Shaq Fu

You know, this game has been around for 22 years at least and yet it outright baffles me that it exists. But then I stop and think to myself "Oh right, 90's". Because really only in the mid-90's could you honestly see something like a Shaq Fu being released. A poorly made video game sold only on the star power of an athlete like Shaquille O'Neal. And all fair do's to Electronic Arts and developer Delphine Software, I can kind of see why. Shaq was everywhere by this, ads for Nestle Crunch, Pepsi, Reebok. He was already getting his taste in films with Blue Chips (we were spared Kazaam for now), and his infamous attempt at a Rap album. It only seemed logical by corrupt game company standards to attempt to make a game based around him.

What we got was the fighting game Shaq Fu, released in late 1994 for multiple consoles, including the Sega Genesis. Made sense in EA's eyes. Fighting games were still in their height (though the fatigue of the genre was starting to show even before Shaq Fu), so why not make a fighting game with Shaq? It's the perfect plan. And to their credit, it still sold well enough. Though on the critical side, the game was mostly panned for its poor gameplay, and has since been considered one of the worst games of all time. In fact there's even a website dedicated to destroying all copies of the game. Now that's dedication to hatred.

There is an actual story in this game. Shaq is randomly in Tokyo for a charity game and decides to just dick around at a dojo. The old man inside believes Shaq to be some sort of legendary warrior and tasks him with saving a boy named Nezu. Shaq, just going along with it, ends up traveling to another dimension where he has to defeat the many warriors within to stop the main baddie, the evil Sett Ra.

And thus Shaq's journey begins as he battles kung fu masters, voodoo priestesses, spectral beasts and more through this one to two player fighting game. You mainly control Shaq as you fight your way to the finish of the game. If you'll ever see it because good lord, the controls of this game are bad. You have your punches and kicks with the B, C, Y and Z buttons, you can taunt with X which is useless, and you have a move boost with A which can let you through and activate a shield.

Why is the gameplay so bad? Basically because Shaq is terrible to play as. He moves slow as hell, his two main special moves are both awful, and jumping in the game is pretty poor as well. Shaq's main weapons are a flame kick which is slow to execute, and a destructo disc-like Shaq-uriken which also takes forever to activate. Doesn't help that the controls feel sloppy and execution of said moves can take a bit to master. They also leave you open to the A.I, which can kill you without hesitation because they can spam their moves with no problem. You do have a rage bar which gives you some increased damage in your attacks, but other than that, there really isn't too much that will help you.

That being said, when played on easy mode, the game actually does feel a bit more manageable. The AI can still be a bouncy mess with moves that do instant damage, but you can also get into easy patterns where you can just spam high kick to take them out. Just do that through the game's ten enemies and make it to Sett. Beat him, save the brainwashed Nezu, and then return to your regular world where you face off with Beast, one of Sett's minions in a basketball game. That's really how the game ends. You can fight as the other characters in a one on one duel mode, but it's about the same result either way.

So yeah, the gameplay is a hot mess, but I will admit, there are things I do like. The backgrounds are very well detailed, and many can even shift from day to night depending on when you enter them. It's a nice touch that really adds some life to the game. This is from the same company behind Flashback and Out of This World, so I'm not too surprised. However, the fighter sprites are really small and lack a lot of quality to them. On the music side, a lot of the tracks are also very good. Particularly the wasteland and the lab levels.

Overall, Shaq Fu is one of the worst games on the Genesis. It feels like a poorly made fighter rushed to the market to capitalize on the popularity of Shaq. I'll give Delphine Software a lot of credit for at least trying their best with some good graphics and music, but you can tell that fighting games were not their forte. They were in development of a Shaq Fu 2, but it never saw the light of day. The backlash was enough to keep a Shaq Fu franchise off the court permanently. That is, until that Shaq Fu beat-em-up ever gets released. Yes, that is an actual thing that's being made. As for this game, I'd say it's best left avoided. There are far better fighters on the Genesis to play. Though I would give the soundtrack a listen, as it's a solid listen for fans of the Genesis sound chip.

RATING: D