The Monkey Ball series has been through some tough times – well, tough for games that simply see you manoeuvring monkeys in spheres around increasingly complex mazes anyway. It arguably didn’t get any better for the series than the very …
The Monkey Ball series has been through some tough times – well, tough for games that simply see you manoeuvring monkeys in spheres around increasingly complex mazes anyway.
It arguably didn’t get any better for the series than the very first entry, an arcade game ported over to the GameCube way back in 2001. It had a perfect difficulty curve, handled like a dream, and had some hugely fun party games on the side.
In many ways this entry – a celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the first game – encapsulates what’s gone a bit wrong with the series since.
It includes heaps of content and playable characters – some of the latter hidden behind a paywall, annoyingly – but lacks the purity of its now ancient predecessor.
This includes for the main campaign, which collects all the levels from Super Monkey Ball 1 and 2 together – as well as few others.
They all involve, as you almost certainly know, getting to the end goal before a time limit. You do this by tilting the maze and getting your monkey around, over, and past various obstacles – while collecting bananas as well of course.
The controls don’t feel quite as tight as the original game though, with the physics being slightly off. They’re stiff and a little sensitive, and occasionally momentum seems to shift wildly at strange occasions.
Fortunately this doesn’t make the experience unplayable. It may not feel as tight as the original, but the level design is still largely enjoyable – with a great variety across the stages in terms of the strategy involved. Some require speed, but others a slow and steady hand.
Then there are a range of party games, which range massively in quality – but are all loaded with content.
Sadly arguably the best of the bunch – Monkey Target, where you must pilot your flying monkey to hit targets on the ground – is affected a tad by the newer (looser) physics.
Again it’s not enough to make playing it intolerable, it simply lacks the refined elegance of the original iteration. There’s still enough alongside Target to have a great games night with friends though, with Bowling, Racing, and Gold particular highlights.
Ultimately Banana Mania is a lot of fun, and a solid starting point to those new to the series. Long term fans might find the changes to accommodate a wider audience just too bitter a pill to swallow though.
