Invasion of the Lava King is a SpongeBob game that was featured on the Nickelodeon website before the site was overhauled and had nearly all its content deleted (fortunately, the game can still be found elsewhere on the internet, with all content intact). It follows the adventures of SpongeBob as he sets out to stop a powerful god with volcanic powers from destroying Bikini Bottom. The game is a top-down adventure game that plays similarly to older games from The Legend of Zelda.
Links[]
While the game's original page on the Nick website doesn't exist anymore, the game can still be found at:
Controls[]
- Arrow Keys: Move SpongeBob
- A: Use Primary Item, Talk to NPCs, Open Chest/Door
- S: Use Secondary Item
- Space Bar: Bring up/put away inventory menu
- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7: Switch between Secondary Items
Gameplay[]
Much like the games in The Legend of Zelda, Invasion of the Lava King is a top-down adventure game in which you explore worlds and search dungeons in order to obtain new items as well as keys to get into the world boss's dungeon. Each world contains a key to a boss's dungeon, which is split in half; the two halves are in separate dungeons. Upon finding both halves, the player can enter the boss's dungeon, after which they must find one more key to get into the boss's chamber in order to fight the boss. Once the boss is defeated, the player can move on to the next world.
Aside from that, there are also a few NPCs that can be interacted with. Patrick appears in certain dungeons and serves as the game's saving feature; talking to him is the only way to save your progress in the game, so make sure to talk to him often! Mr. Krabs, who acts as a merchant, can also be found out in the open and sells useful items. Additionally, Sandy and Squidward appear in the game with various sidequests, rewarding the player with health extensions when their quests are completed.
Worlds[]
- The Forest: The first world. A small grassy area with a few simple dungeons and weak enemies. Gas Coral is the boss of this world.
- The Reef: The second world, a larger area set in a coral reef zone deeper within the Lava King's kingdom. It has more dungeons and stronger enemies. Reef Slug is the boss of this world.
- The Dead Lands: The final world, and the most expansive. As it's the home of the Lava King himself, this area is filled with lava everywhere, and certain areas can only be reached by using the Magic Wand to freeze over certain lava rivers. The dungeons here are very large and labyrinthian, and the enemies are especially powerful. The Lava King is battled here.
Items[]
Pickups[]
- Green Pearl: Used as currency. Worth 1 pearl. Oddly, this is the rarest type of the pearl; there are only 10 of them in the entire game!
- Purple Pearl: The most common type of pearl. Worth 5 pearls.
- Orange Pearl: Worth 10 pearls.
- Key: Used to open locked doors and chests. SpongeBob can only carry 5 of these at a time.
- Boss Key: Used to open the door to a Boss Dungeon.
- Chamber Key: Used to open the door to a Boss Chamber.
- Krabby Patty: Restores 2 HP as soon as it's picked up.
- Health Potion: Stores itself in SpongeBob's inventory once picked up, can be used whenever the player sees fit. Restores 6 HP when used. SpongeBob can only carry 3 of these at a time.
- Sandy's Pickax: Can be given to Sandy in exchange for a health extension.
Weapons[]
Primary Weapons[]
- Spatula (Level 1 Sword): A basic melee weapon that does 1 damage point to enemies and can cut seaweed.
- Swordfish (Level 2 Sword): A stronger melee weapon that does 2 damage points to enemies and can cut coral.
Secondary Weapons[]
- Plate (Level 1 Shield): A basic shield that blocks enemies and hazards in front of SpongeBob; can block up to 4 points of damage from any enemy. However, SpongeBob can't move while using it and enemies can still damage him from the sides and behind. Can be equipped with the hotkey 1.
- Shell (Level 2 Shield): A tougher shield that blocks ALL damage, but has the same drawbacks as the Plate. Can be equipped with the hotkey 2.
- Sea Urchin: A throwing projectile that SpongeBob can chuck at enemies. Each Urchin does 2 damage points to enemies. SpongeBob can only carry 10 of these at a time; they can be found all across the game as pickups once the weapon is unlocked. Can be equipped with the hotkey 3.
- Volcanic Urchin: Just like a normal Urchin, except these ones do 3 damage points, fly further, explode on contact with an enemy or object, and can break rocks and cracked walls. Can be equipped with the hotkey 4.
- Boomerang: Weak weapon that deals 1 damage point to enemies, but is able to seek out and retrieve items that are out of SpongeBob's reach. Can be equipped with the hotkey 5.
- Neptune's Trident: Emits a shockwave that pushes enemies away from SpongeBob. Can be equipped with the hotkey 6.
- Magic Wand: Shoots out a massive magical blast that does 3 damage points, temporarily freezes any enemy made of lava, and can cool down some lava rivers. Can be equipped with the hotkey 7.
Doors, Barriers, and Chests[]
- Locked Door: Needs a key to open.
- Secure Door: Only opens once you defeat all the enemies in the room.
- Combo Door: A Locked Door and a Secure Door combined; opens once you insert a key AND defeat all the enemies in the room.
- Cracked Wall: Can be broken open with a Volcanic Urchin.
