SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom (GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox)

SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom
Developer: Heavy Iron Studios Publisher: THQ Platforms: GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox Released in US: October 21, 2003 Released in EU: November 28, 2003 This game has unused animations. This game has unused areas. This game has unused code. This game has a hidden developer message. This game has hidden developer credits. This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused enemies. This game has unused objects. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused models. This game has unused cinematics. This game has unused items. This game has unused sounds. This game has unused text. This game has revisional differences. This game has a notes page This game has a prototype article This game has a prerelease article

To do: Cleanup time. Find more unused content and any other version differences.

SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom is a game based on SpongeBob SquarePants. Plankton's robots have taken over Bikini Bottom, and SpongeBob, Patrick, and Sandy must stop them. Many regard it as one of the best SpongeBob SquarePants games for its gameplay, soundtrack, large worlds, and faithfulness to its source content. A remake titled SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated was released on June 23rd, 2020.

Sub-Pages

Unused Levels Who were you expecting, Tiny Tim?

Unused & Hidden Objects I'm easy like Sunday morning.

Unused Textures ...word.

Unused Animations Steppin' on the beach...

Unused Audio I don't speak Italian.

Unused Text Welcome to my nightmare! Hie the hench though spongey freak.

Early Menu

Without the final version overlapping, the early pause menu is more visible.

An early version of the pause menu can be accessed by replacing the files of any level with the files for the title screen (mnu3.HIP and mnu3.HOP), before going to that level using the taxi. When you pause the game, it will take you to the early menu, which has the misfortune of having the final menu overlapping it. There's a lot of interesting stuff, such as Spanish task names and a reference to a scrapped area named "Glove World", which was believed to have been later adapted into the Goo Lagoon Pier. A lot of the early menu graphics are used by the menu as well, such as the pineapple arrows. The following video is a demonstration of the early menu.

Unused Videos

There are several unused videos within the games files, but they're not anything particularly interesting.

• 

  hilogo.bik

• 

  3logo.bik

There are two unused .bik files in the GameCube version, though disappointingly they're just logos that fade in and out. But hey, they're unused!

There are two unused .xmv files in the Xbox version. One is the logo video Heavy Iron used in their previous game Scooby-Doo! Night of 100 Frights, and the other is the intro video also used in that same game.

sb.ini

sb.ini manages a bunch of configuration data for the game, mostly involving variables regarding the player character, pause menu, and the camera. Some of these configurations go unused.

Value	Default	Action(s)
G.CheatSpongeball	0	Unknown. Perhaps this allowed the player to transform into the Spongeball at any time?
G.CheatPlayerSwitch	0	Allows the player to switch between characters at any time by pressing a direction on the D-pad. They can only switch between characters whose files are within the level (so they cannot play as Patrick in SpongeBob's house).
G.CheatAlwaysPortal	0	Allows the player to freely warp to any mission in the pause menu, even if they haven't unlocked it.
G.CheatFlyToggle	0	Unknown. This may have been similar to the "Moonjump" cheatcode, wherein the player can fly by pressing A+B.
G.DisableForceConversation	0	NPCs and signs no longer force conversations with the player.

These were likely used for debugging purposes- these values (when set to 1) would activate different cheats.

Unused Power-Up Configuration Info

Value	Default
G.SundaeTime	10.0
G.SundaeMult	1.5

Configuration data for the Smelly Sundae powerup, showing that it would've lasted for 10 seconds and would inflict 1.5 times the normal amount of damage.

Value	Default
eSPECIAL_Slippers	0
eSPECIAL_LampShade	0
eSPECIAL_Spring	1
eSPECIAL_FootballHelmet	0
eSPECIAL_StickyBoots	0
eSPECIAL_LightningBolt	1
eSPECIAL_LightningBoltStun	0
eSPECIAL_Plungers	0
eSPECIAL_Shovel	0
eSPECIAL_Umbrella	0
eSPECIAL_BubbleGum	0
eSPECIAL_SoapBar	0
eSPECIAL_BlackKnight	0
eSPECIAL_FlowerPot	0
eSPECIAL_DivingHelmet	0

Leftover powerup configuration information from one of Heavy Iron's previous games, Scooby Doo: Night of 100 Frights. None of these do anything when set to 1.

Triggers

E3 Demo Trigger

To do: Figure out what this is supposed to do, because there are some links defined in the TRIG file

A trigger named E3DEMO_TRIG01 can be found in the files for Jellyfish Fields. It's placed far away to the right of the player's spawn point, behind a purple rock. It doesn't appear to do anything when interacted with.

