SpongeBob SquigglePants is a video game in the
SpongeBob SquarePants franchise that was released for the
Wii in 2011. It's one of only eleven games that used the uDraw GameTablet accessory. Set in an art gallery with Patchy the Pirate as the host, the game is a
WarioWare clone, with levels consisting of fast-paced nanogames starring SpongeBob characters. Fitting the game's artistic theme, each level has its own art style. There are 8 levels: SketchBob, B-Movie, Simply Bob, Comic Book, Punk, PixelBob, Remix, and Hyper Remix. There's also four endless
mini-games, plus a drawing mode that allows the player to create their own art using the uDraw GameTablet. That same year, a port for the
Nintendo 3DS was released, taking advantage of the 3DS' touchscreen & features and adding a new level titled IconBob.
SpongeBob SquigglePants provides examples of:
- All the Worlds Are a Stage: Remix, the last level (other than Hyper Remix, which is a faster version of Remix), uses randomly selected nanogames from all other levels, plus a few new ones.
- Art Shift: Each level has a different art style, ranging from simple doodles to superhero comics to pixel art. The Patchy segments are live-action.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: In B-Movie's "Plankton's Dreamy Revenge", Plankton dreams of being enormous enough to demolish an entire city.
- Auto-Scrolling Level: The endless mini-game "Rattle And Roll" is the vertical version of this. As the game goes on, the level will vertically scroll faster and faster, making it difficult for the player to keep the ball on the screen.
- Balloonacy:
- In Comic Book's "Pop Star", Patrick is floating into the sky through the incredible power of three balloons. He doesn't fall until you pop all three of them.
- SpongeBob manages to continuously float upwards with only two balloons for the entirety of the mini-game "RetroBob". And RetroBob is an Endless Game, so those two balloons could theoretically carry SpongeBob forever.
- Bird-Poop Gag: In SketchBob's "Make Like a Sponge" nanogame, the statue of SpongeBuck SquarePants is initially completely covered in jellyfish poop (as it was in the show), and SpongeBob must clean it off with his body.
- B-Movie: The title of one level, where the nanogames are horror-themed and the intermissions depict an audience watching an old horror movie.
- Brick Break: In Punk's "Kah-Rah-Tay Sandy" nanogame and the "Seasons of Sandy" mini-game, Sandy karate-chops wooden logs in two.
- Cartoon Bomb: Sandy must avoid chopping these in the endless mini-game "Seasons of Sandy".
- Death from Above: In B-Movie's "Boulder Me Over", failure to hold the tablet or 3DS still will result in a giant boulder falling on Squidward.
- Difficulty by Acceleration:
- Once the player has passed a certain number of rounds in a level, the game will speed up.
- Hyper Remix, the last level unlocked, is identical to Remix, but starts at twice the normal speed.
- Dream Sequence: B-Movie's "Plankton's Dreamy Revenge" shows a sleeping Plankton's dreams of massive destruction.
- Electric Jellyfish: As usual for the franchise, jellyfish deliver electrical shocks. In many nanogames, jellyfish are an obstacle or hazard, and touching them will cause a shock and result in failure.
- Endless Game:
- The first playthrough of each level will end once the goal of clearing a certain number of rounds is completed, with a victory screen and victory music. On subsequent plays of these levels, they become this, not ending until the player loses all of their lives. Since these plays always end in a loss, their victory music is never used again, though the victory screen will still appear if the player beats their high score before losing.
- Aside from the endless levels, there's also four endless mini-games: Showboating Shower, Rattle And Roll, RetroBob, and Seasons of Sandy.
- Excuse Plot: The "plot" is barely a plot at all. Patchy's showing you his SpongeBob-themed art gallery, each painting is a level (how this happens isn't explained), and playing them supposedly will help you to truly appreciate the art.
- Four-Seasons Level: "Seasons of Sandy" is an endless mini-game where the player must karate-chop logs as Sandy, and the season changes with every ten chops.
