I legit just checked my subscriptions to see if you posted a new video a few minutes ago. happy to see another video..k gonna actually watch it now. *grabs popcorn*
It would be just to add inputs to a list when transitioning states, speed up the states, make the specials moves have reasonable inputs, and you have yourself the best mugen
@@marcosmendez6833 , bleh, to even make it worth doing the end result would have to be worth it. I would argue for many points he made like redesigning the interface (timer/life bars), completely redoing the tiny sprites (which would mean new hit/hurt boxes), completely redoing the sound (or at least using sound effects from SF2/SF2Turbo), etc.... going that far you are essentially remaking the game from scratch. It would be fucking epic to see all of that done though, and I think with the infamy of the original title it would be pretty popular. I was hoping that was what they were going to do with the sequel; how great would it be if it came out as a polished fighting game. I would have played the shit out of that.
@@theWIIISEguy , I don't think I'm at the point yet where I can do much to help. The coding is beyond what I can currently do, and at best, I could possibly only do the artwork. I don't have any experience in animation though, so committing to something I haven't done yet on such a large project would be a detriment to it if I can't pull it off. I'm willing to help but not willing to possibly kill something I would want to see finished. =(
"It's such a beautiful trainwreck that we can point out SO MANY ERRORS, how could we NOT use it as an example of mistakes a director/actor/writer can make?!"
It has fantastic cringe humor, even if unintentional. I watched Garth Merengui's Darkplace before The Room and I'm convinced I laughed more with Tom Wiseau's masterpiece than the fake show made by actual comedians.
what exactly do they make you study? i mean literally every scene, every conversation, everything period is absolute trash to the Nth degree, to the extent its hard to believe he wasnt intentionally writing shit.
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.
Yeah, a similar thing happened to me. My brother and I loved the star wars prequels. Now I found out that people hated them. Yes, I can see your comment is 4 years old. No, Idk why I'm replying to a comment that's 4 years old
@@ZedArray Yeah me too I loved Shaq Fu and just found out that nobody liked it. Kinda sad because it destroys your own childhood. I also loved the Prequels and I will never care what anyone says because they are awesome and I grew up with them ! Same goes for Shaq. Let us ignore what others say man I enjoyed it fr
The point is we shouldn’t care even .00001% when the ‘major discourse’ calls a game bad. Aesthetic enjoyment is 100% personal. That’s cool you enjoyed this game
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
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?
Mugen maybe. But even then its probably not worth the time or effort. I have fun chasing down and playing complete fighting games that are unpopular like the rest of the stuff SNK was putting out.
There's a Shaq for Mugen which is unironically pretty goddamn legit, he can cancel specials and do a lot of hitstun, which leads to some impressive combos, the problem still stands that his OG moveset is shit, but it helps that he's given an airthrow which slamdunks the opponent trough a net.
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
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.
Thats rough man. Drop a couple bucks on some pudding. Or better yet man, take some chocolate pudding mix and mix it with coffee! Pudding mixes usually need like a cup and half of milk, so sub out half a cup of the milk with some black coffee and top it off with some whipped cream. Its on point mang.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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
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?
The problem is that the badness is kindof in the worst area it could have been (controls/playability due to the transition frames issue mentioned above)... but yeah it's not THAT bad.
Awesome video. A word about Shaq Fu's controls: they are those of a "cinematic platformer" and they become the best example ever that what works for one genre fails in another. Those cinematic platformers were about caution and deliberate progress in a world where you weren't a badass and getting caught by a trap or an enemy could end you quickly. You had to think ahead and you couldn't just twitch your way through everything. Every leap was planned. Every unknown had to be approached with caution. And the controls were great at making you feel that tension and apprehension. But they bombed for a fighting game because the engagement of a fighting game is completely different. Always use the right tool for the game you are making.
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.
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.
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.
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'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 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.
