Prerelease:SpongeBob's Truth or Square (Wii, Xbox 360)

This page details prerelease information and/or media for SpongeBob's Truth or Square (Wii, Xbox 360).

Developmental Timeline

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2008

Unknown

Early Development

Happiness Squared

SpongeBob's Truth or Square was originally going to be a completely different (and presumably) higher quality successor to Battle for Bikini Bottom and The Movie. The game was renamed from "SpongeBob SquarePants: Happiness Squared" to "SpongeBob's Truth or Square" near the end of the project to market alongside the TV special of the same name.

Pitch Video

A short pitch video made sometime in 2008 and uploaded to YouTube in 2010 by Heavy Iron developer Rob Roto.

• The songs "Don't Worry, Be Happy" by Bobby McFerrin and "Ocean Man" by Ween play in the background.
• The level design in "24 Hours of Fun at the Krusty Krab" seems different.
• There's an unknown level that takes place in Downtown Bikini Bottom, the closest match is "Pretending To Be Tough With Patrick."
• The wooden tikis from Battle for Bikini Bottom can be seen in Kelp Forest.
• The coins are in the shape of different characters in the pitch, in the final, it's a round SpongeBob.
• SpongeBob would've used Spat (or Fifi) in the game, but was later changed to make his shape change.
• One part of the footage shows an extremely early version of Kelp Forest, presumably another section.
• The message at the end says it was going to be released on Wii, DS, PS2 and PSP, but the PS2 version was scrapped and probably replaced with the Xbox 360 version.
• The video uses clips from the episodes "Graveyard Shift" and "No Weenies Allowed."
• Interestingly, the enemies in this build appear to be different fish in this build, as opposed to the final version which uses slightly more generic robots.

2009

Spring-Summer

Demo Reel

Footage from a 2009 Heavy Iron Studios demo reel, which shows a much later version of the game, before it was rebranded.

• SpongeBob's animations are finalized, as he no-longer uses Spat (or Fifi).
• The video shows some early box-art using stock SpongeBob images.
• Enemies have been finalized.
• The video confirms that both Bikini Bottom and the Salty Spitoon were originally going to be fully playable levels, while in the final version they're only used for boss-fights.
• While Sandy & Patrick would've still been used as power ups, they also would've been kept as long as possible, considering that Sandy's able to jump here.
• Muscle-Bob was originally just SpongeBob with giant muscles.
• Unused Flying Plankton Robots are shown in Kelp Forest (which appears in the Concept Art).

August

Images

Two images taken from the portfolio of an artist who worked on the game showing the removed Bikini Bottom level, which appears in the PSP/DS releases with the name "Squidward's Talent Show."

Trailer

• Another removed level can be seen, which appears in the PSP/DS releases with the name "Ambush at the Krusty Krab."
• The HUD looks slightly different:
  • The icons for SpongeBob and the buff powerup are different, with the buff powerup lacking the changed costume and only having one arm. Interestingly, the normal icon can be seen in the final version of the PSP release.
  • SpongeBob's coin meter is missing the coin and the numbers seem different.
• The buff powerup lacks the costume change.

Second Trailer

• SpongeBob's house is lacking the guests.

Heavy Iron Studios Website

Interestingly, the original Heavy Iron Studios website listed the final level (That's Not Your Formula, Plankton!), as "Becoming a Co-Cashier."