Two prototypes of the game (it would be three if you don't count the Steam public beta below), for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch respectively, were released as part of a 4chan gigaleak on March 1st 2025. It predates the final game's release by 1 year, 4 months, and 17 days. At this point, the game is only a "sandbox demo", the Nintendo Switch version uses PS4 button prompts, and is entirely identical aside from Switch controls.
The PS4 game icon is just the Unreal Engine 4 logo, and the game name is "UE4 Game", as placeholders. The banner is just the "Powered by Unreal Engine 4" screen.
Red text saying "WORK IN PROGRESS" is on the top left of the title screen.
The game starts with the camera panning to SpongeBob's pineapple with the logos showing, instead of the logos getting redrawn before panning to SpongeBob's pineapple. The logo for Nickelodeon is in white and slightly squished.
The model for SpongeBob is slightly different.
The shading is different.
The game's logo is just the logo for the original game but with the updated SpongeBob logo on the top-left of the helmet.
The game has a debug display on the top-left and to the right.
The HUD font is the regular SpongeBob font. This was changed in the day 1 patch.
The pause menu much closer resembles the original game.
Most sound effects are just higher pitched versions of sounds from the original game, but the Shiny Object sound is a high-pitched "cash" sound.
Timers just show the seconds left in numbers and not in a box.
The wooden tikis are red instead of brown like the original game.
The music seems to be a remix instead of the original theme.
There are signs near the areas that explain the demo, and show Downtown Bikini Bottom and Jellyfish Fields.
You can talk to Mr. Krabs. Talking to him will play the dialog when talking to him for the first time, but it is also used as a test as there is dialog before the actual conversation that says it. It ends with text saying that there is nothing else for now.
Golden spatulas are substituted with golden underpants. There is a sign explaining the one on top of SpongeBob's pineapple.
Near Patrick's rock, there is a sign. Reading it will spawn a regular robot to kill.
3 signs are lined up near the areas past Conch Street and the first three levels. They warn you not to go past, but the third one says to continue at your own risk.
Nearly all landscapes past the three signs are untextured or nonexistent, and you can fall through the floor when going to the top of Shady Shoals.
Jellyfish Fields is very unfinished, with no music, the entire level being untextured, and many objects just being plain untextured models without any function. You can also easily fall through the floor.
Squidward is just a T-posing untextured model without function. Enemies are also untextured and T-posing without functions.
The sections starting with Jellyfish Cave are not present.
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