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Revisting Shaq Fu | |
Posted Oct 5, 2009 - 8:23:20
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 So, many of you are aware that my section on Shaq Fu is considered to be one of the oldest sites on the internet about that particular subject. When I built it, while there were reviews of the game all over the place, there was no single site really about the game itself. I honestly don't think about it that much, and it tends to languish in neglect (I'm not even sure if the e-mail address for Fu Rants even works at the moment).
But since then, several other sites have popped up - most, like ShaqFu.com advocating the destruction of the game. I honestly rolled my eyes at them, and they've appparently inspired a counter-movement to save the game (Save Shaq Fu.com). You'll find dozens of fat kids on Youtube who were probably two years old when the game came out bashing the hell out of it (usually figuratively, occasionally literally), and the occasional rant by someone who might actually remember the game.
In the end though, I can't help but think it's a massive fad to bash the game without ever really evaluating it, or y'know, playing it.
To be fair, Shaq Fu is a terrible game. The SNES version has terrible response time, and the characters are genre stereotypes that never vary. What no one ever talks about though is that the Genesis version, while having uglier graphics, is actually responsive. They never talk about the fact that the Game Gear and Game Boy versions are actually decent portable fighters. Yes readers, there are actually two good games out there that have Shaq Fu on the label. It's the secret no one wants to tell you.
I doubt they've ever played these other versions. I have. Thanks to Steve, I own them. I own the Amiga version too, but since I don't own an actual Amiga, I've never played it. I think the only version that exists that I don't own is a mythical DOS version I read about one time, but have never actually seen with my own eyes... so it might not actually exist.
But back to my point -- they bash it just to bash it. They don't actually know what's wrong with it. I could slap the Shaq Fu label on a copy of a sprite-swapped Street Fighter 2, and they would tell you what a terrible game it was. Why? Because they've never bothered playing the actual game.
Well, I have.
And I appreciate any reviewer who has.
But if you're a fat kid with a baseball bat who just wants to break something, please stop wasting my and everyone elses time. Go run around the block and go talk to girls. You'll thank me for it later. Seriously, who watches these videos (I mean, other than myself, who does it just to mock the kids when they get their facts wrong)? Why do they think they're funny?
I blame the Angry Video Game Nerd. I know some of you find him amusing, but I don't. In truth, his videos aren't terrible... but he's spawned a generation of immitators who want to bash things for the sake of bashing them. I'm sure if I tried hard enough I could find a video of some fourteen year old making fun of the GOOD games from back then. I'm sure there is some video of some prepubescent mocking something like Megaman, Super Mario 3 or Metroid I could find if I tried hard enough...
...and it just makes me shake my head.
- Traegorn
Very interesting article! I've heard of this game before, but I never knew that it had such a negative following.
Can't people just accept it as a part of video-gaming history, albeit a silly one?
Actually I sadly played Shaq Fu on a SNES emulator and hated it. Maybe If I find a gensis copy, i'll try it out. I like AVGN but I hate his imitators like the Irate Gamer. But there are games I bash because I have played them. So I guess I'm better than most of those kids.
Well, on Genesis it's just mediocre instead of god-awful. Not really a good game on either of the two big consoles.
The portable versions are a completely different story -- They're actually pretty good. Although from what I've been told, they were developed by a completely different team... so that may be why. 
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