Nicktoons Unite!
Four Nicktoons team up against a villainous syndicate.
Nicktoons Unite! is a 2005 action-adventure game that brings together characters from SpongeBob SquarePants, Danny Phantom, The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius, and The Fairly OddParents. Developed by Blue Tongue Entertainment and Climax Action, and published by THQ, the game was released on PlayStation 2, GameCube, Game Boy Advance, and Nintendo DS, with an announced Xbox version that never saw release. Players control SpongeBob, Danny, Jimmy, and Timmy as they unite to thwart a villainous plot.
Quick Facts
- Developer
- Blue Tongue Entertainment (PS2, GC); Climax Action (GBA, DS)
- Publisher
- THQ
- Director
- Kevin Chan
- Designer
- Trevor Gamon
- Nick Hagger
- Drew Morrow
- Programmer
- Alister Hatt
- Artist
- Julian Lamont
- Composer
- Stephan Schütze (PS2, GC); Matthew Simmonds (GBA, DS)
- Series
- Nicktoons Unite!; SpongeBob SquarePants
Facts from the source article.
Gameplay
In the console version, all four characters appear on-screen simultaneously, and the player can switch between them while the others are controlled automatically. Up to four players can also play together in multiplayer. Each character has unique abilities: SpongeBob uses Bubble Bombs to destroy pillars, Danny uses Ghostly Wail to break glass, Timmy uses a Freeze Glove to freeze water, and Jimmy uses the long-range Neutron Flare. Goddard, Jimmy's dog, appears in all four worlds to upgrade weapons and abilities. The Nintendo DS version is a 3D platformer where the player controls one character at a time, selectable via the touchscreen. The Game Boy Advance version is a 2D platformer requiring the player to alternate between two characters per level, using pre-rendered 3D sprites.
Plot
The game begins with SpongeBob finding Plankton using giant vacuum machines to take over Bikini Bottom. Goddard emerges from a portal with a message from Jimmy Neutron, and SpongeBob follows him to Jimmy's lab, where he meets Jimmy, Timmy Turner, and Danny Phantom. Jimmy coats SpongeBob with self-regenerating moisture to prevent dehydration. Jimmy explains that Professor Calamitous has copied his Universe Portal Machine and formed a Syndicate with Plankton, Vlad Plasmius, and Denzel Crocker to steal energy from their worlds. The group teleports to Casper High but arrives in Vlad's castle, where Vlad reveals his ghost portal is siphoning energy from the Ghost Zone and has captured Danny's parents. After being knocked out and imprisoned in the Ghost Zone Prison, the heroes escape with the Box Ghost's help after defeating Walker. They reach the Fenton Works ghost portal, meet Sam Manson and Tucker Foley, return to the castle, and destroy the portal's generators. Danny possesses his father and uses Ghost Gauntlets to fight Vlad, but Vlad escapes. The heroes travel to Bikini Bottom using Jimmy's air gum to breathe underwater. Sandy sends them to Jellyfish Fields, where Patrick is sucked into a jellyfish harvester. After destroying the harvesters, they board the Flying Dutchman's ship, and Danny convinces him to let them go in exchange for his old crewmates. At the Chum Bucket, they free Patrick and the jellyfish, then battle Plankton in a giant robotic crab to rescue Mr. Krabs, learning the villains are powering a Doomsday Machine. In Dimmsdale, they infiltrate and shut down Crocker's golden fortress, then head to Fairy World, meet Jorgen von Strangle, free the fairies, and defeat Crocker in an exosuit at The Big Wand.
Reception
All versions of the game received generally mixed reviews, with criticism focusing on monotonous gameplay. IGN's Mark Bozon rated the DS version 5/10, stating the crossover concept had been done better in previous games. Gamezone gave a more positive review for the PlayStation 2 version, noting that while repetitious, the linear design and simple controls draw players along. Metacritic assigned the PlayStation 2 version a score of 53 out of 100 based on 8 reviews.
More in THQ Games of the 2000s
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