Revenge of the Flying Dutchman is an adventure platformer SpongeBob SquarePants video game released for the PlayStation 2 and GameCube. It was developed by Big Sky Interactive while a Game Boy Advance version was developed by Vicarious Visions. All versions were published by THQ.
Cast[]
- Tom Kenny - SpongeBob SquarePants/Gary the Snail
- Bill Fagerbakke - Patrick Star
- Rodger Bumpass - Squidward Tentacles
- Clancy Brown - Eugene H. Krabs
- Carolyn Lawrence - Sandy Cheeks
- Doug Lawrence - Sheldon J. Plankton/Larry the Lobster
- Brian Doyle-Murray - Flying Dutchman
Plot[]
One day, while getting ready to leave for work, SpongeBob tells Gary that he had a bad dream the previous night and the latter conveys that he had a bad dream too, so SpongeBob tells Gary that he will play fetch.
After getting the stick, SpongeBob tells Gary to fetch his "favorite fetching stick." However, Gary brings back a chest. SpongeBob opens the chest only to find a series of consecutively smaller boxes. Eventually, he discovers a bottle which he opens and unwittingly releases the Flying Dutchman.
After the Dutchman takes away the bottle to prevent him from being sealed up again, he decides to make SpongeBob a member of his bloody crew. But when he learns that Gary was the one who had dug him up, the Dutchman decides to take him instead.
While SpongeBob tries to find a way to save his friend, he goes around Bikini Bottom doing all sorts of tasks such as helping Patrick fix his antenna and getting his Jellyfishing Gear. SpongeBob also finds letter tiles that spell his name. If he finds all 9 tiles, he gets transported to the inside of his head and solves a picture slide puzzle that reveals the location of a treasure chest.
After solving the first puzzle, he gains a treasure-hunting outfit with a treasure-tracking stick that helps him find the treasure. The first treasure he finds is a dirty sock (possibly the dining sock from "Shanghaied").
Meanwhile, as SpongeBob was returning home, The Flying Dutchman had come to take Gary away! He hypnotizes him using a golden stick on a fishing rod. When SpongeBob returns home, he was too late to save his pet snail.
Looking for help, SpongeBob goes to see Squidward, who informs SpongeBob that Mr. Krabs of the Krusty Krab wants them to come over for an important announcement. Hoping that it's for the position of Employee of the Month, SpongeBob and Squidward race to the Krusty Krab to see who would get there first.
But no matter who got there first, Mr. Krabs tells his employees that due to slow business, he had to shut down the Krusty Krab. While Squidward heads back home to find a way to pay his bills, SpongeBob tries to cheer up Mr. Krabs by suggesting to bring the restaurant to the customers. That was when Mr. Krabs got an idea: They would do just as SpongeBob suggested.
After giving SpongeBob a bus ticket for Downtown Bikini Bottom, the two meet up for a special food delivery service sponsored by the Krusty Krab. SpongeBob delivers Krabby Patties to customers all throughout the city. First in the main town, then at a construction site, then at the high rise apartments and then through a time-limited task back in town.
But while SpongeBob made his last delivery, he discovers that Patrick was also delivering food from Mr. Krabs... but his outfit doesn't look like it was from The Krusty Krab. When SpongeBob tells Mr. Krabs of this matter, he suggests that SpongeBob follows Patrick until he finds out what's really going on.
But as SpongeBob returns to the Bikini Bottom Residence, Mr. Krabs returns to the Krusty Krab where the Flying Dutchman makes him another member of his bloody crew!
Back in Bikini Bottom, SpongeBob follows Patrick he arrives at the Chum Bucket, where he is greeted by a robot-version of Mr. Krabs. But as it turns out, the one who was responsible for causing slow business at the Krusty Krab was none other than Plankton, who had formulated a new plan to put Mr. Krabs out of business by opening up a new theme park: Chum World. With his work done, Plankton flees to Jellyfish Fields.
After buying a present for Sandy at Squidward's yard sale, SpongeBob learns of a book entitled, "How to Defeat Evil Spirits." While borrowing the book from Squidward when he's asleep, SpongeBob learns that the only way to break the Flying Dutchman's spell is to find all 7 of his most personal treasures (The Dirty Dining Sock is one of them).
His quest now revealed, SpongeBob must gather all 7 treasures to break the spell over his friends and to face down the Flying Dutchman!
SpongeBob's abilities[]
Throughout Bikini Bottom, SpongeBob can find changing tents that allow him to change clothes, which give him new abilities to assist him on his adventure. These costumes are:
- SquarePants: Standard clothes. SpongeBob can do a chop attack, a ground smash, a rolling move which gives him some more speed, and an extra-high jump which can get him to higher platforms. He can also float in the air. Every other costume lets the player hover after they jump.
- The Jellyfishing Gear: SpongeBob dons his eyeglasses and jellyfish net. He can catch jellyfish, and latch onto fishing hooks to reach higher platforms.
- The reef blower: SpongeBob can use this to blow away certain objects and activate mechanisms.
- The Mermaid Man costume: SpongeBob can lift heavy objects, and throw water balls from a distance.
