The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox)/Unused Code & Oddities

This is a sub-page of The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox).

Unused Code

Hidden Bungee Timers

After latching onto the hooks used for the Bungee challenges, an invisible timer starts counting down. However, it does nothing once it reaches zero. "BUNGEE_TIMER_01" in "Three...Thousand Miles to Shell City" lasts 120 seconds. "Now That We're Men" lasts 100 seconds. Finally, "Welcome to Planktopolis... Minions" lasts 60 seconds. Based on the decreasing timer values, it can be assumed that the Bungee challenges were originally under a time limit. Below are screenshots of how the bungee timers may have looked like in the final game.

Three... Thousand Miles to Shell City	Now That We're Men	Welcome to Planktopolis... Minions

Floating Block Beacon Script

In the Now That We're Men Floating Block challenge, there is an unused script called BEACON_SCRIPT_01 which highlights the ending platform with a unique expanding effect. It was intended to highlight the ending platform during the skydive.

Spinner Intro Persistency Dispatcher

After watching the Spinner Intro cutscene in Bubble Blowing Baby Hunt, a Dispatcher asset (SPINNER_INTRO_PERSIST_DISP) is enabled in order to spawn the intro Spinner if the level is reloaded. This implies that the Spinner was originally spawned only after watching the cutscene, similar to other enemies such as Slammer. Since this Spinner enemy is always spawned in the final game, this dispatcher has no effect.

Plankton TV Counter

In Shell City Dead Ahead, there is an enabled counter asset called TV_COUNTER_01 that is supposed to spawn the end-level token. Each time one of Plankton's TVs is destroyed, this counter decrements by 1. Upon destroying all five TVs, the counter would reach 0 and make the end-level token spawn. The ending cutscene is what ultimately spawns the token, and TV_COUNTER_01 was scrapped.
The reason it was scrapped likely has to do with the level being split between two areas. Since the counter is not global, it cannot update its value between areas. Despite this, each area has its own copy of the counter, but neither one is able to decrement low enough to spawn the ending token.

Early Upgrade Requirement Values

By deleting the Upgrade Point requirement values from SB04.INI, different hardcoded values are revealed. The hardcoded requirements are significantly higher than the final game requirements, nearing the game's value cap of 99,999. Despite this, the first upgrade is given to the player for free.

Upgrade	Beta	Final
1	0	250
2	1,000	1,500
3	3,000	3,000
4	6,000	5,000
5	10,000	7,000
6	15,000	9,000
7	21,000	11,000
8	28,000	14,000
9	36,000	17,000
10	45,000	20,000
11	55,000	23,000
12	66,000	27,000
13	78,000	31,000
14	91,000	35,000

Early Enemy Manliness Point Values

By deleting the enemy Manliness Point values from SB04.INI, different hardcoded values are revealed. Most enemies grant the same number of Manliness Points, but a few enemies differ.

Enemy Type	Beta	Final
Thug/Trench Fogger	10	15
Goofy Slammer	50	30
Desert Slammer	60	35
Thug Slammer	75	40
Bucket-O-Tron	300	50

Early Manliness Point Pickup Values

By deleting the Manliness Point Pickup values from SB04.INI, different hardcoded values are revealed which are much higher.

MP Color	Beta	Final
Red	1	1
Yellow	5	2
Green	10	5
Blue	25	10
Purple	100	50

(Source: Willcon2000)

Unused Flythroughs and Cameras

Now That Were Men

The second half of Now That Were Men at one point was supposed to have a flythrough of that section. No flythrough is present in the final game.

There is a camera for the last Bucket-O-Tron intended for showing it self-destruct.

Shell City, Dead Ahead

An early version of Mindy's Close camera can be found in part 2 of the level. Mindy maybe have been repositioned:

MINDY_CLOSE_CAM (Early)	MINDY_CLOSE_CAM (Final)

Alternate angles for Mindy's conversation camera:

Mindy_CLOSE_CAM_01	Mindy_CLOSE_CAM_02

Sundae Driving

The Sundae Driving flythrough had more of a focus on the goofy goober you're supposed to chase through the level.

I'm Ready... Depression

There is an unused camera for the "An Ounce of Bounce" challenge room. Its intended use is unknown.

Sandwich Driving 101

There's an unused "medium" camera for Mindy. Only the "wide" and "close" cameras are used when she speaks.

Three... Thousand Miles to Shell City

An early camera position for Mindy's dialogue for where she was initially placed in the level.

An early camera position for SpongeBob's dialogue for where he was initially placed in the level.

A camera for an unknown wheel object.

Oddities

To do: Leftovers from other parts of "Exit Levels", suggesting they were going to be full levels than split into two parts.

Truck Collision Mesh

If the level "No Cheese!" is reloaded before the truck crashes, it will cause the truck to get stuck behind the pile of Krusty Krab crates. Approaching where the truck should have crashed reveals invisible collision, including ledge-grab collision for the storage crates used to progress in the level.
Reloading the level within 1.3 seconds of TRUCK_CRASH_SCRIPT_01 running will result in TRUCK_ON_DISP_01 remaining disabled, which prevents the crashed version of the truck from spawning when the level resets. Since the script is run by a trigger that immediately disables itself, it is impossible to correct without starting a new game.

(Source: Teh_supar_hackr)

Rare Nitro Tutorial

There is a tutorial prompt in "Sandwich Driving 101" that explains how to use Nitros. This prompt is meant to appear after collecting a Nitro for the first time. However, collecting the starting Nitro never shows this prompt. Instead, if the starting Nitro is skipped and another one is collected, the tutorial prompt appears as normal. This is due to an oversight in which the starting Nitro tries closing the last visible text prompt, but it results in both prompts being closed instead.

Alternate MERV Weakspot

By walking beneath the MERV enemies found in "Welcome to Planktopolis... Minions", their lasers will deactivate and allow SpongeBob to attack them from below. This is unlike the Mini-MERV enemies found in "Shell City, Dead Ahead" as those will instantly zap the player if approached head-on.

(Source: Teh_supar_hackr)

Bubble and Ice Texture Swap

In the Floating Block challenges, the "ice_frozen" texture is assigned to the bubble block while the "bubble_missile" texture is assigned to the ice block. Despite the irony of the textures' use , this is intentional as the "bubble_missile" texture is commonly used for frozen objects such as Freezy Fruit and frozen Mr. Krabs.

Normal	Swapped

(Source: skywiess)

Impossible Manliness Point

After defeating all the enemies during the ambush in Three... Thousand Miles to Shell City, a springboard is revealed along with two Manliness Points. The script used for this event is supposed to spawn three Manly Points, but it mistakenly disables one of them, causing it to never load. This is easily corrected by editing AMBUSH_SPRINGBOARD_SCRIPT_01.

Retail	Corrected

Tiny Arrow Sign

In Sandwich Driving 101, an arrow sign can be found that is half the size of the other ones in the level. A developer may have forgotten to resize it.

Invisible Wooden Platforms

In Three... Thousand Miles to Shell City, the set of wooden platforms that make a path across the river are already solid, despite being invisible. This allows the gap to be cleared without pressing the button that spawns them.

(Source: TetraxZ)