SpongeBob Fight For Bikini bottom is poorly made, un-fun slop. I generally try to be positive or constructive when talking about things I love and in this case its games. That being said I can’t excuse this nostalgia bate cash grab that feels like its actively trying to be bad.
Personally, my attachment to SpongeBob is limited, I liked the show a lot as a kid and still watch the first movie to this day. I have never played the original version of Fight For Bikini Bottom, but I am aware that people generally think it is one of the best SpongeBob games and a great kids game. I do not agree with that idea and I feel that nostalgia or love for the IP must be at play when people make that statement.
Fight For Bikini Bottom or FFBB has an abundance of issue that I feel would be too long to list. One of the most obvious issues I had was the lack of polish or testing done, I was always battling invisible walls, death barriers, weird camera bugs, T-posing, characters clipping and a slurry of other issues. A particularly annoying mechanic that doesn’t seem to function correctly is Sandy’s lasso grapple. This tool would constantly fail me as it would randomly drop me off cliffs, not connect to the hook or fling me in the wrong direction.
One of the first things you will notice about FFBB is the lack of a complete voice crew that is present in the show. Obviously, you can’t expect the full line of cast to reprise their roles but some of the other voice actors sound like a dollar store nock off’s. The games cutscenes are split into 2 types, one being in-game cutscenes with written dialog and the other is recording with full animation. The problem with the in-game cutscenes is that they will often happen while being attacked or during a jumping puzzle so you will die mid cutscene. The story is also the least bit interesting or funny that I ended up skipping all the dialog about halfway through the game.
Unfortunately, most of the FFBB is relegated to collecting spatulas so you can progress to a new area and complete the same task again. The issue this presents and I faced was that I got to the end of the game and had to backtrack to collect an additional 16 just to fight the final boss. Talking about boss fights they are not much better and consist of about 2 moves each. In one of the fights, I was honestly able to stand still for the entire attack faze and wait for them to fall over so I could do damage. This is quiet a contrast to some of the regular enemy’s you will end up facing. In the latter half of the game, they will introduce about 3 new enemy types that almost made me quit playing. The frustrations come from some of the abilities to respawn, fling you off the map easily, regenerate shields or do large damage if you get anywhere in a specific radius.
SpongeBob Fight For Bikini bottom is not fun and does little to satisfy any want you may have for a SpongeBob game. There are plenty of great platformers or kids games that I would recommend instead (Psychonauts, Mario, Lego Series, Spyro, Crash Bandicoot etc) so please steer clear of this garbage.
Personally, my attachment to SpongeBob is limited, I liked the show a lot as a kid and still watch the first movie to this day. I have never played the original version of Fight For Bikini Bottom, but I am aware that people generally think it is one of the best SpongeBob games and a great kids game. I do not agree with that idea and I feel that nostalgia or love for the IP must be at play when people make that statement.
Fight For Bikini Bottom or FFBB has an abundance of issue that I feel would be too long to list. One of the most obvious issues I had was the lack of polish or testing done, I was always battling invisible walls, death barriers, weird camera bugs, T-posing, characters clipping and a slurry of other issues. A particularly annoying mechanic that doesn’t seem to function correctly is Sandy’s lasso grapple. This tool would constantly fail me as it would randomly drop me off cliffs, not connect to the hook or fling me in the wrong direction.
One of the first things you will notice about FFBB is the lack of a complete voice crew that is present in the show. Obviously, you can’t expect the full line of cast to reprise their roles but some of the other voice actors sound like a dollar store nock off’s. The games cutscenes are split into 2 types, one being in-game cutscenes with written dialog and the other is recording with full animation. The problem with the in-game cutscenes is that they will often happen while being attacked or during a jumping puzzle so you will die mid cutscene. The story is also the least bit interesting or funny that I ended up skipping all the dialog about halfway through the game.
Unfortunately, most of the FFBB is relegated to collecting spatulas so you can progress to a new area and complete the same task again. The issue this presents and I faced was that I got to the end of the game and had to backtrack to collect an additional 16 just to fight the final boss. Talking about boss fights they are not much better and consist of about 2 moves each. In one of the fights, I was honestly able to stand still for the entire attack faze and wait for them to fall over so I could do damage. This is quiet a contrast to some of the regular enemy’s you will end up facing. In the latter half of the game, they will introduce about 3 new enemy types that almost made me quit playing. The frustrations come from some of the abilities to respawn, fling you off the map easily, regenerate shields or do large damage if you get anywhere in a specific radius.
SpongeBob Fight For Bikini bottom is not fun and does little to satisfy any want you may have for a SpongeBob game. There are plenty of great platformers or kids games that I would recommend instead (Psychonauts, Mario, Lego Series, Spyro, Crash Bandicoot etc) so please steer clear of this garbage.