Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania Review

The Return of The Rolling Rascals-A Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania Review

For this week I spent an absolute ton of time playing through the brand new Super Monkey Ball Remake, and I wanted to instead switch up the typical format of this review. Since this is a remake, I split this review into cohesive sections in order to compare it effectively to the originals. This review will be a little late for this week (sorry about that), but I wanted to take the time needed to evaluate all the content, and there a lot, that this game has to offer. 

Gameplay

This is finally the return of Super Monkey Ball we have all been waiting for. The gameplay is not bogged down by outrageous motion controls or gimmicks, it's just rolling around simple levels. It’s insane that it has taken the 20th anniversary of a series to have a good title since the series origins back with the first two titles-but here we are. 

Outside of a few tweaks to some overly frustrating levels, of which you can play their original versions if you want, every single level from the first two games and Super Monkey Ball Deluxe is here and playable. nd with that, the main objective remains as simple as it always was: get to the goal before the time runs out by tilting the stage in any direction you'd like.

Controls

This is probably my main point of frustration with this title. The unity engine is good enough at matching monkey ball in concept, but it fails notably in its precision. As much as it pains me, Amusement Vision’s original GameCube engine was so overtly precise and fast that it remains the premier way to control these games. Back then, and I’m very familiar considering I played a ton of the two originals in preparation for this game, a flick of the stick quickly corresponded to a flip in the stage in game. This led to a game so consistent and precise that surgeons performed more accurately in surgeries if they played it beforehand. This title features this awkward smoothing feature that completely removes the split second turns you were capable of in the originals, ruining some of the feel of those titles. And, due to this change, many of the most precise levels of the originals had to be changed in order to work here. It’s just astounding that SEGA are unable to faithfully recreate the controls of a game 20 years old now. 

There’s also a huge issue with how slopes are handled in this game. Unlike the consistent and momentum based feel of the originals, sometimes I found myself just walking straight up cliffs I wouldn’t have been able to. The most egregious of which I’ll include in the clip below: 

Visuals

I was extremely hesitant when I heard the remake was coming out, wondering how a visual overhaul would affect things. However, the new coat of paint is very pleasant, and looks wondrous most of the time. The UI is especially fantastic, with this new modern aesthetic that takes some pointers from Banana Blitz HD and it looks incredible. Every level transition is slick, fast, and dynamic-orchestrating this point home that this is about reliving what made Monkey Ball great.

I say most of the time because some levels are covered in jarringly ugly textures, that were clearly just poorly ai upscaled images from the originals. These really stick out at times considering the experience is mostly beautiful outside of these handful of blunders. I also believe these texture issues may be getting addressed in a future update, so I won't harp on it too much.

Content

This game is loaded to the brim with levels, all of which are faithfully and accurately recreated in this new engine. With over 300 levels, 12 mini games with multiple levels and a ton of depth, as well as a points shop for new modes there is plenty to do here for well over 20 hours of play time. It should be mentioned that each main level also has a few medals to obtain, which involve beating a level without the helper mode and beating it quickly. That shop also contains unlockable characters, some of which change the bananas in the stages to something more akin to their character (for example, Sonic collects rings instead).

I want to stress again that multiplayer party game mode, which I played with a friend and had much more fun than I expected. There really are a lot of stages and rules you can use for all the minigames in this mode, which I had no recollection of. I’ve seen many complain about the physics of the monkey target minigame, and I’d have to agree (something with the ramp is strangely coded and feels incorrect in this mode), but, despite this, I managed to enjoy it all the same.

I was really hoping for some sort of showcase of concept art of any sort, and was left a bit disappointed. Yet, the main game content is all here exceedingly so, and that is why this isn’t as big of an issue. 

Soundtrack

Again, this is another area that isn’t quite up to the originals. The remastered and remixed soundtrack is serviceable for sure, but I switched immediately to the original soundtrack (which you have to pay for, unreasonably so). A subjective point for sure, but it pains me that you have to pay to use the original soundtrack of a game being REMADE. 

Accessibility

There are a plethora of options to help out beginners, all are turned off by default. Jumping, which was an issue with the previous game Banana Blitz HD, is locked behind the points shop-thank god. 

However, every 5 deaths on any stage will put a pop up on your screen asking if you want to enable easy mode, no matter how many times you see it. With how many times you will die on harder stages, get used to seeing this once per stage throughout your playthrough. There is no toggle to disable this feature at all. While not an acute accessibility issue, with every other death the game will tell you you can press a button to save a replay (adding to the overall time it takes to retry a level). I have seen this godforsaken prompt a hundred times over and it only exists to pain you. And, lastly, the fall out animations of the originals are sped up, but still far too slow on repeated attempts of a level. Sure, these in and of themselves aren’t game breakers, but combined they are immensely frustrating on harder levels. 

Verdict

I’d say there’s two perspectives for this remake: that of those who are going in casually for the first time and those who want to revisit these classic levels and do all there is to offer. For the first group, I can fully recommend the remake, however, for the experienced fanbase this remake falls a bit short of expectations. Regardless, I’ve been so starved for monkey ball I still had a great time with this slightly rough around the edges remake. 

7/10-Slightly Disappointed, Yet Hopeful for the Future of Monkey Ball