SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake is a 2023 licensed 3D action Platform Game based on the Nicktoon of the same name. It functions as a spiritual sequel to SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom, with Purple Lamp Studios and THQ Nordic, the team behind the Rehydrated remake, returning as developer and publisher, respectively.

When visiting Glove World one day, SpongeBob and Patrick cross paths with the mermaid fortune teller Kassandra, who gives them a bottle of King Neptune's bath soap, made from genuine Mermaid Tears — which, according to legend, can grant wishes for those pure of heart. Being the goofy goobers that they are, the duo make multiple bubble-based wishes at once with the soap, ripping a hole in the fabric of space and time. Not only does this unleash a plague of monsters made of sentient Cosmic Jelly onto Bikini Bottom, but it causes their friends to get lost in fantastical "Wishworlds" full of cowboys, ghosts, and cavemen (among many other things).

Thus, the task of rescuing their missing buddies and fending off the monsters spawned from the Cosmic Jelly falls onto SpongeBob — with the help of Patrick, now turned into a balloon after their wishing misadventure. Donning a variety of cosmic costumes along the way, the duo must traverse the Wishworlds and hopefully bring things back to normal.

The game was released on January 31, 2023, for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows (via Steam). A next-gen version for Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 was released on October 5th of that year.

The Cosmic Shake redesigned the gameplay progression to be more linear compared to its predecessor, and it notably uses music licensed from the Associated Production Music library, the same library that provides much of the show's background music. This is a first for games based on the series, which have traditionally used songs originally composed for the show or entirely new music. According to its Steam page, 101 songs from the show will appear in the game — as demonstrated by the reveal trailer, which prominently features APM's "Sweet Victory" from the episode "Band Geeks".

On August 1st, 2025, a successor entitled SpongeBob SquarePants: Titans of the Tide was announced and will release on November 18th of the same year.

Previews: Announcement teaser, Gameplay reveal, Gamescom gameplay, Pre-order trailer, Languages trailer, Release trailer

SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake includes examples of:

• 100% Completion: The game, although not a classic collectathlon, has plenty to collect: 70 Golden Doubloons (which require 50 further collectible items to get), 8 golden spatulas, and a total of 40 further in-game achievements tied to certain gameplay challenges.
• Ability Required to Proceed: Whenever Spongebob learns a new ability such as using the Slingshot or the hook swing, the next part of the same level will almost exclusively focus on platforming with the new ability in mind.
• Advertised Extra: Both the announcement trailer and the game's BFF Edition drew particular attention towards SpongeBob's marching band outfit from "Band Geeks". Come the game's release, it's solely obtained via the Costume DLC, has no plot significance, and therefore doesn't even count towards the achievement for getting all the costumes.
• And Your Reward Is Clothes: Before all main quests, Kassandra provides SpongeBob with a new costume that he can wear at any point in the game, usually having said costume collerate with the theme of the Wishworld he's visiting. With the slime collectibles, you can also buy many more costumes.
• Anti-Frustration Features:
  • When searching for Spot's hiding spots, SpongeBob will verbally call out something along the lines of "this seems like a spot where Spot might go" whenever you're close.
  • Courtesy of Balloon Patrick:
    • If SpongeBob gets reduced to one hit point, Patrick will bring him another pair of underwear after a few seconds to ensure he can take another hit without dying.
    • If you're unsure of where to go next, Patrick will turn into an arrow and point to the relevant item, location or NPC.
    • Falling into a hazardous surface like goo or jelly while SpongeBob has more than one hit point will have Patrick fly him to safety without needing to return to the last checkpoint.
    • If you ever go after a side-mission that brings you away from the beaten path, Patrick will automatically fly you back to the main road when you've completed it so that you don't have to backtrack.
• Artificial Atmospheric Actions: NPCs only have a handful of possible animations, and some of them look very weird, like fishermen in castle moat or groups of fish performing very weird dances on the beach.