- Grumpy Old Man: Mr. Krabs is this in B-Movie's "Against the Lawn", specifically in the "angrily chasing kids off his lawn" sense.
- Inflating Body Gag:
- Patrick pulls off the blowing-on-thumb variety of this trope in the "Puffy Patrick" nanogame of Punk.
- As in the show, Mrs. Puff will inflate like a real pufferfish if you fail to park properly in Punk's "Brake it Down".
- Life Meter: In each level, the player starts with five lives, losing one each time they fail a nanogame and losing the level once all five lives have been lost. The amount of lives left is indicated by a green meter that appears in the intermissions.
- Loading Screen: One appears before the start of each level. During this screen, the player gets a yellow paintbrush for a cursor, and can draw on the screen.
- Memory Match Mini-Game: "Match Me if You Can" from SketchBob is one of these, requiring the player to flip over cards to find a matching pair before time runs out.
- Minigame: Within the game, the four endless games with their own levels are "mini-games", and the short games that make up the rest of the levels are "nanogames".
- Minigame Game: The levels are a series of random nanogames, which the player must complete before their short time limits run out.
- Racing Minigame: "Ready, Set, Sponge!" in PixelBob is an extra-mini version of this, with the only objective being to start the race when the light turns green.
- Retraux: One level, titled PixelBob, is entirely pixelated, and the nanogames are themed around classic video games. The mini-game RetroBob also uses this trope, with a 1950s animation style.
- Rewarding Inactivity: A few nanogames require the player to do absolutely nothing for their entire duration. In both SketchBob's "A Priceless Piece" and B-Movie's "Hooky", the only way to fail is to tap the screen.
- Rhythm Game: "Dance Your Pants Off" in Simply Bob is one of these. The player must tap on the correct beats to keep SpongeBob dancing.
- Shout-Out: Loads of them in the minigames of PixelBob:
- "Ping Pong Pals" is a Pong clone.
- "Sponge Xing" is a nanogame version of Frogger, where SpongeBob must cross a busy road and hop across logs on a river to reach the Krabby Patty.
- "Jelly Alley" features a maze containing SpongeBob and a jellyfish he must avoid touching to survive, making it essentially a simplified version of Pac-Man.
- "The Legend of Squarepants" is visually a general reference to many early fantasy adventure games, with its dungeon setting, SpongeBob's heroic warrior garb, and Patrick's wizard getup, but the title is a clear reference to The Legend of Zelda.
- "Seavaders" is based on Space Invaders, with jellyfish as enemies and SpongeBob shooting ketchup to attack them.
- "Super Krabby Quest" requires Mr. Krabs to cross a bridge to get to the Krabby Patty on the other side while Plankton jumps and throws hammers, referencing the Bowser fights in Super Mario Bros.
- "Simon Says" Mini-Game: "Match Mixer", a nanogame from Simply Bob, shows the player a sequence of button presses, then requires them to repeat the sequence.
- Slasher Movie: The movie shown in the intermissions of B-Movie is this, featuring Squidward running from a murderer.
- Stylistic Suck:
- SketchBob is crudely drawn with missing color in some spots.
- In Remix (and Hyper Remix), a nanogame titled "Patchy's Swell SpongeBob Game" appears. The command for the game is "Be awesome!!!!" (with four exclamation points). It's just a live-action kitchen sponge and starfish jumping at each other and "high-fiving" outside of Patchy's house. The title implies that Patchy designed the nanogame himself, and saw absolutely no issue with it.
- Totem Pole Trench: Upon winning or losing B-Movie, it's shown that the killer who was chasing Squidward in the horror movie was actually SpongeBob and Patrick stacked on top of each other in a costume.
- Video Game Tutorial: There's a completely optional one available from the start.
- Wizard Classic: Patrick becomes this in PixelBob's "The Legend of Squarepants", with a long white Wizard Beard, a Magic Staff, and the classic blue Robe and Wizard Hat (well, Swim Trunks and Wizard Hat, at least).
