SpongeBob SquarePants: Legend of the Lost Spatula

SpongeBob SquarePants: Legend of the Lost Spatula is a SpongeBob SquarePants game for the Game Boy Color. It was released in March 2001. While it is the first video game of the franchise, it does not mark SpongeBob's first video game appearance, which was Nicktoons Racing.

Plot
While SpongeBob is in Jellyfish Fields, he finds what appears to be a statue of a fry cook standing on an oven. SpongeBob rushes back to the Krusty Krab, asking Mr. Krabs about the statue. Mr. Krabs explains that the statue was the entrance to the Flying Dutchman's Underworld. Mr. Krabs then tells the old legend of Palm Bay, where a master fry cook who ruled with the Golden Spatula lived. One day, the city and its civilization was ended by Mt. Kabloovious. The Flying Dutchman took over the city, and his first mate buried the key somewhere in Goo Lagoon. Mr. Krabs then tells SpongeBob that he will become the master fry cook if he can obtain the Golden Spatula. Believing he is destined to be the ocean's greatest fry cook, SpongeBob starts his adventure.

SpongeBob travels to Goo Lagoon to find the key. He finds an anchor and dives along with it, and it crashes through the bottom of Goo Lagoon, revealing a treasure chest. He then obtains a treasure map that shows where the four oven knob keys are located. SpongeBob must go through four areas, Jellyfish Fields, The Carnival, Kelpazoic Jungle, and the Undersea Desert, each with an oven knob key. After this, SpongeBob can unlock the door of the statue and enter the Underworld. SpongeBob first ends up in Rock Bottom. After going through the city, SpongeBob eventually finds a hole leading down to the Flying Dutchman's Underworld.

The climax involves a final boss battle against the Flying Dutchman on a sunken ship. After defeating the Flying Dutchman, SpongeBob finds the Golden Spatula and returns it to the Krusty Krab, earning himself the title of master fry cook.

Gameplay
The gameplay mostly consists of basic side-scrolling platforming. SpongeBob is the playable character. His health system is represented by his clothes: if SpongeBob takes damage, he loses his pants, revealing his underpants. If he takes damage again, he loses his underpants, leaving him embarrassed with no clothes. If this happens, SpongeBob warps back to the starting area. By talking to Mrs. Puff, SpongeBob obtains the Hall Monitor uniform, which increases his maximum health points to three.

There are a few menus: the Pause Menu, the Safety First Screen, and the Utility Belt. The Pause Menu has the options of restarting the area, quitting the game, viewing the save password, or resuming the game. The Safety First screen has the options of viewing missions, checking the map, or equipping items

SpongeBob can talk to other characters for hints on what to do next. Some of Bikini Bottom's denizens give a small task for SpongeBob to do in exchange for a special item.

Controls

 * D-Pad:
 * Left or right: Move SpongeBob in the respective directions
 * Up: Talk to a character; moves camera view up for a few seconds
 * Down: Moves camera view down for a few seconds; crouch
 * A: Use item
 * B: Jump
 * START: Opens the Pause Menu
 * SELECT: Opens the Safety First Screen
 * Up & SELECT: Utility Belt Screen

Characters

 * SpongeBob
 * Mr. Krabs
 * Gary
 * Larry the Lobster
 * Mermaid Man
 * Mrs. Puff
 * Patrick
 * Sandy
 * Scooter
 * Plankton
 * Squidward
 * The Flying Dutchman

Enemies

 * Anemone
 * Beach Bully
 * Big Bass
 * Clam
 * Jellyfish
 * Rock Bottom Fish
 * Scallop
 * Sea Slug
 * Urchin
 * Worm

Bosses
There are four bosses in the game, and each of them guard an oven knob.

Places
Note: The places are listed in accessibility order.


 * SpongeBob's Block
 * Downtown
 * Goo Lagoon
 * Sandy's Park
 * Outer Town
 * Jellyfish Fields
 * The Carnival
 * Kelpazoic Jungle
 * Undersea Desert
 * Rock Bottom
 * Dutch Under

Items
SpongeBob uses different items to help him through his adventure.

Cheats

 * PN6P6LLLL3: Stage 1 - SpongeBob's Block
 * HGH0HK2K2K: Stage 2 - Downtown
 * GHGZGYFYYY: Stage 3 - Outer Town
 * LMLL3YFYYY: Stage 4 - Sandy's Park
 * PN6P6P6PP6: Stage 5 - The Goo Lagoon
 * NP5N5FYFFF: Stage 6 - Undersea Desert
 * 65P6PH0H0H: Stage 7 - The Carnival
 * LMLL3-T-TT: Stage 8 - JellyFish Fields
 * RQR88DDDDD: Stage 9 - Kelpazoic Jungle
 * 6HGZGSSS99: Stage 10 - Rock Bottom
 * FDYFFFYFFF: Stage 11 - Dutch Under

There are three other passwords that are not mentioned in the game. They were used by the developers for debugging the game.


 * D3BVG-MoD3: First Level
 * 1T3MS4FR33: All items
 * -THQ-0NLY-: Stage select

Allusions

 * "Ripped Pants": At the Goo Lagoon, SpongeBob shows his ripped pants during certain interactions with the fish.
 * "Pizza Delivery": In one part of the game, Mr. Krabs assigns SpongeBob the task of delivering a pizza to an explorer at Kelpazoic Jungle.
 * "Hall Monitor": When SpongeBob first talks to Mrs. Puff, she gives him the Hall Monitor uniform.

Reception

 * GameSpot rated the game 3.8 out of 10, they praised its graphics but criticized the game's lack of variety and simplified gameplay.
 * IGN rated the game 6 out of 10, praising the large levels, multiple objectives, and the amusement from characters. Their criticisms were over the password save system and level design.