• Backtracking: You will almost never be able to get all collectibles the first time you play a level, and especially in early levels, you will only get a fraction of available items. Only after Spongebob has learnt new abilties, you can come back to acquire them.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: At the start of the plot, SpongeBob acquires bath soap made from Mermaid Tears, which have wish-granting properties. However, as a result of the bubble collision caused from excessive wishing, the effects all occurred at once with unexpected results. For instance, the wish meant for Patrick was "the biggest, ballooniest adventure he'll ever have", and was turned into a balloon as a result of the disaster.
• Big Bad: A mermaid fortune-teller, Madame Kassandra gives SpongeBob King Neptune's bath soap in order to open up rifts to other dimensions, which can only be accomplished by those with a pure heart, in order to obtain cosmic jelly. She needs this cosmic jelly in order to overthrow King Neptune and become the sea's new ruler.
• Big Boo's Haunt: Rock Bottom returns, this time with a prominent Halloween theme.
• Big Fancy Castle: One level, the Medieval Sulfur Fields, largely takes place in a huge castle where Princess Pearl is planning to throw a big party.
• Boss-Arena Idiocy: In the fight against Sandy, she charges at you with a gigantic spiked hamster wheel... and for whatever reason, there are also barrels of TNT present that she will happily roll into, damaging herself. Granted, the boss fight is a stage play, but still.
• Bottomless Pit Rescue Service: If SpongeBob falls into goo, jelly, or a bottomless pit, Patrick will fly him back to safety, provided he has more than one health available.
• Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: Patrick does this in Wild West Jellyfish Fields.
  Patrick: Soda? Water? Soda water?
• The Bus Came Back: After almost 20 years of being absent since his debut in Battle for Bikini Bottom, Prawn finally makes a return in this game, this time as an admiral in the pirate-themed Goo Lagoon.
• But Thou Must!: If you enter a challenge or boss battle, you cannot leave the area until the event is over.
• Circus of Fear: The final level takes place in Glove World after being corrupted by the Cosmic Jelly and completely cut off from the rest of Bikini Bottom. The theme park's mascot, Glovey Glove, has gone mad, and serves as the level's boss fight.
• Collapsing Ceiling Boss: In the fight against Pearl, she stomps the floor to create damaging shock waves, but she also causes stalactites to fall from the ceiling, which SpongeBob can use as a makeshift platform to attack the ropes suspending her platform and subsequently damaging her.
• Comeback Mechanic: When SpongeBob has only got one hit point left, it only takes a couple of seconds until Patrick salvages a spare pair of underpants from somewhere which you can collect to bring the hit points back to two at least. This makes it a lot easier for careful players to prevent a game over in battles.
• Continuity Nod:
  • The announcement trailer is set to the song "Sweet Victory" from the episode "Band Geeks".
  • The caveman level, as well as the appearances of the characters in the level, is a call back to the episode "Ugh" and a segment of "SB-129", each of which portrayed the characters as cave people in prehistoric times.
  • One level is designed after the Wild West themed episode "Pest of the West", and has SpongeBob riding a seahorse resembling Mystery from "My Pretty Seahorse".
  • SpongeBob's glide move has him use a box of Krusty Krab pizza from the episode "Pizza Delivery" to catch the wind.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: In SpongeBob's previous home console platformer, the main antagonistic race were Killer Robots who quickly invaded and ransacked Bikini Bottom, forcing a small La Résistance consisting of SpongeBob and his closest friends to retake their home. The threat in this game is an army of sentient cosmic jelly that splits Bikini Bottom into several different wishworlds and forces SpongeBob to rescue his friends from said wishworlds. Their leaders were also outed at different points in their respective games, with SpongeBob and the Bikini Bottom news suspecting Plankton halfway into Battle for Bikini Bottom while no one suspected Madame Kassandra despite being painfully obvious until the end of this game.
