VideoGame_Discussion

BleedingViolet wrote:

Not busting your balls, but admitting this explains things a little...

I only tried the FU for the 3 lives given to Shaq in the story and yeah it was bonkers as I got wrecked in no time flat. I cleansed that by beating the excellent Nightdive remaster of Quake 2.

I have the more recent redone Shaq game, would that count, instead of trying the dumpster that is the original?

Slickriven wrote:

Nah. If we're gonna nominate this dumpster fire, no shortcuts.

I have to check that out at some point, though. I got it free as an early adopter of NBA Playgrounds.

Slickriven wrote:

Not saying anyone is busting mah balls,
Honestly though for me booze makes some of these games playable.

But not this one.

In fact one game in particular I never wanted to play again TMNT 4 on Snes I actually
Played mostly drunk with everything else against me. Including my bunny eating my Snes cables
and having to buy new ones.

Also maybe unlike other people here I am a huge MDE fan (Shaquille O’Neill aka Most Dominant Ever)
And a huge Lakers fan and I actually read the reviews back in the day and avoided this game.

The only thing it truly explains is I hold my tongue on things like this,
We all dislike games from time to time but intentionally trolling a group
You supposedly are happy to be a part of by saying “oh yeah im voting for something
because I know how much everyone is going to hate it”.
Why tf would anyone do that?

Dont get me wrong I STILL plan to finish it, I literally got out a system to play it on
and everything, but what I won’t ever do is lie and say a game that has no redeeming
qualities is worth being game of the month. Even games that I had problems with
like alttp and I think it was out of this world had things that were worth playing for.
This does not. If I hadn’t drank anything today I wouldnt even have accidentally
Found this game whilst looking for something else.
And had I been completely sober and seen this game I would have made up
all kinds of excuses to play it later. The Booze itself softens the edges on my
jaded views of old ass games I have never played. It actually makes them more fun for me.
That did not happen today. Even through my slightly inebriated sensibilities I found this game
to be utterly repulsive. Even watching a trailer of a next gen Shaq game had me realizing
that Shaquille himself thought the game sucked. Its not fun, its not a “true” fighting game,
Its literally a waste of anyones time ever.

This is literally one of the games that satan makes you play on a loop whilst you are burning in hell.

Jussayin its that effing bad.

BleedingViolet wrote:

There are certain pieces of media that are so iconic, everyone should experience them at least once.

Shaq Fu is the quintessential example of a bad license game, 90's attitude, and the Street Fighter clone movement all in one incredible 24 meg cartridge.

It is a game that has been derided for decades, and will continue to be mocked for millenia. But until you have played the game, any sneering superiority rings as hollow as a long dead log that has been home to generations of termites.

It wasn't just some throwaway release from an unknown company. This was EA, a well respected developer and publisher (at least back then). The graphics were done by Delphine Software who did Another/Out of this World and Flashback.
The animations in the game are fluid and beautiful. This game had a real budget.

If you have even a passing interest in gaming history (or even fighting game history) Shaq Fu is an incredibly complex and rich piece of that history.
Not in terms of mechanics but in terms of everything it embodies. It is story after story, lesson after lesson.

Is it gaming's most fitting example of what can happen when a joke goes too far? Is it a tale of all the stars aligning and yet it still goes horribly wrong? Is it something that other devs and publishers looked at learned from? Yes, yes, and yes.

Shaq Fu is a touchstone to look back on, wonder how it happened, and ask ourselves the truly probing questions.

I respectfully disagree with that point.

Afterall I sat through a slander veedjo of the best Jaguar fighting game
Done by some dickless loser who calls himself McMuscles and is totally oblivious
to video games or their value. All he did was make fun of it but did he ever actually play it?
I doubt he actually did though.

I actually WANTED to like this game until I actually tried playing it this morning.
Now I borderline think slitting my wrists would be a better way to pass the time.

Let me ask you Ben, how many Jaguar and or 3DO games have you played
Just to see how bad they are?

I personally love the Jaguar and really enjoy 3D0/Sega Cd/PSX games that have
Lame video scenes. But The Way of the Warrior on 3DO actually IS a fighting game.
And it is also NOT very good.
Shaq Fu is not. Its supposed to be a 2D one on one fighter but it is so laggy and glitchy you
can’t even pretend that was what they were going for.

