A Fighting Game created in 1996 by Sunsoft for Neo Geo, Sega Saturn and re-released for the PlayStation 2 as part of the Sunsoft Collection in 2008, it's their second venture in the genre after Galaxy Fight (and would be followed in 1998 with Astra Superstars). The story is about the seven magical WakuWaku Balls, artifacts that will grant a wish to their owner: soon enough, whoever is possessing one of them is looking for the other owners and their Ball, hoping to get their wish granted by a fairy that lives in the spheres.
Waku Waku 7 has very colorful, cheery, anime-inspired graphics, and indeed every single character in the game is either an Affectionate Parody of some anime cliches or an Expy of already famous characters, even non-anime ones. Here's the list:
- Arina Makihara: An athletic, cheerful girl with unexplained rabbit ears who wants to use the seven Balls to find true love. She may be an expy of Roomi, the Cat Girl from Sunsoft's previous Galaxy Fight.
- Rai Bakuoh: A Hot-Blooded, loud-mouthed, rowdy Japanese student who is always looking for adventure and attacks with a variety of electrical-based moves.
- Mauru (Marurun in the Japanese version): This huge purple cat/rabbit thing appears to be an expy of My Neighbor Totoro's titular creature. He's always followed around by a little girl called Mugi, who got lost from her parents. Mauru is surprisingly agile for his size.
- Dandy-J: An Adventurer Archaeologist who is a cross between Indiana Jones (as you would expect from his goofy name) and Joseph Joestar from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. Dandy-J is always followed in the background of his fights by his dead partner's daughter, Natsumi, and his white cat, Ranpoo, who sometimes intervene against his opponents. He was hired by some shady military organization to investigate the WakuWaku Balls (any resemblance to the Red Ribbon Army may not be a coincidence).
- Slash: An elf who hunts and kills monsters with his trusty magical sword. His sword is cursed, and he wants the WakuWaku Balls so he can break the curse.
- Tesse: A Robot Maid created by some Mad Scientist called simply "The Doctor". Her stated goal is To Become Human.
- Politank-Z: (Not quite so) Humongous Mecha + Tank Goodness. It is a police robot piloted by a midget police chief, Chojuro, and his somewhat anthropomorphic dog, Hamusuke, who also doubles as mechanic. Politank possesses quite a lot of built-in weapons and gadgets.
In addition, there are also two bosses to fight against who are unplayable outside of console ports:
- Bonus-Kun: A (literal) punching bag with a red headband who originated from Sunsoft's previous fighter Galaxy Fight. He plays the role of the bonus boss.
- Fernandez/Fernandeath: The Final Boss of the game, Fernandez is an Eldritch Abomination who was sealed inside the WakuWaku Balls, only to break free once all seven were gathered.
The game provides examples of:
- And the Adventure Continues: Rai's ending. He basically just asks the fairy to start everything again.
- Anime Theme Song: Arina has one all to herself in her stage.
- Also of note: Politank-Z's theme song is based on the music from Voltes V, the preferred giant robot anime of the Philippines.
- Assist Character: Natsumi and Ranpoo. Sometimes it's the girl who throws the cat into the fight against the opponent, sometimes the other way around.
- Ass Kicks You: Some of Arina's moves has her utilize her massive butt to bash her enemies.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Fernandeath/Fernandez, the final boss, is truly gigantic. Your character grows to its size to fight, courtesy of the fairy's magical powers.
- Awesome, yet Impractical: The Hara Hara attacks are incredibly powerful (Politank-Z's can even take down a character at full health) but they're telegraphed by loud sirens and a warning screen, and take a few seconds to actually take effect. If the opponent is anywhere near the character, they can easily step in and interrupt it.
- Badass Longcoat: Slash's.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Obviously. Slash and Arina learn it the hard way.
- Big, Bulky Bomb: Politank-Z's Limit Break. The damaging explosions are very very slow., but considering the fact that they reach almost to the very top of the screen and the game's overall lack of a generic evasion move, the move is practically undodgeable if he actually manages to pull it off.
- Canon Immigrant: Bonus-kun, as stated above.
- Compilation Re-release: Released in Japan along with Galaxy Fight under the name Sunsoft Collection. (PS2)
- Crash-Into Hello: Rai and Arina in the (fake) comic that runs under the end credits. She's not pleased about it.
- Developer's Foresight: If you beat the game using a character in his/her alternate colors, those colors will also be reflected in their ending, including Arina's Playboy Bunny-style outfit.
- Doppelgänger / Evil Twin: For some reason (probably because the game would be too short without it), you have to fight a darker-colored clone of your character right before the final boss fight.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Tesse's creator is called simply "The Doctor".
