The TVs in SpongeBob SquarePants: Titans of the Tide are one of the game’s few truly missable-feeling collectibles, even though they can all be grabbed in a single playthrough. Turn them all on and you unlock “The Wisdom” trophy and a secret David Hasselhoff musical moment that leans hard into the show’s stranger legacy.
The game hides ten TVs across four main areas: Goldfish Island, Neptune's Palace, Atlantis City, and Jellyfish Fields. Each one plays a short “wisdom” line when you interact with it — everything from “Dumb people are always blissfully unaware of how dumb they really are” to “In the right hands, mayonnaise is an instrument.” The lines repeat, so the important thing is the hardware itself, not the specific quote you get.
Titans of the Tide TV overview and trophy requirements
All ten TVs count toward a single trophy: The Wisdom. The structure is straightforward:
- There are exactly 10 TVs in the game.
- They are spread across four areas: Goldfish Island, Neptune's Palace, Atlantis City, Jellyfish Fields.
- Each TV can be turned on and interacted with multiple times, but it only needs to be found once.
- After all 10 are collected, a secret shrine with a David Hasselhoff TV performance becomes relevant for the trophy pop.
Nothing about them is permanently missable. You can return to levels and clean up later, but the TVs are easy to run past if you’re only chasing main objectives. They’re usually parked slightly off the golden path, gated behind light platforming, or tucked into side platforms that reward curiosity.
TV locations by area
The table below groups the TVs by the level hubs the game itself highlights: Goldfish Island, Neptune's Palace, Atlantis City, and Jellyfish Fields. Exact coordinates never appear on-screen, so the descriptions lean on environmental cues and repeated dialogue around each set of TVs.
| TV # | Area | Environmental cue | Typical SpongeBob/Patrick line |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Goldfish Island | Early platforming section where SpongeBob shouts “Watch me go” and you’re funneled past chests and shiny collectibles; first time you hear “Have you ever seen anything with so many wonderful knobs?” right before or as you reach the TV on a small side ledge. | “Have you ever seen anything with so many wonderful knobs?”, “Dumb people are always blissfully unaware of how dumb they really are.” |
| 2 | Goldfish Island | Later in the same island run, near ghost enemies (“Ghost time.”) and a chest that feels like it should be guarding something more important. A TV sits just off the main route; SpongeBob comments “Another TV and me without a remote.” | “Another TV and me without a remote.”, “Mind your laugh box, for he who laughs last laughs longest.” |
| 3 | Goldfish Island | In a segment where you’re nudged to use bubble abilities (“Bubbles away.”) to cross gaps. After a short climb and a “Nice wobbling, SpongeBob” line, the TV anchors a dead-end alcove. | “Every journey starts with a single step. So does getting lost.” |
| 4 | Neptune's Palace | Inside the palace complex once the game starts talking about the “royal bedroom.” You loop around circular corridors while Patrick and SpongeBob complain about getting dizzy. One of these loops hides a TV against ornate walls, near where Patrick marvels at all the “wonderful knobs.” | “A black leather jacket never goes out of style.”, “Have you ever seen anything with so many wonderful knobs?” |
| 5 | Neptune's Palace | Close to the golden hoard and fountains where someone remarks “This fountain is far too classy for commoners like you” and the smell of gold “is driving daddy crazy.” A TV is perched in view of the glittering gold, slightly off the main staircase. | “If you’re standing in the darkness, don’t be afraid to step into the light or just buy a nightlight.” |
| 6 | Atlantis City | In the city stretch where you see more ruined homes and Squidward’s house gets called out (“Look at Squidward’s house, Patrick. It’s ruined.”). The TV stands near environmental rubble and side platforms. | “If every part of your body hurts when you touch it, first check if you have a broken finger.” |
| 7 | Atlantis City | Further into Atlantis, near spots where Patrick worries about his rock and toothbrush, and dialogue about Spot going missing kicks in. The TV appears beside floating platforms that demand a short climb. | “Always follow your heart, unless your heart is bad with directions.” |
| 8 | Jellyfish Fields | Within the ghost-heavy sections where SpongeBob reassures Patrick they can handle “a few ghosts.” Near boiler-room style pipes and industrial props; a TV is mounted in an area that visually clashes with the natural fields. | “You are who you are, and that’s okay.” |
| 9 | Jellyfish Fields | On a more vertical climb across floating platforms and balloons, after multiple “Bubbles away” and “Call me air sponge” barks. The TV is perched on a platform that’s easy to overshoot if you’re rushing. | “Never leave the house without combing your chest hair.” |
| 10 | Secret shrine (Atlantis) | Accessed once the other nine TVs are activated. This shrine contains the David Hasselhoff TV and is tied directly to The Wisdom trophy and the full “wisdom” sequence. | Compilation of earlier wisdom lines, capped by the Hasselhoff performance. |
How the TVs behave once you find them
Each TV animates and plays a short audio snippet when you get close and interact. The game reuses the same pool of lines across multiple TVs, so you will hear the same “Have you ever seen anything with so many wonderful knobs?” or “Share your wisdom, oh wondrous television” more than once.
The important behavior details:
- TVs do not track unique quotes; progress is based on physical TVs found.
- Interacting again does not increase any counter; it just replays a line.
- The game uses nearby banter as a soft hint that you are close to a TV.
Those banter lines are the most reliable breadcrumbs while exploring. Any time SpongeBob or Patrick starts talking about “wondrous television,” knobs, or wisdom, you’re usually a room or two away from the next screen.
The Wisdom trophy and the David Hasselhoff TV
The ten TVs aren’t just flavor. Turning them all on is tied directly to The Wisdom trophy and to a short, self-aware tribute to David Hasselhoff. When the set is complete, the game directs you toward a secret shrine in Atlantis where a special TV sequence plays.
That shrine is treated like a payoff for paying attention to the weird advice sprinkled through the rest of the game. The same phrases you’ve been hearing — “Mind your laugh box, for he who laughs last laughs longest,” “In the right hands, mayonnaise is an instrument” — get reframed as part of a longer, campy moment anchored by Hasselhoff on screen.
The trophy logic is simple:
- Find and activate all TVs across Goldfish Island, Neptune's Palace, Atlantis City, and Jellyfish Fields.
- Reach the Atlantis shrine containing the Hasselhoff TV once all others are active.
- Trigger the shrine TV sequence to finish The Wisdom requirement.
How TVs fit into 100 percent completion
Titans of the Tide bundles every major collectible together for players chasing full completion: 130 chests, 10 TVs, gold balloons, Plankton challenges, health upgrades, and side missions. TVs are one of the cleaner checklist items in that mix. There are only ten, they’re tied to obvious hubs, and they tend to sit on visible platforms rather than deep inside puzzles.
They do matter if you’re trying to hit certain time targets for completion. A tightly routed run that grabs chests, gold balloons, and TVs in a single sweep can bring the Platinum trophy down to only a few hours of play, while a more relaxed run that wanders, watches all cutscenes, and cleans up later can easily stretch to dozens of hours.
The TVs themselves land somewhere between collectible and commentary: they’re a mechanical requirement for The Wisdom trophy and the Hasselhoff shrine, but they also function as a running gag about bad advice, dumb luck, and Bikini Bottom’s obsession with Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy reruns. If you’re already backtracking for chests and balloons, folding the TVs into your route is a low-friction way to make sure that gag pays off.
