While the Shaq Fu video game is something that even its creators wanted to forget happened, one person is keeping its memory alive, its star - basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal. In March, O’Neal and Big Deez Productions launched an IndieGogo campaign, which has just surpassed its goal.
The campaign closed after two months and reached $473,884, just above the $450,000 goal. That means that Shaq-Fu: A Legend Reborn will get to be made and available for all consoles. A PC version will also be released.
One of the really cool perks for contributions was a gold Super Nintendo cartridge signed by O’Neal. If you contributed $3,000, you and a friend got to have lunch with O’Neal, but if you contributed $4,000, you also got to have lunch with O’Neal at his home in Florida and a game of basketball.
When the campaign was first announced, many wondered why O’Neal would need a campaign to raise funds when he’s already a multi-millionaire. The developers said that the campaign is to help gauge interest among fans of the first game for a sequel. Plus, 5 percent of the contribution total will go to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.
The fact that Shaq-Fu is getting a sequel should prove that anything is possible. The original game is widely regarded as terrible and, as Kokatu noted in 2013, EA Sports’ Sandy Sandoval called it “probably one of the worst games in EA history.”