Analysis: Shaq-Fu 

Shaq-Fu is the best cinematic platform fighter ever made.

Clearly we as a community should come up with Shaq-Fu patches. Heck, we did it for Mortal Kombat on the Genesis...

Shaq fu should be in evo 2018

1:17 "The Room is now used as study material for film students" I can attest to that. My screenwriting teacher made us do that.

It's funny because when I was a kid, I had Shaq-Fu on my Super Nintendo, and I thought it was the fucking coolest thing ever, not because Shaq was in it, but I liked the characters and the stages and shit. I barely even played Shaq himself. And I was so little that I barely knew who Shaq was. Also, I had such a small TV back then that the characters looked normal sized to me. And now that I'm older, I see that literally everyone hates that game and it's so funny lmao Edit: my TV wasn’t that small I guess, but I guess I just interpreted the game normally still lol.

The tiny sprites are a very weird design decision by the developers. It's a game called Shaq-Fu it stars a 7-foot tall basketball player, you'd assume that they would try to emphasize that a bit. Shaq should tower over the rest of the cast and seem gigantic instead of being that tiny thing. Shaq should have been the proto Hugo

the cereal triggered me beyond belief

I wonder...with this being the age of modding games and fixing things or even creating new ones. Could a group possibly mod this game into an actually good/fun fighter?

It didn't click until you brought up Another World. Shaq Fu has some pretty cool animations.

This video is more on actually game design similar to Extra Credits. I really like this format, good job man.

Whoa, that's random, it's 6 AM and I'm watching a Shaq-Fu video... what am I doing with my life.

I wouldn't mind seeing this as a series where you look at weird, obscure, or bad fighting games from time to time. Maybe Balls 3D, Clayfighter, or Sonic the Fighters next.

Always wondered why this game was so panned. You explain the history before and consequences after to give proper context, not many people are good at that but you are. Cheers

*That Cereals and Orange Juice part* Got on my nerves for a second.

It's like Extra Credits say in one of it's videos: "proper physicallity usually has to be sacrificed for responsiveness" If not, fighting games, or any game that requires reactions will feel sluggish

7:02 I know this channel focuses on 2D fighters but it’s weird that you don’t mention Tekkens “While Rising” state. Some moves you can only perform while rising from crouch to standing. Usually, one of your While Rising moves will be a juggle starting launcher. The idea being that you duck under a high attack and punish with a launch.

3 frames better than SFV

I like the idea of taking a analytical take on shitty fighting games. You should do more of these kinds of videos! I'd like to see one on Bio Freaks personally.

I love how you compare and reference Smash when talking about fighting games, as while it does break a lot of rules, it shares quite a bit too.

Love the sf 3 second impact music, that was an awesome soundtrack, one of my favorites. Nice.

Fuzzy guards don't happen because of a transition (at least not in most games, maybe SF4 is weird in this way but I don't think so). They work because the game locks you into either standing or crouching when you block. You're still allowed to switch your block direction, but your character's hurtbox doesn't change until the next time you block an attack or get hit. That means overheads that normally whiff vs crouching can still hit since you're stuck in the standing hurtbox. Also telling someone to look up fuzzy guarding is a terrible idea because there are like, 8 things called fuzzy guard and they're all unrelated to each other.

1:53 WOW, i never thought about this!!!! I couldn't imagine such a details as hands and feet could be so important.

I remember liking the music, a lot.

I like how you gave us the reason WHY Shaq Fu was a bad game instead of just calling it trash and moving on. You went into the background and history of the company that made it which leads to more understanding. Definitely subbing just because of that. Props and EXCELLENT video.

So here's a question: is Shaq-Fu actually that bad? I mean sure, I know it sucks, but I think perhaps people have forgotten how many krappy MK klones there were at the time. I only ever played any of them for half an hour or so, but Is Shaq-Fu _really_ worse than Rise of the Robots, SF: The Movie or Catfight?

I rented this once....figured out that when using the Voodoo chick, you could literally spam her doll stab move the entire way through the game and still beat it.

I always thought Shaq Fu was a good game in terms of graphics and music but I always blamed the controls for my frustration at times. Now after watching this I agree that the issue at hand is the game's mechanics more than it's raw controller inputs. I'm also glad you pointed out the intentions of Delphine Software and what they were aiming for. At the time developers were playing it safe and trying to cash in with Street Fighter clones or Mortal Kombat gore fest knock offs but Delphine had the courage to think outside of the box and pursue the world's first cinematic rotoscope animated fighting game. Although the game flopped do to their inexperience with fighting games it's refreshing to finally hear an unbiased and articulated take on this game. Thank you for this and keep up the fantastic work!

I never realized DSI made Shaq Fu. They also made Moto Racers, best motor bike racer.

