SpongeBob SquarePants (MugenJF's first version)

## Spongebob Beta0.1.0

SpongeBob being pit against Metool... wait, those hitboxes look awfully similar...

### Status

Partially lost

In 2007, MugenJF made two SpongeBob characters, both of them spriteswaps. The later version (aka Spongebob 2.0 Release EvolutiOn), which spriteswapped Sayuri from *Eternal Fighter Zero*, is easy to come by; on the contrary, **Spongebob Beta0.1.0**, which spriteswapped N64Mario's Metool, is anything but common.

## Known info

As stated above, this version of SpongeBob was essentially N64Mario's Metool with a coat of SpongeBob paint; neither the collision boxes, the sounds, or the coding were changed. Though it would appear all of SpongeBob's sprites were ripped from the GBA versions of *Revenge of the Flying Dutchman* and *Battle for Bikini Bottom*, in actuality, MugenJF took the sprites directly from UchihaCody's SpongeBob. This is evident by a number of things, including the choppy animations--UchihaCody's version only had 50 sprites to work with; the presence of some of UchihaCody's sprite edits, like SpongeBob unleashing a flurry of punches; and the fact that they shared the exact same portraits. Keeping in line with the SpongeBob theme, Metool's bullets were replaced with spatulas, and the Giant Metool sprite was replaced with a giant burger, meant to be a Krabby Patty. These accounted for almost every move in Metool's arsenal; it's uncertain if the sprites for Metool's armor mode were ever modified accordingly for SpongeBob, as the hyper that activated the mode does not appear in the video that showcased this particular version.

The only known video to have survived of this SpongeBob was a video uploaded by YouTube user GhostSonic titled "GS Mugen Specail: The "new" SpongeBob", which was an in-depth analysis of why exactly it was a spriteswap. The video was uploaded June 30, 2007, around the same time MugenJF put out the character. Archives of MugenJF's site more specifically reveal that the character was released sometime between the 3rd and the 30th of that month. A later archive, dated July 1, would contain a link to SpongeBob, as well as a since-deleted video that presumably contained more footage of him.

An archive of MugenJF's site from July 2, 2007 got rid of the video and crossed out everything related to SpongeBob, stating that it was canceled due to it being released without N64Mario's permission. Another archive, taken a couple days later, had completely erased any mention of the old SpongeBob, and the section that formerly contained it was replaced with MugenJF talking about how a new version was almost finished. On the 5th, MugenJF and ZaGa released Spongebob 2.0 Release Evolution, rendering the Metool spriteswap obsolete.

## Search efforts

Because of how scarcely-distributed the character was, the chances of it ever being found are extremely low, to say the least. While MugenJF's 4shared was known to host old works of his, it does not appear that this SpongeBob was on there at any point in time. As GhostSonic's last M.U.G.E.N-related upload was in December 2007, they most likely don't have the character anymore. However, it was in their roster as late as October 26, 2007, which shows that they at least kept it for a while. Either way, this Metool-SpongeBob hybrid is unlikely to resurface anytime soon.

## Trivia

* The burger sprite is taken from the "Burger Time" hyper in DDR's Popeye.

## Gallery

The character as seen in GhostSonic's rosterSpongeBob performing the Giant... Krabby Patty hyper (witty comment not included)Left: MugenJF's SpongeBob shooting out another SpongeBob, who happens to be in the middle of a furious punching spree. Right: UchihaCody's SpongeBob unleashing a furious series of punches
## Links

* The original download link
* A now-unavailable video that is presumed to have contained more footage of SpongeBob

## Sources

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 GS Mugen Specail: The "new" SpongeBob
2. ↑ Archive of the "chars.htm" portion of MugenJF's site from June 3, 2007. Note that SpongeBob isn't there, the page instead somewhat resembling a generic warehouse
3. ↑ Archive of the "Characters Mugen" portion of MugenJF's site from July 2, 2007
4. ↑ Archive of the "Characters Mugen" portion of MugenJF's site from July 4, 2007
5. ↑ Modification dates in the archive for Spongebob 2.0 Release EvolutiOn
6. ↑ Gs Mugen: Kohaku (Me) Vs. KFM/Metal KFM
7. ↑ Roster shown at the very end of GS Mugen: Kohaku (Me) Vs. Gold Yoma