Nicktoons Unite! (also known as SpongeBob SquarePants and Friends: Unite! in Europe) is a 2005/2006 Nicktoons crossover video game that features characters and levels from the Nickelodeon television series SpongeBob SquarePants, The Fairly OddParents!, The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, and Danny Phantom.
It has spawned three sequels entitled Nicktoons: Battle for Volcano Island, Nicktoons: Attack of the Toybots, and SpongeBob SquarePants featuring Nicktoons: Globs of Doom. All of the original voice actors reprise their roles from the TV series and movies.
Separate Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS versions were developed by Climax Action.
Plot[]
One morning, when SpongeBob leaves his house, he sees that Plankton has taken over Bikini Bottom and used multiple tank-like vacuums to suck up some of the town's citizens. He sees Jimmy's robot dog Goddard coming out through a portal and receives a message from Jimmy. He follows Goddard through the portal to Jimmy's lab and meets Jimmy Neutron, Danny Fenton, and Timmy Turner. Jimmy tells his inter-dimensional guests about his new invention, the Universe Portal Machine. As he says, it allows people to travel to other worlds, but Prof. Calamitous has been spying on him, stole his idea, and created his own Portal Machine. With it, he brought Plankton, Vlad Plasmius, and Mr. Crocker to his dimension. They form a syndicate and proceed to steal energy from all the worlds. Since our heroes don't know where Calamitous' lair is, they start with saving all of their worlds first.
They go to Amity Park first and find Vlad. Vlad reveals that he uses his ghost-portal to steal ghost energy from the Ghost Zone. Vlad has also captured Danny's parents. Then, he sends the heroes to the Ghost Zone Prison. The Nicktoons survive in the prison and defeat Walker. They break out of the prison through a portal and end up in Fenton Works. They see many Amity Park civilians possessed by ghosts, but manage to push them out. The Nicktoons go to the Amity Park Graveyard, which is a shortcut to Plasmius' castle. When they go in, Jimmy realizes that there are generators that help Vlad keep the portal open. They find the generators, and destroy them, shutting off the portal. When they find Vlad, the Nicktoons defeat him and save Jack and Maddie Fenton without them noticing the Nicktoons. They also find out that the Syndicate is building something.
Next, the heroes go to Bikini Bottom to fight Plankton. They meet Sandy and follow her to the Krusty Krab. Sandy tells the Nicktoons that they should find some guards which should help them find Plankton and the Jellyfish Factory. Fortunately, they found the guards. Sandy then explains that Plankton uses the harvesters to capture jellyfish, and is extracting power from their sting in the factory. Plankton also kidnapped Mr. Krabs. Sandy told the Nicktoons that they must go into the Jellyfish Factory and free all the Jellyfish. After Timmy asked if they have any secret agents (since he thought that it's like a spy movie), Sandy said that they have an agent in Jellyfish Fields, who is revealed to be Patrick, but he's been captured by a Jellyfish harvester. After destroying all the harvesters, the Nicktoons go to the factory, but during the journey, they find themselves on the Flying Dutchman's ship and the Flying Dutchman is going to make them his new crew for all eternity. Luckily, the Dutchman frees them after they bring back his old crew. When the Nicktoons arrive at the Chum Bucket, they free Patrick and all the Jellyfish by opening the emergency vents. Later, they went up to the top of the Chum Bucket, they beat Plankton and rescue Mr. Krabs. The Nicktoons find out that the villains are extracting energy for a Doomsday Device.
In Dimmsdale, the Nicktoons see Crocker has made the fortress made of gold. They also find a rainbow of pure Fairy Magic from the Fairy World that is ending there, so they go in. After they re-activate the prisms, they get transported to Fairy World, where they meet Jorgen Von Strangle. Jorgen explains that Crocker is extracting the magic from the Big Wand to feed the Doomsday Machine. After freeing the fairies, they go to The Big Wand, where they defeat Crocker. Danny figured out that every time they beat their enemies, they're running away, which was a part of a plan.