I think the bit about the importance of sound is part of why I have trouble getting into Virtua Fighter. The characters never make any sound, including just dropping silently to the floor when defeated, and they feel stiff and lifeless.

Lab Zero games is my favorite fighting game dev team, due to their work on skullgirls

One of the best analyst of RU-vid boldly analyzed one of the worst fighting games in existence. This man deserves a chocolate chip cookie.

...but then again so is cereal and orange juice - hahah!

So glad I've got my Genesis copy. I got it used for $0.99 and it was worth every penny.

This channel is so amazing

My favs is Tekken and The King of Fighters series. Hello from Russia

this is years later but as soon as I finished the video, I got an ad for a 4K tv and “Shaq fu” was there advertiser-

I never looked too deeply into who made Shaq-Fu and was nodding along with the talk about how the above-average animation got in the way of responsiveness and as soon as you mentioned Delphine Software it all finally made sense how this game happened. Love them, but they were so not a good math for this genre.

At least it doesn't have 8 frames. And SNK makes the best fighting games.

Core A you Inspired me to take Up tutorials for Newer fighting games and Fighting game players Thanks Guys hope to see more great content

Great analysis, I always liked the music and art in Shaq fu. This video was a great look at what this games problems were especially the jumping and small sprites

Glad I stayed up till 4 am to watch a video about Shaq Fucking Fu

Shaq-Fu is extremely fun and a very chill game to play. I loved it as a kid.

the "bridge stage" with the big dragon statue in the backround looks pretty sick tho

Great commentary. It explains why Shaq Fu combat felt floaty and dreamy like compared to Street Fighter II Turbo

In smash we call "Pre Jump Frames" The "Jump Squat"

Nice job breaking down Shaq-Fu. I didn't think anyone would ever put this much thought or effort into that game ever again, but you made it interesting. I only rented it back when it came out, and that was that, but hearing about the animations makes me think it could've been good. I've always wondered if a realistic, sort of kung fu movie style fighting game could work. With no fireballs or other special stuff, only things that can be done in real life, but still quick and fun gameplay, with all of the blocks and parries.

i like the tekken approach for the transition from crouching to standing. by introducing a attack opportunity which differs from both crouching and standing attacks.

4:20 AM in the morning watching shaq fu

in tekken there is also a transition state between crouching and standing that takes some time if you don't crouch-cancel it, but there are dedicated moves that can only be done during this transition time, it's an intentional mechanic

I had no idea Yoko Shimomura did the sound effects for Street Fighter II. let alone that I would find that out in a Shaq Fu video. I love these videos man.

The timer is beautiful though

7+ years late, but I'll answer your question! My favorite fighting game developer is SNK.

These videos are very interesting, especially considering that I want to be a video game developer when I'm older, and one of the games I would create would be a crossover fighter.

Core a gaming is like science for gamer nerds.

On the topic of sound design, I think GG Strive absolutely nails it with the attack sounds

The cinematic fighter genre has lots of potential

Earning A grades and putting the A in Core-A Gaming especially with this one.

what an in depth analysis… wasn't expecting that at all, subscribed

Quality as always. I smile every time I see your vids in my sub box

I'd have to say Namco is on top of my favorite fighting game devs. Tekken and Soul Caliber were my childhood. Capcom comes very close only because of SF Alpha and the Marvel line of fighters being some of the most fun I've ever had with sprite fighters. Can't forget 3rd Strike though.

I highly respect the quality of content of this channel.

It's a special kind of terible but I had fun with Shaq fu "genesis ver.", and we all love capcom, but I feel like SNK has the biggest heart for the genre.

I loved Delphine games. Another World remains one of my favorite stories of all time - and Flashback was awesome too.

Cereal and Orange Juice is my favourite fighting game. It's truely one of a kind.

What an amazingly well-thought out video. I'm not the biggest fan of fighting games (but a big fan of awesomely bad games/movies/etc), so I stumbled on this video. This totally gave me a much deeper appreciation for the love that goes into fighters. Great video.

Tekken by far my favorite fighting game series. Really well made video though!

that last sentence about orange juice and cereal hit me with so much whiplash i felt like i took a sledgehammer to the gut

How could one analyze such a complicated masterpiece!?