• Cosmetic Award: The secret costumes: Gold Bob, which you can only purchase after collecting every single Doubloon in the game, and Plush Gary, which you automatically unlock when getting every achievement.
• Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: Less than a slap on the wrist, actually. There is no functional difference between falling off a cliff and losing all your health points, in both cases you're merely reset to a point almost immediately before the fight or platforming section you have just failed. And all slime collectibles have respawned, so dying actually is beneficial.
• Demoted to Extra:
  • After being playable in Battle for Bikini Bottom, Patrick is relegated to a Non-Player Companion (albeit one who's by SpongeBob's side for most of the game), while Sandy is a boss and recurring NPC.
  • Plankton goes from being the usual Big Bad of SpongeBob games to an NPC, and has no bearing on the plot besides a comment about somebody else possibly causing trouble.
• Denser and Wackier: Compared to SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom. While that game was largely grounded (at least, by SpongeBob standards), with the main threats being robots, this game involves SpongeBob and a balloon-ifyed Patrick traversing through far more wacky and fantastical locations and facing off enemies made out of cosmic jelly.
• Diving Kick: SpongeBob can perform a diving kick that also acts as a homing attack of sorts.
• Dual Boss: The final confrontation against Kassandra also features a Cosmic jelly-infused Squidward.
• Easily Forgiven: Returning to certain Jelly Worlds invokes this, like meeting the Red-Handed bandit in the Wild West Jellyfish fields again. The most glaring example is in the Medieval Sulfur Fields, where Twitchy attacks Princess Pearl's celebration, but when you meet her again, it's not even brought up by anyone.
• Edible Ammunition: Admiral Prawn uses pies as cannon fire.
• Eldritch Abomination: The sentient Cosmic Jelly monsters that invade Bikini Bottom and the Wishworlds. It is not known how these sentient blobs of jelly are alive and almost none of them (barring the regular Jellies and the Big Jellies) resemble any known characters in the series. No two Cosmic Jelly creature types look remotely similar to each other barring the color and eye type, and thus can be seen as different species. Their language (if they even have one) is composed of incomprehensible gibberish.
• Empty Room Psych: In the Medieval Sulfur Fields, close to Twitchy's cottage, there are a couple of reef blower sections. While two of them lead you towards a Good Doubloon, the third one doesn't have anything but a Rock Bottomer behind him.
• Fighting Your Friend: Some boss fights are against SpongeBob's friends, like Sandy, Pearl, or Gary.. Many times, you bring them back to the real Bikini Bottom afterwards.
• Follow the Money: This game has small Cosmic Jelly blobs as well as bigger ones worth 10 small Cosmic Jelly blobs. Collecting enough of them enables you to buy new costumes for SpongeBob.
• Game-Breaking Bug: There's an infrequent bug that can occur towards the beginning of the game: During a section where you're supposed to learn the bubble tossing move to hit a target that moves a floating platform, the tutorial slide doesn't appear. And since the slide is what triggers your ability to use the move, you're unable to progress. This can be fixed by deleting the autosaves and restarting the game with a fresh save; luckily this is early on in the game so it doesn't take long to get back to it.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: The in-game explanation why SpongeBob doesn't die when falling off a cliff or into water (and instead just loses one health point) is that balloon-Patrick picks him up. Late in the game, there is a section where Patrick is temporarily not present. And indeed, should you fall off a cliff or into water in this section, SpongeBob instantly dies.
• Gangplank Galleon: Pirate Goo Lagoon. The Flying Dutchman employs SpongeBob and Patrick as his new Pirate crew and instructs them to board his enemy Admiral Prawn's ships. Several other pirate-inspired mechanics are present as well.
• "Get Back Here!" Boss: The boss fight with Mr. Krabs involves chasing down the train he's on, then traversing the Cosmic Jelly-filled wagons until he gets cornered in the engine room.
