Asuka 120% Burning Fest. Limited (Japan)

Year: 1997
Platform: Saturn
Publisher: Family Soft
Developer: Fill In Cafe
Genre: Girl fighting
Rating: ****

This is a 2D anime styled fighting game where a group of twelve high school girls compete for a martial arts trophy in the "Mega Fight Tournament." Each girl has a unique fighting technique based on what school club they belong to, giving rise to all sorts of interesting and absurd combat. The game primarily revolves around Asuka Honda, who represents the Chemistry Club, and her specialty is attacking with incendiary bombs. The "120%" of the title refers to a "power level" feature of the game, where the player's potential builds up to 120% over the course of a fight. At 100% certain special attacks are enabled for a short period of time, and at 120% a super devastating special attack is enabled for a short time before the fighter goes back to 0%.

The sole Saturn entry in the series, it is arguably the best of the bunch. The graphics, animation, and sound are top notch, and the sprites are large and colorful. The voice talent is appropriately enthusiastic, the art direction and character portraits are slick, and this is the only game in the series that features a cool traditionally animated intro sequence. Other than these drastic improvements, the game is essentially the same as the previous entries, so it's not fair to actually call it a sequel.