I played almost every fighting game in the 90s that I could afford to get my hands on including renting
Ranma 1/2 because I wanted to fight as an mfing Panda. But I did NOT play this and now I unfortunately
know why. Its the worst game we have ever nominated or played in this group.
Its not some funny cliche to force other old school gamers to play one of the worst games
in video game history for funzies. Its fudgeed up is what it is.

BleedingViolet wrote:

Hey now, Matt McMuscles is the man. I haven't watched his "Worst Fighting Game" videos, but "Wha Happun?" is hilarious.

BleedingViolet wrote:

I used to own a 3DO. Most of the games on that system were sub-par.

I've never owned a Jaguar, always wanted to, though.


That was the OTHER fighting game Craze of the 90s. Instead of "Steeet Fighter but worse" there was "Mortal Kombat but worse"


You say laggy, I say it's deliberately slow. I've played Flashback and Out of This World and the controls are similarly delayed. But it's intentional to show off that animation.

I will agree Shaq Fu is not a fighting game in the same style as MK or Street Fighter. Shaq Fu has a rhythm all it's own. Does having a different cadence from everything else out there make it good? No, it honestly makes it stick out like a sore thumb. I would have loved to see what they could have done with it as a platformer instead of a fighting game, but a fighting game it is.


Pretty sure participating in this thread is optional, otherwise we got a lot of enforcing to do. Knocking on people's PM box and telling them they should be playing Shaq Fu, and it'd be a shame if something were to happen to their account

As you said, this thread is what we make it. It took more than one vote for Shaq Fu to win. There are other folks in this thread that said to themselves "You know what? LETS DO THE 'FU!"

And it isn't even close to being one of the worst games in history, just probably the most high profile bad one of it's era.

This is what the voice of the people wanted.

This is what some people choose to play which I try to do every month even when I can’t complete a game.

It is optional but my option is to try everytime I can.

I wasnt planning on playing this game. I literally found it this morning after
Having some coffee tequila which I love and which has tricked me into playing every
Game of the month I otherwise didnt plan to.

I dont think 3DO had subpar games. If we go back to those days I would for instance rather
Play the same game on 3DO compared to Snes like Jurassic Park or Samurai Shodown.

Yeah that game was terrible, but #Beat-it on the - story mode with Shaq
I resorted to the juvenile means of beating most characters - jump kick a lot, trap them in the corner when possible and spam the snot out of the fast low kick... Does Shaq only have kicks? I really only got hard or fast kicks, but eh it's beat. I had tried the version a couple of days ago and that went really poorly, but this version I actually beat the first island pretty easily and really only used the two attack buttons and not the 'Move/Taunt' ?? button. I used save states but only needed them between fights initially. The 2nd island's dude with the guns was a bit cheap and I lost 1 match to him as well as the first gate elderly guy - Leotsu I believe? The possessed kid was pretty easy, the chick with the tail gave me the most trouble as she was a lot more mobile with her attack that teleport to drop on you and her projectile was pretty large and harder to properly jump over since Shaq's jump animation was a little slow. I used a save state after getting a touch lucky and beating her in round 1 (on likely my 3rd or 4th attempt against her) and then surely lost the 2nd round a bunch before finally getting her. The Beast dude felt cheap as heck, as it looked like his health bar would go up at times and I'd wail away with light attacks only for him to 1 hit drop 33% of my health, so I used states with him but only lost like 6 rounds vs. a good 10+ to the earlier chick. Sett-Ra was actually a lot easier as I edged him with just a sliver of health on my 2nd attempt in round 1 and only took 2 cracks at round two to beat him.

Not my personal worst game - 12 Minutes holds that crown firmly, but plenty happy to have beaten this and don't think I'll try the duel arcade mode with any of the characters, not with effectively only 2 attack buttons and no interest in learning moves.

Proof:

BleedingViolet wrote:

Is this the Jurassic Park game you are talking about? It seems pretty dang subpar based on this video.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=z-er5SQLr_o

Not saying every game on 3DO was bad. But it had the unfortunate fate of being a system released in 1993 when the "future of gaming" was obviously going to be FMV.

