Revision (current)
Last Updated by adelikat on 7/17/2022 10:25 PM
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 Hgt||Jump Type||Dist (Pixels)||Time (Frames)||Avg Speed||
|0,2|Standing|67|36|1.861|
|0,2|Walking|75|37|2.027|
|0,2|Sliding|90|44|2.045|
|4,6|Standing|82|41|2.000|
|4,6|Walking|90|42|2.143|
|4,6|Sliding|105|49|2.143|
|8,10|Standing|97|46|2.109|
|8,10|Walking|105|47|2.234|
|8,10|Sliding|120|54|2.222|
|12,14|Standing|112|51|2.196|
|__12,14|Walking|120|52|2.308__|
|12,14|Sliding|135|59|2.288|
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.
[http://i.imgur.com/fir0vyd.gif|right]
!! 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:
* Game Start
* Go to Sandy's Park
* Go to Goo Lagoon
** Sink to the bottom of the lagoon and open the treasure chest
** Collect the Spring Shoes
** Glitch-jump out and get the Spatula from the middle of the map
** Go right and collect the Net Launcher
** Restart the area
** Glitch-jump out and enter Outer Town at the signpost to the left
* Enter Undersea Desert
** Make your way right
** Go through the portal
** Fight Hot Sauce Bandito (req. item: Spatula)
** Back to Outer Town
* Go to Downtown
* Enter Kelpazoic Jungle
** Take the upper left path
** Finish the area, enter the portal
** Glitch-jump up to the boss room
** Fight the Jungle Fish (req. items: Bubble Wand, Net Launcher)
** Back to Downtown
* Go to SpongeBob's Block
* Enter The Carnival
** Glitch-jump up and a little left to the Oven Knob
** Back to SpongeBob's Block
* Go to Sandy's Park
* Enter Jellyfish Fields
** Make your way left
** Use as many geyser boosts as is reasonable
** Fight the Big Jellyfish (req. item: Bubble Wand)
* Enter Rock Bottom
** Make your way right
** Fall down the hole at the far right of the map
* Enter Dutch Under
** Glitch-jump up-left to the top of the area
** Switch to the Spatula
** Fight the Flying Dutchman (req. item: Spatula)
** Go get the Golden Spatula (to your left)
!!! Finished TASes
For VBA versions of the finished tool-assisted runs of LotLS, you can check out the published [1776M|but] [1801M|obsolete] [1874M|runs] on TASVideos.
Updated BizHawk versions of all the finished runs, including the [2515M|currently published one], can be found in [https://www.mediafire.com/?l22khltddz3a542|this archive].