- Boss Dungeon Door: Needs the Boss Key to open.
- Boss Chamber Door: Needs the Chamber Key to open.
- World Door: An automatic door that only opens after you defeat a boss. Once opened, it leads to the game's next world.
- Seaweed: A low-level barrier that can be cut down with the Spatula.
- Coral: A stronger barrier that can only be cut down with the Swordfish. Blocks off important areas in the Reef and Dead Lands.
- Rock: Can only be destroyed with Volcanic Urchins. Blocks off important areas in the Dead Lands.
- Chest: A normal chest, can be opened right away.
- Locked Chest: Needs a key to open.
- Secure Chest: Can only be opened once you defeat all the enemies in the room.
Enemies[]
Forest Enemies[]
These enemies first appear in the Forest.
- Red Jelly: A toxic jellyfish that slowly floats around the screen, only dealing damage on contact. Has 1 HP and does 1 damage.
- Blue Jelly: A slightly stronger jellyfish that moves at normal speed. Has 1 HP and does 2 damage.
- Black Jelly: A tougher jelly that moves faster than normal. Has 2 HP and does 2 damage.
- Electric Eel: Large eel that slithers around in a circle. Occasionally discharges electricity throughout its body. You can sneak through an Electric Eel through the small gap between its head and its tail, but it's usually not a good idea to do so because of the electrical discharges. Attacking an Electric Eel with a sword will also damage SpongeBob because the sword will conduct the Eel's electricity. Has 6 HP and deals random damage.
Reef Enemies[]
These enemies first appear in the Reef.
- Brown Angler: An angler fish that slowly swims around the screen and tries to bite SpongeBob when he gets near it. Has 2 HP and deals 2 damage.
- Pink Angler: Moves at normal speed. Has 3 HP and does 2 damage.
- Purple Angler: Moves faster than normal. Has 3 HP and does 3 damage.
- Kelp Guardian: A creature made of kelp that stands in one spot and throws bombs at SpongeBob. Has 4 HP and does 2 damage.
Dead Land Enemies[]
These enemies first appear in the Dead Lands
- Black LavaBob: A SpongeBob clone made of lava that slowly walks around the screen and can spit lava balls at SpongeBob. Spits one lava ball straight ahead at a time. Has 3 HP and does 2 damage with direct contact; lava balls do 4 damage.
- Red LavaBob: Moves at normal speed and spits two lava balls that spread out diagonally. Has 3 HP and does 3 damage with direct contact; lava balls do 4 damage.
- Orange LavaBob: Moves faster than normal and spits three lava balls straight ahead, but takes longer to spit them. Has 4 HP and does 4 damage with direct contact; lava balls do 5 damage.
- Magma Mallet: A giant mound of lava armed with a sledge hammer. Doesn't move, but uses his hammer to deal a massive slam attack. Has 6 HP and does 4 damage with direct contact; the slam attack does 6 damage and stuns SpongeBob for a few moments.
Bosses[]
Gas Coral[]
A giant lump of sentient coral who is the boss of the Forest. He's able to breathe toxic gas, which he does for most of the battle. He alternates between sending out huge waves of gas that spread out across the room and spewing three little gas clouds at SpongeBob in quick succession. Occasionally, he'll also try to punch SpongeBob. Has 12 HP.
Reef Slug[]
A huge, gluttonous slug who is the boss of the Reef. He mostly uses melee attacks, which including biting and swinging his tail. Sometimes he'll also spit slime at SpongeBob to try and immobilize SpongeBob.
Lava King[]
The final boss of the game, fought in the Dead Lands. Surprisingly, he doesn't use very many lava attacks. The Lava King is able to constantly teleport around the room by melting into a puddle of lava and then reforming somewhere else - he sometimes uses this ability to try and reform where SpongeBob is standing to deal contact damage. Like Reef Slug, his fighting style consists largely of melee attacks, which include spinning kick attacks and slam attacks with his fists. The slam attacks can stun SpongeBob.
Trivia[]
- The game's title screen features an animation depicting SpongeBob running around the Forest dodging flaming meteors as they fall from the sky and hit the ground. However, neither the meteors or the specific area shown in the animation appear in the actual game.
- Invasion of the Lava King was released in three parts, each part adding on one of the game's worlds. However, rather than adding new worlds to the original game, Nickelodeon instead re-released new versions of the game that had the new worlds added, resulting in there being three different versions of the game in existence (Invasion of the Lava King, Invasion of the Lava King 2, and Invasion of the Lava King 3). Obviously, Invasion of the Lava King 3 is the ideal version to play as it has all the game's content.
- Although the three iterations of Invasion of the Lava King are treated as separate games, you can still access your save files from all three versions. However, it's important to make sure that you load your file on a version that supports the progress you've made (e.g. if you made it to the Dead Lands, then you should only load your file on Invasion of the Lava King 3 because that's the only version that actually has the Dead Lands content); otherwise, you will experience a glitch in which SpongeBob will spawn in the Reef Slug's chamber (with distorted graphics), but the Lava King will be there instead, and upon defeating him, SpongeBob will die.