Current Events > Replaying Battle for Bikini Bottom for the first time in about a decade.

(+) Yeah! (+)

It's pretty much as good as I remember it, though there are a couple of minor nitpicks. I went through Jellyfish Fields in about 2 hours.

-The camera's a bit iffy. Though I'll admit this was the case for most early 2000s GCN games with manual c-stick adjust (Sunshine suffers from this.)

-Music looping is kind of obvious at certain points.

I like the level design quite a bit. It takes from the collectathon style 3-D platformer, so certain areas are barred until you get # of Spatulas.

A good example is partway through Jellyfish Fields, you'll have 5 spatulas (how many you need to go to the game's second area) and there's a nice cutoff where you can hop on a box back to the start of the level after getting your 5th spatulas before progressing.

Basically, it's not super linear or restrictive, so if you want to go all over the place the game doesn't demand backtracking, and it's lenient with Shiny Pieces where you can skip ones you don't want to collect.

Oh and the sliding is great lol. Good control, though the Movie game (which used this game's engine) had better sliding levels since that encompassed large sections of the game.

Credit to the game; I got 9/14 socks on my run through Jellyfish Fields. I know where 3 are, but the other 2 stumped me.

I was thinking I'd find some ugly flaws under the game but so far I'd say it's really good and well designed. Early on, and I remember BAD memories of Kelp Forest, so we'll have to see.
---

also i remember a certain few parts of Spongebob's Dreams driving me nuts so idk how older me will react

that's a ways away though
---

If I remember correctly some of the socks/spatulas can't be gotten until you have moves from future levels, at least in Jellyfish Fields. Banjo-Tooie syndrome in a way.
---

Fantastic game. The camera is a bit fucked when it comes to moving up and down, but on the bright side, you never really need to move it up and down to begin with.

Definitely make sure you make use of the menu, since you can instantly go to any spatula in the game you've already encountered from it. Makes it a hell of a lot more fun on replay.

I 100%ed BFBB for probably the 4th time a week ago and Kelp Forest honestly wasn't that bad. It was quite monotonous and repetitive if you die, but it didn't evoke the nightmares I remembered.

As someone who loves BFBB to death, the movie game is some hot garbage that twists everything good about the game into something fundamentally flawed and unenjoyable.
---

Banjo2553 posted...

If I remember correctly some of the socks/spatulas can't be gotten until you have moves from future levels, at least in Jellyfish Fields. Banjo-Tooie syndrome in a way.

Yeah, those are 2/3 I knew I was missing
---

booting up for downtown bikini bottom
---

i forgot that robot introductions involved NPCs getting annihilated lol
---

asdf the rooftops kind of suck lol
---

Finished (mostly) downtown. Sandy's really fun to play as with lasso shenanigans but it's def a weaker area, rooftops are annoying

Somehow missed a sock (iirc one is part of the cruise bubble challenge)
---

Zero_Destroyer posted...

Finished (mostly) downtown. Sandy's really fun to play as with lasso shenanigans but it's def a weaker area, rooftops are annoying

Somehow missed a sock (iirc one is part of the cruise bubble challenge)

Really, now? The rooftops are one of my favorite areas in the game.

There are no socks that you can only get with the Cruise Bubble in Downtown Bikini Bottom, only the last Golden Spatula.
---

Now for Goo Lagoon and the first boss, methinks
---

Aaaaahgggh the towel segment to get the sock is actually a bit hard
---

Goo Lagoon actually was better than I remember it, probably my favorite area so far
---

isnt this like the 4th fucking topic this week on this game?
---

Zero_Destroyer posted...

also i remember a certain few parts of Spongebob's Dreams driving me nuts so idk how older me will react

I replayed the game just a few weeks ago and Patrick's dream still makes me laugh after all these years
---

Got through robot Sandy. Not a hard fight outside of the picky clothesline move in phase 3, but entertaining enough. Gonna nab somethings and come back to this tomorrow

edededdy posted...

isnt this like the 4th fucking topic this week on this game?

probably because Hillenburg died

That's part of why I'm replaying it actually
---

Whoever it was that said Bfbb had no backtracking I just watched a video I made of a playthrough I did 10 years ago and there IS backtracking. You need to return to two places with the cruise bubble to do events you couldn't do without it. One is a golden spatula which granted you could just warp there though technically it's still backtracking but another is a random sock that requires you to remember it and go to there from another finished mission
---

GiftedACIII posted...