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 like the tekken approach for the transition from crouching to standing. by introducing a attack opportunity which differs from both crouching and standing attacks.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Now, I am a Second Generation player of Shaq Fu, having started my full~time playing of the first entry back in 200I: I have been playing this game for over seventeen years and have been locally rendered as debatably one of Massachusetts' best players (if not the best player) in the Greater Boston and North Shore region, it's mostly due to my history of studying the engine and physics and also having virtual maximum understanding of Flashback: The Quest for Identity's gameplay setup and what was brought over from it when Shaq Fu was made for the Genesis/Megadrive and Super Famicom; I now only ever play the game on the Expert Difficulty with a DualShock 02 controller in BizHawk for easier inputs of the specials and also for firm precision in those rougher fights near the end of the Story and Duel Mode, it truly has made a much more powerful experience over the past half year alone and I personally feel that I could train anybody to become a master of this game's movesets in full, nobody will ever complain about at least the Genesis/Megadrive version again when they have learned all they can about how to play at their best. Some other things that others won't know about Shaq Fu's Genesis/Megadrive build are the following: ~ If you pre~ordered or purchased the game in its initial run, you will have gotten a Promotional CD featuring the track "Stand and Deliver", which is a rather uncommon disc to find in Present Time but truly worth the listen. ~ Running Attacks are executed by pressing a specific button during a Forward Move Boost behaviour (varies on the character, but it's usually any attack command that is not the Power Kick button) and usually must be pressed within twenty or more frames before coming into contact with their opponent to have the attack connect, this is especially true for Shaq and Kaori and it can make battles far less brutal once you figure out how to do them proper. ~ Regardless of the character that you are fighting against, Battles 09 and 0I0 in Story and Duel Mode on the Expert Difficulty (not sure about Easy and Normal) deliver your opponent a 0200% Damage and Defense Handicap, which is why it feels as if they're taking half the normal damage output and you're being inflicted Double Damage where even four hits from Beast can literally take out 080% of your health if he can connect with his Dash Warp Punch/Hand Stab combo, easily a brutal and unbearable experience if you are unfamiliar with how the handicap and blocking works. ~ Hidden inside the Second World Map are three Bonus Stages: The first gives you an alternate version of Yasko Mines where you take on a Dark Ice Blue version of Beast, the one at the upper right mountain of Catwalk Falls lets you defeat the Skeleton Soldiers and you could get yourself an extra Continue Credit if you defeat twenty or more of them, and the one at the deep bottom of the second island will return you to Gargoyle's Peak to throw down with a Black and Magenta variant of Sett; the two Bonus Fights also have the 0200% Damage and Defense Handicap and are far smarter than their Expert Difficulty counterparts, you won't lose a Continue if you lose two rounds with them but they are essential to help get yourself over the Million Points run criteria and are a handy safety net for it, without a doubt. For more on all of this, check out the Shaq Fu commentary on Royameadow: The Channel, you'll learn all the good stuff that this title offers and you'll even get to see some remastered commercials too; the Duel Mode has not been uploaded yet but it will at some point, check back often to see how it all goes down. (:
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.
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 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. -_-
Bravo man. You ought to do a topic on stage design and immersion. Ringout levels typically feel very hollow but the new DOA game has made it more dynamic transitioning from one area to the next.
Surprisingly, I think that the perception of unresponsive controls could have actually been fixed by making the character flash/glow when state transition/recovery frames are finished and also when they start, a lot of the other flaws you pointed out with the UI and other presentation aspects if fixed, would also make it better, but I feel like by specifically showing a better way to tell when you can't actually attack, would turn Shaq-Fu into an interesting game of sorts, where timing is key, and a lot of actions are punishable, players would have to carefully choose what they're going to do, in the way that no other fighting game has ever done it before, no, that doesn't make it good, although, it might be, it just makes it different and interesting to think about.
They certainly know how to make fighting games, but I'd have to say that Guilty Gear is probably their magnum opus. Aside from a lot of admittedly-well-made anime fighters that nobody plays, Blazblue is their only other major series, which, in my opinion, is not quite as good as Guilty Gear. Try out their other stuff, but don't expect anything much better than Guilty Gear Xrd.
Honestly idk why The Room *wouldn't* be taught in film schools. Seems like a great piece to analyze and show what it's like when basic filmmaking concepts are used really poorly. Seems to me like it would help aspiring filmmakers diagnose what's going wrong with their projects
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.
Daisuke Ishiwatari from arc system works is my favorite FG dev. He's such a one man team that i wonder if he has some kind of time chamber in which he can do his stuff in some kind of slown down time. Well, also he did the voice for Sol Badguy in the earlier Guilty Gear games.
Thanks for actually ANALYZING this game. It was fascinating. Favorite fighting game developer? Hmm...as much as I love Waku Waku 7, that's the only truly great fighter from Sunsoft so I think I'm gonna give this to Eighting. Bloody Roar is an underrated masterpiece.