• Go Mad from the Isolation: Glovey Glove, the mascot of Glove World, is driven insane from being trapped at Glove World after the cosmic disruption. He kidnaps Patrick at the beginning of the level, forcing SpongeBob to track him down and defeat him as the level's boss.
• Gravity Barrier: Although SpongeBob doesn't suffer from any Fall Damage, there are still areas where he cannot just jump down to a lower platform, as he will just be brought back up by Patrick (and lose one hit point).
• Gross-Up Close-Up: Several cutscenes feature a static picture of a gross close-up of a character who is malnourished, unkempt, dirty, or in some other condition that makes the uncomfortable close-up really gross.
• Halloween Episode: One of the worlds is Rock Bottom set during Halloween.
• Here We Go Again!: At the game's end, King Neptune rewards SpongeBob for defeating Kassandra by allowing him one wish with his bath soap... which Patrick bungles by wishing they could go through everything again.
• Hitbox Dissonance: Some attacks damage SpongeBob although it doesn't look at all like he was hit. It's most evident in the fight against Pearl, where her shockwaves damage him although he is at least half a sponge length away from the actual hit.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: One of the last enemy types encountered in the game is a giant squid made of jelly that spits miniature squids at you. To defeat it, you use the Reef Blower to suck up the smaller squids and shoot them right back at the big one.
• I Got a Rock: An NPC says this in Halloween Rock Bottom.
• Ice-Cream Koan: The cowbones in Wild West Jellyfish Fields mostly spout out pseudo-spiritual advice that isn't especially useful or relevant to the actual gameplay.
  Cowbone: You don't live longer in the city, it just seems that way.
• Incredibly Lame Fun: In line with the corresponding series episode, SpongeBob gets all too excited about riding The Mitten, quote, "the safest, slowest, and least painful rollercoaster in Glove World". It consists of a circular rollercoaster with a tiny hill in the middle.
• Inescapable Ambush: Many battles play out like this: SpongeBob reaches a certain area which is all of a sudden enclosed in mysterious purple clouds serving as a barrier. You then need to defeat every enemy (sometimes coming in multiple waves) before the clouds clear up and you can proceed.
• Informed Species: Prehistoric Kelp Forest features a giant prehistoric whale-like creature, seen in the episode "Ugh", that is identified as a Dorudon. However, the real-life Dorudon resembled more of a dolphin and did not have a row of fins running down its back or small spines on the forehead, plus the creature in the game is missing the vestigial hind-flippers of Dorudon.
• Internal Reveal: It is quite clear as day that Kassandra is the Big Bad of the game, but SpongeBob and Patrick don’t realize it until the end of the game.
• Jump Scare: Invoked Trope. The only way to defeat a Spooky Jelly is to sneak up behind it and scare it.
• Kung Fu-Proof Mook: Some species of Cosmic Jelly possess resistances or outright immunities towards certain attacks that SpongeBob uses and forces him to use unconventional tactics to defeat them.
  • Big Jelly can't be bubbled or karate kicked and can't be hit unless their attacks miss, which can only be done if you dodge at the last minute and stomp on them while they try to lift their tub off the ground. This has to be done three times.
  • Spooky Jelly can't be attacked at all and will freeze you once it catches you in its gaze. The only way to defeat them is to sneak up behind them and scare them.
  • Burrower is a giant worm that burrows underground and the only way to defeat them is by stomping around the cracks on the ground which will stun them and leave them vulnerable for attack. This has to be done three times.
  • Squid Jelly can't be attacked at all and can only be defeated using the Reef Blower
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
  • One female NPC SpongeBob can come across early on asks him if he ever feels like he's being controlled by a higher power (or some kid). SpongeBob himself occasionally feels like someone is controlling him.
  • One NPC in Bikini Bottom reminisces on when the city was only two dimensions.
