Nicktoons MLB is a baseball game for the Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo DS, and 3DS. that features both Nickelodeon's Nicktoons and real life MLB players. It was developed by High Voltage Softwarenote and published by 2K Play. It is pretty much a Spiritual Successor to 2K's arcade baseball game The Bigs, to the point that it actually runs on The Bigs' engine.
The game features all 30 MLB teams and the following 23 Nicktoons charactersnote :
- From SpongeBob SquarePants: SpongeBob SquarePants, Patrick Star, Sandy Cheeks, Larry Lobster, Flying Dutchman
- From Danny Phantom: Danny Phantom
- From T.U.F.F. Puppy: Dudley Puppy, Kitty Katswell
- From The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius and Planet Sheen: Jimmy Neutronnote , Sheen Estevez, Nesmith, Ultra Lord
- From Fanboy and Chum Chum: Fanboy, Chum Chum
- From Avatar: The Last Airbender: Aang, Katara, Toph, Prince Zuko
- From Invader Zim: Invader Zim, Gaz Membrane
- From The Ren & Stimpy Show: Ren Hoek, Stimpy, Powdered Toast Man, Shaven Yak
- From Monkey Quest: Hiro Mightypawnote
Here's the trailer for those who are interested.
This game provides examples of the following tropes:
- All There in the Manual: The baseball cards for all the playable Nicktoons have a short explanation of what brought them to the game or what they are currently doing.
- Announcer Chatter: Brought to you by Perch Perkins and GIR!
- Ascended Extra: Jimmy Neutron cameos on a loading screen in the Wii/360 versions, before becoming playable in the 3DS version.
- The Cameo: Many of the Nicktoons from the represented series who didn't make the roster appear on in-game baseball cards. Other Nicktoons characters whose series didn't make the cut, period, appear on the loading screens. George Liquor from Ren & Stimpy is also among the cameos, even though he was owned by John Kricfalusi rather than Nickelodeon itself.
- Cuckoolander Commentator: GIR, naturally.
- Continuity Nod:
- One of the ads that can be seen in some of the stadiums says "Chum is Fum", a reference to the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Chum Bucket Supreme".
- When Dudley hits a turbo pitch, he frightfully asks "Was that thunder?", a reference to his Fear of Thunder in the T.U.F.F. Puppy episode "Thunder Dog".
- Cool Versus Awesome: The perfect game for a boy who likes Nickelodeon and his MLB-loving dad. Or the perfect game for anyone of any age who loves both Nicktoons and Baseball.
- Elemental Powers: As expected, of Avatar: The Last Airbender characters, their characters' hits and pitches cover the ball in their respective element. Like the other Nicktoons, this is just an aesthetic effect and doesn't change how the ball works when its flying or an opponent catches it. They also bend in their intros.
- Blow You Away: Aang.
- Dishing Out Dirt: Toph. Oddly, unlike the other Avatar characters, she doesn't use bending in her intro.
- Making a Splash: Katara.
- Playing with Fire: Zuko.
- Everything's Better with Rainbows: SpongeBob's hits and pitches cover the ball in bubbles, with a trailing rainbow.
- Fear of Thunder: Dudley will asks if he hears thunder when he hits a turbo pitch.
- Go-Karting with Bowser: You can play baseball with Zim and The Flying Dutchman!
- Gotta Catch 'Em All: The baseball cards, which are collected as you play the game. They don't do anything.
- Ground-Shattering Landing: Ultra Lord's intro.
- Idiosyncratic Difficulty Levels: The three difficulties in order of easiest to hardest are Rookie, Pro and All-Star.
- Lazy Artist: Almost all of the baseball cards reuse already existing artwork of the characters featured. This is also true for some of the characters who make cameos on the loading screens.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Gaz comments that she feels like he's in a video game:Gaz: "This feels like a... video game... somehow."
- Massive Multiplayer Crossover: For the Nicktoons characters.
- Original Generation: Along with featuring every single MLB team and player active at the time, Nicktoons MLB has six Nicktoons-themed teams consisting of fictional players: The Goofballs, The Sonic Booms, The Raccoons, The Meteors, The Boppers and Comeback.
- Punny Name: The human players on the fictional teams, with such gems as "Billy Buntz".
- Roger Rabbit Effect: One of the game's more interesting aspects.
- Say My Name: Subverted. Characters will say their own name when you select them on the character select, but they don't shout it. Also, Ultra Lord sometimes says "Ultra Lord!" (but not too loudly) when there is about to be a turbo pitch.
- Sidelined Protagonist Crossover: Sheen is a playable character in this game while Jimmy is reduced to a cameo. Justified that. he's specifically representing his spin-off series. This become averted when Jimmy becomes playable in the 3DS version.
- Sliding Scale of Silliness vs. Seriousness: The game takes itself pretty seriously despite the concept. Except for the commentary.
- Straight Man and Wise Guy: The commentators Perch Perkins and GIR, respectively.
- Suckiness Is Painful: One of the loading screens features Squidward playing the clarinet and Jimmy Neutron singing, with some MLB players and Nicktoons holding their ears in pain.
- Vocal Evolution: Due to it having been three years since Avatar: The Last Airbender ended, Katara (Mae Whitman) and Toph (Jessie Flower) sound older and noticeably deeper.
- Weird Crossover: Various Nickelodeon cartoon characters with Real Life American Major League Baseball players. And some fictional players made for the game.
- Your Size May Vary: Among other things, SpongeBob is leagues bigger than his canonical size (about half an ice cream sandwich).