Regional Differences

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

The game received over a handful of changes in non-English European versions.

Overview Table#

Below is a chart providing an overview of every non-English version.

GameCube Banners#

Game ID	Languages	Banner
GGVE78	English
GGVP78
GGVX78	French/Netherlands
GGVD78	German
GU3D78
GU4Y78
GU3X78	French/Netherlands

Game Select Menu ("2 Games in 1" Releases Only)#

Three of the GameCube releases boot to a game selection menu prior to loading the actual game. If the wrong game is chosen, a new screen is displayed that instructs the removal of the current disc for the correct one. From this point, turning off the console is required to display the selection screen again.

BfBB 2-in-1 (German)	Tak 2-in-1 (German)	Tak 2-in-1 (French/Netherlands)

Language Select Menu (FR/NL and FR/ES/IT/NL Only)#

Some of the releases boot to a language selection menu prior to displaying the copyright screen. PS2 and GameCube have versions offering French and Dutch. Xbox has a version offering French, Dutch, Spanish, and Italian.

GameCube and PlayStation 2	Xbox

Copyright Screen#

The screen shown before the opening logos.

PlayStation 2#

In the Spanish and German versions, the initial copyright screen adds credits for RAD Game Tools, Inc. and Bink video.

English	Spanish and German

GameCube#

Along with adding credits for RAD and Bink, the German version credits FMOD audio, which is only used in the GameCube releases of the game.

English	German

Xbox#

The Netherlands version is the same as the English screen only it translates "All rights preserved" into Dutch. The Spanish and German versions add credits for RAD Game Tools, Inc. and Bink video but do not translate anything.

English	Netherlands	Spanish	German

Translated Emblems#

Each language has unique emblems for the title, saving, and loading.

Icon	English	French	Netherlands	Spanish	Italian	German
Title
Loading
Saving

Attract Video#

• The non-English versions have an attract video that simply cuts out the intro and outro and has the Desert theme playing instead.
  The announcer is also noticeably absent to account for multiple language releases.

Menus#

Main Menu#

All European PAL versions of the game disable access to the Promotional Materials menu. A video detection system is used to swap out the "Options" and "Promotional Materials" UI assets for unique PAL variants to achieve this. Additionally, all promo FMV files are absent from these versions.

US	UK	Non-English (French)

Warp Menu#

• In the English version of the game, the confirmation prompt for warping to a new level does not bounce up and down. This was fixed in the non-English versions by updating the "UIM PULSE" asset.

English	Non-English (Spanish)

Upgrade Menu#

The user interface was slightly adjusted to account for ability names being longer, such as by shifting certain upgrade slots to the right. Overall text size has also been adjusted.

English	Non-English

Extras Menu#

Since the two film trailers weren't localized, the Movie Concept Art Pack was split to fill for the missing slots, retroactively turning the original art pack into Movie Concept 1 Art Pack. Furthermore, Extra 1 now belongs to SpongeBob Art Pack, Extra 4 to Patrick Art Pack, Extra 6 to Movie Concept 1 Art Pack, Extra 9 to Movie Concept 2 Art Pack, Extra 10 to Emergency Sound Pack, and finally Extra 11 to Movie Concept 3 Art Pack.

English	Non-English

Gameplay Differences#

Rock Slide Monster Ambush (FR/NL GameCube Only)#

• In the French/Netherlands GameCube version of Rock Slide, the crab monster that jumps out gets replaced by a serpent monster. The crab monster's files are completely absent from the level.

English GameCube	French/Netherlands GameCube

Audio Differences#

Bad-Guy Sound Pack#

Several sound bites were replaced with generically labeled sound effects. This is likely due to enemy dialogue being untranslated.

Krabby Sound Pack#

Several sound bites were replaced with generically labeled sound effects. This is because none of Mr. Krabs' adlibbed lines were translated.

Cyclops (German Only)#

The German translation is the only one to translate the cyclops voice clips. All other versions use the English clips:

Ambush Music Fix#

In the PS2 and Xbox English versions, there is an infamous bug found in "Three... Thousand Miles to Shell City" in which completing the ending ambush stops all level music, with pausing and unpausing the game being the quickest way of correcting it. This issue was fixed in the non-English versions by simply changing the assigned music event from "MusicTrackPlayTemporary" to "MusicTrackReplace". This fix is found across all non-English versions of the game, despite the GameCube version being unaffected by the bug.

Muted Dialogue#

Audio that was dummied or deleted from the game.

