This page serves as a source of detailed information about the GBC game SpongeBob SquarePants: Legend of the Lost Spatula.

Memory Addresses

For SpongeBob's position, speed, and other useful values:
UserFiles/Info/637936906480352689

Movement

Jumping is the fastest way to move in this game. Most of the optimization in tool-assisted speedruns of this game is on jumps.
Here's a table showing the average speed of each normal jump (no glitch) SpongeBob makes. (Standing gains no horizontal distance while squatting before a jump, walking gains 1 pixel/frame, and sliding gains 1.5 pixels/frame):
Jump HgtJump TypeDist (Pixels)Time (Frames)Avg Speed
0,2Standing67361.861
0,2Walking75372.027
0,2Sliding90442.045
4,6Standing82412.000
4,6Walking90422.143
4,6Sliding105492.143
8,10Standing97462.109
8,10Walking105472.234
8,10Sliding120542.222
12,14Standing112512.196
12,14Walking120522.308
12,14Sliding135592.288
As you can see, walking one frame and jumping the max height (12 or 14) is the fastest normal horizontal jump SpongeBob can make. These values are slightly different with the spring shoes equipped, but the proportions are the same.

Tricks and Glitches

Jumping Glitch

When an item you are using has spawned an object (ex: bubble wand spawns a bubble), as long as that object is onscreen, you can hold B and autofire A to make SpongeBob jump very high. When SpongeBob has the spring shoes equipped, performing this glitch will allow SpongeBob to jump infinitely (until he hits something). The main drawback is that it freezes SpongeBob's position every time A is pressed, so he will only move half the horizontal distance while glitch-jumping compared to a normal jump, so it is sometimes better to jump normally.

Sinking Glitch

The programmers intended the player to jump to the top of the level and grab an anchor to send SpongeBob plummeting through the goo to the treasure chest. This glitch lets you skip all of that by jumping off of the goo where the anchor normally would fall and then immediately pressing A, sending you down through the goo as if you were on the anchor and allowing you to land right next to the treasure chest. It's interesting to note that no matter how you reach the chest, the game destroys the anchor object after the map cutscene.

Luck manipulation

Moving platforms and enemies can be manipulated by jumping at a different height.

Avoiding damage

Using your equipped item (ex: throwing a patty, blowing a bubble) can be used to avoid taking damage.

Sliding before jumping

By walking for 9 frames before jumping with the spring shoes equipped, SpongeBob will move forward faster (2 px/frame instead of 1 px/frame) while squatting to jump, giving more horizontal distance at the cost of some time. The effect is enhanced on platforms that are moving in the direction you're jumping.

Slowing down in midair

Pressing A the first of every two frames in midair (the second of every two frames will glitch jump) will force SpongeBob's jump velocity to count down as if he was later in his jump, allowing him to land earlier. This saves time when jumping vertically and having to land on the edge of something or in a precise spot.

Platform Boost

When SpongeBob is slowing down from a high jump, brushing against some sort of platform boosts him to his maximum vertical speed as if he has just taken off from another high jump. The main benefit of this is that it moves SpongeBob at his normal horizontal jump speed, so having this boost at the end of a glitch jump gives you a better position upon landing at no cost of time.

Sliding into Walls

This is achieved by walking toward a wall, facing the opposite direction for one frame, and then slide jumping in the direction you're moving. This causes SpongeBob to slide a few pixels into a wall. Unfortunately, he can only slide up to 13 pixels, meaning you still can't make it through one-tile-width walls.

Glitch Fall Clipping

When you walk off a cliff and jump and autofire A (to glitch jump), SpongeBob will instead fall, gaining velocity as well as the sprite displacement that the glitch causes. But because SpongeBob is jumping down, the game displaces his sprite to the bottom-right instead of the top-right. This means that if you fall for a good length of time, SpongeBob can clip through 8-pixel high floors and even inside objects!

Quick Text Box

Opening the Start, Select, or Utility Belt menus will make sign messages come up immediately after exiting the menu.

Route

The fastest route through the game disregards all item upgrades and optional items except the spring shoes. If you want to follow this route, tools are recommended:

Finished TASes

For VBA versions of the finished tool-assisted runs of LotLS, you can check out the published but obsolete runs on TASVideos.
Updated BizHawk versions of all the finished runs, including the currently published one, can be found in this archive.
GameResources/GB/SpongebobSquarepantsLegendOfTheLostSpatula last edited by adelikat on 7/17/2022 10:25 PM
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