Shrek SuperSlam - TV Tropes

It's all ogre now.

Shrek SuperSlam is a fighting game by Activision which features characters from the Shrek series. It takes inspiration from several different fighting games, but the most prominent would be Power Stone. The plot of the game revolves around Shrek and his friends telling the Dronkey babies bedtime stories to put them to sleep after they burn up the book. Somehow, all of these stories turn out to be epic battles, setting up the gameplay.

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Shrek SuperSlam contains examples of the following tropes:

• Achievement Mockery: The Pause Master trophy is unlocked by pausing the game 100 times: an achievement you can get as soon as you start a match. The trophy's description even points out how desperate you'd have to be to try for it:

  For a hero who is desperate for a trophy. Any trophy.

• Adaptation Name Change: The Big Bad Wolf is inexplicably renamed to Huff 'N Puff Wolf.
• Adaptational Badass: Many of the characters are far more combat-capable than they were in the movies:
  • Pinocchio is a Boxing Battler who can easily rush down enemies and jab them with his nose.
  • Red Riding Hood, who only appeared in one scene where she ran away from Shrek and Fiona, is now fully capable of duking it out with them using her basket and a limitless supply of apples.
  • Not that she was a slouch before, but Fiona can now throw ninja stars that home in on enemies.
  • The Gingerbread Man can beat his enemies down with a candy cane and throw peppermint shuriken.
• Advanced Movement Technique: Crumpet dashing is a technique performed by cancelling an air dash into a shield. This causes you to keep the momentum from the air dash, making you fly through the air at higher speeds than usual. A variant, called the "swooce", is done by doing a double-jump during the shield, further increasing your air time. Crumpet dashing is a key element of the game's competitive scene due to how it greatly increases your mobility when mastered.
• And Your Reward Is Clothes:
  • Certain characters^note  have costumes that can be unlocked by completing certain chapters in the story mode.
  • By completing the three unlockable Pizza Challenges, you can unlock Tony's Hat, which sends a flurry of pizza projectiles onto nearby enemies by double-jumping.
• Another Side, Another Story: Donkey and Prince Charming's stories in the GBA version run at the same time, with Donkey stealing the Fairy Godmother's wand, spurring Charming into searching for it. Donkey's story ends with him losing it and Shrek getting it stuck to his butt, and Charming's story ends with him finding it stuck to Shrek's butt.
• Anti-Air. Every character can perform an upwards attack by pressing the jump and attack buttons at the same time.
• Art Evolution: Compared to the Shrek 2 game that released the year prior, this game has a different artstyle, with higher-poly character models much closer to their designs in the movie and and more expressive facial animations.
• Ascended Extra: Several characters from the first two movies like Cyclops, Captain Hook, Red Riding Hood and Anthrax go from minor cameos and gags to full playable characters here.
• Attack Reflector: Shielding at the right time allows your character to deflect projectiles right back to their sender, though they can also do the same back to you. With enough deflections, the projectile will eventually become fast enough that it becomes a Slam and grants a point to the one who doesn't get slammed. Several Cluster Challenges in Mega Challenge mode revolve around defeating a sheriff through this method.
• Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: Done with one of the tournaments in Mega Challenge mode: round one pits the player against two Donkeys, round two against two Dronkeys, and round three against a Donkey and a Dronkey.
• Burger Fool: The fast food restaurant from Shrek 2 that the Fairy Godmother visits with King Harold appears as a stage.
• Canon Foreigner: Black Knight, G-nome, Quasimodo and Luna do not come from the movies. Red Riding Hood and Humpty Dumpty do have counterparts in the main universe, but they're considered separate characters from the SuperSlam versions. Quasimodo is especially worth noting since he isn't even a fairy tale character, originating from literature instead.
• Cosmetic Award: Collecting every trophy and medal causes a giant golden Shrek statue to appear in the Trophy Room, complete with fireworks and a congratulatory "You Got Everything!" message.
• Cute Witch: While nearly every other witch in the Shrek franchise falls into Gonk territory, Luna is an aversion, being a witch in her teens who lacks a Gag Nose like many of the other witches. She does however, have a pretty impressive Evil Laugh and many of her combos will finish with a powerful sneeze.
• Double Jump: Every character is capable of jumping while in the air, with Dronkey, Luna and Anthrax being able to do two mid-air jumps instead of one.
• Evil Knockoff: Puppet Shrek and Puppet Fiona Ogre serve as alternate costumes for their base characters, but are monstrous puppet clones as revealed in Story Mode (Puppet Fiona is even dressed like the Bride of Frankenstein).