Finally, the Nicktoons return to Retroville, where Jimmy finds Cindy in his lab and he also receives a message from Calamitous that they've almost finished the Doomsday Machine and the Nicktoons can't stop them. After SpongeBob notices that Goddard has fleas, Jimmy says that Goddard doesn't get the fleas. Then, he figured out how Calamitous could spy on him; he was using a flea-bot inside Goddard. So the Nicktoons shrink themselves down and go to Goddard's stomach. They beat a lot of mini flea-bots throughout Goddard, and Danny, Timmy, and SpongeBob gain Goddard's trust. They go to Goddard's head and beat the giant flea-bot. Jimmy used the flea-bot's circuitry and locate Calamitous' secret lair, which is situated under an old warehouse. When they get to Calamitous' Doomsday lab, they find The Syndicate in a wheel-like machine that shields them. They beat the Syndicate but they see that the Doomsday Device is still counting down to destroy Retroville and it can't be stopped. Luckily, SpongeBob unplugs the Doomsday Machine and saves the universe.
After putting Calamitous in jail, and the rest of the syndicate in the others' custody, the Nicktoons said themselves goodbye, but before they went, Jimmy gave them the Neutronic Recallers in case of another event like this. SpongeBob said that Jimmy can visit him any time he likes, but then he said he should get going, so he won't be charged by Mr. Krabs for wasting his time, Danny gave Jimmy a copy of the Fenton Thermos, then Timmy thanked Jimmy for lending him his Hyper-Cube for holding Crocker until Timmy and his fairies get back to Dimmsdale. After this, Jimmy says a familiar line: "Cindy, get out of my lab!"
Gameplay[]
The game feature four playable characters, SpongeBob, Jimmy Neutron, Timmy Turner, and Danny Phantom. The game can be played with two players (four in the GameCube version). The character's health and Special Ability Power (SAP) is represented by two combined arrow-point shaped bars near the character's face icon on the bottom left corner of the screen. The green bar represents health while the purple bar represent SAP. When a character's health lowers to an especially low degree, his face icon will changes to a more worried and tired icon and will call for help. If a character's health depletes completely, the character will be knocked-out, not affecting the rest of them, but costing that character a life. If all four character are knocked-out, the player gets a game over screen. Health can be recovered by collecting green orbs.
There are certain tasks that require a certain character to perform a special ability. Doing so will reduce the character's SAP meter. For example, SpongeBob is needed to use Bubble Bombs in order to blow up breakable walls and pillars, Danny can use Ghostly Wail in order to shatter glass, Timmy uses Freeze Glove to freeze water instantaneously, and Jimmy can shoot down objects with Neutron Flare. If a character completely depletes their SAP, they can no longer perform any special abilities until more SAP gradually comes back over time, or if the player collects purple orbs.
There are two kinds of fighters to play as. SpongeBob and Danny both use their hands to attack, while Timmy and Jimmy send out projectiles. SpongeBob and Danny are better for defeating enemies faster as they favor close-quarters combat, but are more likely to get hit if there's a large crowd of enemies. Jimmy and Timmy use projectiles so they can damage enemies from a farther distance allowing them to stay out of range from enemies attacks, at the expense of taking longer to defeat them due to the projectiles lack of strength and speed.
Goddard can be found in every levels and can upgrade the characters' weapons and abilities.
Cast[]
- Tom Kenny - SpongeBob SquarePants, Gary the Snail, and French Narrator
- Bill Fagerbakke - Patrick Star
- Doug Lawrence - Sheldon J. Plankton
- Carolyn Lawrence - Sandy Cheeks, Cindy Vortex, and Female Fairy
- David Kaufman - Danny Phantom
- Tara Strong - Timmy Turner
- Carlos Alazraqui - Denzel Crocker
- Daran Norris - Cosmo, Jorgen Von Strangle
- Susan Blakeslee - Wanda, Lab Computer
- Debi Derryberry - Jimmy Neutron
- Tim Curry - Professor Finbarr Calamitous
- Martin Mull - Vlad Plasmius
- James Arnold Taylor - Walker, Male Fairy, and Doomsday Trooper
- Ee Leng Chang - Female Zombie
- Paul Tibbitt - DoodleBob (uncredited)
Nickelodeon Cross Save Bonuses[]
Bonuses can be unlocked by having save files for Tak: The Great Juju Challenge, Lights, Camera, Pants!, and Barnyard on a memory card exclusively on the PlayStation 2 version.
