And down on the D-Pad will set the hero into a sliding motion on downward slopes, perfect for knocking down multiple enemies at a time. Meanwhile, pressing the Y button causes the character to head-butt forward. Tapping it a second time mid-air will cause the character to stomp downward.
D-Pad moves the hero speedily through environments and B button jumps. Having created their main character, players will be able to control him or her through fast-moving side-scrolling 2D platformer worlds, where they will encounter simple challenges and enemies who probably won't give anybody too much trouble. SpongeBob SquarePants Edition does not revolutionize the Drawn to Life experience, but it does deliver a polished, Nickelodeon-ized take on it. Sadly, we can show you none of our designs without first age-gating this article. In our short time with the DS version thus far, we've been able to fully design not only our main character, but his house, end-level signage, ferris wheel compartments, and even enemy characters. This is the beauty of giving artistic privileges to gamers. Still, players set on conjuring truly inappropriate creations will have the power to do so, just as those who would prefer to remain within the universe will be able to do so. We're able to show you neither of these magnificent creations, unfortunately - it's a SpongeBob game, after all. We also dabbled with a grotesque, monstrous protagonist complete with a cut, bloody throat and four wiggling severed limbs. Naturally, it took us about five minutes with the game to create a ridiculously phallic main hero who wobbled limply through environments.
If so, the designs become commonplace characters and items within the game. After players have doodled their drawings (which can be created using a variety of different colors), they will be asked if they are happy with the results. Directly to the right of the canvas is the toolset, which includes three different pencil sizes, a paint bucket, an eraser, an undo button, and a clear-all icon. On the bottom screen, gamers will see drawing perimeters carefully placed over a virtual canvas and would-be artists can scribble their own designs within these confines. The drawing interface, an integral component of the experience, is unabashedly inspired by (if not altogether ripped from) the original Drawn to Life. The game begins with a quick cinematic that explains all of the above and then players will find themselves drawing their hero in the first of many such chances for artistic expression. To save the day, gamers will need to draw a unique hero to battle alongside characters like SpongeBob and Patrick. In the DS title, DoodleBob escapes into Bikini Bottom with a powerful pencil of his own, which he "uses to cause havoc" all over and around SpongeBob's favorite locations. SpongeBob fans will undoubtedly recognize the character DoodleBob, the subject of an episode in which Nickelodeon's underwater mascot used a magical pencil to scribble into the world an evil clone of himself.