Video Game / Around the Clock at Bikini Bottom

The Jelliens Strike Back!

Around the Clock at Bikini Bottom is a 2021 indie stealth adventure horror game developed and published by Dave Microwaves Games, Padre Snowmizzle (Credited as Snowmizzle Studio), and MXXN. The game was built using Unreal Engine 4. It centers around themes and characters from SpongeBob SquarePants.

The plot kicks off when SpongeBob and Patrick go to Glove World to see Squidward perform at a symphony. However, before Squidward can start, he gets a phone call from Mr. Krabs; the Jelliens have returned. Anyone who gets caught in the Overlord's nefarious crossfire become Jellien clones. SpongeBob, Patrick, Squidward, and Mr. Krabs manage to escape and hide out in the Krusty Krab. There, they begin to plan on how they can stop the Overlord and save their friends.

The game was released on March 1st, 2021. It can be played for free on GameJolt and itch.io.

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Game includes examples of:

• 100% Completion: If you find all of the collectables in the game and beat the final boss, there will be a post-credits scene that reveals the game to be a (non-canon) Stealth Prequel to another one of Dave's indie horror games; Strange Terror From The Deep.
• Abnormal Ammo: The Mayo Minigun. Justified in that Mayo is the Jellien's weakness.
• Aborted Arc:
  • The Prowler's ability to control minds is dropped after the Patrick's Rock level.
  • The Doodle Jellien vanishes after its debut cutscene and never gets a mention or appearance again.
  • Despite the Jellien glasses working quite well, they are abandoned after Barg'N-Mart.
• Adaptational Badass: Everyone you play gets to do some fighting action.
  • While the Jelliens themselves are no pushovers in the show, there's a lot more variety in the Jellien Caste in this game (Being very close to an eusocial alien caste) and each new Jellien type that is introduced is more dangerous than the last.
• Adaptational Nice Guy:
  • Squidward is much more of a Jerk with a Heart of Gold compared to his usual demeanor in the show.
  • Patrick is slightly less dumb and eventually reveals that he regrets everything horrible he had done to SpongeBob in the past and tries to make up for his actions.
  • Mr. Krabs is a lot less greedy and selfish than he is in the show, caring for his friends' safety and ditching his money when he fails to save his daughter Pearl, ultimately performing a Heroic Sacrifice to free the abducted citizens and to be with his daughter after her death.
• Adaptation Name Change: Glovey Glove from the episode Roller Cowards is referred to as "Right Glovey" in-game. Justified when Patrick refers to Left Glovey as "the new one", implying that Glove World decided to update their mascot(s) recently, hence the name change.
• Alien Abduction: The Jelliens have returned and are abducting the denizens and cloning them with malicious intent.
• Bathos: This is a horror game with a lot of genuinely scary moments, but at the end of the day, it's still a SpongeBob SquarePants game, too, and the main weakness of the enemies is mayo.
• Big Bad Ensemble: While The Overlord of the Jelliens is the main enemy of the game, Doodle Patrick is exploiting the chaos to enact his own revenge against the residents of Bikini Bottom.
• Bittersweet Ending: At the Bubble Bowl, the Overlord is killed and all the Jellien clones perish in the process. However, this comes at a great cost. Mr. Krabs covers himself in mayo and allows himself to be eaten by the Overlord. His fate is not left ambiguous, his broken shell lies among the Jellien goop after the horror is over and is later buried alongside his daughter.
• Butt-Monkey: Squid Doodle seems to be this, constantly being squished or killed.
• The Cameo: An Easter Egg in the Goofy Goober level allows Patrick to have a conversation with Sans. Yes, that Sans. And yes, they do the "Maybe it's the way you're dressed." line.
• Canon Foreigner:
  • Berry the Bear from the Shopping Nightmare and Strange Terror series. He appears in every level and will give you a Goofy Goober token if you find him, win a minigame against him, or some other condition depending on the level. Despite Berry's appearance in the game, Dave has gone on record stating that Around the Clock at Bikini Bottom isn't canon to Strange Terror.