• Level in Boss Clothing: In the boss battle of Medieval Sulfur Farm, you are attacked by the witch Twitchy. However, you don't actually fight her - instead, you have to dodge her attacks and the spawning Slime monsters, and deliver pie to all the guests of Pearl's party, and the battle ends as soon as everyone is fed.
• Level in the Clouds: The first part of the Medieval Sulfur Fields plays high in the clouds on a rainbow slide. Patrick comments how the clouds are so bubbly and floaty, and he being a balloon feels right at home.
• Madame Fortune: Madame Kassandra, the mermaid Fortune Teller.
• Mirror World: Several of the levels in this game take levels from Battle for Bikini Bottom and apply new themes to them, changing their layouts quite drastically, such as Jellyfish Fields taking place in The Wild West.
• The Multiverse: …well, technically the Jellyverse, as it involves King Neptune's royal jelly, which rips a hole or two into time and space, creating portals to other versions of worlds.
• Named by the Adaptation: The Prehistoric Kelp Forest features a giant prehistoric whale-like creature, seen in the episode "Ugh", that is identified as a Dorudon. This name was never mentioned in its original appearance in the episode "Ugh".
• Non-Player Companion: A tiny balloon-ifyed Patrick accompanies SpongeBob on his adventure.
• No Ontological Inertia: The usual result of SpongeBob clearing a Wishworld is for the affected areas of Bikini Bottom to be restored of their damage, mostly when their missing buildings are brought back. After the giant-sized Gary's defeat, Patrick invokes this when he assumes that it will apply to Gary as well (it didn't).
• Not What It Looks Like: When SpongeBob reaches the Krusty Krab to save Patrick from Glovey Glove, he finds Patrick taking friendship selfies with Glovey Glove. SpongeBob is displeased until Patrick says this quote.
• Old Area, New Enemies: As you complete more levels, some sections in the hub world of Bikini Bottom become invaded by various enemies from those levels.
• Padded Sumo Gameplay: Two types of enemies are this, the Big Jelly and the Burrower. They both take three hits to defeat, with only a small window where they are vulnerable, but likewise very slow movement. Defeating them isn't difficult, but it takes a comparatively long time.
• Path of Most Resistance: In many sliding or horseriding autoscroller sections, there is a safe, broad way and a more difficult, thin side path. The latter usually has one collectible at its end.
• Pirate Episode: The world Pirate Goo Lagoon centers on SpongeBob and Patrick helping the Flying Dutchman by becoming pirates.
• Precision F-Strike: Squidward's Karate counterpart uses the dolphin chirp censor when complaining about the agency hiring SpongeBob as the starring role.
• Prehistoria: One of the worlds is based on the prehistoric Bikini Bottom featured in "SB-129" and "Ugh".
• Production Throwback:
  • One of the 7 pre-order DLC costumes is SpongeBot SteelPants, the final boss in Battle for Bikini Bottom. What makes this relevant is that it's specifically based on its Rehydrated design.
  • Similarly, Prawn shows up as one of the game's bosses, much like he did in Battle for Bikini Bottom.
• Reality-Breaking Paradox: At the start of the game, when SpongeBob's wish bubbles collide, they end up tearing a hole into the space-time continuum and all of Bikini Bottom is sucked up into it.
• Removed from the Picture: All over Glove World, there are pictures of SpongeBob and Patrick, except Glovey Glove has taped over SpongeBob's face with a picture of himself.
• Seahorse Steed: In Wild West Jellyfish Fields and Medieval Sulfur Fields, SpongeBob can ride seahorses.
• Selfless Wish: SpongeBob uses all the magic bubble soap to make wishes for his friends: giving Patrick “the biggest, ballooniest adventure of his life”, Squidward being appreciated for his art and for the whole world to see how amazing Sandy is.
• Sequel Non-Entity: Mermaid Man, Barnacle Boy, and Bubble Buddy are some of the few characters from Battle for Bikini Bottom to not be in this game. The former two are a result of their voice actors having passed away.
