Shaq Fu
| Developer: The Dome Software Developments | Graphics: |
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| Publisher: Virgin | Sound: |
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| Year: 1994 | Difficulty: |
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| Genre: Fighting | Lastability: |
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| Number of players: 1 | Rating: |
3/10 | |
Its bad reputation precedes it—probably exaggerated if we consider the original version (Sega Genesis). Shaq Fu has been mocked for what it is: an unimaginative promotional product (sponsored by Pepsi), commissioned to showcase the famous American basketball player and rapper, Shaquille O’Neal.
It’s a generic fighting game parodying kung-fu films, developed by Delphine Software, a studio better known for its meticulously animated adventure games (Flashback). And that’s precisely the main issue with Shaq Fu: the excess of animations, which considerably delays response time, a crucial flaw for a fighting game. Moreover, the representation of characters, at a smaller scale than usual, gives more weight to movements and accentuates the impression of rigidity in their execution (particularly jumps).
That said, a few original ideas deserve mention, even if they’re not always well executed—like the “fury” bar, which fills up when a fighter takes hits, until putting them in an “enraged” state and multiplying their strength; or certain special techniques, such as throwing (briefly incapacitating the opponent), shield (granting immunity to attacks), and rapid movement (teleportation, dash). Finally, health bars regenerate slowly on their own. I’m not certain about the popularity of this last innovation…
Now let’s talk about the Amiga version. It’s a monstrosity! It suffers from interminable loading times and relentless disk-swapping. On top of that, much of the soundtrack has been stripped out, along with background animations (another downside of the floppy disk format). Worst of all, the lower frame rate compared to the console versions renders the game utterly unplayable. For the record, a more colourful AGA version was released in 1995.
I encountered a very annoying bug, but which I would attribute to the emulator (giving it the benefit of the doubt): if I happen to brush my mouse during the title screen, the cursor associated with the main menu stops responding. After thirty seconds, spent hammering all the buttons on my controller and keyboard to get out of there, the “demo mode” engages, serving me an extended loading time, interrupted by three successive disk changes! Oddly, the “press fire” following disk insertion is recognised, but not the one meant to exit demo mode. I found no other way than to restart. Similarly, every other time, I find myself unable to start a two-player game. The “press fire” nvitation meant to bring in the second player sends me straight into a match against the computer, regardless of which button I press.
The Sega Genesis version is clearly the one to favour (preferably paired with a six-button controller). For some mysterious reason (a rushed release, perhaps?), the Super Nintendo version ended up losing half its characters.
A “sequel” was released in 2018, sporting a garish, half-hearted “washing powder package” aesthetic we’ve come to expect: Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn.
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