  • Prince Jellien and the majority of the Jellien variants. In the episode Planet of the Jellyfish, the only Jelliens were the Overlord himself, the Pinkies, and the Overlord's army of clones. Here, not all of the Jelliens faced are clones or Pinkies.
  • Left Glovey from "9AM at Glove World". In the episode Roller Cowards, the only mascot Glove World had was Glovey Glove (i.e. Right Glovey). Justified and Lampshaded by Patrick when he refers to Left Glovey as "the new one".
• Canon Immigrant: While Doodlebob and Squid Doodle were both from canon episodes, Doodle Patrick is from Drawn To Life: SpongeBob SquarePants Edition.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • The Mermaid Man comic on the floor in Patrick's Rock, more specifically the picture that shows Mermaid Man saying "Fight Evil!" on it. Seeing it provides Patrick with the courage to take on his Starfishman persona to beat up the Prowler that's been tormenting him the entire level.
  • The gasoline that Patrick "sucked up" in Goo Lagoon. One would probably assume he meant to say that he siphoned it out of the tank but nope; he literally sucked it out with his mouth and drank it. This helps defeat Doodle Patrick in the Museum when the latter accidentally makes Patrick vomit the gasoline all over him, allowing Patrick to set him on fire.
    Doodle Patrick: You planned this, surely you must've.
    Patrick: Uh... no, not really.
    Doodle Patrick: Hm, fair enough...
• Chekhov's Skill: A twofer; at the beginning of Larry's Gym, Mr. Krabs tells Spongebob that he's fired if he doesn't get strong enough to lift a big jar of mayo, motivating Spongebob to go from lifting stuffed animals to lifting anchors in minutes. At the game's end, right before Mr. Krabs makes his Heroic Sacrifice, he tells Spongebob that he's fired if he doesn't throw the guitar up to him. It's at least several dozen feet, but the combination of the earlier-gained strength and the threat of being fired means Spongebob makes that throw no problem.
• The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard:
  • Sometimes in the Glove World Maze, the gloves start to pursue you when you're still traversing a rather sensitive area, like the pressure plates areas. If this happens, you're very likely doomed.
  • Doodle Patrick, in Spongebob's Pineapple. He can stand on an area you need to pass through, for long enough to DoodleBob to see you (or for Squid Doodle to get to you, which in turn brings DoodleBob to your location), and then teleport to the adjacent room, killing you if you try to escape, or leaving you to get caught if you wait for him to leave. Alternatively, he can appear on an area you're already standing under, which results in an instant, purpose-defeating death.
• The Computer Is a Lying Bastard: Downplayed; none of the Potty tips are 100% wrong, but they can be irrelevant to the level. For instance, Potty could warn you about Belchers before a level where there is none, causing you to pointlessly watch the ceiling and potentially miss other hazards like Prowlers or Nestlers. Ditto the Game Over Tips, which always relate to the level where you died but not always the specific thing that killed you—it's possible to die to Clone Plankton's boat attack and get a Game Over tip about avoiding his eye lasers.
• Controllable Helplessness: For quite a few levels, if you're spotted by an enemy, you're doomed to die. You can try to run around and hide all you like, but they’re faster than you and will not stop chasing you until they catch you. The earliest example of this is in Glove World, where if you step on a pressure plate trap, you get swarmed by Red Menaces, with the Game Over message related to the death outright saying "you are simply doomed". If you try to be clever with a couple spots, like trying to hide from Pearl in the basement where she normally can't enter, they'll simply teleport to you for an instant game over.
• Crossover:
  • With the Shopping Nightmare and Strange Terror series. See Canon Foreigner above.
  • Dave and his friends appear a few times in the game (there's also their characters, such as an Easter Egg containing Boofie).
• Darkness Equals Death: In the Rock Bottom minigame, you need to ward off monsters with a unique flashlight. Failing to do so results in your demise.
• David Versus Goliath: One of Mr. Krabs's levels has him take on a giant Jellien clone of Plankton with nothing but his wits and a Mayo Minigun.
