SpongeBob's Atlantis SquarePantis is a SpongeBob SquarePants video game based on the TV special "Atlantis SquarePantis."
Cast
- Tom Kenny - SpongeBob SquarePants
- Rodger Bumpass - Squidward Tentacles
- Bill Fagerbakke - Patrick Star
- Carolyn Lawrence - Sandy Cheeks
- Mr. Lawrence - Sheldon J. Plankton
Additional Voices (Console Version)
Synopsis
Wii/PlayStation 2
The game begins with SpongeBob and his friends escaping from Atlantis. Meanwhile, Plankton rampages around Atlantis with a tank he "borrowed" until he comes across the gang. SpongeBob and Patrick begin to remember how they got into this mess. They begin having a flashback that begins with them blowing bubbles until they got trapped in a big bubble that carries them into a cave. The duo makes their way through the cave, avoiding ghost pirates and searching for ladders to venture deeper, where they find the missing half of the Atlantean amulet.
They take it to the Bikini Bottom Museum to see what it is, taking pictures of exhibits and taking down tourists and security blocking the way. Squidward is shocked to see that they found the other half of the amulet. Sandy and Mr. Krabs tag along while walking in the museum. Squidward conjoins the two halves and the path to Atlantis is revealed: the path is a bus.
The bus is powered by song, and the group starts to sing to get to Atlantis in which the bus crash lands along the way, forcing them to drive the bus around Atlantis to find the bus pieces and toolkits to fix the bus.
After repairing the bus and arriving at Atlantis, the group is greeted by the Lord Royal Highness. LRH gives them a tour around the Atlantean palace in which they had to avoid traps that were set around Atlantis for some reason. Mr. Krabs begins to collect some treasure to take with him with some help from Sandy and her bubble catching gun. Squidward poses for the artists in the art studio. Unbeknownst to them, Plankton hid in the Atlantis bus compartment on the way here. He plans to use the Atlantean weapons, the most advanced of all time, to destroy SpongeBob and his friends, and take over the world. After getting out of the bus, he sneaks around Atlantis and makes his way to the weapon room.
While taking pictures of attractions, Patrick accidentally destroys the oldest living bubble and tells the truth to LRH who shows them the real bubble. Squidward reminds them that the bubble that Patrick destroyed was a prop for tourists. Patrick again accidentally pops it for real and the group must run from Atlantean forces, searching for paper clips to open doors. Sandy uses Squidward as a gun to take down the soldiers.
Plankton rampages around the city in his tank just like in the beginning and confronts the gang in which ends the duo's flashback of how they got here. He fires his weapon but is shocked to see it shoots ice cream. LRH captures Plankton, believing he is a talking speck and displays him as a replacement for the recently destroyed bubble and as a replacement to the national treasure of Atlantis. He then orders one of his soldiers to throw away the amulet so that the troublemakers can't return.
The soldier makes his way across Atlantis to the dumpster and tosses it in. Then the gang heads home back to Bikini Bottom on board the bus.
DS
At the beginning of the game, SpongeBob and Patrick are blowing bubbles. They blow one that is too large, and they get trapped inside it, taking them to a cave. In the cave, they discover parts of the Atlantean Amulet. After finding all ten pieces, the cave begins to collapse, and they must escape. After leaving the cave, the two go to have to save Bikini Bottom from an army of Ghost Jellyfish and show the Amulet to Squidward at the museum. He realizes that by finding the Amulet, they can go to Atlantis.
They want to take Mr. Krabs, who agrees but makes SpongeBob and Patrick find his golden spatula first. After finding it, they try to get Sandy to come with them, who agrees under the condition that SpongeBob and Patrick defeat her in a karate match. After defeating Sandy, they head into the bus and fly to Atlantis, but run out of song fuel. The bus then crashes.
They discover that they are in the lost continent of Mu. The leader of Mu tells them that they can find sheet music for Squidward to play there, but they need to find the red and blue jewels to be able to access it in the ruins of Mu. They find both jewels and fight a boss for the sheet music, but they discover it is too dirty.
