SpongeBob SquarePants: Revenge of the Flying Dutchman

SpongeBob SquarePants: Revenge of the Flying Dutchman is a SpongeBob SquarePants video game developed by Vicarious Visions, Human Soft and BigSky Interactive, Inc. and published by THQ. It is the last game to be developed by BigSky Interactive, Inc. to date.

Plot

One day, SpongeBob wakes up and plays fetch with Gary. When SpongeBob throws the fetching stick, Gary digs up a treasure chest. He brings the treasure chest to SpongeBob. SpongeBob opens the chest and finds a magic bottle. He rubs the bottle which releases coins all over Bikini Bottom and the Flying Dutchman. SpongeBob says that Gary dug him up. The Flying Dutchman tells SpongeBob that he will take Gary to work on his ship. SpongeBob responses by begging to be taken to work on The Flying Dutchman instead of Gary. The Flying Dutchman decides to give Gary some time before taking him.

SpongeBob now must find all the letters that spell his name. Doing so, he will find treasure. After finding the first treasure, the Flying Dutchman takes Gary. Then, SpongeBob challenges Squidward to a race to the Krusty Krab. At the Krusty Krab, Mr. Krabs says the Krusty Krab is running out of business. SpongeBob comes up with an idea, saying that the Krusty Krab should come to customers. Mr. Krabs likes the idea, thus, giving SpongeBob a ticket to Downtown. Then, SpongeBob goes to Squidward's house, where he sees Squidward in the front yard. He's having a yard sale, and SpongeBob also sees that Squidward is reading a book about the Flying Dutchman. SpongeBob waits until Squidward is asleep, then takes it. SpongeBob discovers that the only way to defeat the Flying Dutchman is by collecting all of the seven items he carried close to him while he was alive. Then, Sandy comes along and asks SpongeBob if he wants to have a karate match, which SpongeBob agrees to. Then, SpongeBob goes to Sandy's tree dome, where he notices that he does not need a helmet because the ground is soaking wet. Sandy responds by saying that she got fired up after their karate match, and wanted to practice some more, but then got carried away and poked some holes in the dome, allowing water to come into the dome and soaking the ground with water. SpongeBob helps by finding some acorns and clogging up the holes with them. After all of that, SpongeBob goes to Downtown. There, SpongeBob helps deliver some food from the Krusty Krab to the people who live there. When SpongeBob is going to deliver his final order, he sees that Patrick delivered some food before him. Spongebob leaves Downtown, and Mr. Krabs is taken by the Dutchman, and SpongeBob follows Patrick without being seen. They see a robot version of Mr. Krabs, and do not realize that Plankton is inside it. When Plankton gets really angry, the robot blows up, revealing to SpongeBob and Patrick that it was Plankton, not Mr. Krabs. Plankton then reveals that his actual plan was to open an amusement park, Chum World (which he already did), and have the citizens of Bikini Bottom use all of their money there that they will not have enough money to spend on the Krusty Krab's "pathetic" Krabby Patties. Then, he says he is going off to Jellyfish Fields. After that, SpongeBob goes to Squidward's yard sale, where he buys a beehive, which SpongeBob thinks is an acorn. He brings it to Sandy, who takes it to the top of her tree dome. Then, she