- The karate gear: This gives SpongeBob enhanced attack strength. It should be noted that this is only available in certain parts of the game, and not through changing tents.
- Treasure-hunting clothes: SpongeBob uses a dowsing stick which directs him to the location of treasure chests. Not available through changing tents.
Characters[]
Main characters[]
- SpongeBob SquarePants - The playable protagonist and the face of the series. He is a childish adult who is on a journey to find the Flying Dutchman's Lost Treasures. Although the reason for his travels differs in the console versions and the Game Boy Advance version.
- Flying Dutchman - A ghost pirate trapped in a magic bottle that SpongeBob found one day. He is the main antagonist of the game who seeks revenge, hence the title. Although his motives that eventually drove SpongeBob to search for his Lost Treasures differs in the console versions and the Game Boy Advance version.
- Sheldon J. Plankton - A minor antagonist in the console versions, but a side character in the Game Boy Advance version. In the console versions, he built the Chum World in order to slowly destroy the Krusty Krab in terms of business as it attracts more visitors and loyal customers.
Side characters[]
- Patrick Star
- Eugene H. Krabs
- Sandy Cheeks
- Squidward Tentacles
- Gary the Snail
- Larry the Lobster
- Rusty Scupper
- French Narrator
Areas[]
The game has a total of seven expansive worlds for SpongeBob to explore, each one unique in its own way. Some were inspired by already-existing locales, such as Bikini Bottom and Goo Lagoon. Others, however, were new to the SpongeBob SquarePants universe and were first introduced in this game, such as Chum World and the Flying Dutchman's graveyard. Below is a list describing all seven areas:
- Bikini Bottom: (Treasure: Dirty Sock) Bikini Bottom is the main hub. After gaining the proper bus tickets, the player can access all the worlds in the game from here (except for the treedome and Flying Dutchman's Graveyard).
- Jellyfish Fields (Treasure: Broken Glasses): A vast, overrun field of wild jellyfish. It is home to a large jellyfishing contest, cliffs and canyons, and a scenic waterfall, making it a popular tourist attraction.
- Goo Lagoon (Treasure: Gross Clothes): The big beach of Bikini Bottom. Long, sandy beaches, stormy shores, a wealth of docks and ships, and even a few shipwrecks make up this ideal beach.
- Sandy's treedome (Treasure: Dirty Teeth): Sandy's underwater house. She accidentally cracked the glass of her dome, leaving it drenched. Although this level is not very wide, its expansive height makes up for it. Later, SpongeBob brings Sandy a gift, which he thinks is an acorn, but it's actually a beehive with angry bees and wasps.
- Downtown Bikini Bottom (Treasure: Hairy Hair): A large, bustling city where rooftops cover the sky, and thugs run amok. Filled with the winding, thug-filled streets of the business district, the hazardous machinery of the construction site, and the soaring towers of the high rise, this place is no cakewalk. The main missions here are delivering Krabby Patties.
- Chum World (Treasure: Withered Backscratcher): Another of Plankton's attempts at closing down the Krusty Krab - in the form of an amusement park. Despite its negative motivation and abominable scenery, it is quite popular. The final objective is only accessible if the player completes every single objective in every world before it.
- Flying Dutchman's graveyard (Treasure: Ugly Portrait): A big ship-graveyard filled with ghostly vessels and searing lava where SpongeBob takes on the Flying Dutchman head to head to save his friends. It is only accessible if the player completes every single objective in every world before it.
The Krusty Krab's kitchen serves as the main menu for the console versions.
- Krusty Krab: While not a world, but rather a sub-area in Bikini Bottom, it serves as the main menu after pressing start on the title screen.
Unused content[]
Prerelease screenshot of an early version of Chum World.
The GameCube version was planned to have a connectivity feature with the Game Boy Advance, but this was scrapped later on. The voices for the narrator mentioning this feature can still be found in the files of this game.[5]
Animation and sound effect for an unused Whirlpool attack for the Mermaid Man costume exist in the file alongside an unused line from the narrator explaining the attack. A model of a golden SpongeBob statue exist in the files suggesting that it could've been an extra life.
Reception[]
The game has received mixed to negative reviews from critics on all platforms. Review aggregator Metacritic gave the GameCube version a 66/100.[6] IGN gave the PlayStation 2 version a 4/10, criticizing the game's sluggish controls, annoying music tracks, terrible graphics, frequent and obnoxious loading screens, simplistic gameplay, and somewhat tedious fetch quests calling it a "chore."[7] Play magazine wrote a generally negative review, giving the game 2 out of 5 stars, citing its mediocre and sparse levels, bad models, and the fact that there are loading times where there should not be any.[8]
Anise Hollingshead of GameZone wrote a favorable review of the GameCube version; she praised the use of a checklist, saying it was "motivating and keeps players on track." However, Hollingshead criticized the game's crude background designs and concluded that while it was a "great game" for children, "Older fans of SpongeBob may want to just rent."[9]
Ryan Jones of Nintendo World Report wrote a more mixed review of the GameCube version concluding: "The game has everything you could want if you are a huge SpongeBob fan, but the gameplay and graphics are far from perfect."[10]
The game was nominated for and won the "Favorite Video Game" award at the 2003 Kids' Choice Awards. This makes it the first SpongeBob video game to be in the award show.