They head into the volcano to find a sacred fire flower that can make the music readable. Upon finding it, Squidward's clarinet has been stolen by a giant jellyfish, but they manage to recover it. Squidward plays the sheet music, providing the song fuel needed to reach Atlantis.
After reaching Atlantis, Lord Royal Highness lets them explore it. They travel through the treasure room, a science lab, a music room, and an industrial factory before they finally reach the world's oldest living bubble.
Unfortunately, SpongeBob and Patrick pop it, and the Atlanteans turn on them, forcing the two to have to escape quickly. After fighting through the Atlantean guards, they reach the courtyard of Atlantis, where Plankton pops out. They destroy Plankton's tank and return home to Bikini Bottom.
Idle Animations seen in DS
- SpongeBob - Sits on the ground and plays his nose like a flute. The same one in the GBA version.
- Patrick - Sits around and looks left and right and then chews on his hand.
Characters
Playable
- SpongeBob SquarePants (Amulet Adventure, Snap Happy, part of Music Magical Journey, Bus Building Bonanza (technically in the bus), Tour Trouble, parts of Hide and Sneak)
- Sandy Cheeks (part of Music Magical Journey, Bus Building Bonanza (technically in the bus), parts of Tour Trouble, Money Krabbing, parts of Hide and Sneak, Squidward Super Shooter)
- Patrick Star (Amulet Adventure, part of Music Magical Journey, Bus Building Bonanza (technically in the bus), parts of Tour Trouble, Paparazzi Patrick, parts of Hide and Sneak)
- Squidward Tentacles (part of Music Magical Journey, Bus Building Bonanza (technically in the bus), parts of Tour Trouble, Squidward the Poser, parts of Hide and Sneak, Squidward Super Shooter (technically the gun)
- Eugene H. Krabs (does not speak) (Bus Building Bonanza (technically in the bus), parts of Tour Trouble, parts of Hide and Sneak)
- Sheldon J. Plankton (Tanklantis Plankpantis in a tank), part of Music Magical Journey, Bus Building Bonanza (technically in the bus, but does not speak), Armory Antics, Super Tank Showdown (in a tank)
Non-playable
- SpongeBob (Tanklantis Plankpantis, part of Music Magical Journey, Money Krabbing, Paparazzi Patrick, Armory Antics, Operation: Trash Dash)
- Sandy (part of Music Magical Journey, part of Tour Trouble, Armory Antics, Operation: Trash Dash)
- Patrick (Tanklantis Plankpantis, part of Music Magical Journey, part of Tour Trouble, part of Money Krabbing, Armory Antics Operation: Trash Dash)
- Squidward (part of Music Magical Journey, part of Tour Trouble, Money Krabbing, Armory Antics, Operation: Trash Dash)
- Mr. Krabs (Snap Happy, Music Magical Journey, part of Tour Trouble, Money Krabbing, Armory Antics, Operation: Trash Dash)
- Plankton (Tour Trouble)
- Lord Royal Highness
- Atlantean citizens
- Atlantean Robots
- Squilliam Fancyson (Mentioned in the Console version)
- Bubble Bass (Mentioned in the Console version)
- Bubble SpongeBob (Console version only)
- Ghostly pirates (Console version only)
- Robot tourists
- Magenta thug (DS version only)
- Pale anakiwa thug (DS version only)
- Light brown thug (DS version only)
- Blue thug (DS version only)
- Blue jellyfish (DS version only)
- Green jellyfish (DS version only)
- Ghost Jellyfish (DS version only)
- Black Jellyfish (DS version only)
- Magma jellyfish (DS version only)
- Diamond Jellyfish (DS version only)
- Steel Jellyfish (DS version only)
- Squidward Tentacles (Game Boy Advance version)
- Brown tall fish (Game Boy Advance version)
- Purple tug fish (Game Boy Advance version)
- Yellow Atlantean (Game Boy Advance version)
- Red Atlantean (Game Boy Advance version)
- Mrs. Puff (Game Boy Advance version)
Bosses
- Atlantean tanks
- Sandy Cheeks (DS version only)
- Sheldon J. Plankton (DS and Game Boy Advance versions)
- Gigantic Jellyfish (Game Boy Advance version)
- Royal Guard Commander (DS and Game Boy Advance versions)
- Gears (DS version only)
- Light blue Diamond (DS version only)
Gameplay
Levels
Wii Version:
- Tanklantis Plankpantis! - Help Plankton maneuver his tank through Atlantis and shoot ice cream at opposing tanks.