• Fartillery: Shrek's slam has him summon a giant fart cloud. The fart wand allows any character to mimic it, albeit as a standard, non-slamming attack.
• Final Boss: In the GBA version, Luna (renamed Lil' Witch) acts as the final boss of each character's story mode^note .
• Foreshadowing: In the story mode of the console/PC version, Shrek tries to read a fairytale to the Dronkeys from a book. The book has a page warning that it's highly flammable. Guess what happens when one of the Dronkeys sneeze.
• Fragile Speedster: Puss in Boots, the Gingerbread Man, Human Fiona, Pinocchio, and G-nome all focus on speed over power, with fast, rapid-fire attacks that can easily combo into each other coupled with excellent mobility, but fairly low damage output and lackluster range.
• Go-Karting with Bowser: In the GBA version, the Framing Device involves Shrek, Donkey, Fiona, Puss and Gingy all playing cards with secondary antagonist Prince Charming. While some of their interactions are slightly vitriolic, they get along well enough that (if chosen to do so) Prince Charming has no problems with telling the Dronkeys a bedtime story.
• The Grappler: Shrek himself is the closest thing to one, with a large grab range in front of him and a unique throw that deals high damage and can fling the unfortunate victim about halfway across the level, leaving them open for his Green Storm slam. However, this comes at the cost of poor mobility and slow attacks, with Shrek being one of the few characters who can't perform a dash attack or high wall attack.
• Heel–Face Turn: Puss' story in the GBA version ends with Puss convincing Lil' Witch to stop performing evil acts after learning she was just lonely.
• Here We Go Again!: After all the stories in Story Mode are completed, everyone leaves, and the Dronkeys slept Happily Ever After, the narrator notes. The End appears on-screen... then Shrek bursts back in to tell him to "can it" with the narration, inadvertently waking the Dronkeys back up again. Shrek then facepalms upon realising his mistake.
• Hold the Line: Several Cluster Challenges put the player in charge of protecting something (usually another character or destroyable object) from another character attempting to Slam/destroy it for a certain amount of time.
• Jack of All Stats: Donkey and Prince Charming^note  both have well-rounded stats in all areas and fairly basic movesets.
• Lethal Lava Land: Dragon's Gate is surrounded by lava.
• Level Ate: Gingerbread Hizzle, which features a giant gingerbread house.
• Long-Range Fighter:
  • Robin Hood is, bar none, the best ranged fighter in the game, with two combo finishers that fire projectiles, a charged attack that fires a flaming arrow at the nearest opponent, and a wall attack that fires an arrow below him instead of diving down like most of the cast.
  • Red Riding Hood's charged attack has her throwing multiple apples in front of her, her dash attack leaves an apple behind her, and she has an air attack that lets her throw apples at two different angles depending on which button is pressed.
• Martial Fu Manchu Mustache: In Fiona's story level for the Dronkeys, she battles Humpty Dumpty, who appears as a Kung Fu master called "Master Fu". Master Fu has a Fu Manchu mustache and shows his power by beating an unnamed rival and Donkey off-screen and throwing them both off the mountain.
• Mascot Fighter: It's a Platform Fighter that features Shrek characters.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter:
  • Robin Hood and Captain Hook have unique slams that are altered depending on how long you hold the button for. In both cases, you can have the slam shoot around their general area or aim it at a specific angle.
  • Dronkey is unique in that he has multiple air jumps, an air dash that drops damaging embers as a projectile, the ability to dodge in the air, and an air attack that has him looping in the air before rushing down at a unique diagonal angle. All of this combined makes him stronger in the air than on the ground.
• Metalhead: Quasimodo is portrayed as one, since he has long shaggy hair that covers his face and headbangs while making rock symbols for his win pose. In the story mode, he and Shrek fight because Quasimodo rocking out at all hours of the night is preventing Shrek from getting any sleep.
• Mighty Glacier: Shrek, Black Knight, Quasimodo and Cyclops are rather slow, but pack enough power to make every hit really hurt.
• Moveset Clone:
  • Shrek and Quasimodo share many of the same moves and movement abilities, but there are a few differences: Shrek's AAA combo and Charged Attack both have him rushing at the opponent while Quasimodo's have him slam into the ground (the former is also a multi-input head slam that can hit downed foes), Shrek's slam has him fart a giant gas cloud around his general area while Quasimodo runs around ringing his bells, and Shrek's Ground Pound causes a small shockwave while Quasi's doesn't. Shrek also lacks a grounded dash attack and a midair wall attack.