Walkthrough[]
GameCube version[]
SpongeBob SquarePants Revenge of the Flying Dutchman - Full GameCube walkthrough
Backwards compatibility[]
All versions of the game have backward compatibility on the following systems:
- PlayStation 3 (old models) - Launch models of PlayStation 3 that have 20 or 60 GB hard drives can play the PlayStation 2 disc. Later PlayStation 3 revisions, such as the Slim model, are not compatible with the PlayStation 2 discs.
- Wii - The disc of the GameCube version can be played on the Wii.
Trivia[]
General[]
- The Halloween DVD contains a sneak peek for this game in the special features.
- Another featurette in the Sea Stories DVD shows tricks that the player can do in this game.
Early logo.
- The game's early logo features the title on one wood plank instead of two wood planks and the words "of the" are not written in a black circle.
- The Chum Bucket glove is missing from the top of the Chum Bucket.
- One attack move is similar to the Spindash move from the Sonic the Hedgehog video game series.
- When wearing the karate gear, SpongeBob can perform a move similar to M. Bison's Psycho Crusher move from the Street Fighter series.
- In the game's executable, the move is called Psycho Crusher.
- This game references the show, including Mr. Krabs warning SpongeBob about riding hooks.
- The different colored jellyfish seen throughout this video game are:
- Pink jellyfish
- Green jellyfish
- Blue jellyfish
- Yellow jellyfish
- Red jellyfish
- Giant white jellyfish
- The French Narrator is not voiced by Tom Kenny, who provides the voice in the series.
- The French Narrator, Rusty Scupper, Chum World clown, and lifeguard can be heard speaking, but their voice actors are uncredited.
- A loading glitch in the PlayStation 2 version causes the game to freeze when the player enters a new or old area.[11] Due to this glitch, the game can sometimes lose one's progress and one may be stuck in the same area as before.
- This glitch incited many complaints from players. Letters were sent to Big Sky Interactive, and they offered to repair it for anyone who called.[citation needed] The company Big Sky Interactive went bankrupt in 2003 when THQ blacklisted them.[12]
- This glitch does not appear in the GameCube version or in PlayStation 2 emulators such as the PCSX2.[13]
- This is the first 3D platformer for the SpongeBob SquarePants franchise.
- A previous game, SuperSponge, uses 3D graphics, but only for the backgrounds. The character models are in 2D.
- This is the first SpongeBob SquarePants video game to be released for the PlayStation 2 and GameCube but not on the Xbox.
- Although this is the first official SpongeBob game for the GameCube, it is not the first GameCube game SpongeBob has been featured in. The first GameCube game SpongeBob is featured in is Nickelodeon Party Blast, which was released on December 6, 2002.
- The PlayStation 2 version is the only SpongeBob SquarePants video game that uses a CD-ROM (purple underside) for the disc.
- THQ listed a page for Revenge of the Flying Dutchman for Sega Dreamcast in 2002, according to an archived search results page on THQ's official United Kingdom website.[14] This version of the game was never released.
- The SpongeBob from Revenge of the Flying Dutchman is the only stand-alone video game iteration of the character that is in a 3D platformer without a double jump.
- This occurs again in Nicktoons Unite!
Back/International covers[]
Discs[]
Print advertisement[]
Videos[]
References[]
- ^ SpongeBob SquarePants: Revenge of the Flying Dutchman - PlayStation 2 - IGN.com - 2004/04/05
- ^ SpongeBob SquarePants: Revenge of the Flying Dutchman - PlayStation 2 - IGN.com - 2006/06/19
- ^ THQ AND NICKELODEON SHIP SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS™: REVENGE OF THE FLYING DUTCHMAN FOR GAMECUBE™ - IGN.com
- ^ SpongeBob SquarePants: Revenge of the Flying Dutchman - Nintendo GameCube - IGN.com
- ^ SpongeBob SquarePants: Revenge of the Flying Dutchman (GameCube, PlayStation 2) - The Cutting Room Floor
- ^ SpongeBob SquarePants: Revenge of the Flying Dutchman (GameCube) - Metacritic
- ^ SpongeBob SquarePants: Revenge of the Flying Dutchman - IGN
- ^ Unedited scans of PLAY magazine
- ^ SpongeBob SquarePants: Revenge of the Flying Dutchman - GameZone
- ^ SpongeBob Squarepants: Revenge of the Flying Dutchman - Nintendo World Report
- ^ SpongeBob Squarepants: Revenge of the Flying Dutchman PS2 Loading Glitch in action
- ^ The True Story of BigSky Interactive | SpongeBob Revenge of the Flying Dutchman
- ^ SpongeBob SquarePants: Revenge of the Flying Dutchman (GameCube, PlayStation 2) - The Cutting Room Floor
- ^ Searched the site for SpongeBob SquarePants: Employee of the Month pccd. THQ.co.uk.