- Amulet Adventure! - Play as SpongeBob and Patrick as they journey through the abandoned caves and find the missing halves of the Atlantis Amulet.
- Snap Happy! - Help SpongeBob take pictures of the museum exhibits with his camera and shoot Krabby Patties at annoying guards.
- Music Magical Journey! - Help Squidward, Sandy, SpongeBob, Patrick, and Plankton sing to help the fuel gauge on the bus stay normal.
- Bus Building Bonanza! - Drive the Magical Flying Bus through the Atlantis gardens and repair it by collecting toolkits.
- Tour Trouble! - Help SpongeBob, Patrick, Sandy, Squidward, and Mr. Krabs stay safe on Lord Royal Highness's tour.
- Money Krabbing! - Help Sandy collect money for Mr. Krabs in the treasure room.
- Squidward the Poser! - Help the Atlantis artist paint Squidward by helping Squidward strike the correct pose at the correct time.
- Paparazzi Patrick! - Help Patrick takes some souvenir photos of the Atlantean exhibits.
- Hide and Sneak! - Help the gang avoid the Atlanteans after popping the World's Oldest Living Bubble.
- Armory Antics! - Help Plankton strike the correct movements at the correct time to reach the Atlantis weapon room.
- Squidward Super Shooter! - Help Sandy use Squidward as a ping-pong ball shooting machine to help them defeat the Atlanteans.
- Super Tank Showdown! - Like in Level 1; help Plankton maneuver his tank through Atlantis through new areas as not seen in Level 1.
- Operation: Trash Dash! - After the gang said goodbye and left; help the Atlantean throw the amulet in the trash by striking the correct movements at the correct time.
Director's commentary
- This commentary is an unlockable feature that goes with each level. It reveals with-in the universe behind-the-scenes content provided by SpongeBob, the director of the game. It reveals that the game is not a video game version of "Atlantis SquarePantis," but based on the events of it.
Reception
An IGN review of the Nintendo DS version was headlined, "SpongeBob actually managed to be boring." Likewise, the most-criticized aspects of all versions were the clunky camera control, the lackluster AI, and the annoying method of having to return to the start of the level to switch characters. It was also called "too short" and "too easy" for older gamers. A review of the Wii version called the game "second-rate," "sloppy," "tedious" and "really boring." The graphics were criticized for being "bland." The PlayStation 2 version was criticized for the same reasons but was given a slightly lower rating because IGN says that Wii Remote controls spice up the shooting games.
Trivia
- All versions of this game have backward compatibility.
- The PS2 version can be played on old PS3 units.
- The GBA version can be played on all DS and DS Lite units.
- The Wii version can be played on all Wii U units.
- The DS version can be played on all 3DS/2DS/DSi units.
- There are only two platforming stages in the game. The game has mostly "point and shoot" and button combination stages.
- The Game Boy Advance version makes a few references to The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie.
- SpongeBob and Patrick make their "surprised" faces when they lose their health.
- The first cutscene is taken from the first film.
- This is the first game to be specially based on a TV episode from the show.
- This was the last official SpongeBob game that was released for the PlayStation 2 and the Game Boy Advance.
- Each stage has three acts. The other two acts need to be purchased at the shop.
- The game starts off with Plankton in his tank, destroying Atlantis, unlike the episode, which starts off with SpongeBob and Patrick blowing bubbles, which in the game is shown as a flashback.
- This and Nicktoons: Attack of the Toybots were the last games to show the Nick games logo.
- Mr. Krabs is bright red in the PlayStation 2 version.
- Mr. Krabs doesn't speak in this game; he only makes groaning and laughing sounds.
