Shaq Fu WTF

Last year we brought you the disturbing news that Mine O'Mine, a company owned by Shaquille O'Neal, registered a series of trademarks for possible use in video games. As Shaq Fu on the Super NES is widely regarded as a shockingly bad game, it was news to prompt shudders rather than celebrations.

Well, a new game is possibly on the way, as Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn has launched an Indiegogo campaign looking to raise $450,000 over the next 46 days; it gets better for Nintendo fans, with a 3DS stretch goal at $960,000 and a Wii U version at a not-at-all-overly-ambitious $1,080,000.

This new title, with heavy endorsement from Shaq himself and developed by Big Deez Productions — with staff members with experience in games such as "HALO, Street Fighter, Final Fantasy, Alan Wake, Spec Ops: The Line, Battlefield, Killzone, Max Payne, Duke Nukem" — looks to be a 3D beat 'em up, with a promise of plenty of moves, boss battles, melee weapons and a co-op mode.

  • 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.

It's certainly promising a lot, and below are a variety of pitch videos showing game footage, the man himself and the development team. Check them out and let us know what you think — we're off for a lie down in a dark room...

[source indiegogo.com]