Man I played this when I was like 9 and I swear this game was so good, was one of my favorites behind killer instinct and super mario world on the nintendo.
If I ever own a gaming company, I want to remake Shaq-Fu. It is already a meme and the entire premise is ridiculous. I think it would be hilarious to actually create an amazing and polished game using this franchise.
Shaq-Fus graphics are kind of amazing imo. They just had no idea WTF they were doing. They had literally zero experience and apparently didn't even bother with any consulting. I wonder how Ed Boon and John Tobias managed to get the knowledge they did when there wasn't an abundance of it in the west, and Japan had a habit of hiding developer names in credits so they wouldn't get poached. I doubt they just offered all their secrets to anyone who asked, so no wonder so few western games got big. I doubt you'll read this, but I'd love for you to do an Analysis on weapon fighters. With a special mention on Weaponlord. I find that game intriguing for its weapon dynamics and how sound is used in the game to add a sense of weight. It only released on the SNES and is one of the few western fighting games with a large development budget that just made the mistake of not going to the Arcade at all.
Shaq-Fu is the best cinematic platform fighter ever made.
I legit just checked my subscriptions to see if you posted a new video a few minutes ago. happy to see another video..k gonna actually watch it now. *grabs popcorn*
Really hope you ate those flakes in oj!
SPOILER: Because it's the only cinematic platform fighter?! ;)
Nope, Art of Fighting 3 is
+javisarias Exactly what I was thinking!
Clearly we as a community should come up with Shaq-Fu patches.
Heck, we did it for Mortal Kombat on the Genesis...
It would be just to add inputs to a list when transitioning states, speed up the states, make the specials moves have reasonable inputs, and you have yourself the best mugen
@@marcosmendez6833 , bleh, to even make it worth doing the end result would have to be worth it. I would argue for many points he made like redesigning the interface (timer/life bars), completely redoing the tiny sprites (which would mean new hit/hurt boxes), completely redoing the sound (or at least using sound effects from SF2/SF2Turbo), etc.... going that far you are essentially remaking the game from scratch. It would be fucking epic to see all of that done though, and I think with the infamy of the original title it would be pretty popular. I was hoping that was what they were going to do with the sequel; how great would it be if it came out as a polished fighting game. I would have played the shit out of that.
I've wanted this for years and am willing to help. Though I don't think there's others willing to be a part of something like this.
@@theWIIISEguy , I don't think I'm at the point yet where I can do much to help. The coding is beyond what I can currently do, and at best, I could possibly only do the artwork. I don't have any experience in animation though, so committing to something I haven't done yet on such a large project would be a detriment to it if I can't pull it off. I'm willing to help but not willing to possibly kill something I would want to see finished. =(
Shaaq-Fu Ultra
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 such a beautiful trainwreck that we can point out SO MANY ERRORS, how could we NOT use it as an example of mistakes a director/actor/writer can make?!"
Disgusted Batman YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
what are some of the main takeaways, i mean where do you even begin to dissect that movie from a screenwriting perspective?
It has fantastic cringe humor, even if unintentional. I watched Garth Merengui's Darkplace before The Room and I'm convinced I laughed more with Tom Wiseau's masterpiece than the fake show made by actual comedians.
what exactly do they make you study? i mean literally every scene, every conversation, everything period is absolute trash to the Nth degree, to the extent its hard to believe he wasnt intentionally writing shit.
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.
Yeah, a similar thing happened to me. My brother and I loved the star wars prequels. Now I found out that people hated them.
Yes, I can see your comment is 4 years old. No, Idk why I'm replying to a comment that's 4 years old
@@ZedArray Yeah me too I loved Shaq Fu and just found out that nobody liked it. Kinda sad because it destroys your own childhood. I also loved the Prequels and I will never care what anyone says because they are awesome and I grew up with them ! Same goes for Shaq. Let us ignore what others say man I enjoyed it fr
The point is we shouldn’t care even .00001% when the ‘major discourse’ calls a game bad. Aesthetic enjoyment is 100% personal.
That’s cool you enjoyed this game
Shaq fu should be in evo 2018
I'm wit that
In*
rip this comment
Def jam should be in evo
You're going to hell. 666 likes
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
Hugo is the proto abigail
@@ahmadzahraniAAZ abigail is the proto birdie
To be fair, he is taller than all the other characters. the spirits I’m general are small, but shaq is still taller than the other sprites.