- Just like what happened with Creature from the Krusty Krab, the Wii version's disc used two ink colors at launch, but eventually was given the PS2 printing but with Wii insignia.
- In the episode, they never stop in the lost continent of Mu to refuel, which only happens in the DS version of the game.
- However, in the GBA version there is a minigame where the player battles Atlantean guards, but in the cutscene after the minigame, LRH says that Sandy has been captured when she defeated all the guards.
- Also in the GBA version, the final boss is Giant Plankton, another thing different than the TV special.
- The voice of some of the Atlanteans was the same voice as the Professor from the Alaskan Bull Worm in Creature from the Krusty Krab.
- The voice of the narrator in the first cutscene was the same voice as the Helicopter news correspondent in Creature from the Krusty Krab.
- In the introduction, a portion of the menu music in Creature from the Krusty Krab can be heard in the background.
- In the Amulet Adventure! level, SpongeBob names the cave "Dave."
- According to SpongeBob, before this game, Patrick has had hunted bread products at least once.
- In the "Amulet Adventure!" level, it foreshadows SpongeBob and Patrick finding the amulet twice. The first time is when SpongeBob wonders if there is a treasure in the cave and the second time is when the Ghostly Pirates mention that there is a treasure in the cave.
- SpongeBob almost breaks the fourth wall thrice. Once in Snap Happy!, when he wishes that he could continue to take pictures by wishing that this adventure was a game. Once in Tour Trouble!, when he says that being in the Science Room is like being on a TV. Once in "Money Krabbing!" in the commentary when he mentions that he should have a TV show, but then thinks that that would not be a good idea. He then asks, "Who would watch a show called, 'SpongeBob SquarePants?'"
- The producers for the console versions, Team RocFISH, hid RocFish in every level of the game and in some of the variations of the levels too. They are:
- Tanklantis Plankpantis! - ?
- Amulet Adventure! - They appear below the platforms.
- Snap Happy! - At the end of the level, a RocFish appears outside of the Museum.
- Music Magical Journey! - They appear outside of the bus.
- Bus Building Bonanza! - ?
- Tour Trouble! - ?
- Money Krabbing! - It sometimes appears as one of the objects going down from the top of the screen.
- Paparazzi Patrick! - One appears in a tube in the Museum of Atlantis.
- Squidward Super Shooter! - One appears in a tube in the laboratory.
- Super Tank Showdown! - ?
- Operation: Trash Dash! - It appears going in and out of a tunnel while the guard is running.
- In the DS version, Squidward is not a playable character until after the player finishes the game.
- The PS2 and Wii versions have the same gameplay, while the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS versions each have their own gameplay style.
Cultural references
- Pimp My Ride - One of the level variations of the level "Bus Building Bonanza!" is called "Shrimp My Ride!," which is a reference to the title of that show.
- Titanic - One of the paintings in the Art Room in the level "Tour Trouble!" has a strong resemblance to the painting from that movie.
- Walmart - During the "Armory Antics!" level, Plankton will occasionally say Atlantis has worse security than "Whelk Mart," a reference to the retail corporation.
Errors
- In a variation of the level Hide and Sneak, Squidward says "When we get home I'm moving back to Squidville." He called it "Squidville" - the name of the episode - instead of Tentacle Acres, the place.
- In the Amulet Adventure! level, a Ghostly Pirate says, "I need a parakeet." However, the captions read, "I need a parrot."
- In the level "Amulet Adventure!, "a ghostly pirate says that he is allergic to treasure. It is unknown why he is in a cave with treasure if he is allergic to it.
- A display case shows a diorama of three houses that are similar to the ones on Conch Street. However, it is in the wrong order. The diorama shows Squidward's house, Patrick's house, and then SpongeBob's house.
- In the Tour Trouble! level, in the Art Room, Sandy asks, "Whatcha Doing?" However, the captions read it as "What Doing?"
- If the player reaches a score in which the player cannot get an amulet, the game has a message that reads "You have already earned all medals upto this one," forgetting a space.
International covers
Videos
External links
- DS version at IGN
- Wii version at GameSpot