Shaq Fu was one of the worst games I ever played on the Super Nintendo. Now with your help, Shaq wants to fix that mistake by creating Shaq Fu: The Legend Reborn. Nope, it’s not April 1st yet and this is really happening. Developer Big Deez Productions is behind the IndieGoGo campaign to get the game funded, with Shaq’s official endorsement. The campaign is running for 46 days and there are several goals in mind for Nintendo fans.
A Nintendo 3DS version of the new game is being planned at $960,000, while the Wii U version sits at a lofty $1,080,000. According to the developers, the game will have plenty of moves, boss battles, and melee weapons, as well as a co-op mode. This is an ambitious undertaking, with several new features promised:
- Play as Shaq as he kicks ass and takes no prisoners
- Intricately designed combo system that leaves room for a variety of fighting tactics. Learn the moves and let Shaq rip against his enemies
- Pimp your character with new moves and abilities. Select from different fighting styles or combine styles and create your own new discipline (Shaq FU is what you make it)
- Challenges for even the best players.
- Adaptive AI keeps the game exciting
- Battles against hordes of enemies in the tradition of the lost art of the beat ‘em up. I mean, who could take Shaq one on one?
- Take the challenge up to an entirely new level in unforgettable smack downs against awesome bosses.
- Once you beat a boss you unlock him and can play as him in the game.
- Fight through the slums of Asian cities, on the rooftops of skyscrapers. Battle it out inside buildings, seedy night clubs, and cause mayhem in the markets.
- Smash an enemy through the floor and leap down to a lower level. Barge through walls and forge your own path. Smash furniture, toss enemies through windows, even collapse structures – when you are the Shaqbreaker everything is possible
- A wide variety of melee and projectile weapons as well as various everyday objects that can be used as weapons – katanas, shurikens, baseball bats, the occasional basketball filled with the wrong type of gas, bottles, knives and dozens more. Don’t see a weapon you like? What about that manhole cover or that car door? You are Shaq after all, so maybe you want to hurl that motorcycle on a bunch of enemies at once. The world is your projectile.
- Wipe out huge numbers of enemies at once. Bowl down enemies with balls of steel, create earthquakes of unprecedented power, slam dunk baddies with ease.
- Modifiers that change your appearance and enhance your skills. Transform into the monstrous Big Daddy O and crush your enemies. Twirl into the Big Baryshnikov and pirouette your enemies like a tornado tearing through Kansas. Power up into the Big Diesel and steamroll your enemies into Kobe-Patties. A power-up for every nickname Shaq has ever had, and a few new ones for good measure.
- Co-op Gameplay. Grab a friend and battle it out in tandem. Play as Shaq’s identical twin (no he doesn’t sell insurance) or select from a host of other playable characters with different skills and power-ups. Split screen action available, baby!
- Co-op’s not your bag? Build up your character and fighting style and duke it out online or on the same machine against another player.
- Once you have played through the main game revisit it to discover secret environments that you might have missed.
- Think its over once the Black Star Ninja, is unmasked? Think again. Hosts of challenges await that pit you against the best Shaq Fu’s in the world.
That’s quite a laundry list of features, but if you’re interested in reviving Shaq Fu in a less than awful form, maybe this is the campaign for you. Check out the IndieGoGo campaign.