• Developer's Foresight:
  • 3451 Anchor Way:
    • Attempting to enter the basement or roof after Pearl awakes and starts chasing you will result in her instantly teleporting over and killing you.
  • Tentacle Acres:
    • Using an exploit to make Patrick never spawn in the stealth segment will cause Patrick to angrily scold you in the cutscene after successfully sneaking into the complex.
    • Running into one of the paths in the Botanical Gardens instead of down the path will result in the Iron Dogfish vaulting over the wall to follow you.
  • Sandy's Treedome:
    • Attempting to enter or exit the tree once Sandy is awake will instantly cause her to teleport over to your location and kill you.
• Elevator Escape: You can evade Big Lenny in the Squidward's Monument level by ducking into the elevator and traveling to another floor, at least until he knocks out the power.
• Extremely Short Timespan: The events of each level takes place within a single hour, Glove World being the first (at 9PM) and the Krusty Krab, Rock Bottom, the Museum, and the Bubble Bowl being tied for last (at 9AM), meaning the entire game spans the course of only 12 hours, with one of those hours (4AM) having nothing happen.
• Face Death with Dignity: Mr. Krabs, covered in mayo and ready to get eaten by the Overlord to kill it from inside, gives Squidward and Patrick a smile and a nod before jumping in.
• Foil: Doodle Patrick is the polar opposite of the real deal. Whereas Patrick is a bit dimwitted and rash, but genuinely cares about his friends and will put himself in harm's way for them, Doodle Patrick is smart and calculating, but is also selfish and cruel to the point that he erases Doodlebob for befriending the real Patrick.
• Formula-Breaking Episode: The Krusty Krab, instead of having to explore an area while avoiding several threats to eventually finish the stage, tasks you with defending the restaurant from a Jellian Clone of the Hash Slinging Slasher. It also lacks any Goofy Goober tokens or Golden Spatulas, and instead has multiple difficulty levels to complete to ace the stage.
• Game-Breaking Bug: Why the 32-bit version of the game was abandoned.
• Gameplay Ally Immortality: Anytime you have an NPC ally either following you or standing around somewhere, they remain completely invincible to the world around them, meaning you only have to worry about your own survival. For example, in Mrs. Puff's boating school, Jellien Puff won't react at all if the student you're escorting out is in her line of sight and in the same level, the Anglers won't react to Squidward if they wander too close to the lighthouse and shine their light on him.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: Squidward's status as The Chew Toy comes in handy when he has to power on a few generators by touching them while luring a Pinky Jellien into shocking him.
• Gender Flip: In Roller Cowards, Glovey Glove is referred to using male pronouns. Here, Right Glovey is referred to using female pronouns. Patrick implies that Glove World had updated their mascot recently, which could explain the gender change.
• Genre Shift: The game swaps between action, adventure, and horror a lot, but some parts completely change the game. Patrick's boss fights turn the game into a boxing fight, and some of Mr. Krabs' fights turn the game into essentially a first person shooter.
• Golden Ending: Downplayed. Mr. Krabs still sacrifices himself to destroy the Overlord, but if you get an S ranking on all of the levels, his claw will be holding the Krabby Patty secret formula, heavily implying that Mr. Krabs entrusted it (and by extension, the Krusty Krab) to SpongeBob before his death.
• Have a Nice Death: The "GAME OVER" screen has the enemy that killed you staring down at you (or, if you died to an environmental obstacle, a fishhook hooked onto an image relating to how you died), with a tip also being displayed to help you next time.
• Heel–Face Turn: DoodleBob towards Patrick (the real one). Unfortunately, DoodlePatrick won't let this stand.
• Hypocrite: Doodle Patrick tells Patrick of all the times he's been there and supported DoodleBob compared to Patrick's own treatment of SpongeBob in the past despite having erased DoodleBob for going against him by protecting Patrick. Patrick isn't having any of it.
• Instakill Mook: The majority of the game's enemies cause instant death if they get you.