- Fartillery:
- One of Fernandez's attacks is eating you and launching you out the other end.
- One of Politank-Z's attacks is a better fit for this; although mechanical rather than biological the character's anthropomorphic nature makes it closely resemble the quintessential Fart of Fury (Chaos from Primal Rage).
- Friend-or-Idol Decision: In Tesse's ending, she has two options; either become a real girl or cure her master/creator from his illness. She picks Friend.
- Goggles Do Nothing: Rai's fashion choice, as well as Arina, all of her friends, and not to mention everyone in Rai's background... It appears goggles are very popular across the galaxy.
- Improbable Weapon User: Tesse uses everyday items to fight, including a syringe that saps the opponent's life meter.
- Her projectile attack has her throwing random items (in the sense that the collection of items is odd; you can actually choose the item by holding down the punch button long enough,) including lawyer-friendly Bullet Bills and geese.
- Literal Genie: In Politank-Z's ending, the fairy overhears the dog's comments about how Politank should be cleaned and repaired after the fights, thinking that was the wish. The police chief, having lost the opportunity to get his wish granted, becomes truly pissed and Hilarity Ensues.
- Meaningful Name: Rai means "lightning" in Japanese, so no wonder that his attacks are based mostly on electricity.
- Mirror Match: Lampshaded in the penultimate match; more like 'shadow self' given the darkened sprites used for the fakes.
- Ms. Fanservice: Arina. She has the most developed body of the whole playable cast, her blue suit is very skintight, and her moves involve kicks showing off her long legs and butt.
- Dandy-J’s daughter Natsumi is no slouch either, having a larger bust and a midriff-baring outfit.
- Pillar of Light: Dandy-J's Limit Break.
- Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: Arina's. Although she attacks with more kicks than punches.
- Science Fantasy: The world overall takes place in a sci-fi environment but has quite a bit of fantasy put in, including an elf using a magic sword and a fairy that can grant wishes.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: The final boss Fernandeath is an entity trapped into the seven Waku Waku Balls.
- In Slash's ending, he wishes for the curse on his sword to be undone. The fairy grants it by releasing the curse: which sets free an entire army of Fernandeaths. Slash promptly takes off running.
- Selfless Wish: Tesse's ending.
- Shapeshifter: Tesse, for example, can turn her feet into floor cleaners or her entire lower body into a bell. She also has stretchy limbs.
- Shipper on Deck: When Arina states her wish to fall in love, the fairy summons Rai, much to her chagrin.
- Ship Tease: Though she is loath to admit it, Arina does seem to hold some affection towards Rai.
- Shout-Out:
- Seven magic spheres with the power to grant wishes when reunited? I don't remember where I already heard that one...
- Bonus-kun is an obvious parody of Ryu from Street Fighter. His stage music
IS Ryu's theme. The home ports also give him two extra colours. One with a red body and yellow headband which makes him look like Ken. And one which give him a black body, red headband and red eyes which makes him look like Akuma. - Some of Mauru's moves seem inspired by Sasquatch from Darkstalkers.
- Shotoclone: Aside from the obvious Bonus-Kun, Arina's fighting style is very shoto-esque. Arina's backstory explains that she learned her fighting style in gym class. No wonder there's so many of them!
- SNK Boss: Fernandeath. Its HaraHara has no delay (okay, so about 6 frames, but compare that to the 2 seconds most other characters have) and gets priority over most standard moves: meaning it can counter with it as long as it has one charge on the super gauge (The cap is 7). This gets pretty annoying when the difficulty is set to 8 as opposed to the factory default 4.
- Thankfully, he is highly susceptible to Tesse's Forward-B attack/B-throw, especially since he will ALWAYS rush you until he's right in range of it if there's any considerable distance between you and him, and as long as you get the timing down for juggling him when he bounces back the fight's in the bag. It even works when he's in HaraHara mode (though Tesse will still take a bit of damage from it.)
- He's also easily taken down by Arina's QCF attack, especially the charged version to keep further distance.
- Spin Attack: Two characters have Spin Attack Limit Breaks: Rai and Fernandez.
- Thanks for the Mammary: Rai accidentally gropes Arina in the ending comic during the credits.
- This Is a Drill: Politank-Z has drills and it's not afraid to use them.
- To Become Human: Tesse wants to use the Balls to turn into a human girl. In the end, she uses the wish to cure her master and creator from his illnesses.
- Walking Tank: Politank-Z.
- Wave-Motion Gun: Tesse's HaraHara.
