SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom
SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom is a licensed platform video game based on the animated series SpongeBob SquarePants, developed by Heavy Iron Studios and published by THQ. Originally released in 2003 for the Nintendo Gamecube, Playstation 2, and Xbox, it would prove popular enough of a game to get an HD remake titled Spongebob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated over seventeen years later, released on the Playstation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Windows operating systems on June 23, 2020. This remake would be developed by Purple Lamp Studios, and released by THQ Nordic. Game Boy Advance and Windows versions of the original game also exist, but they're wildly different in presentation: the Game Boy version of Battle for Bikini Bottom is a 2D Platformer developed by Vicarious Visions, while the Windows version is a point-and-click adventure game developed by AWE Games.
The game opens with Plankton having created a machine called the Duplicatotron 3000, which can create an army of dangerous robots in record time. He aims to use these robots to finally steal the coveted Krabby Patty secret formula, but in true Plankton fashion his plan goes horribly wrong. Because it turns out that for some ungodly reason, he installed a "Don't Obey" option on the machine, which causes the robots to rebel against him, kick him out of his own restaurant, and start wreaking havoc across Bikini Bottom.
Meanwhile, Spongebob Squarepants and his best friend Patrick Star make a wish on a "magic wishing shell" for some robots to play with. The next day they'd get their wish all right, and Spongebob would wake up to find his house and Bikini Bottom as a whole trashed and in complete chaos thanks to the antics of the robot horde. Believing that his wish was responsible for this mess, this absorbent, yellow, and porous unlikely hero takes matters into his own hands and vows to stop this newfound cybernetic menace... with some help from Patrick and Sandy Cheeks, of course.
- Abnormal Ammo: Tar-Tar and Slick robots will attack you with jets of tartar sauce and oil, while Robo-Patrick will puke up toxic sludge that looks like ice cream during his boss fight.
- Action Bomb: Thunder Tikis, which will explode after you attack them or step within their detection radius. The aptly-named Bomb-Bots are a more aggressive variant of this trope and will actively chase you down.
- Action Girl: Sandy, who puts her karate and lassoing skills to good use against the mechanical hordes.
- Adam Smith Hates Your Guts: Initially, Mr. Krabs would charge insane prices for the Golden Spatulas you buy from him in the Rehydrated rerelease. Unlike in the original where the amount of Shiny Objects you pay him increases by 500 with each spatula bought, he adds an extra 3000 Shiny objects to the price tag. Thankfully, this is no longer the case after a patch adjusted the price hike to be more in line with the original game.
- Adaptational Badass: In the show, Sandy is the designated asskicker among herself, Spongebob, and Patrick. Here, they're just as good in a fight as she is and are One Man Armies in their own right.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Subverted. While Plankton's robots are rebelling against him, they're actually following their orders to the letter... it just so happens that their orders are for them to not obey him. Played straight later on though, where the "Obey" order simply causes them to follow the orders of Robo-Plankton instead of their master.
- Airborne Mook: Chuck and Monsoon are both flying robots that will annoy you with projectile attacks fired off from a safe distance.
- All-Powerful Bystander: King Neptune could easily take care of Robo-Sandy himself, but he delegates the task to Spongebob and Patrick as a test... probably because it makes for good entertainment seeing how the fight is treated like a big sporting event.
- Always Chaotic Evil: Every robot you run into is a dangerous troublemaker that needs to be scrapped.
- Ambiguous Gender: Used to truly weird effect with Spongebot Steelpants. It's a robot modeled after the male Spongebob Squarepants, but Robo-Plankton calls it his bride after you beat it for the first time.
- Amusement Park: The boardwalk part of Goo Lagoon. Glove World would also count, had it made the cut.
- Apathetic Citizens: As long as they aren't being directly menaced by the robots, Bikini Bottom's denizens will goof off without a care in the world. The only ones who seem to care are named characters from the show like Mrs. Puff, Larry the Lobster, and Mr. Krabs.
- Arrow Cam: When you use the Cruise Bubble.
- Ascended Extra: Bubble Buddy returns, and in the process goes from a memorable one-shot character with minimal dialogue to a recurring mentor figure who helps Spongebob master his bubble techniques.
- Band Land: Squidward's Dream.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Spongebob thinks this trope is at play, making him the one responsible for the robot attacks. He eventually wises up, though.
- Big Bad Wannabe: Plankton came this close to being the game's proper villain, but his big mistake doomed him to be an ineffective whiner forced to boss Spongebob and friends around so he can take the Chum Bucket back from his rebellious robots.
- Big Boo's Haunt: The Flying Dutchman's Graveyard.
- Border Patrol: Hans, the photorealistic hand from the show serves this purpose. If you step into an out-of-bounds zone and linger there, he'll grab you and take you back to safety.
- Bubble Gun: Spongebob's bubble-blowing skills are surprisingly powerful when used in combat. Aside from weaponizing the bubbles by swinging his bubble wand, he can also create several powerful constructs like missiles and bowling balls.
