The Griffins, reimagined.
"You should warn somebody before you do that. I had my mouth open and everything!"
— Donkey
A few months after Family Guy came out, Stern Pinball released Shrek, based on the first three films in the series. It was a rethemed version of Family Guy, allowing Stern to sell the same game to a wider audience, particularly in Europe (where Family Guy was not as popular).
In terms of gameplay, Shrek and Family Guy are exactly the same — the changes were to the artwork, sound effects, and jokes. Some owners have even installed Shrek game ROMs into their Family Guy machines to get two titles in the same cabinet (or to mess with unsuspecting players).
The Shrek pinball demonstrates the following tropes:
- Not Quite Starring: The game uses soundalikes for Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, and the other voice actors from the original films.
- Rage Against the Reflection: The trope is alluded to with Prince Charming's playfield target, a mirror mounted on a pillar that the player hits with the ball.
- Secondary Adaptation: The game adapts elements from Shrek, Shrek 2, and Shrek the Third, all of which are based on the 1990 children's book Shrek.
- Spelling Bonus: On the main playfield, spelling BABY repeatedly starts Baby Multiball, while spelling PINBALL enables Donkey's pinball machine. Donkey's pinball has FIONA, (Gingerbread) MAN, SHREK, PUSS, and CHARM (Prince Charming).
- Villain Decay: Prince Charming, who was already a pretty ineffectual villain in the movies, is counted alongside the protagonists of the series here.
- Wizard Mode: Aside from name changes, all of the Wizard Modes are the same as those of Family Guy:
- The sub-Wizard Modes "TV Wizard" and "Stewie Multiball" have been renamed to "Swamp Wizard" and "Donkey Multiball".
- The main Wizard Mode, "Sperm Attack", becomes the age-appropriate "Far Far Away".