• Ship Tease:
  • In Pirate Goo Lagoon, Patrick’s thing for pretty mermaids returns full swing, as he quickly falls for one they meet there and is then on determined to become a real life pirate so that he can score a date with her. Even sweeter, the mermaid actually blows him a kiss goodbye before he and SpongeBob return to Bikini Bottom.
  • Whenever SpongeBob encounters Sandy or one of her alternate selves in another world or dimension, he will excitedly say, "Look, it's Sandy!" before clearing his throat and saying "I mean... Look, it's Sandy!" in a much deeper sounding voice, likely in an attempt to sound cooler in front of her.
• Shoo Out the Clowns: When SpongeBob and Patrick return to Glove World near the end of the game, the latter is almost immediately kidnapped by Glovey Glove, forcing SpongeBob to brave the creepy theme park by himself.
• Shout-Out: The supervillain Prawn returns as Admiral Prawn. Yes, they managed to change him from a Star Trek reference into a Star Wars reference.
• Stealth-Based Mission: The boss fight against Gary has SpongeBob trying to cut the monster snail's candy supply, all without being caught in Gary's crazed field of sight.
• Studiopolis: Has Karate Downtown Bikini Bottom, as a movie studio with a version of Squidward as its director.
• Super Drowning Skills: As in Battle for Bikini Bottom, SpongeBob can't swim in goo or jelly. Falling in will result in either Patrick pulling him out or SpongeBob drowning on the spot.
• Unique Enemy: After beating the level Prehistoric Kelp Forest, a small group of prehistoric crabs can be found close to Mrs. Puff's boating school. While these crabs also exist in the aforementioned level, there they are only present on slides. This small group of crabs is the only one in the entire game that can be hit normally.
• Universal-Adaptor Cast: As a result of being flung to the Wishworlds, any Bikini Bottomites save for SpongeBob and Patrick end up with new identities that fit the theme of wherever they are.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: The game allows you to hit NPCs you encounter, which will make them either yell out in irritation or pain. Doing this enough times awards you an achievement.
• Video Game Flight: SpongeBob is now able to glide using a box of Krusty Krab Pizza to catch the wind. In some levels, he also has access to a floating bubble surfboard to ride towards very large gaps.
• Virtual Paper Doll: You can dress SpongeBob up in various outfits, most of which are ones that he has worn previously in the series.
• Vocal Evolution: Compared to Battle for Bikini Bottom (which was recorded in 2003 and whose Rehydrated version reused the original recordings), SpongeBob's voice sounds noticeably deeper due to Tom Kenny aging after 20 years. In fact, not counting Mr. Krabs^note who was voiced by Joe Whyte in that game instead of Clancy Brown and Karen^note who didn't speak in Battle, all the returning characters sound different in some way owing to the voice actors' ages.
• Welcome to Corneria: Averted for the hub world mostly, where most minor NPCs or groups have at least two lines, one before the closest main quest is completed and one afterwards. However, the NPCs within a level don't change at all and will still talk about some looming threat on the second, even though the final boss was already defeated. It also applies to the random dialogue of SpongeBob and Patrick, which doesn't change at all during the game.
  SpongeBob: I've never seen a fish like this!^note Said the first time he encounters one of the Cosmic Jelly enemies, and also ten hours later after having defeated at least 100 of them
• What the Hell, Hero?: King Neptune shows up just before the final boss fight against Kassandra to show just how bad SpongeBob messed things up for Bikini Bottom.
  King Neptune: SpongeBob SquarePants, this time you've took things too far!
• Where It All Began: The story starts off with SpongeBob and Patrick going to Glove World in the opening cutscene, where they meet Kassandra and the story kicks off. Later on, a cosmically-corrupted version of Glove World acts as the game's final main level.
• The Wild West: One of the worlds is Jellyfish Fields in the Wild West. Prepare for faux shootouts in saloons, hectic chases, and an overabundance of cowboy jokes.