This is an iconic nostalgic game to me, because it was one of a very small number of Game Boy Color games I owned as a kid. It was this, Pokémon Crystal, and that Disney's Atlantis one. These were my precious treasures.

Now, I've never been very good at fighting games, and especially not as a snotty little ten year old, but nevertheless I diligently pressed those A and B buttons, and lead my Shrek characters into battle, and I loved every infuriating moment of it.

The art and music in this game is really well done - in particular the way the characters celebrate when they win a match, or drop pathetically to the floor when they lose, is alway filled with such joyful, buoyant animation. You feel their suffering and/or bliss. Shrek has an insane, Joker-like grin when he wins. Fiona's kind of sassy with it. The gingerbread man is strangely menacing, waving candy canes in the air in the manner of a killer robot who possesses no mercy. It's all so beautiful. It's all so violent.

The game operates on a simple password system. Each level passed gives you a new one, so you can return to that particular level, enemy, or unlock. Entering the code to fight the dragon was the greatest hack I'd ever known as a child, and it was simple good fun.

Once I unlock the executioner (again), it's over for you.

Here's my full look at EVERY Shrek game: I Played Every Shrek Game