  • If Donkey and Anthrax are compared, Donkey hits harder while Anthrax has better overall mobility thanks to her third jump and better air speed. Donkey's spinning aerial attack slows his descent while Anthrax's sends her to the ground faster. Donkey uses his hooves while Anthrax uses her horn on her head, though both characters' attacks have the same general properties. Donkey's slam has him charging around the arena at high speed while Anthrax's is much slower but also has her summon clouds which also slam opponents if they hit and also lasts longer.
  • G-nome's moveset is very similar to Pinocchio's, with the main difference being the amount of hits in their combos: Pinocchio's combos tend to involve multiple hits at once while G-nome's focus more on consistent single hits. Both also have different air attacks, with Pinocchio's going down at an angle for a single hit while G'nome's goes straight down with extra inputs if it hits. Both characters also have different slams, with Pinocchio using his nose to zip around the battlefield slamming anyone it hits while G-nome goes underground and attacks with a venus fly trap.
  • Prince Charming has Captain Hook. Hook uses his hook while Charming uses his sword; the former has less range than the latter as a result. Hook's charged attack can also break shields while Charming's can't. Both characters also have different slams, with Charming sending out shockwaves with his sword and Hook firing an array of cannonballs around him.
  • Donkey and Dronkey are a downplayed variation, in that Dronkey shares many of his animations and moves with Donkey, such as his dash attacks, aerial attacks, wall attacks, and throws, but he also has several additional moves to help him stand out. In general, Donkey is far more simplistic to play and focuses on ground-based combat, while Dronkey is far more agile in the air and has more of an emphasis on aerial combat and projectiles.
• Multi-Slot Character: Fiona is playable in both her human and ogre forms, and both have their own unique playstyles: Human Fiona is fast but doesn't deal much damage, while Ogre Fiona hits harder but is less mobile. Both characters have different slams, with Human Fiona throwing ninja stars while Ogre Fiona sends musical notes around the stage by singing. Both versions also wear different outfits, with the former wearing her iconic green dress from the first movie and the latter wearing a Valkyrie outfit created for the game.
• Mythology Gag: In Shrek 2, Donkey mentions that a farmer and his friends mistook him for a pinata and tried to beat him with a stick. One of his Palette Swaps references this by giving him rainbow stripes, making him resemble a pinata.
• One-Hit-Point Wonder: One cluster challenge, Glass Jaw!, turns Humpty Dumpty into one by modifying the rules: Humpty has only one life and he gets slammed if Prince Charming, Captain Hook or G-nome hit him even once.
• Our Gnomes Are Weirder: G-nome is a living garden gnome who appears to be both homicidal and a Jerkass, as evidenced when he crashes his car into Gingy's gingerbread house in Story Mode, and kidnaps Fiona in the credits.
• Palette Swap: Each character has four colors to choose from. Most of them are fairly standard recolors, though some look more elaborate like Gingy's first recolor (which resembles a bathrobe) and all of Donkey's recolors (which give him rainbow stripes, a green coat and tiger stripes respectively).
• Papa Wolf: One mini-challenge tasks Donkey with protecting one of his Dronkeys from Black Knight.
• Platform Fighter: The GBA version is a 2D fighter akin to Super Smash Bros., but retains the slam mechanic from the console versions.
• Playing with Fire: The playable Dronkey uses fire in some of its attacks: one combo has it fart fire to suspend the opponent in the air after a launcher while another has it breathe a continuous row of fireballs akin to a laser.
• Production Throwback: The music that plays during the credits is a sped-up version of the theme that played during the chicken-throwing Mini-Game from Shrek 2. Both games had Activision involved in their development.
• Product Placement:
  • A poster for Madagascar can be found in Romeo Drive in the cinema area, and there's a trailer for the then-upcoming game of Over the Hedge in the options menu. Not-coincidentally, both games were also developed by Activision.
  • Boxes of Tony's Pizza can be found in the Bell Tower, and by inputting different cheat codes at the title screen, three different Pizza Challenges can be unlocked and played.
• Rain of Arrows: Robin Hood's slam summons a rain of arrows from off-screen to hit nearby opponents. The arrows can fly in a variety of angles depending on how long the slam button is held.
• "Rashomon"-Style:
  • The GBA story mode tells a different spin on the story depending on whether Shrek or Fiona tell it: in Shrek's, Fiona gets kidnapped by an evil witch with Shrek going out to save her, while Fiona's story has both Shrek and Prince Charming getting captured and Fiona doing the rescuing.
  • Similarly, both Puss and Gingy's stories where they got cursed by Lil' Witch happened around the same time, as implied by an offhand comment by Gingy during Puss' ending.