Whoever it was that said Bfbb had no backtracking I just watched a video I made of a playthrough I did 10 years ago and there IS backtracking. You need to return to two places with the cruise bubble to do events you couldn't do without it. One is a golden spatula which granted you could just warp there though technically it's still backtracking but another is a random sock that requires you to remember it and go to there from another finished mission

I said it has no repeated content. And besides, that's like, 3 minutes of backtracking, tops, in the entire game.
---

Would you recommend it to someone who's never played it before but has a lot of nostalgia for the show?
---

@MC_BatCommander posted...

Would you recommend it to someone who's never played it before but has a lot of nostalgia for the show?

100%

If its age doesn't bother you, it's extremely enjoyable. The writing is like an episode of the show pretty much.

And there's a bunch of references episodes of the show in the game world.
---

gonna at least do rock bottom

i want to do mermelair but i remember a certain spatula being a nightmare
---

got everything except 1 spatula and if memoey serves it's cruise bubble related, but it's still a "?" on my menu so idk

got all the socks

Rock Bottom is definitely the first actually hard part of the game. Lot of jumps with robots aiming stuff at you, and the rocket throwers are very accurate
---

The Rolling Ball challenge is actually hard, it was the very last spatula i got when i first played the game
---

Zero_Destroyer posted...

got everything except 1 spatula and if memoey serves it's cruise bubble related, but it's still a "?" on my menu so idk

That's probably Swingalong Spatula. In the first area, just about directly above Bubble Buddy and to the right, there's an area with rocks on either side. The rock on the right should have a button you can hit, which triggers a Texas emblem that Sandy can use to swing across to get it.
---

I'll be backtracking to grab everything I've missed probably before I do the Chum Bucket

rn I'm going to Sand Mountain. I 100%'d the Mermalair.
---

Managed to 100% it, got all the socks after a few runs down each. Probably my favorite area overall so far, or at least a strong contender

Has one of the harder socks (the snowman one) but the slopes are really tight and well made in terms of challenge value so outside of the one on the slippery pillars everything feels fair. The slope controls are great

Kelp Forest inc after I beat robo patrick. not looking forward to it but maybe it'll be better than I remember
---

got to the caves before I called it a night

The Patrick segments I think are what really gave me a hard time. The stone tiki segment is very punishing since it resets if you die, and the bouncing leaves are really finicky and certain jump points have less distance (+ several jumps are REALLY far)

Got through it and some of the harder stuff in the first area. It's pleasant enough otherwise, though I don't remember much about the kelp caves. I do remember a slide happens later on
---

The Kelp Caves are fine as long as you don't die. So don't.
---

booting up to finish Kelp Forest
---

nothing in Kelp Forest felt unfair but it's definitely the hardest area up to this point. doesn't let you make mistakes

Got all the spatulas/socks. Hardest one was either the vine time challenge (it's hard not to die on it at least once...) or the Kelp Caves portion.
---

I remember the stove top fight in the dream level being the hardest point in the game, though the moving wall jump panels in the graveyard and the final boss come close.
---

SmidgeIsntBack posted...

the moving wall jump panels in the graveyard

oh fuck ptsd flashbacks

i completely forgot about this lol
---

Flying Dutchman's Graveyard is the best level in the game, by the way. Just want to let you know.
---

Graveyard time
---

gg 100%'d

Definitely the hardest platforming that didn't feel constrained (kelp forest) since the game knowing throws a lot of projectile enemies while you're jumping, but length the level might've had is shortened by one sock per area

Good area for sure (has the best soundtrack in the game, maybe the best look overall) and manages to be moderately difficult. The moving wall jumps weren't as hard as I remembered

Gonna go ahead and start Spongebob's Dream, which I definitely remember being hard
---

Gonna finish Dream tonight I think and finish the game tomorrow before ultimate comes out
---

squidward's dream is every bit as nerve wracking as i remember it being

there are so, so many jumps that you just barely can make on the notes
---

Finished with Spongebob's Dream! Pretty difficult but fun overall. Going to roll back and collect what I've missed. Will probably farm Mr Krab's dream for shiny pieces
---

Zero_Destroyer posted...

