I’ve been a big fan of the Super Monkey Ball games ever since the GameCube ones and the original arcade game (which was called just Monkey Ball and the joystick was a banana you had to hold…kind of embarrassing).  The series is still going strong today and SEGA recently released Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble on Switch.  So I though I’d do a little review of it and go over the mini-games and even talk about what’s in the “Legendary Banana Edition” you can get at launch.  So let’s roll!

The main mode is Adventure and it plays pretty much like all the other Monkey Ball games.  Just roll your monkey in a ball around the mazes and reach the goal without falling off.  It’s a lot like Marble Madness which is why I probably like it so much since Marble Madness is one of my favorite arcade games from Atari.  The whole game has a vacation motif, which I think is pretty neat.  I’m also impressed with the controls, which feel pretty precise, and they need to be for this kind of game.  Normally Switch JoyCon controls suck so I’m glad that’s not the case here.  You can play this mode with multiple players as well, and so far the game doesn’t seem to get ridiculously hard like in past titles and you can use a help feature if you fall off too many times.  This game also adds a dash feature where you can hold down a button and release it for a burst of speed.  Handy for rolling over ramps and such.

But the Super Monkey Ball titles are also known for their mini-games.  The ones on the GameCube were so good I never felt like I needed to get another soccer, bowling, or baseball game for that system!  Unfortunately I don’t think the subsequent games in the series have surpassed the quality of the original two GameCube titles.  Many are still good, but not as good as those.  Case in point: here in the newest game, there are only five mini-games and they are more online multiplayer focused.  You can still play them in single player, but they feel more tailor made for an online experience.  But we’ll go over them here anyway!

Race

Past Monkey Ball games have had a Race mode that was similar to how Mario Kart plays.  But here it’s just a race to the goal of a extra long course.  You can still get power-ups and the level will change to be easier for straggling players.  It kind of reminds me of Kirby’s Dream Buffet.  Except the levels here are way harder!

Goal Rush

For some reason, this one reminds me of Pachinko.  You roll down a slope and try to go through goals scattered about.  Some are worth more points, but are usually harder to get.  You can also claim goals for your team to get more points at the end.  Pretty clever and original for the series in my opinion.

Ba-Boom!

This one’s pretty much a game of timed tag.  A player starts out with a bomb on them, and you must tag another player to get rid of it.  If it explodes, you lose.  Players left over get a point and whoever has the most points at the end, wins.

Banana Hunt

Collect bananas in maze arenas and whoever has the most at the end of the time, wins.  Be on the lookout for banana clouds that can give you bunches of them!

Robot Smash

And finally, in this one you are in arenas with giant robots that don’t move.  If you smash into them and destroy them, you’ll get lots of points.  The bigger robots are harder to destroy, but they give you more points.  Whoever has the most points at the end of the time limit, wins.

And those are all the mini-games.  There are different arenas you can pick for each one, but some games have more than others.  They’re fun, but not near as much as the mini-games on the GameCube titles.

So I got the game near launch at Wal-Mart, and it was a “Legendary Banana Edition.”  I wondered if that was exclusive to Wal-Mart, but on Amazon they were selling a launch edition that looked to be the same thing.  It includes a code to unlock a banana suit costume, plus an ad where you can buy a pass to get characters from Sonic, Jet Set Radio, and Yakuza games in here to roll around with.  But I think the pass cost like 25 bucks, which is ridiculous.  I think that should’ve been in the game for free.  But anyway, here’s a bigger picture of the box.

My favorite part of this edition was it also came with a little booklet.  I always like when games come with print instructions or an artbook or something.

Inside on the first few pages are bios of the characters in the game.

Next are descriptions of the areas you’ll visit.

And last are some pages of concept art.

Overall it’s pretty cool so I’m glad I got the launch edition.  In the comments section, let me know what your favorite Super Monkey Ball games are!  Later!  –Cary

Tags: Game Reviews