This video is more on actually game design similar to Extra Credits. I really like this format, good job man.
*Fighting game design.
or Cagey Videos
Yeah! What he said!
Except this is so much better than Extra Credits
It's like Extra Credits but not terrible
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?
Mugen maybe. But even then its probably not worth the time or effort. I have fun chasing down and playing complete fighting games that are unpopular like the rest of the stuff SNK was putting out.
Doctor Butler waku waku 7, Kabuki Klash, Agressors of Dark Kombat, BREAKERS Revenge.
garou Kreygasm, pretty much every snk fighting game that isn't kof or fatal fury..
There's a Shaq for Mugen which is unironically pretty goddamn legit, he can cancel specials and do a lot of hitstun, which leads to some impressive combos, the problem still stands that his OG moveset is shit, but it helps that he's given an airthrow which slamdunks the opponent trough a net.
Yep that's The_None's Shaq, he's well done for sure and he has many other characters like that.
It didn't click until you brought up Another World. Shaq Fu has some pretty cool animations.
the cereal triggered me beyond belief
mission accomplished.
@SNES Nes "Keep searching boys, we gotta find who tf asked for these shitty ass opinions!"
@SNES Nes Their pfp is from a game. And imagine thinking that people hate Ace Attorney lol
@SNES Nes ik it was bait, I just couldn't help responding lol
1:53 WOW, i never thought about this!!!! I couldn't imagine such a details as hands and feet could be so important.
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
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.
PooperPete Shaq fu wasn't that bad
Bio Freaks was amazing! You could rip off limbs mid fight!
Whoa, that's random, it's 6 AM and I'm watching a Shaq-Fu video... what am I doing with my life.
Oh man thought I'd be the only one! I'll sleep a little better tonight
It's 5am for me after a long day, we are no different!
A least you're not making pudding...
Khrene Cleaver Man I could use some pudding, here I am past 5AM again being not asleep
Thats rough man. Drop a couple bucks on some pudding.
Or better yet man, take some chocolate pudding mix and mix it with coffee!
Pudding mixes usually need like a cup and half of milk, so sub out half a cup of the milk with some black coffee and top it off with some whipped cream.
Its on point mang.
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
memes
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
3 frames better than SFV
+RWPCreations
Ikr xd
*That Cereals and Orange Juice part*
Got on my nerves for a second.
I never realized DSI made Shaq Fu. They also made Moto Racers, best motor bike racer.
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!
what an in depth analysis… wasn't expecting that at all, subscribed
Love the sf 3 second impact music, that was an awesome soundtrack, one of my favorites. Nice.
Yeah, it's pretty dope.
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
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
That's awesome to hear!
Core-A Gaming hope one day fighting games will become mainstream enough with good guides like yours
I sub
One of the best analyst of RUclips boldly analyzed one of the worst fighting games in existence.
This man deserves a chocolate chip cookie.
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?
The problem is that the badness is kindof in the worst area it could have been (controls/playability due to the transition frames issue mentioned above)... but yeah it's not THAT bad.
I suspect a lot of it is just the name. Shaq Fu is one of those names where you just hear it and you know the game is gonna be kind of terrible.
Awesome video. A word about Shaq Fu's controls: they are those of a "cinematic platformer" and they become the best example ever that what works for one genre fails in another. Those cinematic platformers were about caution and deliberate progress in a world where you weren't a badass and getting caught by a trap or an enemy could end you quickly. You had to think ahead and you couldn't just twitch your way through everything. Every leap was planned. Every unknown had to be approached with caution. And the controls were great at making you feel that tension and apprehension.
But they bombed for a fighting game because the engagement of a fighting game is completely different. Always use the right tool for the game you are making.
So glad I've got my Genesis copy. I got it used for $0.99 and it was worth every penny.
7+ years late, but I'll answer your question! My favorite fighting game developer is SNK.
Quality as always. I smile every time I see your vids in my sub box
Lab Zero games is my favorite fighting game dev team, due to their work on skullgirls
Soft circle French bread would be my second choice
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.
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 remember liking the music, a lot.
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.
I highly respect the quality of content of this channel.
