The reality of our daily lives is underpinned by a series of unshakable truths. The sun will rise after it sets. Under standard atmospheric pressure, water will boil at 212 °F. And if enough people play a videogame, someone will—eventually—put Shrek in it.
Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero is enjoying no shortage of attention. In our review, we called it “the best Dragon Ball game we’ve had since the PS2,” and the worthy successor to the Budokais of our youth has already sold more than 3 million copies according to Bandai Namco. With Sparking! Zero already a clear success, is it any surprise that, in accordance with the old laws, Shrek would inevitably appear as a modded addition to the roster of Z fighters? No. But it’s notable that someone had him in there fighting Gokus before the game had fully released.
On Nexus Mods, you can find the Shrek on Toppo mod, which replaces Toppo—the fierce defender of justice who cast away his ideals in a failed bid to battle for the survival of his universe—with the funny green ogre best known for skateboarding in Tony Hawk’s Underground 2. An artistic achievement in any context, certainly, but modder Ercuallo uploaded the addon to Nexus Mods on October 9, 2024—almost a full week before Sparking! Zero’s official release date.
As much as I’d be thrilled to live in a world where someone on the inside at Spike Chunsoft was cooking up some hot prerelease Shrek mods, that’s unfortunately not what happened here. Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero is the latest game to join the trend of offering early access for those willing to shell out for deluxe editions. Players who pre-ordered Sparking! Zero’s deluxe or ultimate editions were able to download and play the game on October 8, meaning that Ercuallo dropped over $100 just so they could spend their very first days with the game figuring out how to turn its characters into Shrek. It’s not ogre-related intrigue, but it’s beautiful in its own way.
I’ll admit that seeing Shrek modded into the latest game releases doesn’t have the novelty it once did, but I’m still charmed by the informal arms race to see who’ll take it upon themselves to get the green grump over the line first. I would like to see someone go the extra mile, though: Show me the terrifying prowess of Ultra Instinct Shrek. Make Shrek the next great Goku. I bet he’d look great with spiky silver hair.
While we wait for some brave soul to deliver on that vision, Ercuallo’s got other Sparking! Zero mods to peruse. You might, for example, seek to replace the almost 30 discrete Gokus with CJ from San Andreas, as is tradition.
