Spongebob Squarepants- A Move: Inflate Y Attack: Bubble Spin Y Air Attack: Headbang (jump), Sponge Dive (double jump) X Move: Bubble Blow Combo Move: Inflate carry (3 Shells) Attack power is okay, and the inflate is a quick, easy way to activate switches and destroy smaller enemies (like Jellyfish), but it can't damage other kinds of enemies. His strongest attack is the Sponge Dive, but your goto attack for normal enemies should be the Headbang. The Bubble Blow is useless except for hitting a switch on a wall in Atlantis, which can be ignored anyway. The Sponge Dive increases his speed slightly, but has endlag when he lands with it. The endlag can be cancelled by immediately switching to the other character, jumping, and switching back to Spongebob.
Patrick Star- A Move: Push Blocks Y Attack: Star Twirl Y Air Attack: Star Spin X Move: Hip Slam Combo Move: Ninja Star (25 Shells) His ground attack is weak, and he lacks a double jump, but he moves faster than Spongebob when carrying something and is able to jump while holding an item. Trying to push when there's no block nearby causes him to get confused for a moment, so avoid that. His Star Spin is very weak, but good for taking out jellyfish without losing time. Ninja Star is one of the strongest moves in the game, second only to Sandy's Karate Bomb. Hip Slam is best used in the Atlantis Escape, but can be a good strategy in the Volcano fights if fighting with Sandy is proving difficult.
Eugene Krabs- A Move: Open Chests Y Attack: Slow Claw swipe Y Air Attack: Claw Twirl X Move: Melody dig Combo Move: Krab Mower (3-1 Shells per half-second) His ground attack should never be used under any circumstance whatsoever. His air attack is basically a split second version of Patrick's that slows his momentum for a moment. The X Move digs up melody shells, which takes a bit of time so it's useless in a speedrun. Krab Mower cuts grass and can be used to fight enemies as well. The best things he can do are jump with grabbed objects (much like Patrick), open chests when needed, and his Krab Mower is one of the best Combo moves cost wise.
Sandy Cheeks- A Move: Karate Chop Y Attack: Karate Combo Y Air Attack: Karate Kick (jump), Karate Punch (second hit, double jump) X Move: Karate Powerup Combo Move: Karate Bomb (40 Shells) Ground Attack looks flashy but is really weak. Her jump attacks are a lot better, and should be used instead. Karate Chop is used to break structures with a Sandy thought bubble on them. Karate Powerup increases her movement speed, attack power, and flashiness of her attack combo for a limited time, but the charge time and amount of time the buff lasts make it useless (except maybe in Co-op mode in a few places). Her Karate Bomb is the strongest move in the game, but it should be reserved for the Clockwork Guardian due to it's cost and slow activation.
Squidward Tentacles- A Move: Arm Extend Y Attack: Dancing Y Air Attack: Jump Kick of Destruction X Move: Clarinet Solo Combo Move: Octo-Copter (2 Shells per half-second) Ground attack is useless. Arm Extend is basically a glitched grab that lets him grab things from a long distance. This can be used for a crazy but useful glitch in a Newgameplus run (link coming soon). His Jump Kick is arguably the best air attack in the game, as it has amazing power, bounces him off the enemy to let him attack again repeatedly OR reach areas he shouldn't be able to. Clarinet is useless. Octo-Copter is basically Krab Mower minus the utility, but it's useful in the Volcano against the Fire Jellies.