  Gingy: At least everyone recognized you!

• Reformulated Game: The console versions are a 3D arena fighter, the GBA version is a 2D Platform Fighter, and the DS version is a different 3D arena fighter based on the GBA version.
• Secret Character: Huff n Puff Wolf, Anthrax, Cyclops, Robin Hood, G-nome, Dronkey, Quasimodo, Luna, Captain Hook and Humpty Dumpty all have to be unlocked through the Mega Challenge mode.
• Signs of Disrepair: The town stage has a theater whose marquee reads "Grendel vs. the Stinkworm". Slamming somebody through the theater door knocks off letters and shuffles others, leaving it reading "Ogres Stink".
• Skill Gate Characters: Donkey will most likely be a player's first choice for the Mega Challenge mode, given his simple combos, decent damage input and easy to land Slam. Against actual players however, Donkey tends to struggle due to his only decent damage input, mediocre extended combo ability, lack of range and terrible lag regarding most of the advanced techniques.
• Teleportation: For some reason, one of the Gingerbread Man's moves in the GBA version causes him to teleport in a burst of magic dust to another location on the stage.
• Trophy Room: You can view all of your collected trophies and medals in the Trophy Room, which is represented as a castle tower with spotlights in the background. You can pick up trophies to view their descriptions and even throw them around the room. If you manage to obtain every trophy and medal, a giant gold statue of Shrek appears in the background and you unlock the Trophy Room as a multiplayer arena.
• Turns Red: When a character's Slam meter fills up completely, it turns red and the character's portrait starts glowing with red flames. The character will then say their Pre Ass Kicking One Liner, start glowing red themselves, and they'll gain an increase in running speed to help them land their slam.
• Uncanny Valley: Invoked for Puppet Shrek and Puppet Fiona Ogre, who are not only marionette versions of Shrek and Fiona but are monstrous Evil Knockoffs.
• Unicorn: Anthrax.
• Valkyries: Fiona Ogre is dressed like one.
• Wall Jump: Every character can do this, even on invisible walls.
• Your Size May Vary: Dronkey is scaled up to the point where he's actually bigger than Donkey himself.

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