No joke, I have every version of this game except the gameboy version. YES, there is a gameboy version
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
In smash we call "Pre Jump Frames" The "Jump Squat"
😂😂😂😂
we have acronyms and short names for everything
Steve ain’t got no pre jump frames also his mechanics are weird but fun so that’s why I main him
Wait really? How do you SH as Steve then?
My favs is Tekken and The King of Fighters series. Hello from Russia
Shaq-Fu is extremely fun and a very chill game to play. I loved it as a kid.
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.
8:14 That is Jordan Mechner's (creator of Prince of Persia) brother, doing the animations for Prince of Persia.
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.
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!
...but then again so is cereal and orange juice - hahah!
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.
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.
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.
At least it doesn't have 8 frames.
And SNK makes the best fighting games.
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.
This channel is so amazing
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
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.
So Shaq-FU isn't really the worst fighting game. It was just a game that was so bad that no one realized that it could of been better.
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.
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.
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.
Now, I am a Second Generation player of Shaq Fu, having started my full~time playing of the first entry back in 200I: I have been playing this game for over seventeen years and have been locally rendered as debatably one of Massachusetts' best players (if not the best player) in the Greater Boston and North Shore region, it's mostly due to my history of studying the engine and physics and also having virtual maximum understanding of Flashback: The Quest for Identity's gameplay setup and what was brought over from it when Shaq Fu was made for the Genesis/Megadrive and Super Famicom; I now only ever play the game on the Expert Difficulty with a DualShock 02 controller in BizHawk for easier inputs of the specials and also for firm precision in those rougher fights near the end of the Story and Duel Mode, it truly has made a much more powerful experience over the past half year alone and I personally feel that I could train anybody to become a master of this game's movesets in full, nobody will ever complain about at least the Genesis/Megadrive version again when they have learned all they can about how to play at their best.
Some other things that others won't know about Shaq Fu's Genesis/Megadrive build are the following:
~ If you pre~ordered or purchased the game in its initial run, you will have gotten a Promotional CD featuring the track "Stand and Deliver", which is a rather uncommon disc to find in Present Time but truly worth the listen.
~ Running Attacks are executed by pressing a specific button during a Forward Move Boost behaviour (varies on the character, but it's usually any attack command that is not the Power Kick button) and usually must be pressed within twenty or more frames before coming into contact with their opponent to have the attack connect, this is especially true for Shaq and Kaori and it can make battles far less brutal once you figure out how to do them proper.
~ Regardless of the character that you are fighting against, Battles 09 and 0I0 in Story and Duel Mode on the Expert Difficulty (not sure about Easy and Normal) deliver your opponent a 0200% Damage and Defense Handicap, which is why it feels as if they're taking half the normal damage output and you're being inflicted Double Damage where even four hits from Beast can literally take out 080% of your health if he can connect with his Dash Warp Punch/Hand Stab combo, easily a brutal and unbearable experience if you are unfamiliar with how the handicap and blocking works.
~ Hidden inside the Second World Map are three Bonus Stages: The first gives you an alternate version of Yasko Mines where you take on a Dark Ice Blue version of Beast, the one at the upper right mountain of Catwalk Falls lets you defeat the Skeleton Soldiers and you could get yourself an extra Continue Credit if you defeat twenty or more of them, and the one at the deep bottom of the second island will return you to Gargoyle's Peak to throw down with a Black and Magenta variant of Sett; the two Bonus Fights also have the 0200% Damage and Defense Handicap and are far smarter than their Expert Difficulty counterparts, you won't lose a Continue if you lose two rounds with them but they are essential to help get yourself over the Million Points run criteria and are a handy safety net for it, without a doubt.
For more on all of this, check out the Shaq Fu commentary on Royameadow: The Channel, you'll learn all the good stuff that this title offers and you'll even get to see some remastered commercials too; the Duel Mode has not been uploaded yet but it will at some point, check back often to see how it all goes down. (:
Wow, you seem to be very proud of being the best player in a small region of a crappy game from the 90s
Great commentary. It explains why Shaq Fu combat felt floaty and dreamy like compared to Street Fighter II Turbo
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.
Man I love your videos. Always finding the logic in insanity.
Just want to say that I appreciate the little touches of editing in addition to your analysis :D
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 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.
The RUclips algorithm has blessed me today
Brilliant! I love these in-depth analyses on why things /don't work/, possibly even more than ones on why they do.
