NBA Playgrounds Apologizes With Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn

Nintendo Switch owners who have already purchased or plan on purchasing a copy of NBA Playgrounds before the online play update rolls out will be able to pick up another game for free later on this year when Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn is released for the Switch.

The sequel to the game Shaq Fu that was released in 1994 for the Super Nintendo and later ported to the Game Boy, Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn is a beat-em-up game that's developer Saber Interactive's apology offering for the delay on releasing online play into NBA Playgrounds. The company said in a press release that it had every intention to put online play into the game soon after they May 9 release, but it's taken them longer than they expected to make the update a reality on the Switch version. They noted that talk was cheap, but free things were not, and their gift to patient gamers is a free copy of Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn.

Matthew Karch, the CEO of Saber Interactive, also commented on the giveaway in a letter that was posted to the NBA Playgrounds Facebook page:

But for our Switch players, still awaiting online play – and believe us, it's coming soon – we can do more. Our Nintendo fans were left without online play and though the fix is done and going through the final motions, we can still do something nice. Something big. Something free.

It's good to be independent because no one sense checks our crazy when we look to reward a portion of our supportive, patient playerbase with something truly insane, like a free game.
It's with tremendous thanks and appreciation to our Nintendo fans who are still waiting online play that we offer you an entirely new game absolutely free. That's right, we're giving away a copy of Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn for Switch to every Nintendo NBA Playgrounds player who has been patiently awaiting the first patch.

Like the first installation in the games, this new title will feature basketball star Shaquille O'Neal as he takes on fighters from around the world. The original Shaq Fu was met with pretty harsh reviews upon its release. Since its release, it's been referred to multiple times as one of the worst fighting games, or any games, ever made.

The company will release more details soon on how to obtain a copy of the game as its Fall release approaches.