He lives in a pineapple under the sea, and squiggles in stereoscopic three-dee, in his first outing on Nintendo 3DS. SpongeBob SquigglePants 3D includes a collection of more than 100 "nanogames" -- self-contained mini-games that take only a few seconds to play -- featuring characters and themes from the long-running Nickelodeon cartoon series. As in Nintendo's WarioWare collections, many of SpongeBob's nanogames are based on simple tasks with single-screen goals. The challenge is often less in performing the action correctly than in recognizing which is the correct action to perform, as the timer ticks down. A main mode of play presents an endurance-testing string of nanogames in quick succession. Touch-screen controls add to the immediacy, as players flip, tilt, and drag objects and characters, through seven themed game worlds. The proceedings are emceed by Patchy the Pirate, the live-action host of the SpongeBob SquarePants television show, making his video game debut.