I remember the sound effects from Street Fighter 2 World Warriors as clearly as anything about that game. Distinct differences for light, medium, heavy and between punches and kicks. After Super came out, they simplified it, along with the soundtrack.

favorite fighting game dev is absolutely 8ing. when they have a publisher that gives a shit, they crank out some awesome games, often with a focus on somewhat easy inputs and really high stakes rounds. their games may often be... pretty janky, but it's that special 8ing jank that really shines through in a good way most of the time. Even some of their flat out awful licensed fighters had little flashes of brilliance. Bloody Roar had a really fascinating and lightning fast take on 3D fighters, so check some BR3 matches from kohatsu arcade if you're up for it. Naruto Gekitou Ninja Taisen wasn't just a shining example at the time of how to do a licensed game right, but also simple fighting game controls. I love these games to death. Tatsunoko vs Capcom may not have gotten the attention it deserved thanks to its Wii exclusive release, but I think we can all agree at this point that it's got some cool stuff. Fate/Unlimited Codes is about the most anime a fighting game can get without airdashes. Not much else I can say about that. Watch some matches if you haven't before. And Marvel vs Capcom 3 probably needs no introduction at this point. Looking at their previous games, it's no surprise that they were the chosen developer for the successor to one of the most batshit crazy fighters ever. So what are they up to now? Well, they haven't made a fighting game in quite a long while, being stuck making quite poor Kamen Rider games and meh mobile games. They recently got bought by Colopl, a mobile game developer. Judging from how cases like this usually go, we can assume their fighting game days are over. They never quite made the best fighting games, but their feel can never be replaced.

5:04 Chun looks gorgeous in brown

There's one good thing that came out of this, the Shaq-Fu MUGEN character :D

I know next to nothing about fighting games in the technical sense, yet have tried Shaq-Fu and it just felt weird to me but I never could figure out what it was before this video. Thanks for spelling it out. And I never even realized the game was by the same people who did Another World and Flashback, even though the animation style is very similar.

Put captions on during the Japanese. You won't regret it

8:14 That is Jordan Mechner's (creator of Prince of Persia) brother, doing the animations for Prince of Persia.

Recently I have fallen in love with the arc system team due to guilty gear. I'd like to try some of there other works

Love that 'states' picture

There is one thing I do like on shaq-fu: the input time of special moves. I swear it gave me like 30 frames for pressing each button. Down (half sec) forw (half sec) punch -> special!

I remember my dad renting my brothers and I this game once. We thought it sucked then, and we were just little kids. It was one of those games we stopped playing quickly, even though it was our video game rental for the weekend. It was that bad. -_-

I Love SNK they made my childhood, KOF96 is what make me love fighting game to this days.

7:07 THAT'S AMAZING 😂😂😂

Shaq-Fu had a really catchy soundtrack!

Brilliant! I love these in-depth analyses on why things /don't work/, possibly even more than ones on why they do.

SEGA version is way better.

I'm pretty sure in most fighting games(the good ones) a lot of state transitions can be canceled by simple directional/action inputs making these games feel responsive. But if you just let the animation finish you still can. For example in KOF XIII when Kyo does a long forward jump, you can see there's a slightly long animation of him recovering after the jump and then going back to his neutral stance, but if you press any inputs that animation is canceled. Big characters like Maxima have longer recovery animation after any types of jump but again players can cancel the animation. And hence the controls feel good.

I loved it as a kid, it made sense not just to a board room but to kids growing up with fighters and basketball.

God i love the content on this channel

Gerald, I love your work. I'd be so cool to see an analysis or even a series on the staples of fighting games and how they draw such a diverse and hot-blooded audience. In a way, almost like a designers guide to fighting games. I'm really interested in the inner workings and dynamics of fighting games, and I feel like you have such a great platform to do something like that.

YOU MONSTER. CEREAL WITH ORANGE JUICE.

amazing channel. loving the content

The RU-vid algorithm has blessed me today

Man I love your videos. Always finding the logic in insanity.

Lol I actually loved Shaq Fu

I was a kid when Shaq-fu came out. I rented it for genesis and it was awesome. It was one of the first fighters I ever played.

Its kinda odd how Shaq Fu has strengths in graphical presentation and animation until you realize that the developers of the game were Delphine Software International (DSI). Which for old school heads would know them more for Prince of Persia style adventure games like Another World, Flashback and Fade to Black. So they got the sprites down but like any fighting game looking to cash in the trend/craze in the mid 90's, the devs weren't exactly good in fleshing out the actual mechanics for 2D fighters. I'd say as of fave FG developers, you gotta give it up to the Tekken team. They helped usher in the popularity of 3D fighters along with the VF series and the other titles back then and they still now are one of the companies pushing the appeal for it.

No joke, I have every version of this game except the gameboy version. YES, there is a gameboy version

My favorite fighting game developers are Namco! They made Tekken, and the holy godsend that is Pokken Tournament! The graphics in that game are simply electrifying. They even had a big hand in making Smash 4 and Smash Ultimate, which feels awesome!

Shaq fu is still my favorite sega game

congratulations on being the first and only video ive ever seen that made shaq-fu interesting. also this was incidentally the only game i remember as a kid glad that i 1. didnt have enough money to buy and 2. had such a bad name i could never remember to ask for it in my ever growing wishlist

I'm a big fan of this type of video, you taking a look at one game and analyzing it under the broader lens of 2D fighters.