says it's no acorn, and calls SpongeBob up to the top of the tree dome. She tells him that the acorn was a beehive, and that he has to get rid of all the bee's and wasp's. SpongeBob uses his Jellyfishing suit, catches all the bee's and wasp's, then goes to the top of the tree and knocks down the hive. Then, Sandy has a karate match with SpongeBob. Afterwards, Squidward is taken by the Dutchman at the front of his house. SpongeBob then goes to Jellyfish Fields. There, he meets a man named Rusty Scupper, who's hosting a jellyfishing competition. He says that whoever brings him 100 jellyfish gets to choose a prize, although SpongeBob picks a reef blower. After getting the prize, Rusty says he is off the Goo Lagoon. Later on in Jellyfish Fields, SpongeBob sees Plankton, who says that he told every one of his Chum World clowns not to give SpongeBob a bus ticket. He also says that if SpongeBob sees one of his clowns in Jellyfish Fields, tell him to stop fooling around and get back to work. As SpongeBob goes deeper into Jellyfish Fields, he sees one of Plankton's clowns. SpongeBob says that he will not tell Plankton if the clown gives him a bus ticket to Chum World. The clown says that if does that, he will get in real trouble. Then, he says that if SpongeBob can defeat him, he will give him a bus ticket. SpongeBob defeats the clown, thus earning himself a ticket to Chum World. When SpongeBob leaves Jellyfish Fields, Patrick is taken by the Flying Dutchman, and he sees Larry next to the Goo Lagoon bus stop. SpongeBob begs Larry for the bus ticket, but Larry says nothing will make him give up the bus ticket. He then says maybe 50 jellyfish will do it. SpongeBob is then off to get 50 jellyfish. SpongeBob then goes to Chum World, and enters the Big Top. Inside, there are many cannons, targets and clowns. SpongeBob sees a statue of Plankton's head, which tells him to come back after he finishes everything he needs to do in Goo Lagoon. SpongeBob goes to Downtown again. There, he helps Sandy get rid of some garbage using his reef blower. When SpongeBob leaves Downtown, Sandy is taken by the Flying Dutchman. SpongeBob then goes back to Larry. He gives Larry the jellyfish, and gets the bus ticket. At Goo Lagoon, SpongeBob follows Larry around because he has a letter to his name on his championship belt. Larry gets fed up with SpongeBob's following, and fights him in a karate match. SpongeBob wins and gets the belt and the letter. Later on, SpongeBob sees Rusty, who says he will let SpongeBob into the pier if he gives him 300 Sand Dollars. Rusty opens the gate and SpongeBob is able to get to the boat at the end of the pier. When SpongeBob gets to the end of the pier, the boat comes, but the Flying Dutchman is controlling. SpongeBob must run away from the boat because the Dutchman is destroying the pier. SpongeBob finds all the letters to his name at Goo Lagoon and gets the treasure. Back in Bikini Bottom, the Dutchman tries to hypnotize SpongeBob, but cannot because SpongeBob had most of the treasures to protect him from the Dutchman's powers. The Dutchman leaves, but not before telling SpongeBob he will never find all of his treasures. SpongeBob goes back to Chum World, where he finds Plankton holding the final letter to his name. SpongeBob chases and catches Plankton, thus giving him all the letters to his name and being able to find the sixth treasure.