Finished with Spongebob's Dream! Pretty difficult but fun overall. Going to roll back and collect what I've missed. Will probably farm Mr Krab's dream for shiny pieces

There's no shame in using cheats to farm Shiny Objects.
---

Finished! 100 spatulas. Overall impressions:

The game is moderately hard in the late game, though revisiting certain things are easier. If I had to rate every level in terms of difficulty, I think I'd say:

Kelp Forest > Spongebob's Dream > Graveyard > Mermalair > Rock Bottom > Sand Mountain > Downtown Bikini Bottom > Goo Lagoon > Jellyfish Fields

...So it scales pretty well. I think Spongebob's dream is slightly easier revisited. The Texas slide in particular is actually easier than the Kelp Forest slide. Despite the greater length, Sandy allows for a lot of on the spot corrections, meaning the only actual difficult part imo is the thin upwards loop where it becomes very easy to fall off. Still a fun level.

Sock collection was simple enough. I needed a guide to know there were 3 in Sandy's dream (I thought one was in the main dream area) and I needed a guide to know about the shy tiki one in Kelp Forest, but outside of that vague memory and constant vigilance got me the vast majority of socks. I only needed to revisit areas 1-3 for socks at the end.

The final boss still irks me kind of. I remember getting stuck on it as a kid and giving up for quite some time, and the gist of it is that you need to speedrun certain segments or else they become extremely difficult. You need to cruise bubble several duplitrons before they start spawn or else you WILL get knocked off.

Combine this with unfortunately finnicky bounce pads (namely the VERY LAST ONE, where I died because i somehow got bounced off the level) and it's frustrating. It does reward speed and outside of the bounce pad I don't view it as especially cheap, but it's definitely the hardest level.

In terms of level quality, I'd rank it

Sand Mountain > Dutchman's Graveyard > Goo Lagoon > Jellyfish Fields > Spongebob's Dream > Rock Bottom > Mermalair > Downtown Bikini Bottom > Kelp Forest.

Kelp Forest isn't as hard as I remember but it doesn't have "Ideal" difficulty in the same way other later levels do since a lot of it is based on how your character interacts with the bouncing leaves.

I didn't care for needing to use cheats for Krab's Spatulas, but I can assume that's simply a lower threshold of playtesting combined with me trucking through the game at a fast pace. I collected almost everything I could and I was at 15k before I decided cheats would be necessary, meaning I was 25k out.

Overall, the game has minimal backtracking. I don't necessarily mind revisiting areas (TTYD is one of my favorite games and Chapter 4 alone has more backtracking than this entire game needs) but there's a mixture of linearity with exploration where socks & spare spatulas let you go off the beaten path while still being able to get where you're supposed to go.

I like the slide segments a lot and i think that's why I probably enjoyed The Movie game since it has several levels dedicated to slides, though I'm hesitant to revisit it as certain levels (patty wagon ones, namely) left a bad taste in my mouth even as a kid.

For slide segments, Sand Mountain ends up being the best in terms of design overall, but the Texas slide is also quite a bit of fun. I kind of wish it was longer, since I think Sand Mountain's biggest slide might be longer (it clocks in at 2:30 to 3:00 I think?)

I was thinking when I went into this game that it'd be a bit clouded by nostalgia but by the end I think it holds up as one of the best platformers of the 2000s and has very few flaws to speak of. I thoroughly enjoyed revisiting the game and would still give it a solid 10.
---

Zero_Destroyer posted...

I like the slide segments a lot and i think that's why I probably enjoyed The Movie game since it has several levels dedicated to slides, though I'm hesitant to revisit it as certain levels (patty wagon ones, namely) left a bad taste in my mouth even as a kid.

Yeah, the movie game is... bad. They threw pretty much everything that made BFBB amazing out the window. Replay it at your own risk.
---

i might replay it in january for the lulz of it
---

I only played one Spongebob game and I dont believe it was BFBB
---