Boss Fight Triggers

Certain boss battles have invisible debug triggers that instantly end the battle upon the player touching them. These were used by the game developers for testing purposes. Speedrunners exploit these triggers to save several minutes of gameplay during a speedrun. Some of these tricks require the use of a speed-boosting exploit called a "Cruise Boost," which involves using both the Bubble Bowl and the Cruise Bubble powerups in the same frame.

Prawn

A debug trigger (TEMP_KILLPRAWN) can be found above the entrance. The player can use the "Cruise Boost" trick to get out of bounds and reach the trigger.

Flying Dutchman

A debug trigger (TEMP_KILLDUTCHMAN_TRIG) can be found above the player spawn point. The player can use the "Cruise Boost" trick to get out of bounds and reach the trigger.

SpongeBot SteelPants Phase 1

A debug trigger (TEMP_KILLBOSS_TRIG) can be found above the starting platform. If SpongeBot karate-chop's the platform and SpongeBob is positioned on the opposite side of SpongeBot's karate strike, he will shoot up into the air and enter the trigger, ending the fight.

No such triggers exist for King Jellyfish, Robo-Sandy, or Robo-Patrick.

Oddities

• There are a few discontinuities in the naming of files in the game:
  • The second area in the Mermalair is internally named barnacle_cave_balcony, despite the fact that the level is quite clearly...not a balcony.
  • In Kelp Forest, there is a level defined as KF02 (Kelp Forest Swamp), and another called KF04 (Kelp Forest Caves), but no files exist for a KF03.
  • The final area of the Flying Dutchman's Graveyard is internally named graveyard_crashed_ship. However, in the previous level, SpongeBob saves the ship from Plankton's robots, and it never crashes at any point. Perhaps the plot for that level was intended to go in a different direction?
• Probably as a joke by the developers, the Player asset loaded into memory at the start of the game is named SHIT.PLYR. It has its properties set to default, so trying to use this to spawn a player in an actual level gives a completely black, textureless SpongeBob.
• Using the Dolphin emulator to run the game, one can go to View and click on Show Log. Every time the player loses all of their underwear, collects underwear, or drowns then respawns, this crass message will show up in the logs.

decrement time = 0 -- ass saved!

• The Xbox executable has some left over level names from Scooby Doo: Night of 100 Frights:

--TakeMeToYourLeader--

Nothing, Monster Gallery, Tower, Cower in the Tower!, Mastermind, Mastermind Unmasked!,
Secret Lab, Little Lab of Horrors, Tunnels, Gusts Abound Underground, Catacombs,
Creepy Crawlies in the Hallways, Cellar, Who's Yella' in the car?, Rooftops,
A Dark and Stormy Knight!, Attic, Panic in the Attic!, Hallways, Don't Look Down, Scooby-Doo!,
Upstairs, All scares Upstairs!, Stairway, Mind Your Manors!, Manor, Clamor in the Manor!,
Shipwrecks, Shiver Your Timbers, Scooby!, Masts, Aghast by the Mast!, Danger Rocks,
Wreck on the Deck!, Lighthouse, Lighthouse Fright House!, Coastal Point, Going Down witch way?,
Shoreline, Coast for Some Ghosts!, Piers, Fear on the Pier!, Cannery Row, Fishy Clues for Scooby-Doo?,
Docks, Shock on the Dock!, Tombs, Gloom & Doom Down in the Tomb!, Crypts, A One Way Trip to the crypt!,
Graves, A Tight Spot for a Grave Plot!, Caves, Misbehavin'? Cause a Cave In, Skull cliff,
Scared stiff at skull cliff!, Haunted Hill, Chills & Spills on Haunted Hill!, Greenhouse,
It's a Mean Greenhouse, Scooby!, Hedges, On Edge in the Hedge!, Mystery Machine The Mystery Machine

Version Differences

There are some graphical differences in the Xbox version of the game that the other versions don't have.

• The save select screen shows the "flythrough" from the beginning of each level from whatever the area the save state was saved in.
• The graphics are better than the other versions, with several higher quality textures and the lighting being significantly improved. For example:

GameCube	Xbox

• The game runs at a slightly higher resolution than the other versions, and the framerate is more stable.
• This version supports 5.1 Dolby Digital audio, unlike the other versions, which only support stereo.
• The Flying Dutchman's eye lasers look slightly different, suggesting they were reworked.
• When the game loads a level, it freezes whatever you are doing and bubbles appear, as opposed to the other versions, which go to a black screen with bubbles. This effect does not work on XBOX 360.
• When using SpongeBob's Cruise Bubble, you get a slight distortion effect similar to what is seen in the IGN Prerelease gameplay video.
• A warning telling the player to not turn off their Xbox while saving was added.
• A message explaining kill planes and walking out of bounds were added.
• Saving no longer freezes the game for a few seconds.