Shaq-Fu (Genesis)

An infamous fighting game with lots of gameplay issues.

Debug Leftovers#

Error Exception Handler#

As in some other games by the same developer, there is a exception handler still sitting in the ROM and mostly working. However, due to wrong character conversion it cannot be read when triggered. There are various possible exception sources in the Genesis / Mega Drive, the full list of possible exceptions are located at $000750 in the game's ROM:

  ERROR EXCEPTION   at 
     BUS ERROR      at 
   ADDRESS ERROR    at 
ILLEGAL INSTRUCTION at 
    ZERO DIVIDE     at 
  CHK INSTRUCTION   at 
 TRAPV INSTRUCTION  at 
PRIVILEGE VIOLATION at 
       TRACE        at 
LINE %1010 EMULATOR at 
LINE %1111 EMULATOR at

To trigger this exception somehow, you may try for example the Game Genie code 9E0A-BC16 then at the OPTIONS screen input the Player selection code for STORY mode (Up, Down, B, Left, Right, B).

Debug Assert Handler#

Also, there is another debug assertion handler left working in the ROM in various places. In the final game all of these places does not trigger the assertions, but you may force it to trigger with Game Genie code RFBT-A6V8, then just start a new DUEL fight.

Here is the full list of the existing assertion strings:

Illegal size of font.

SETT not found in DUEL table.

UNKNOW Command in STORY-MODE.

ne doit pas se produire !!!

UNKNOW Commande in the ANIM-BLOCK table.

Unused Test Viewer#

In addition to the code mentioned above add code 93BT-ADCN and use the same access method to get to a rather disabled and unreferenced Debug routine with some kind of test. You may change the number by pressing Left / Right. Press any other button to exit this mode and start the STORY mode instantly. Meaning of this test is unknown and it does nothing actually. Maybe this is what should be called from OPTIONS menu via "VIEW DEBUG" option.

Unused Text#

Developer's Text#

At $0019D4 there is a common for Delphine's games header/placeholder presumably leftovers from the software development kit:

Test Model GENESIS/MEGADRIVE by
Delphine Software International
Model:JapanesesUSA/Europe,Frequence:60 hz50 hz
This GENESIS version is:

Removed OPTIONS Options#

There are a few lines of text in the data resources for the OPTIONS menu which is not used located between $004043 and $00405D:

SOUND
VIEW-DEBUG
EXIT

Unfortunately, not only are these strings never referred to in the ROM, but the data structures that is used to define how each of these options work is completely removed as well as the programming for these options.

SOUND option is most probably were used to toggle the SOUND effects ON and OFF as well as for MUSIC, but they decided not to use it.

VIEW-DEBUG option does not connect to something, but there is a candidate for it unreferenced in the ROM, see the section below.

Battle Win Message#

Among messages for the end of the battle informations, there are some that aren't used at $011CB0:

BATTLE
OVER !
WIN !

Unused Level Names#

Stage select for the DUEL mode (hold B, press Left / Right at the player selection screen) were intended to display the stage names as well as small stage pictures on the background. Texts still left in the ROM at $012CC7 after the used string for this screen:

THE DRAGON
THE DESERT
THE FOREST
THE CRYPTE
THE CLIFF 
 THE DOOR 
WATERFALL 
THE TEMPLE
 THE LABO 
 THE CAVE 
 LA CARTE

Unused Defeat Message#

At the end of the text block for the game's cutscenes, there is an unused line intended presumably for worst scenario if you lose at the STORY mode at $2FD12F:

 You blew it! Sett will
soon possess the world!

Unused BIO Text#

Next to the previous string there is the text block stored at $2FD160 which is a shortened early version of character's BIO information. Note, released version has more detailed BIO resources with more additional info and formatting, these are simple WEIGHT/HEIGHT/AGE/ORIGIN blocks for each character stored continously. The order of the characters also does not match the final version.

The only difference from the release is that SHAQ has a '310' HEIGHT instead of '301'.

7'1
310
22
USA
5'3
123
23
Cimotha
6'10
410
Eternal
Unknown
6'10
212
3000
Unknown
4'6
77
12
Far East
5'7
165
Unknown
Unknown
5'8
143
27
Haiti
5'11
210
38
2nd World
6'4
357
42
Bio Corp
6'1
205
30
USA
5'4
118
500
Far East
5'11
456
170
2nd World

References#