"A non-serious fighting game that we have to consider."

Waku Waku 7 is one of those fighting games for Neo Geo that weren’t created by SNK. Some of them were “Kabuki Klash” by Hudson Soft and “Galaxy Fight” and “Waku Waku 7” by Sunsoft, games which weren’t as famous as “Fatal Fury”, “Art of Fighting” and “The King of Fighters”, but they were enjoyable games indeed.

STORY
It’s said that the person who gets the seven Waku Waku Balls could make a wish... It’s so similar to “Dragon Ball”, as the characters must find these seven balls if they want their wishes to become true. But “Waku Waku 7” is a big parody (“Dragon Ball” ’s parody plot is only a little part), with lots of references to anime series, video games or even movies.
And one of the best features are the final scenes of all the characters, as some of them are really funny.

GAMEPLAY
“Waku Waku 7” is a fighting game 1 vs 1 were you can play with one of the seven main characters who search the Waku Waku Balls, all of them are prototypes of anime, video games or another media characters:
- RAI, the typical Japanese hero who looks for new great adventures. You can compare him with Seiya.
- SLASH, an elf-alike lonesome swordsman who fights evil, like Kenshin does, but with a energy sword.
- TESSE, a little, cute robot maid, as for example Jetson’s maid, but cuter, much cuter. XD And with a “magic pocket”, as Doraemon has, and were she has cups, books, dogs, bombs...
- POLITANK Z, a strange tank-robot guided by a little man and his dog, as a Patlabor or Mazinger indeed.
- MAURU (or MARURU), a Totoro and Sasquatch mix monster which cares about a little girl.
- DANDY-J, an adventurer like Indiana Jones with his own whip, hat, and also a cat and... his daughter, his sister, his girlfriend...?
- ARINA, a modern and pretty magical-girl with rabbit ears... Are you thinking about Usagi Tsukino? (If you don’t know it, Usagi = Rabbit)

As you see, this list is too short, but these characters are so interesting. And there are two weird hidden characters:
- BONUS KUN, a Ryu-parody sandbag? Bonus Kun has his own version of Hadouken, Shoryuken and Senppu Kyaku. It appears in a bonus stage.
- MAKAI TAI TEI FERNANDEZ (or FERNANDEATH), a huge black ball with arms, legs, devil wings, mouth and eyes. Ridiculous, but powerful, as it’s the final boss.

Well, nine characters, not dozens and dozens as you see in other games, but this crazy group would be between your favorite fighters.

When you play, you’ll see that you don’t have the typical 3-bar energy. You’ll start with a bar, but as you defeat enemies you’ll earn more bars, until you’ve got seven bars, as they are provided by the Waku Waku Balls.
You can use your power bars to increase your power (as you have seen in KOF) or to make more powerful attacks (some of them are really incredible and cause lots of damage).
It’s good as you can use more powers as you prove you’re a good fighter, not with cheap tricks as Marvel vs Street Fighter series.

Control is so easy and you will make lots of combos with only a few minutes of practise.

GRAPHICS
The design of all characters are based in anime, so they’re cooler than realistic KOF characters. Some of them are really good (or crazy): Mauru, Dandy-J, Politank-Z and Tesse (but I prefer Arina :-P).
Although the game is so old, it has some of the best backgrounds ever created in a versus game, as for example Rai’s (with all Rai’s fans cheering him), Slash’s and Mauru’s backgrounds.
So you got it: good graphics in a versus game, with some gags and crazy situations that will make you laugh (or simply smile).

SOUND
Sound is a good point, too. As you can listen to very well composed melodies, as for example Dandy-J’s one, like a western BGM; Slash’s one, with a violin (or sounds like a violin, I don’t know); and Arina’s great J-Pop song, as a magical-girl needs. ;-)
Voices are so Japanese and they’re good for an anime-like video game, but sometimes you won’t know what they’re saying. Don’t worry, none of these voices are annoying.

REPLAYBILITY
There’s a black point: this game is short. You can beat the game with two or three coins, but it’s more enjoyable to beat the game with all the characters... And then there is when the game is no longer replayble (as most fighting games), except if you play with a friend. Anyway, you can prove lots of joystick and button combinations to get all especial moves. So there is Waku Waku for a long time.

CONCLUSION
If you want a 2D fighting game different from Capcom’s and SNK’s serious games, that’s your game, a crazy and well done versus game with charismatic characters and lots of fun, although it isn’t as replayble as we wish.

Enjoy it as I’m doing! ^_^

GRAPHICS: 8
SOUND: 9
GAMEPLAY: 9
STORY: 7
REPLAYBLE: 7

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/04/02, Updated 12/04/02