.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 10/17/02, Updated 10/17/02