Highlights
- SpongeBob SquarePants is an iconic cartoon character and has featured in many video games that resonate well with the series.
- SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom is widely regarded as the best SpongeBob game ever made and has gained a cult following since its release in 2003.
When SpongeBob SquarePants premiered on Nickelodeon over 23 years ago, no one knew the impact it would have on television. Stephen Hillenburg, the show’s creator, had a passion for marine biology, majoring in it in college with a minor in art. Most of the ideas for the show came from his unpublished book titled The Intertidal Zone, which he created to teach kids about undersea creatures.
SpongeBob is now an iconic cartoon character, brought to life by the voice acting talents of Tom Kenny. Besides being a long-running television show, SpongeBob SquarePants has released many video games across a variety of platforms. While some games sunk to the bottom of the ocean, others floated to greatness and live on in players’ minds even today. Fans of the series can spend a lot of time in the many great SpongeBob Squarepants games, especially because of how well they resonate with the series itself!
Updated on August 7, 2023, by Ritwik Mitra: SpongeBob SquarePants is one of the most beloved cartoons of all time, becoming a treasure trove of memes as the quality of the first few seasons has continued to keep the show relevant to this day. The titular protagonist is surrounded by an excellent supporting cast who are all pretty hilarious in their own right, with Squidward being hailed as one of the greatest characters in cartoon history! Given how popular this show was, it's only a given that many video games were made revolving around the series, but only some can be the best SpongeBob games for the most amount of fun under the sea.
6 Drawn To Life: SpongeBob SquarePants Edition
The idea of playing as an original hero in the SpongeBob universe makes for a great time, using the template set by a game called Drawn to Life on the DS to make for a memorable and unique adventure in every way. After a string of events leads to SpongeBob being kidnapped by Doodlebob, Patrick and an original character called Doodlepants (created by the player himself) need to go through a series of levels to save everyone's beloved sponge.
The game encourages creativity by letting players essentially draw their own solutions to conquer the many platforming challenges present in the title. It's a simple but great use of the DS touchscreen, making it easy to see why fans were such huge fans of this title despite its shortcomings.
5 SpongeBob SquarePants: Lights, Camera, Pants!
SpongeBob SquarePants: Lights, Camera, Pants! released in October 2005 and received mixed to favorable reviews from critics and fans. This game was also the first to have multiplayer mini-games (referred to in the game as “auditions”), though they could be played solo or with friends. As the name suggests, the game focuses on a television show being developed where SpongeBob wants to play the primary role — the villain.
Lights, Camera, Pants! also featured different game modes—Story Mode to complete the main storyline and unlock a half-hour film that depicts the winner of the mini-games as the villain; Tournament Mode where up to four players could battle against each other in up to 5 auditions; or Single Audition, where players clash with each other in only a single mini-game.
The game was released for Game Boy Advance, GameCube, PC, PlayStation 2, and Xbox. The Game Boy Advance and PC versions were a bit different compared to the console game. Game Boy Advance users went on an adventure to find Mermaidman and Barnacleboy who were missing, and PC users participated in a point-and-click adventure to find actors for the television show.
4 SpongeBob SquarePants: Revenge Of The Flying Dutchman
The Flying Dutchman is one of the most iconic and strongest characters in SpongeBob SquarePants, with this goofy ghost being hilarious in whatever episode he's featured in during the early seasons. So it's only a given that fans would relish the opportunity to play a game that focuses on the dynamic between the regular cast of SpongeBob and the Flying Dutchman.
Such is the case with SpongeBob SquarePants: Revenge of the Flying Dutchman, a platformer where players need to save Bikini Bottom by controlling the eponymous character and collecting all the Dutchman's treasures. This essentially allows him to negate the effects of the Dutchman's hypnosis and engage in one last confrontation to save his beloved city once and for all.
3 The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie
Though this was the name of the movie that premiered after the third season of SpongeBob SquarePants, it was also the name of the companion video game. Released in 2004, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie game received favorable reviews from fans and critics. Unsurprisingly, the game follows the plot of the movie, with King Neptune’s crown having been stolen and SpongeBob and Patrick on a quest to find it in Shell City.
The game was released on many platforms: Game Boy Advance, GameCube, Mobile, PS2, and Xbox, with a PS3 port released in 2012. The console versions were pretty much identical to each other, with players progressing through levels after successfully utilizing various gameplay skills like combat. PC, however, was another point-and-click adventure, and both Game Boy Advance and PC had cutscenes told with still pictures and narration rather than video clips.
2 SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake
After the launch of Battle for Bikini Bottom — Rehydrated ended up being a financial hit, THQ decided to go ahead with a sequel to this title that would serve as a great treat for fans. The end result was SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake, a game that might have the gameplay of a basic platformer but is entirely carried by the charm of the series and the love its developers have shown for it.
The fact that this game turns Patrick into a balloon is hilarious and adds to the fun factor of this title, with players having to explore several Wish Worlds that have a ton of imaginative visual design. The simplistic nature of this title can make it slightly boring at times, but there's no denying that The Cosmic Shake is still one of the better SpongeBob games out there that fans can check out.
1 SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle For Bikini Bottom
SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom is what many fans consider the best SpongeBob game ever made. It won multiple awards at its time of release and garnered a cult following from its debut in 2003 to today. In fact, June 2020 saw the re-release of the game, titled SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom — Rehydrated. The remake didn’t receive as much praise as the original game, but it was still a pleasant burst of nostalgia for some fans.
Battle for Bikini Bottom follows SpongeBob and Patrick as they fight robots created by Plankton and his Duplicatotron 3000. The console versions for PS2 and Xbox saw players collect a variety of objects while fighting off robots. PC, however, was a conglomeration of mini-games to help free SpongeBob and his friends after they’ve been captured by robots. Game Boy Advance also unsurprisingly saw gameplay changes, namely changing the design of the game to be level-based and linear rather than nonlinear like the console versions.
As a show, SpongeBob SquarePants is still going strong, allowing a new generation of viewers to become acquainted with the sponge and his beloved friends. Anyone who’s a fan of the little guy “who lives in a pineapple under the sea” should check out these games—whether it’s for nostalgia’s sake or just a new game to play.