The Most Fun 2 Hours I Have Spent Yet For Only $4

Not to long ago, I had seen SpongeBob Squarepants: Supersponge in the stores. I was a fan of the t.v. show, but I wasn't to sure about the game. About one week ago I bought Supersponge from my friend for $4. I figured I would have been really disappointed with it as it seemed pretty simple and boring. Once I started playing, I had mixed thoughts. I was hoping to hear the main theme for the show during the beginning intro, but it played some queer song I don't remember hearing at all. The gameplay wasn't bad, just a standard side-scroller/platformer. After finishing it, I'm kinda happy with it. Here's why...

Story

It's just about time for Patrick Star's birthday and Spongebob wants to give his best friend the perfect present...an autograph from the senior super heroes, Mermaid Man & Barnacle Boy who live in the Bikini Bottom rest home, Shady Shoals. Spongebob is sent off to collect 5 random things for the super heroes. Once he has completed the tasks, he will win autographs from Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy.

Gameplay

Supersponge is a platformer as I said before. for those who don't know what that is, you view your character from the side like in the original Sonic games. The game has 5 chapters with 4 levels each. In each chapter you have to get certain items like the ultimate sandwich and a kelp bar.

During his quests, SB will find equipable items that allow him to get past numerous situations. Some may be used to hurt enemies such as the Jellyfish launcher. The Coral Blower can be used to knock down specific kinds of walls, it's also annoying to have equipped as you run slower.

There is also 100 golden spatulas in each level. These work like the golden rings in Sonic. Each time you get hit, you lose them all. Getting hit without any spatulas results in Spongebob losing a life. If you trying to get all of the spatulas for every level, good luck, it's going to be very tough. Also, getting a certain amount of spatula's opens a hidden level which allows you to buy decorations for Patrick's birthday.

Cast

Supersponge features many of the main characters from the show. Most character has their own voice and personality that they do in the show. Here's a list of the cast...

SpongeBob - The main character which you control

Patrick - Spongebob's best friend. The autographs from MM&BB are for Patrick

Mermaid Man & Barnacle Boy - Retired super hero's that live in the elderly home

Sandy - A squirrel who is one of Spongebob's friends. Will give spongebob an item

Mr. Crabs - SpongeBob's boss and owner of the Crusty Crab. He will give spongebob items when you see him

Squidward - SpongeBob's neighbor. Gives spongebob an item

Plankton - You'll see him once and then in the ending, allows SpongeBob to use his time machine.

Gary - Spongebob's pet snail. Doesn't have the same sounding meow that he does in the show

Graphics

Supersponge has 2-D graphics for everything except for the ground. The ground is 3-D and the view of it changes when you go up higher. The characters look decent. The only bad thing is that the black line surrounding the characters is very easy to see. The backgrounds look pretty good but are somewhat bland. Overall - the graphics are average for this 1 year old Playstation game

Sound & Music

The audio is good. I was happy with the voices for all the characters except Mr. Crabs and Gary. Gary's meow doesn't sound right and Mr. Crab's voice sound a little different. One annoying sound was when you are close to these little octopuses, the noise they make when swimming can be a bit annoying. The music wasn't really good. I was hoping to the main them of the show during the intro of the game, but it was replaced some boring theme that I have never heard before. Overall - I'm Impressed with the audio

Final Comments

I was satisfied with SpongeBob SquarePants: Supersponge which I didn't think I would be. It's short but worth $10 the most.

Random Info.

Year of Release: 2001
Developer: THQ
Price: $10-$20 new
Console: Playstation
Genre: Platformer
1 Player
1 Memory Card Block
Vibration Function Compatible

Final Rating: 7.1/10