I loved it as a kid, it made sense not just to a board room but to kids growing up with fighters and basketball.
4:20 AM in the morning watching shaq fu
On the topic of sound design, I think GG Strive absolutely nails it with the attack sounds
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
Lab zero are my favorate fighting game developers. I learned so much about game design just from them talking about how they made skullgirls.
that last sentence about orange juice and cereal hit me with so much whiplash i felt like i took a sledgehammer to the gut
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. -_-
Bravo man. You ought to do a topic on stage design and immersion. Ringout levels typically feel very hollow but the new DOA game has made it more dynamic transitioning from one area to the next.
Surprisingly, I think that the perception of unresponsive controls could have actually been fixed by making the character flash/glow when state transition/recovery frames are finished and also when they start, a lot of the other flaws you pointed out with the UI and other presentation aspects if fixed, would also make it better, but I feel like by specifically showing a better way to tell when you can't actually attack, would turn Shaq-Fu into an interesting game of sorts, where timing is key, and a lot of actions are punishable, players would have to carefully choose what they're going to do, in the way that no other fighting game has ever done it before, no, that doesn't make it good, although, it might be, it just makes it different and interesting to think about.
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
They certainly know how to make fighting games, but I'd have to say that Guilty Gear is probably their magnum opus. Aside from a lot of admittedly-well-made anime fighters that nobody plays, Blazblue is their only other major series, which, in my opinion, is not quite as good as Guilty Gear. Try out their other stuff, but don't expect anything much better than Guilty Gear Xrd.
ed boon(MKX) and ODA(SNK) and harada(tekken) and of course todd howard i know he is not a fighting game developer but his god howard for todd sake
Put captions on during the Japanese. You won't regret it
Earning A grades and putting the A in Core-A Gaming especially with this one.
Honestly idk why The Room *wouldn't* be taught in film schools. Seems like a great piece to analyze and show what it's like when basic filmmaking concepts are used really poorly. Seems to me like it would help aspiring filmmakers diagnose what's going wrong with their projects
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.
the "bridge stage" with the big dragon statue in the backround looks pretty sick tho
I played that game and I enjoyed it. It was better than rise of the robots and clayfighter.
Glad I stayed up till 4 am to watch a video about Shaq Fucking Fu
This video made me try orange juice and cereal... and now im 20% happier
Can this game be fixed?
Daisuke Ishiwatari from arc system works is my favorite FG dev.
He's such a one man team that i wonder if he has some kind of time chamber in which he can do his stuff in some kind of slown down time.
Well, also he did the voice for Sol Badguy in the earlier Guilty Gear games.
Thanks for actually ANALYZING this game. It was fascinating.
Favorite fighting game developer? Hmm...as much as I love Waku Waku 7, that's the only truly great fighter from Sunsoft so I think I'm gonna give this to Eighting. Bloody Roar is an underrated masterpiece.
WoW I'm in love with your Etokki ! It's sad where I live the total cost for the stick is like 4x a Hori RAP Pro ... Ouch...
I cry evrytiem
Man I played this when I was like 9 and I swear this game was so good, was one of my favorites behind killer instinct and super mario world on the nintendo.
I knew there was gonna be "Fresh off the Boat" clips on this video lol. They reference Shaq so much. Love that show haha!!!
Hey Gerald. This is Peter from Korea. Great video and have fun at Evo! Dig the analysis of sound design on Shaq Fu.
If I ever own a gaming company, I want to remake Shaq-Fu. It is already a meme and the entire premise is ridiculous. I think it would be hilarious to actually create an amazing and polished game using this franchise.
Shaq-Fus graphics are kind of amazing imo. They just had no idea WTF they were doing. They had literally zero experience and apparently didn't even bother with any consulting. I wonder how Ed Boon and John Tobias managed to get the knowledge they did when there wasn't an abundance of it in the west, and Japan had a habit of hiding developer names in credits so they wouldn't get poached. I doubt they just offered all their secrets to anyone who asked, so no wonder so few western games got big. I doubt you'll read this, but I'd love for you to do an Analysis on weapon fighters. With a special mention on Weaponlord. I find that game intriguing for its weapon dynamics and how sound is used in the game to add a sense of weight. It only released on the SNES and is one of the few western fighting games with a large development budget that just made the mistake of not going to the Arcade at all.