• It's All Junk: After losing Pearl to the Jelliens, Mr. Krabs discards all the money he gathered on the side of the road before driving away, taking only a musical locket with a picture of his daughter.
• Kick the Dog: Doodle Patrick cruelly erases DoodleBob as he tried to protect Patrick for being much more of a friend than his Doodle counterpart. Granted, Doodle Patrick implies he'll redraw him later, but it definitely wasn’t a pleasant experience for DoodleBob.
• Left Hanging: At the end of the game, Berry teleports into the Strange Terror universe and gets into a scuffle with Captain Harry, before text appears explaining Berry's story will be continued in Strange Terror From The Deep's major update, which ended up being cancelled.
• Made of Explodium: Typically anything to do with mayonnaise.
• Mêlée à Trois: There are a total of three factions against each other in the game: the Bikini Bottom heroes consisting of SpongeBob, Patrick, Squidward and Mr. Krabs; the Jellians consisting of the Overlord, his army and their various clones, and lastly the Doodles, consisting of the Doodle versions of Patrick, SpongeBob and Squidward. Each faction are against each other and will sabotage the other to win.
  • In the Mermalair episode, there are four factions involved: the aforementioned three factions, and the Supervillains consisting of Man Ray, Dirty Bubble, Sinister Slug, Prawn, Jumbo Shrimp & Sneaky Hermit, and Atomic Flounder. The villains plan on using the chaos to their advantage to plunder the sea of its riches. Heck, Dirty Bubble kills the Mermaid Man and Barnacleboy clones before the villains deal with the heroes.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Most if not all of the secrets that can be found and interacted with are references to certain episodes from the source material.
  • "3AM at the Krusty Krab" is a reference to Dave's other SpongeBob-based horror game of the same name.
  • The two secret collectibles in every level are Golden Spatulas and Goofy Goober Tokens.
• Never Wake Up a Sleepwalker: In the 3451 Anchor Way level, Pearl serves as the main threat, in which she sleepwalks and becomes very angry and chases you once she's woken up.
• No Fair Cheating:
  • Downplayed with the cheat codes. You're free to input as many cheat codes as you want should you happen to find any. However, if you go through with enabling any of the following cheat codes, the Trophies section of Extras menu will have a giant red "CHEATER" over it.
    • "Unlock all Golden Spatulas"
    • "Unlock all Goofy Goober Tokens"
    • "Ace all levels"
    • "Unlock all minigames"
    • "Unlock all levels"
  • Played Straight with the Spatula Door. In the Tutorial level, there's a sentient green door that only opens when the player has all 15 Golden Spatulas. If you walk through the door without meeting the spatula requirement and try to grab the chest behind it, the door will reprimand the player and punish them by disabling their movement and crashing the game, stopping just short of erasing your save file because he wanted to be nice. If the player closes the game while he's in the middle of his rant, the next time they open the game, the door will punish them further by actually erasing their save file and dropping the F-bomb. See it in action here.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Played for Laughs. In the opening cutscene for Goo Lagoon, when Mr. Krabs learns that Patrick had sucked up his boat's gasoline to store their mayo in the tank, he proceeds to beat the shit out of him. After the cutscene, you can even see Patrick slumped over in the boat with a black eye and stars coming out of his head. And if you talk to Mr. Krabs, he'll imply that he's going to continue kicking Patrick's ass after he wakes up.
  Mr. Krabs: Go scout out those establishments, Mr. Squidward. I need to finish me conversation with this kelp-for-brains.
• Non-Indicative Difficulty: Downplayed. Most of the levels have stealth in common, and the given difficulty ratings give you a general idea of what to expect, but the wildly varying mechanics complicate things; a level rated "Intense" could be on par with or easier than a level rated "Easy", if the former has a mechanic you're good at and the latter has one you struggle with.
• Non-Lethal K.O.: If Squidward gets caught in the Weenie Hut Junior, its manager will simply throw him outside rather than kill or capture him like other enemies would do. Justified since he is not in cahoots with the invaders and has Skewed Priorities on his mind.