Unused content[]
Early title screen.
Screenshot of a cut level set in Retroville.
Retroville was originally planned to be a level in the console version according to a few screenshots. Although the level was cut, chunks of it seems to have been reused in the level "Fantastic Voyage of Goddard."
According to early screenshots, the characters and pickups models and HUD were different. SpongeBob was also planned to use a bubble wand as his main weapon while Timmy would have held a magic wand.
Reception[]
The game has received mixed reviews from critics on all platforms with most criticizing the monotony gameplay. In an IGN review, Mark Bozen gave the DS version of the game 5/10 stars, stating the crossover concept had been done "far better in previous games."[1] In a more positive review for the PlayStation 2 version, Gamezone opined that "while somewhat repetitious, the linear design and simple control schemes will draw players along and it is not hard to work through the levels."[2] Review aggregator Metacritic gave the PlayStation 2 version of the game a score of 53 out of 100 based on 8 reviews.[3]
Walkthrough[]
PlayStation 2 version[]
Nicktoons Unite! - Full PlayStation 2 walkthrough
GameCube version[]
Nicktoons Unite! - Full GameCube walkthrough
Trivia[]
General[]
- All versions of this game have backwards compatibility.
- The PlayStation 2 version can be played on original PlayStation 3 units.
- The GameCube version can be played on various Wii units.
- Squidward is the only main character who does not appear in this game. However, he is mentioned.
- Paul Tibbitt is not credited for voicing DoodleBob in this game.
- In the console game, Sandy said that SpongeBob's birthday is not for another month and according to his driver's license in the episode "Sleepy Time," he was born on July 14, 1986. So this game takes place in June, possibly on June 14th or earlier.
- An Xbox version was originally planned, but it was later cancelled.[4]
- This game marks the second time SpongeBob is referred to as a cube of cheese. The first is in "Band Geeks."
- This and Revenge of the Flying Dutchman are the only 3D platformer video games in which SpongeBob cannot double jump.
- The PlayStation 2 and GameCube versions have the same gameplay, while the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS versions each have their own gameplay style.
- On the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and DS versions in the UK, Timmy's shirt is a different color instead of its normal pink outfit.
Errors[]
- Wanda says that she and Cosmo have lost their powers. However, throughout the game, she and Cosmo use magic as Timmy's main attack. In addition, she and Cosmo use magic to poof into the scene right before she says that she and Cosmo have lost their powers.
- When Danny goes into his invisible form, he states, "Going Ghost!" However, this is improper because this is what he says when he goes from human to ghost form.
- At the beginning of the scene that introduces the prism in the level, "Crocker's Fortress," it is written that Timmy calls Fairy World, "Fairy Land."
- In the second cutscene, each of the members of the Syndicate is shown on Jimmy's computer. Professor Calamitous is shown in 2D, as opposed to CGI, which is the animation that his show is in.
- In the Krusty Krab cutscene, SpongeBob says, "Wow. A secret agent, I wonder who it could be.", but the caption writes, ""Wow. A secret agent, I wonder who it could be?".
International covers[]
Discs[]
Print advertisement[]
Video[]
Nicktoons Unite! Trailer
External links[]
References[]
- ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20151002212208/https://www.ign.com/articles/2006/07/06/nicktoons-unite
- ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20200215202805/https://www.gamezone.com/reviews/nicktoons_unite_ps2_review/
- ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20231209185448/https://www.metacritic.com/game/nicktoons-unite/critic-reviews/?platform=playstation-2
- ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20221007191608/https://www.ign.com/games/nicktoons-unite