diff --git a/builtin/show-branch.c b/builtin/show-branch.c
index a86b3c7677..b01ec761d2 100644
--- a/builtin/show-branch.c
+++ b/builtin/show-branch.c
@@ -649,7 +649,7 @@ int cmd_show_branch(int ac, const char **av, const char *prefix)
 	int with_current_branch = 0;
 	int head_at = -1;
 	int topics = 0;
-	int dense = 1;
+	int sparse = 0;
 	const char *reflog_base = NULL;
 	struct option builtin_show_branch_options[] = {
 		OPT_BOOL('a', "all", &all_heads,
@@ -671,17 +671,17 @@ int cmd_show_branch(int ac, const char **av, const char *prefix)
 			 N_("show possible merge bases")),
 		OPT_BOOL(0, "independent", &independent,
 			    N_("show refs unreachable from any other ref")),
-		OPT_SET_INT(0, "topo-order", &sort_order,
-			    N_("show commits in topological order"),
-			    REV_SORT_IN_GRAPH_ORDER),
+		OPT_SET_INT_F(0, "topo-order", &sort_order,
+			      N_("show commits in topological order"),
+			      REV_SORT_IN_GRAPH_ORDER, PARSE_OPT_NONEG),
 		OPT_BOOL(0, "topics", &topics,
 			 N_("show only commits not on the first branch")),
-		OPT_SET_INT(0, "sparse", &dense,
-			    N_("show merges reachable from only one tip"), 0),
-		OPT_SET_INT(0, "date-order", &sort_order,
-			    N_("topologically sort, maintaining date order "
-			       "where possible"),
-			    REV_SORT_BY_COMMIT_DATE),
+		OPT_SET_INT(0, "sparse", &sparse,
+			    N_("show merges reachable from only one tip"), 1),
+		OPT_SET_INT_F(0, "date-order", &sort_order,
+			      N_("topologically sort, maintaining date order "
+				 "where possible"),
+			      REV_SORT_BY_COMMIT_DATE, PARSE_OPT_NONEG),
 		OPT_CALLBACK_F('g', "reflog", &reflog_base, N_("<n>[,<base>]"),
 			    N_("show <n> most recent ref-log entries starting at "
 			       "base"),
@@ -940,7 +940,7 @@ int cmd_show_branch(int ac, const char **av, const char *prefix)
 			    !is_merge_point &&
 			    (this_flag & (1u << REV_SHIFT)))
 				continue;
-			if (dense && is_merge &&
+			if (!sparse && is_merge &&
 			    omit_in_dense(commit, rev, num_rev))
 				continue;
 			for (i = 0; i < num_rev; i++) {
diff --git a/t/t3202-show-branch.sh b/t/t3202-show-branch.sh
index be20ebe1d5..b17f388f56 100755
--- a/t/t3202-show-branch.sh
+++ b/t/t3202-show-branch.sh
@@ -119,6 +119,22 @@ test_expect_success 'show branch --remotes' '
 	test_must_be_empty actual.out
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'show-branch --sparse' '
+	test_when_finished "git checkout branch10 && git branch -D branchA" &&
+	git checkout -b branchA branch10 &&
+	git merge -s ours -m "merge 1 and 10 to make A" branch1 &&
+	git commit --allow-empty -m "another" &&
+
+	git show-branch --sparse >out &&
+	grep "merge 1 and 10 to make A" out &&
+
+	git show-branch >out &&
+	! grep "merge 1 and 10 to make A" out &&
+
+	git show-branch --no-sparse >out &&
+	! grep "merge 1 and 10 to make A" out
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'setup show branch --list' '
 	sed "s/^> //" >expect <<-\EOF
 	>   [branch1] branch1
@@ -197,6 +213,15 @@ done <<\EOF
 --reflog --current
 EOF
 
+# unnegatable options
+for opt in topo-order date-order reflog
+do
+	test_expect_success "show-branch --no-$opt (should fail)" '
+		test_must_fail git show-branch --no-$opt 2>err &&
+		grep "unknown option .no-$opt." err
+	'
+done
+
 test_expect_success 'error descriptions on non-existent branch' '
 	cat >expect <<-EOF &&
 	error: No branch named '\''non-existent'\'.'