SpongeBob: Revenge of the Flying Dutchman — Game Boy Advance

Bubbles become part of the route

The GBA booklet gives SpongeBob several ways to cross a scene. He can jump and glide, trap an enemy in a bubble and briefly use it as a stepping stone. Special bubbles add other possibilities: one makes a bouncing platform, another carries him upward. A stretch of empty space can become a little puzzle about which bubble would help him reach the next ledge.

Treasure gives the journey a rhythm. Collecting three keys opens a level’s chest, while encounters with Bikini Bottom characters provide reasons to keep exploring. After a level, the achievement screen supplies a password for returning through Continue. A carefully copied code belongs beside a note about the last place visited.

Try a ghost-ship museum

Imagine that a retired ghost captain has opened a very small museum. Draw three imaginary treasures on paper: a compass that points toward lunch, a barnacle-covered teacup and a sock said to have survived a whirlpool.

1. Give each drawing a museum label with its name, where the captain found it and one wonderfully unlikely detail.
2. Arrange the drawings as three stops on a ship. Sketch arrows from the gangplank to the gallery and back.
3. Take turns being curator and visitor. The visitor asks a question; the curator adds a new sentence to the object’s story.

For a second tour, exchange one label between two treasures. Explain why the compass now has the teacup’s history. These invented exhibits make a separate storytelling game, with their own wonderfully unreliable captain.