I'm pretty sure Josef Fares has played Spongebob: Battle for Bikini Bottom at some point in his life, and that image sparks true joy.

...but for real, It Takes Two is much weirder than most games that manage to reach its level of prominence. In some ways, it feels like an early-2000s media tie-in game — especially the ones that are more like a long thread of very detailed mini-games — updated with modern design and physics. For me, its movement, feel, mechanics, and even level design were definitely reminiscent of Battle for Bikini Bottom, as well as a bit of Crash Bandicoot and, weirdly, the old Harry Potter PC games. Those games came in an era where genres and mechanics were less calcified; despite having a smaller range of tools to play with, they often shifted gameplay styles, perspectives, and even core mechanics between different sections. It Takes Two is strange, zany, and sometimes written in ways that make me wonder if its two writers could have maaaaybe solicited some editorial feedback... but on the whole, it's an endlessly creative and imaginative game, and a high water mark for dedicated co-op games.