Magazine Demo

This is a sub-page of The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox).

Featured in several official PS2/Xbox magazine demo discs, it contains 3 levels: Three... Thousand Miles to Shell City, Sandwich Driving 101, and the first Floating Block Challenge. Despite the demo disc being post-release, there are a few notable differences between it and the retail version of the game.

Versions#

The demo is found in these releases. Note: None of the PAL releases are translated from English and simply use the UK PAL build.

• Official Xbox Magazine Game Disc 40 is a hidden demo and requires this code to play: Hold down L Trigger at the main disc menu and press A, Up, Down, Left, B, Right, X, Right, Y, A, Up, X, Up, Left, Right, Y, A.

UI Changes#

Main Menu#

Upon pressing Start on the title screen, a unique menu is presented for choosing 1 of 3 levels to play. The levels are then played in list order (up to Floating Block Challenge) before quitting back to the title screen.

Pause Menu#

This menu has been simplified to only include the following: Controls, Options, Quit Demo, and Restart Demo.
The Task Menu is completely absent.

Controls Menu#

Exclusive to the demo is a Controls menu. A controller diagram is displayed depending on the current level. There are diagrams for playing as SpongeBob, the Patty Wagon, and Patrick. Oddly enough, the PS2 version of SpongeBob's controls specify the button for the SpongeBowl, despite not being available.

Level	Xbox	PlayStation 2
SpongeBob (Three... Thousand Miles to Shell City)
Driving (Sandwich Driving 101)
Patrick (Floating Block Challenge)

Upgrade Menu#

Only SpongeBob can be upgraded. Scrolling right to upgrade Patrick's stats is denied, and Patrick can't attack in the demo.

Level Changes#

Missing Warp Pads#

Since the demo only has 3 levels (including a Floating Block Challenge), the Warp Pads in Three... Thousand Miles to Shell City were replaced with Manliness Points.

Demo	Retail

Demo	Retail

Missing Port-O-Head#

The Port-O-Head at the end of Three... Thousand Miles to Shell City was removed, so the "Patrick Gets Steamed" task can't be completed through normal conditions. This was likely done to focus each level on a specific character. Despite this, Patrick's player file (PLP3) is still loaded into the level.

Demo	Retail

Street Lamp Hitboxes#

In Sandwich Driving 101, two of the hitboxes for the street lamps were corrected to align with their visual models. This fix is not present in the non-English versions, and it is exclusive to the demo.

Demo	Retail

Demo	Retail

Ending Splash Screen#

The demo concludes with a splash screen that encourages purchasing the game.

Miscellaneous Demo Changes#

• A static ESRB "Everyone" rating FMV is shown on a black background before the opening logos start.
• The "Attract Mode" FMV does not play when idling at the start screen, and the file is absent.
• The player begins with 5 Goofy Goober Tokens collected.
  • This is done to unlock the Bash move automatically at the start of Three... Thousand Miles to Shell City.
• Cheat codes are disabled and can't be inputted.
• The Floating Block level is assigned the 13th task row meant for the scrapped Goofy Goober dream level.
  • This is how the demo displays the "Floating Block Challenge" text during the loading screen.
• Thanh Mai and Scott Rettberg were added under THQ's TESTERS in the game's credits, despite being inaccessible in-game.
  • These testers were also credited in the non-English versions of the game.

PS2 Differences#

Controller Diagram (Launcher Version)#

In the US version of the OPM demo, a controller diagram is shown before the actual game boots up, with every move in the game. Strangely, Patrick's Smash ability is uncensored, being called "Butt Smash."

Bungee UI#

The Bungee button prompts in the PS2 version of the demo are off centered compared to retail.

Demo	Retail

Miscellaneous PS2 Demo Differences#

• 15 minutes of in-game time is given to play the demo, automatically quitting to the splash screen once it expires.
• A hidden timer quits the game if it detects no player input for 1 minute.
• Controller vibration is set to off.
  • This is likely done by the game launcher, as SB04.INI still sets "option_vibration" to 1.
• DEMO.HIP stores the ending splash screen instead of in PLAT.HIP
• Unlike the Xbox demo, is based on the updated non-English release and includes several of its additions.
  • Smaller text in specific textboxes
  • More font letters
  • Bink Video and RAD Game Tools, Inc. were added end credits, despite being inaccessible in-game.
  • Ambush music fix in Three... Thousand Miles to Shell City
  • Corrected cutscene audio
    • PS2 Cutscenes were originally mono
  • Dialogue and cutscene related assets are located in US.HIP files instead of the .HOP files.

PS2 US Internal Differences#

Leftover files not present PAL PS2 Demo.

• PP_SPIN2.BIK: Patrick's Macho Star Spin FMV file, unused.
• VERSION.TXT: Simply reads "BUILD 6."
• ASSERT.LOG: Assertion failure logs about the levels featured in the demo. The scene labeled "????" is likely the Main Menu, as it's the only one not given a menu slot that also happens to have a SpongeBob player by default.

PS2 PAL Internal Differences#

Differences between it and the US PS2 Demo.

• 8 minutes of in-game time is given to play the demo, automatically quitting to the splash screen once it expires.
  • This is significantly shorter than the US version's 15 minutes, making it practically impossible to collect every Goofy Goober Token in one playthrough.
• A leftover DE01_US.HIP file from the US version is present, containing near identical audio and text.
  • The UK version of MINDDP_005a.WAV from DE01 is 73ms longer at the end, but is just noise.
• MNUC still stores audio in its .HOP file instead of its UK.HIP file.
• PS2_PAD_NAME_PAL text from FONT_UK.HIP capitalizes "Analog Controller," unlike the US version. It is used in the message displayed if a controller is disconnected.
• Binaries for the JSP in FB01.HOP are different.
• Binaries for the JSP Info in MNUS.HOP are different.

Xbox Internal Differences#

• The sample rate for dialogue was reduced from 44.1khz to 32khz, likely to improve audio streaming.
  • This is similar to the retail GameCube version which has 32khz audio.
• PAL variants of video and text files are included on the disc, most likely to account for the PAL release of the demo.
  • PAL BIK videos files have a .BIP extension.
  • PAL text files are labeled as UK.HIP

A file labeled "SBMovie.png" is contained within the root of the game, presumably for use in the Xbox demo launcher.