Shaq Fu

[Melf]

Fighting games are always fun, aren't they? They should be, shouldn't they? That would be the case in a perfect world, but reality is a much different story. One big kick in the shin was Electronic Arts' Shaq Fu, which contributor VinnyT actually summoned up the courage to play. Why, he's even gone so far as to write a review about it! See? That's what we're here for: we play 'em so you don't have to!

[David J.]

Everyone at my school back in the day thought this game was great.

I've only played the Game Gear version, for five minutes too long.

[Vorty]

Baha. Shaq-fu was crap, even SHAZAM kicked its ass.

[winona]

Nice review, I must say that when i first played the game i expected it to be horrible. But as I tried it I soon discovered that it was a pretty good crap game

Especially the character movements were good.

[Riot.EXE]

yeah...cool article Vinny T...but you forgot to mention that the Genesis version was superior to the SNES version, because there were more characters, but the SNES version was superior to the Genesis version because it looked and sounded a bit better...

[VinnyT]

Aww, he signed up just to tell me that.

I was thinking of it, but for some reason, it just didn't seem to fit.

[Chris Marsh]

I think that the box cover for this game is one of the best for a video game. It is funny because it has Shaq Daddy trying to look menacing to make you think the game is good.

[Da_Shocker]

It wasnt that bad IMO.

[ed_genesisowns16]

I still remember playing this game for the first time. ugh The hit detection was terrible. Promised myself never to play it again.

[Zork]

I bought it for $1. It was worth it

[BobbyDoom]

I don't think it was that bad, if it didn't have Shaq in it, I doubt it woud get even a fraction of the hate... it's an average fighting game with a fair bit of novelty value, me thinks...

[goldenband]

Just beat this on Normal. You could make a case for 5/10 (as the reviewer scored it) or 4/10, but either way Shaq Fu is exactly what someone said above: a crap game, but a fairly decent crap game that's not even close to the worst fighting game on the Genesis (can't speak to the SNES version).

Too bad about the floaty jumping, laggy controls and useless special attacks, because the designers had some interesting ideas. As it stands, corner traps -- and carefully calibrated jump patterns to trigger specific AI responses, a la Mortal Kombat 1 & 2 on the Genesis -- are the name of the game.

I'll probably try Expert soon, though I think I need a break first -- after a while, pounding the crap out of the kick button gave me serious hand cramps.

[Mr Nuts]

Sort of not complete tosh but not really good either,it was a while before i managed to find a copy of this at the time so it could not of been too unpopular.

[djshok]

I don't think it was that bad, if it didn't have Shaq in it, I doubt it woud get even a fraction of the hate... it's an average fighting game with a fair bit of novelty value, me thinks...

Yeah that. People like to hate on it because of the strange franchising choice, but you have to realize that's what the 90's were all about - horizontal franchise expansion. If you look past the fact that it's got Shaq in it, it's just an average to slightly above average fighting game. The fighting components are all standard fighting game fare, nothing special, nothing terrible. What I think puts it one point above average is the story mode with the overworld map and the special hidden stages and all that stuff, it's actually really well done and I like it quite a bit. So, 6/10 from me.

[Josh]

My thoughts on Shaq Fu


Sega Genesis (Released in the U.S.A. and PAL territories)
Graphics: 9/10 (The character sprites, while small, are animated extremely well and the arenas are also pretty awesome looking.)
Sound: 7/10 (The sound effects and music are good.)
Game play: 6.5/10 (The collision detection isn't horrible by any means, but it could be better. The difficulty is well balanced and the controls are okay.)
Fun Factor: 7.5/10 (A good amount of modes and characters to choose from.)
Overall: 30/40 (7.5/10)
Grade: C (75%)


SNES (Released in the U.S.A. and PAL territories)
Graphics: 9.5/10 (The character sprites are bigger and just as well animated as their Genesis counterparts. The color palette is also superior to the Genesis version.)
Sound: 8.5/10 (The music is of much better quality in the SNES port than the Sega Genesis and the sound effects sound more clear.)
Game play: 7.5/10 (The controls are more responsive and the hit detection is better than the Genesis version.)
Fun Factor: 7.5/10 (Having less characters to select from does hurt this version in this category compared to the Genesis version, but the improved graphics, sound, and controls make up for it.)
Overall: 33/40 (8.25/10)
Grade: B- (83%)


Nintendo Game Boy (U.S.A. exclusive release, compatible with the Nintendo Super Game Boy)
Graphics: 8/10 (For Game Boy standards, the characters animate pretty well and the arenas look good, although obviously not as good as the console versions.)
Sound: 8/10 (The music is very catchy like the console versions and the sound effects are good.)
Game play: 5/10 (The controls and collision detection are half-decent at best in this port. This version also has the same cast of characters as the SNES version.)
Fun Factor: 4/10 (The two player mode helps this category out a bit, but the single player experience really brings it down.)
Overall: 25/40 (6.25/10)
Grade: D- (63%)


Sega Game Gear (U.S.A. exclusive release)
Graphics: 8/10 (The graphics and animation are good for what the Game Gear is capable of.)
Sound: 6/10 (The music is just kind of there and not memorable. The sound effects are good.)
Game play: 3/10 (The collision detection is really bad and the controls are worse than the Game Boy version. The difficulty is also unbalanced and you’ll most likely get frustrated at the cheap CPU opponents in Story mode.)
Fun Factor: 3/10 (The only reason this category doesn’t get a 1 is because you might be able to get some degree of fun from Duel mode.)
Overall: 20/40 (5/10)
Grade: F (50%)


I haven’t played the Amiga version of Shaq Fu (to my knowledge it was only released in PAL territories), but it seems to be nearly identical to the Sega Genesis version.