- Butt Monkey: It wouldn't be a Spongebob adaptation if Squidward wasn't treated like the universe's punching bag. You tear up his house to get a few collectibles, he gets chased by robots and stung by jellyfish, Patrick steals his skis, Spongebob uses his toothbrush without him knowing it...
- Call a Rabbit a Smeerp: The "throw fruits" Patrick can toss around are quite clearly watermelons with a different name.
- Cash Gate: If you neglect your Golden Spatula collection mission, you won't be making much progress through this game. Ditto for skipping out on Shiny Object hunting, because there are multiple literal cash gates that you can't bypass without some money in your bank.
- Cloudcuckoolander: As usual, Mermaidman's senile and almost completely out of touch with reality.
- Comically Missing the Point: Patrick treats the fight against Robo-Sandy like a childish game, instead of... you know, a gladiatorial fight against a dangerous robot.
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Patrick: (excitedly bouncing up and down) I wanna play! I wanna play! |
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- Death Is a Slap on The Wrist: Since there are no extra lives, you don't need to worry about getting a game over or losing a ton of progress when you die: you simply respawn back at the nearest checkpoint, which likely isn't far from where you die. The worst thing that happens is that certain collectibles will need to be found again, but even that isn't so bad.
- Dive Kick: Sandy's jump attack is a flying kick.
- Dream Land: SpongeBob's Dream, as well as the other dreams he visits within that dream.
- Drop the Hammer: Ham-mer robots will try to squash you flat with massive hammer hands that are designed to look like hams.
- Eagle Land: Sandy's Dream is a Texas-specific version, and is a Bubbly Clouds stage where tons of oil rigs, Alamos, yellow roses, and ribbons designed after the Texas flag can be seen for miles.
- Electric Jellyfish: Like in the show, jellyfish stings generate a ton of electricity.
- Elite Mook: Slick robots, which are protected by a regenerating bubble shield and take two extra hits to kill on top of that. They're also very dangerous thanks to being a good shot with the oil bubbles they blow at you.
- Excuse Plot: Parodied in this priceless conversation with Bubble Buddy.
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Spongebob: Say, Bubble Buddy, why do I have to pay all of these Golden Spatulas to these tool booths? |
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- Flunky Boss: King Jellyfish, who will summon swarms of jellyfish when you hurt him. Prawn will also summon Ham-mers every time you hit him.
- The Goomba: Jellyfish and Fodder, all of which are the earliest enemies encountered as well as the weakest.
- Gotta Catch Them All: Getting all 100 Golden Spatulas gets you a bonus clip featuring nearly every character in the game singing the series theme song.
- Green Hill Zone: Jellyfish Fields.
- Ground Pound: Patrick & SpongeBob have access to one. Sandy, however, does not.
- Heart Container: Golden underwear. There are three pairs scattered throughout the Hub world, and every time you find one you gain an extra hit point.
- Killer Robot: The main threat Spongebob and friends face off against.
- Lone Wolf Boss: King Jellyfish, Prawn, and the Flying Dutchman are all threats that are entirely disconnected from the robot menace. King Jellyfish attacks Spongebob after having his shower intruded upon, Prawn is taking advantage of the robot attacks to escape his prison in the Mermalair, and the Flying Dutchman tries to kill Spongebob and Sandy when they try to take a Golden Spatula he's grown possessive over.
- Lost Woods: Kelp Forest.
- Mook Maker: Duplicatotrons will constantly churn out new enemies until you destroy them. Arf robots will also summon countless Arf-Dawgs until they're defeated.
- Palmtree Panic: Goo Lagoon.
- Plot Coupon: The Golden Spatulas, which are collectibles that you'll need to access different levels.
- Poisonous Person: Robo-Patrick will try to drown you in toxic sludge, or simply spit it up at you after eating radioactive "ice cream".
- Psycho Electro: Jellyfish are very territorial and temperamental creatures. Fodder and Monsoon robots also love to smack people with electric prods and smite them with lightning respectively.
- Ridiculously-Human Robots: Maybe "human" isn't the right term, but Robo-Patrick's a lot more expressive and lively than the other boss robots. He can emote, eat ice cream, and scream in pain while Robo-Sandy and Spongebot Steelpants don't pretend to be anything other than mindless killing machines.
- Slippy-Slidey Ice World: Sand Mountain is meant to be a snow-capped mountain in spirit, complete with sand-flavored versions of ski-lifts, snowmen, and snowboarding courses.
- Squick: This is Sandy's reaction to using Spongebob's underwear health pickups, as well as an occasional reaction whenever Spongebob finds one of Patrick's lost socks.
- Stout Strength: Patrick is the designated powerhouse of the three playable characters, and can lift and toss enemies and heavy objects around like they're nothing.
- Underground Monkey: Blue Jellyfish, which are color-swapped, even more dangerous versions of the generic pink Jellyfish. You need to hit them twice to kill them.
- Under the Sea: Where the game is set, obviously.
- Video Game Cruelty Potential: Every level has innocent civilians you can beat up and harass to your heart's content. Getting the Golden Spatula and missing sock from Squidward's House even require you to exploit this by annoying the hell out of Squidward.