Why many game critics love to quarrel over good games -- such as whether or not Grand Theft Auto IV deserves a 9.9 or 10 -- all factions can unite over a dreadful game. Seriously, if you see two gamers arguing over whether Mega Man 2 or Mega Man 3 was the best in the series, just lob Pac-Man for the Atari 2600 between them. They'll be slapping each other on the back in no time because there is just no contest there. That game was a botch job.

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Shaq Fu is another of those rare gems, a game so universally reviled that everybody can sit down and agree over its awfulness. Now, I'm not going to pull a total contrarian here and somehow argue that Shaq Fu was an underappreciated game with strands of genius coursing through its digital DNA. But upon revisiting the game recently, I have to concur that Shaq Fu is not nearly as bad as everybody makes it out to be. In fact, there are a few avenues of defense, despite the game's packaging doing everything it can to foster absolute loathing.After all, Shaq Fu dropped in 1994, which was not yet the zenith of the Shaquille O'Neil phenomenon, which eventually gave us the perfect storm of Shaq Diesel rap (which cannot be defended) and roles in bombs like Steel and Kazaam. The basketball star's ego had reached such critical mass that it developed its own gravitational pull. And when an ego gets that large, the people that fed the ego to begin with love to turn on it. Shaq Fu is, as you likely know, a fighting game -- which were very much en vogue thanks to Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat. And once you step around the bizarre presence of Shaq, and it's even sillier story (set up with a borderline offense view of downtown Tokyo that implies the city is nothing but pagodas), the fighting action in Shaq Fu really isn't that bad. In fact, its simplicity is actually kind of charming. Instead of being forced to memorize a zillion moves, you simply need to understand the basic timing of kicks and punches, plus a handful of specials, like Shaq's projectile attack, the Shaq-Urikin. If you're entirely put off by something like Soulcalibur IV and Virtua Fighter 5, which seem to punish you for not having 80 hours to train on the game, Shaq Fu may be more your speed.Not that I cannot imagine at least a dozen other fighters I'd push in your direction first… but you get the idea.Two things about Shaq Fu stand out. One, the world map screen, where you get to run around to the different arenas and choose your fight, is a good idea. Instead of random battles on the way to the top, you get to select each stage in the order desired. Maybe you save your most troublesome battles for the end while first zeroing in on the opponents you have a better idea on how to beat. But the second solid feature in Shaq Fu is the animation. And that can be wholly credited to the game developer: Delphine If Delphine sounds familiar to you, then perhaps you've played Out of this World and Flashback. Both are landmark titles and in no small part due to their incredible art and animation. Shaq Fu uses the rotoscoping technique that made the world in Out of This World come alive so well, and the result is pretty impressive. Even if the moves themselves aren't exactly crazy -- really, it's tough to compete with Street Fighter on this level -- they are extremely smooth, especially when linked together. It's worth appreciating a developer that likely understand they aren't working on a great game, but still puts as much artistry into it as possible.Of course, a lot of the good will generated by the game's positives is negated by an awful cast of characters that includes a mummy, a weird lizard-like dude, and a cheeseball jetpack guy. The aforementioned goofy story, Shaq enters an alternate dimension through a door in the back of a shop by a very stereotypical wizened Asian man, is an anvil. But with 14 years between now and the release of Shaq Fu, a lot of that residual irritation over the forced fame of Shaq beyond the basketball court, has dissipated. You can now play the game without that initial kneejerk reaction, although the large-scale lampooning of the game will likely be tough to get around and give the game a fair shake.The point is, just because a game seems collectively detested, doesn't mean it's without merit. Sometimes the rejection and ridicule of a game just feeds on itself, earning the title a reputation it doesn't entirely deserve. Shaq Fu is one of those games.Aquaman on the GameCube and Xbox, however...