Beyond that, it got a lot of really rough early 3d games, some of which were fun, but most of the decent ones were done better on Saturn and PlayStation.

Still, it did have the definitive version of Star Control 2 for a while until the developers released the source code and "The Ur-Quan Masters" was created.

So I tried taking some advice and played this terrible game sober.
I still want to beat it with Shaq in story mode. I liked it even less today despite
putting on some Bikini Kill to drown out my inner turmoil.
I’m sure I could get lucky and spam a win against cat woman
eventually but today is not the day.

On a smaller screen you are right Ben the animations in the background
are really nice. But at the same time it was wasted on this game.

Now for a couple of games of Brotato 😃

benstylus wrote:

I dont even remember those goofy looking mini games from that veedjo.
Maybe you’re right and those games were bad. I still like them for
being different from other games though.

Im trying to remember which game I liked on 3DO but I think it was Starblade maybe.
I’d have to look it up I guess.

Oh and I really liked Twisted the game show. It was stupid but fun and I used to play
it with my Homegirl when she would rarely visit. So its a good memory I have of us.

That's the second time this week I've heard someone recommend Twisted. I have to check it out at some point.

Renaissance2K wrote:

Its good as long as you dont take it too seriously or expect too much from it.
Also its prolly best played with a friend.

Renaissance2K wrote:

I had fun with both Twisted and Zhadnost. They aren't going to be games you go back to week in and week out, but they are fun little party games.

BleedingViolet wrote:
.

Starbase is a port of an early 3d Namco arcade rail shooter.

I've played the arcade version, and it's fun, but the whole game is something like 20 minutes long. Did they add anything for the home port?

benstylus wrote:

Yeah I doubt it. I never finished it though. I just looked up a video of it on 3do (Starblade) and its
Still a beautiful game. I think I had trouble with my original 3do controller. I remember it wasn't easy
Playing Mad Dog Mcree on there either but I wanna say I actually finished that one or part 2 but I really
can’t be sure. Now I wish I still had a working 3do and those two games 😃

So looks like Genesis Shaq Fu is going to be it for me.

Unfortunately (fortunately?) The ebay seller I bought the gamegear version from never shipped, and after some waiting and wrangling (mostly waiting because ebay thinks a seller who hasn't even marked shipped after ten days still needs another 5 before they will look at it), it's being refunded.

Having now played the Genesis version again after all these years, I'm not sad about not getting the second copy.

It's been a busy month! Let's take a look at everyone who's been pulling off rocket jumps this month, either with a Rocket Launcher or size 22 sneakers:

benstylus image Kommie image image Renaissance2K image image image image image image image image image image image image image Slickriven image image SupremeSarna image

Many thanks to everyone who took up arms in this dark, horrific nightmare... as well as everyone who played a Quake game. As usual, all fourteen badges will remain available should you explore one of the titles later, but they'll lose their scratch 'n sniff functionality.

Let's start taking nominations for the March 2024 Game of the Month. No themes or guidelines this month, but let's try to suggest games that won't make game reviewers rethink their careers.

We'll start voting on February 25 and call the winners on March 1. What does everyone want to play?

It will be March Madness... so how about a game where you play as the villain?

I nominate Rampage World Tour (or any Rampage game really)

I nominate Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze and Kirby's (Extra) Epic Yarn .

SupremeSarna wrote:

Kirby's Epic Yarn is probably fine, but I would consider Tropical Freeze too new for retro. Do you want to nominate another Donkey Kong Country game instead? (Or the series as a whole?)

Renaissance2K wrote:

I'm curious what kind of votes Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! would get. March is Women's History Month, so it would fit.

SupremeSarna wrote:

Why not just nominate the whole series like previously suggested?
Tropical Freeze would suddenly be part of that nomination.
I know I would have access to DKC1 right away and I was trying to get a copy of
my favorite in the series DKC2 even though it looks like she doesn’t want to
trade with me.

That's it for Quake.