• Non-Standard Game Over: If you fail a certain objective that doesn't result in the main character dying, the game over screen says "YOU FAILED" instead of "GAME OVER".
  • Two notable examples include letting SpongeBob get kidnapped in Glove World and letting Patrick get caught when escorting him in Tentacle Acres. Instead of showing Left Glovey and a Squid guard respectively, it instead shows the captured character cloned into a Jellian.
• Off with His Head!: By the time Mr. Krabs finds Pearl at the Museum, the Overlord has already eaten her head, leaving her body behind.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Any person that has watched SpongeBob know how greedy Mr. Krab is, favoring money over many things and people. After he kills the Jellien that took the appearance of Pearl, he leaves behind the money he gathered in favor of a photo of his daughter when she was little.
• Pædo Hunt: In Barg'N-Mart, if you bump into a child clone, your suspicion meter will immediately be filled up and everyone in the store attacks you, implying that for as evil as they are, the Jelliens have a zero-tolerance policy on child predators (At least, ones that are part of their kin).
• Papa Wolf: Pearl is one of many people abducted early on in the game and Mr. Krabs is absolutely determined to rescue her. She is dead by the time you reach the Museum.
• Rotating Protagonist: Depending on the level of the game, you either play as SpongeBob, Patrick, Squidward or Mr. Krabs. Sometimes with one of the 4 being the Deuteragonist of a chosen level.
• Sequence Breaking:
  • This game's BLJ equivalent is crouch jumping, a tactic where pressing crouch and jump at the exact same time will cause a higher-than-normal jump that allows the player to get on top of several furniture and low wall items.
  • In Tentacle Acres, activating the button to lower the bridge is unnecessary, as correct timing means you can just jump over the river without needing a bridge.
  • Also in Tentacle Acres, the player can crouch jump onto the hedge maze walls to run over the entire thing. Patrick will get stuck navigating the maze, providing you with enough time to run through the alarm wall Patrick normally activates, and allowing a good portion of the courtyard to be skipped.
• Shout-Out:
  • There are a few references to Uncle Al, with easter eggs referencing some of his Spongebob videos. These include Canned Coochie and S Q U A R E. Squidward's wanted poster in the Salty Spitoon also says he busted a nut, referencing a gag from Al's videos.
  • In Patrick's mindscape, you can find S A N T I A G O.
• Sleep Deprivation: Discussed. In the opening cutscene for Larry's Gym, if the Uncensored Filter is enabled, SpongeBob will point out that it's been eight hours since the invasion started and none of them have gotten any sleep. While Mr. Krabs and Squidward can sometimes be seen napping during some cutscenes, SpongeBob and Patrick aren’t so lucky. However, the intro card for Larry's Gym does say that they took an hour to rest, so they probably got some sleep in during the 4AM hour (i.e. the only hour that is skipped in-game).
• Stealth Prequel: To Strange Terror from the Deep. However, Dave himself claims that it's a non-canon example.
• The Stinger: Unlocked after 100% Completion, a post-credits scene shows that there's a (non-canon) connection to one of Dave's indie horror games Strange Terror From The Deep.
• Too Dumb to Live: Probably a given since this is Patrick we're talking about, but in the opening cutscene for "7AM at Goo Lagoon", Mr. Krabs' boat suddenly dies during their drive. Mr. Krabs begins to blame Squidward before Patrick chimes in to say he stored their stock of mayonnaise in the gas tank. Cue Mr. Krabs beating Patrick senseless.
• Tragic Keepsake: Mr. Krabs keeps a locket with a picture of his daughter; he looks at it once after he initially loses Pearl to the Jelliens, and then again right before his Heroic Sacrifice, having learned in the time in between that Pearl had been killed.
• Wham Shot: When Mr. Krabs and the others arrive at the Museum, Mr. Krabs sees Pearl's decapitated corpse hanging from the Museum's ceiling.
• Wide Eyes and Shrunken Irises: Mr. Krabs gets these when he finds Pearl's headless body hanging from the Museum's ceiling.

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