What do these four cartoon characters have in common? What could possible draw all four of them into one large adventure?

An evil plot by their worst villains, of course.

In Nicktoons Unite, each of the four major villains from the cartoon worlds of Spongebob, Danny Phantom, The Fairly Oddparents, and Jimmy Neutron have united together for one grand cause. Jimmy Neutron, the obvious thinker of the four, binds together each world’s hero in an attempt to thwart their dastardly counterparts. Using his special know-how, Jimmy and the others travel to each world, doing battle against hordes of ghosts, jellyfish, and more in an attempt to defeat the forces of evil. Each world contains three stages, and each finishes with a boss fight relative to the world that you are currently in (such at Plankton in Bikini Bottom).

Nicktoons Unite actually looks pretty decent on the Nintendo DS. The graphics are top notch, with each world and character possessing a feel and appearance similar to how they look on TV. Each world represents a location from one of the four characters, and they are all faithfully represented in a similar fashion to their TV counterpart. Even the music has a bit of the theme from each show, and as a whole, the look and sound of the game should feel incredibly familiar to fans of the cartoons, and will most likely appeal to the target audience, that being young children.

Unfortunately, the level design and platforming aspects are all horrible. The camera controls are reminiscent of the first Kingdom Hearts, to use as an example, where you’ll be using the two shoulder buttons to spin the camera in the appropriate direction. There’s no vertical axis to be found, so it can become pretty tricky when you need to jump from one delicate platform to the next, which happens quite often. Every stage is heavy on platforming, with some weak combat put in, and due to the not quite responsive controls, they each end up incredibly maddening. I can’t imagine a younger player sticking with the game for long, even with the mass appeal of their cartoon heroes, as the game is bound to aggravate the young and old alike.

The mechanics involved with the gameplay are well thought out, with each of the four heroes having their own specific abilities and special powers that you’ll be putting to use in almost every level. Spongebob, for example, can jump and then float threw the air to reach distant platforms, while Timmy can produce a bush to hide in for points in the game that require stealth. For some odd reason, Spongebob and Jimmy Neutron share the same special power (one uses a rocket pack, while the other a huge bubble to ascend to greater heights), which is a shame considering that Danny Phantom and Timmy Turner are both unique in their functions.

Using the touch screen in Nicktoons Unite is a bit of an annoyance at best, and definitely seems like more of an afterthought than anything new or revolutionary. Its simple purpose is to switch characters and activate your special power. It can be a bit of a pain to activate the special power and control your character at the same time, and that awkwardness can cause you great problems when it comes to navigating platforms or small spaces.

While team ups and/or mash ups can be a lot of fun, poor design and controls have managed to defeat that purpose here. Even if you have a young child who absolutely adores all the characters here, I’d have to suggest avoiding this title, for fear it might cause them to think twice about turning on Spongebob in the future. While the presentation looks pretty, the core of the game is quite rotten.