• Exclusive to the Netherlands version, MINTTP_005b_DOLPHIN_A Mindy voice line ("it's called the ... Smash") was not translated and dummied with silence.
  • Mindy remains silent during this part of the Smash ability tutorial conversation.
    • Additionally, the following MINTTP_006_DOLPHIN ("you have to be in the air") is missing jaw data.
• Exclusive to the PS2 French version, the unused MINTTP_016_DOLPHIN Mindy voice line (Spinner tutorial) is zero bytes and non-recoverable, but it's still present on Xbox.
• Exclusive to the PS2 German version, the SBMENU_007b SpongeBob voice line ("this game has been saved-duh") is zero bytes and non-recoverable, but it's still present on Xbox.
• The Italian version does not include some of the leftover Plankton voice clips in Dennis Strikes Back, specifically ones intended for Turn the Tables on Plankton.
• Dialogue exchanges between SpongeBob and Patrick ("go fish," "big hair," etc.) are absent when jumping off cliffs in Rock Slide, but individual character one-liners are still present. This may have to do with having two characters speak in one voice clip. Additionally, these clips are dummied using less than a second of silence as to avoid internal conflicts.
  • These files are called tr01_jump_dialogue11, tr01_jump_dialogue14, tr01_jump_dialogue17, and tr01_jump_dialogue19.
• The miscellaneous voice lines of Mr. Krabs adlibbing are replaced with silent audio clips, with only the "Chum Famine" line being translated.
  • Despite this, MENU_SND_RANDOM SGRP was not updated, resulting in a voice line only occurring 30% of the time the warp menu is opened.
• Exclusively in the Netherlands version of the game, SpongeBob's Vibration Mode voice lines (SBMENU_011, SBMENU_011ALT) are dummied.

Untranslated Dialogue#

Audio that remains in English.

• The unused MINBBP_001_ALT_1 voice line is untranslated in the French version.
• The French version accidentally uses the English version of SBPTP_004_DOLPHIN and MINPTP_006_DOLPHIN ("Hasselhoff dolphin").
  • The intended lines were imported into the unused SBPTP_004 and MINPTP_006 audio files instead.
• The SBBOSSFF_033b SpongeBob voice line is untranslated in the German version.
• Voice clips for getting hurt during slides were not implemented properly, as they still reference the original English "ouch" lines.
  • These lines otherwise play normally during platforming gameplay.

Failure Riff (GameCube Only)#

In the English GameCube version, the Failure Riff is in mono (single audio channel) instead of in stereo (two audio channels).
The non-English GameCube versions correct this issue. The difference in quality is most noticeable through headphones.

Exclusive Translation Oddities#

• The German translation translates the unused MINTRP_027 Mindy dialogue (Freezy Fruit tutorial).
• The German translation translates one of the GameCube's Rumble Mode lines for SpongeBob.
  • All other non-English versions only translated the PS2/Xbox Vibration Mode line and dummied the GameCube ones with a 1 second of silence.
• The German and Spanish versions are the only ones to translate YOKDP_006_loop for the Yokels.
  • All other versions remain in English.
• Exclusively in the German translation, the audio clips for the different citizens in No Cheese! and Sandwich Driving 101 are merged into one audio clip for each of the actor's takes, resulting in a cacophony.
• Exclusively in the Netherlands translation, CITBBP_001* has multiple voice actors record different takes, instead of being duplicates for each take.

General Dialogue#

• Any time there exists multiple deliveries of the same line in the English version (labeled with a lower case letter, 001a, 001b, etc.), the non-English versions simply use a duplicate of the same recording. This results in certain gameplay sections sounding a lot more repetitive.
• The translations are likely based on the original English script rather than the English voice clips.
  • Adlibbed voice lines and alternate takes from the original English cast are absent.
    • The unused Mindy alternate take called "MINBBP_001_ALT_1" now mentions that Mindy borrowed ancient artifacts from her father to grant SpongeBob and Patrick new powers, rather than just her mermaid powers alone.

• • Character abilities use their original names
    • The Bash is called "Helmet Bash" by SpongeBob.
    • The SpongeBowl is called "Macho Bowl" by SpongeBob.
    • The Sonic Wave is called "Sonic Wave Guitar" by SpongeBob.
      • Viewing the description for the guitar upgrade makes SpongeBob say "Sonic Wave...", but it sounds as though he was meant to say something afterwards. The non-English versions reveal that the full line is supposed to be Sonic Wave Guitar.
    • The Star Spin is called "Belly Bump" by Patrick.
    • The Smash is called "Butt Smash" by Patrick.
• Dialogue for SpongeBob and Patrick's "ouch" sounds were renamed.
  • SB_ouch 1-4 were renamed to SBGLO 18a-21a, and Pat_Ouch 1-4 were renamed to PSGLO 28a-31a.
  • SBGLO_021a is unused during SpongeBob gameplay, similar to how SB_ouch2 in the English version. Oddly enough this would mean that SB_ouch4 is now the unused voice clip.

Other Differences#

Additional Font Characters#

font1_sb.RW3 was updated to include more characters to account for the different languages which include: Á, Í, Ó, Ú, Ü, Ñ, ¿, ¡, Ï, °, Ì, Ò

End Credits#

These were updated slightly from the original English release, and they are identical to the credits found in the official PS2 demo that was being developed around the same time.

• Thanh Mai and Scott Rettberg were added under THQ's TESTERS section.
• Bink Video and RAD Game Tools, Inc. were added at the very end, just after the RenderWare ones.

Miscellaneous UK Differences#

(Assume any files not mentioned are identical to their US counterparts, for the GCN and PS2 versions at least.)

• All US.HIP files are replaced by UK.HIP files, yet all contained text is identical.
• SB04.INI is slightly different.
  • VideoSystem is changed from NTSC to PAL, and DefaultRegion is changed from US to UK.
• All FMVs were reencoded to the PAL standard.
  • Promo FMVs are absent.
• bi2.bin, boot.bin, and fst.bin binaries are different (GameCube version).
• SYSTEM.CNF sets VMODE to PAL instead of NTSC, and the executable is called SLES_528.95 instead of SLUS_209.04 (PlayStation 2 version).