Those last few levels were a bit of a mess, weren't they? It's amazing... There's no growth in Quake - no experience points, no abilities to unlock, a largely unchanged arsenal, etc. - and yet you go from taking down the occasional abominable snowman to being flanked by a whole family of them, plus a pack of demonic spider ladies, death knights, and black licorice wad; all within the span of a few rooms. All with the same tools you've had since the very beginning.

I'll start Quake II tomorrow. The big question is whether or not I can finish it before Final Fantasy VII Rebirth gets here. I remember it taking a lot longer than the original Quake did.

Eh, alright. I nominate the DK series as a whole. It feels like cheating nominating an entire franchise as the GOTM, though we have done it before.

I've played a little bit of DKC with my son here and there over the years, but it never really hooked him. However, a couple weeks ago I gave it another shot, and this time he really got into it. His skills have improved enough where he's finally able to hang, and is really enjoying the game now. So, there's a good chance I'll beat DKC this coming month anyway. We're up to the third world already.

Can't think of anything to nominate myself. I have multiple newer games that are in progress that I need to wrap up first.

I'll nominate Battletoads in Battlemaniacs. On the Switch online service today and have never played it.

SupremeSarna wrote:

I like when we all play the same game because we can compare experiences, but I like it even more when more people participate, which tends to happen more often with multi-game months.

What about just the SNES DKC trilogy? Gives some flexibility on what to play but doesn't open it too wide.

I'm working on Quake II. I played through this game way back in the day once it hit the jewel case bargain bin, but don't remember too much about it except the first level. I was disappointed to be reminded that the game works as a series of hubs with a lot of backtracking. I was worried about wandering around lost and aimless like in Hexen, but the tactical computer does a decent job of indicating if I'm on the right track or if I need to switch levels.

I'm not jiving with it as much as the original Quake. The aesthetic is really generic, and as cool as a lot of the design choices were back in the day - reactive weapons, cool lighting effects, tricky enemy behavior - they just make everything seem a bit more spongey now.

It's nice to be reunited with the Super Shotgun, though. Boom.

Any other nominations for next month before we start voting?

In other news, I fired the BFG for the first time, and it activated the Time Stone.

I’m down to vote for the DKC series. But I would much prefer the entire series so more people can play
How and wherever they want. New games, Old games, but all good games.
But I know we need other games to vote for.
I’ll just nominate Shadowman or the Shadowman series (….. I believe there was a sequel on PS2 no?)

Shadowman (series)

Playable on N64, Dreamcast, PS1 maybe even PS2

I love this game but I’m like the only one so maybe Donkey Kong Country finally wins 😃

STAR WARS: Dark Forces

I'm definitely nominating all of DK, then. New ones, old ones, the whole shabang. It'll give me a reason to actually finish King of Swing, and maybe replay Jungle Beat.

SupremeSarna wrote:

Clearly iI am voting three ways then. I love ShadoMan and Dark Forces.

Maybe I’ll wait a couple days to see whats leading and hope it wins.

…. i need more tequila for whatever happens next.

Dark Forces for the win

….. also fudge yo couch 😂

While the new breathalyzer is installed on this thread's "Post Message" button, feel free to cast your votes for next month's nominees:

Nominees
Rampage franchise
Kirby's Epic Yarn
Donkey Kong franchise
Battletoads in Battlemaniacs
Shadow Man
Star Wars: Dark Forces

Either publicly in this thread or privately in a PM to me, give each nominee 0-5 points. Omitting a nominee is equivalent to giving it a vote of 0. The highest-scoring game will be the March Game of the Month.

Here are my votes:

Rampage - 3 Kirby's Epic Yarn - 5 Donkey Kong - 5 Battletoads in Battlemaniacs - 3 Shadow Man - 2 Star Wars: Dark Forces - 4

Go vote!

Battletoads SNES 5

Shadow Man - 4
Star Wars: Dark Forces - 5

Wait, so Y’all don’t like Dave Chapelle, or is it just his sassy portrayal of Rick James that is objectionable? Lol 😂

Okay okay

Dark Forces - 5
Shadowman - 5

And I was going to vote for Donkey Kong too but I really like Dark Forces.

Fine I will still give it something (though I may regret it later)

Donkey Kong Country - 3