Review: Spongebob Jakks Joystick
While rearranging my Room of Doom this weekend, my almost-3-year-old son spied my Spongebob Jakks joystick sitting on my shelf, unopened. He wanted to play it, and I've always believed games were meant to be played, so while he played, I wrote a review: win/win!
Physically, the Spongebob Squarepants Jakks 5-in-1 joystick resembles the Atari 2600 stick. The joystick handle is Spongebob's nose. Unfortunately, the button is just a yellow button. I was hoping it would be his eye. I'm kind of sick like that.
The menu system is bright and colorful, just like the Spongebob cartoon. My son had no problem navigating the menu system and picking whichever game he wanted to play. There are five games built in to the Spongebob stick. All of them are original games featuring the citizens of Bikini Bottom, Spongebob's home town.
[ Spongebob's Bubble Pop ]
In a nutshell ... Breakout. Players maneuver Spongebob left and right, bouncing a pearl off the top of his head. Instead of bricks, brightly colored spheres (which look a lot like Bust-A-Move's) line the top of the screen. Like Arkanoid, there are many "extras" that may drop out of burst bubbles, including things like catch, fast ball, slow ball, widen Spongebob, 3-way, 5-way, etc.
[ Sandy's Surf Adventure ]
This is a side-scrolling shmup! Instead of a spaceship, players control Sandy Cheeks, Spongebob's female squirrel friend. Surfing underwater, players surf to the right, shooting acorns at sea horses, stars, clams, and other undersea creatures. The longer you play, the faster the game goes. Sure, it's no Gradius, but it's fun for a while.
[ Invasion of the Hooks ]
This is probably the strangest of all the games. You control Spongebob. In front of you are Sandy, Spongebob's neighbor Squidward, and Spongebob's best friend Patrick Star (a starfish). Fishhooks drop down from the top of the screen and hook your friends, dragging them toward the surface. You must run under each one and shoot the hooks to free your friends. Hooks travel at different speeds and must be shot between 1 and 4 times, depending on their color. This is probably the most boring game on the controller as well.
[ The Super Chum Bucket ]
In the Spongebob cartoon, Spongebob works for Mr. Krabs at the Krusty Krab, a local burger joint. Their competitor and enemy is Plankton, owner of the Chum Bucket. I'm sure there was a little back story presented in this game, but all you need to know is, it's Donkey Kong. Plankton's at the top, you're at the bottom. It's a really pretty fun platformer. There's a lot of jumping involved. There are moving platforms, conveyer belts, moving robots, and instead of barrels, Plankton drops life preservers on you from above.
One frustrating part about this game is the "old Popeye trick". My dad made that up after playing the game Popeye and having Bluto attack him from above or below. Then one time in another game, my dad jumped and something on the level above him killed him and said, "ahhh, the ol' Popeye trick!" So anyway, when jumping over life preservers and robots you have to pay attention at what's directly above you, or you two may experience the ol' Popeye trick first hand.
BTW, I played this fifth game the most. I ran through at least 20 different levels and haven't seen one repeat yet!
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That, in a nutshell, is the Spongebob Jakks stick. No, I wouldn't really recommend it to the average hardcore gamers, but if you've got kids and want something they can play (and you can help with, or play for a few minutes after they go to bed), then it's not that bad.
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Originally Posted by tholly