The Flying Dutchman's ship is floating above SpongeBob's home, with his men dropping cargo into SpongeBob's home. SpongeBob must escape without getting squashed. When SpongeBob escapes from the back door (because the front door was blocked), he sees a cannon. The narrator tells SpongeBob that the cannon could blast him onto the Dutchman's ship and save his friends. The ship takes SpongeBob to the Dutchman's Graveyard. There, SpongeBob encounters many pirates guarding cannons that he needs to use. The pirates are willing to give up the cannon if SpongeBob can bring them "booty", which is how the pirates like to call coins/gold/doubloons. SpongeBob finally makes it to the Dutchman's ship.

There, SpongeBob saves his friends. He tells each of his friends to go on a small boat after saving each one. After saving all of his friends, the Dutchman pops out of a portal. Then, the narrator says that the treasures will not make him completely immune to the Dutchman's powers. He says that according to the new edition, the treasures make him mostly immune. He then tells SpongeBob to be ready for a tough fight. SpongeBob says he's not ready, but he has to fight the Dutchman anyways. SpongeBob defeats the Dutchman, and SpongeBob and his friends go to the Krusty Krab for what Mr. Krabs describes is like a "feast like no other". The game ends, with Mr. Krab saying that the feast is coming out of their paychecks.

Game Boy Advance Version

The GBA version was released in North America on September 10, 2002. This version is a typical platforming game. There are 5 worlds in the game: SpongeBob's Home, Jellyfish Fields, Krusty Krab, Tea at the Treedome Tea at the Treedome, Doubloon Bonus World, and a final world on the Flying Dutchman's ship. Needless to say, it differs dramatically from the console versions, and the plot changes. It starts off with SpongeBob giving Gary the Snail a walk through Jellyfish Fields, Gary then smells Kelp nip and runs off. After SpongeBob finds Gary with the help of Patrick Star, he finds a chest. Gary opens it, and SpongeBob finds a big sack of coins (which he tosses) and a bottle. SpongeBob then opens it. The Flying Dutchman appears. (The Flying Dutchman is a boss). Once you almost beat the Dutchman (About 50%) He tells SpongeBob to find his dining sock and the coins that got scattered around Bikini Bottom. Then, Gary runs off again. Then, while looking for Gary, SpongeBob runs over Plankton. Plankton then falls off, and he finds Gary. He sends a message to the Krusty Krab telling SpongeBob that he found Gary. After SpongeBob looks all over Bikini Bottom, (end of world SpongeBob's Home or some games have it Home Sweet Pineapple.) He finds the Dutchman's Ship and climbs up to it. SpongeBob then falls down saying "I'll ask Patrick at Jellyfish Fields". When the cutscene is over, you can choose between Jellyfish Fields, Krusty Krab (or as known as 'PLANKTON!')., Tea at the Treedome, and replay SpongeBob's Home (or Home Sweet Pineapple). All levels have SpongeBob looking for Gary, the Dining Sock, and the coins. After you beat all the levels (except The Flying Dutchman's Ship.), the Dutchman takes Gary, Patrick, Squidward, Sandy, Gary and Plankton. The Dutchman then tells SpongeBob he has 9 minutes left to find it. After you find the last of the coins, and find the Dining sock, SpongeBob fights waves of minions created by the Dutchman. After that, SpongeBob battles the Dutchman himself. After The Flying Dutchman is defeated, the player is given a list of wishes to choose from, one of them involving giving SpongeBob his own TV show. When chosen, a screenshot of the show's original logo appears. Then you can replay all the levels and play as SpongeBob, Mr. Krabs, Gary, Sandy, Squidward, Patrick, and/or Plankton.

Critical reception

Reviews of the GameCube version of the game was met with generally positive reviews upon release. It currently obtains 66 out of 100 on Metacritic indicating "mixed or average reviews" and an even better 73% on GameRankings. GameZone wrote a favorable review, mainly citing the use of a checklist calling it motivating and helps to keep the user on track, but criticized it for its crude background designs and fairly generic music tracks; GameZone ended the review by exclaiming that it was great fun for kids but older fans may just want to rent.

The Game Boy Advance version of the game was the best received out of the three consoles the game was released on. It currently obtains 71 out of 100 on Metacritc indicating "mixed or average reviews" and 73% on GameRankings. GameZone wrote a generally positive review, saying that it was an excellent game for the kiddies but thought that it was too short and easy to appeal to its older audience.

Despite the GameCube version being fundamentally the same game as on the PlayStation 2 version, (with the exception of an inconvenient loading glitch) the PS2 version was met with mixed reviews. It currently does not have a rating on Metacritic and has a 53% rating on GameRankings. IGN.com wrote a rather harsh review, giving it a mere 4.0 "poor" rating and hardly saying anything redeeming about the game, criticizing it for its sluggish controls, annoying music tracks, n64 graphics, frequent and obnoxious loading screens, simplistic game play, somewhat tedious fetch quests and the unnecessary use of a checklist which made the game feel like a chore. IGN.com ended their review saying: "...Yes, pre-school-aged kids will probably get a kick out of the game, though they'd likely be more entertained mowing down prostitutes in Grand Theft Auto." Play magazine also wrote a generally negative review, giving the game 2 out of 5 stars, citing its mediocre and sparse levels, bad models and the fact that there are loading times where there should not be any.

External links

• SpongeBob SquarePants: Revenge of the Flying Dutchman at MobyGames