"Not even the 1Meg Ram cart could save this game from a weak conversion."

Waku Waku 7 is an original fighting game by Sunsoft that was originally designed for the Neo Geo hardware, and was ported later on to the Sega Saturn a year later. However, not all is well in this conversion, so prepare to be disappointed if you're familiar with the Neo Geo original.

Story - 8/10
Waku Waku 7 distances itself from other fighting games when it comes to the story. Rather than some world fighting tournament held by some evil guy, Waku Waku 7's story is similar to that of a light hearted animated cartoon. The Waku Waku balls are said to grant a wish to one who possesses all seven of them, and the seven playable characters are eager to collect them all.

Select one character and travel around the city fighting the others who have a Waku Waku ball, before fighting the big enemy at the end.

Graphics/Presentation - 7/10
If you can manage to get your Ram cart working (I had a few recognition problems with a new one), you will be presented with a nice animated cut-scene showing off the various characters in the game, such as Arina the bunny girl, Slash the elvish demon slayer, and Dandy J the adventurer, to name a few. The Saturn does a good job of recreating this from the Neo Geo version, and it does not appear to be a grainy video clip as I had imagined.

As for the in-game graphics, the Saturn conversion offers a somewhat mixed result that is vastly inferior to the Neo Geo original. The most noticeable downgrade is the very pixellated stage backgrounds that have lost half their resolution - and it looks like garbage. This trade-off was probably done to allow the character sprites to retain their large number of animation frames used in the Neo Geo version, although a few particle effects seem a bit pixellated.

Still, expect to see a very well drawn anime style 2D fighting game that does still resemble the Neo Geo version. The characters are very well animated to say the least, and feature a bright colour palette.

The visual downgrades came as a surprise to me, given that Sunsoft's port of Galaxy Fight retained all the visuals when it was ported to the Saturn, and it did not even need the Ram expansion pack!

Gameplay - 6/10
Well you'll be pleased to know that the gameplay aspects managed to translate over virtually unscathed. The fighting mechanics of Waku Waku 7 are not exactly the same as your usual 2D fighter. Two punch, and two kick buttons, with some of the multi-button movements mapped to take advantage of the other buttons available on the Saturn pad.

Apart from the usual 2 out of 3 round fight, you have a Waku Waku ball power gauge that allows you to perform super special moves that do more damage than the standard moves. The more fights you win, the more balls you collect, allowing you to perform the special attacks more frequently. The super desperation moves are easy enough to initiate by pressing down twice and two attack buttons - but you'll need to time it well as you are sitting vulnerable for several seconds before performing the move, which will do lots of damage if it connects. Another great feature is the ability to kick off the walls after being smashed to the side - your character will spring back into action instead of falling on the floor if you tap the attack buttons at the right time.

The story mode sees you facing off against the other six characters, as well as an evil clone of yourself, and the hilarious Bonus Kun - a parody of Street Fighter's Ryu in the form of a punching bag (although it reminds me of that big white duffel bag the Ryu carries over his shoulder). Before and after each round, there are some occasionally funny character character quotes (although they're in Japanese in the Saturn game).

My only complaint in the gameplay category is the frequent loading breaks that appear - before each fight, after each round, and after winning the match. It's hard not to notice them and the pre-fight loads can take up to 30 seconds. Also, there is some small occasional slowdown that wasn't present in the Neo Geo version.

Multiplayer - 7/10
The original 2 player versus experience is alive and well in the Saturn port, and that's all you really get.

Control - 7/10
The control scheme is a bit better than what I expected, and you can change the controls to your liking. I did have a bit of trouble pulling off some moves on the Saturn pad, as I don't often use it for fighting games.

Soundtrack/Audio - 6/10
As I had expected when starting the game, Waku Waku 7 is afflicted with Saturn down-sampling syndrome. All of the game's sound effects and voice samples have had their quality butchered to fit in the Saturn's measly 512kb of sound ram. Just about everything sounds like it is coming out of a cheap portable radio.

The voices are still entertaining despite the low quality, and the sound effects are fun like the smooth light sabre swishes of Slash's sword.

The music saves this category from getting a 4. All the tracks have been remastered in a live recording session that's easily the better than the synthesized Neo Geo tunes. The soundtrack sounds like a zany anime cartoon, and it brought a smile to my lips, especially the jazzy character selection tune.

Replayability - 7/10
You'll probably be interested to find out all olf the character endings, and they are fun indeed. However there's nothing to keep returning after playing for a wek.

Overall 6/10
Waku Waku 7 is not a bad game by any means, but the Saturn version has some very noticeable compromises that detract from the fun a bit. If only the developers had held out and utilised the 4 meg ram cart instead, then maybe this would have been a perfect port. I'd have given it an 8 had it been a perfect translation.

I'd only recommend playing the Saturn version if you're a 2D fighting fan, and can't obtain a copy of the superior Neo Geo cartridge version.

-Steven

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 12/19/05