[Music],nostalgia is a funny thing at a time,when remasters and remakes are all the,rage seeing old favorites come alive in,new ways can be comforting but sometimes,nostalgia makes things from the past,seem better than they actually are,sadly the latter is the case with super,monkey ball banana mania an enhanced,remaster that compiles over 300 levels,from previous super monkey ball games to,celebrate the series 20th anniversary,as it turns out monkey ballin just isnt,as much fun as it used to be,[Music],super monkey ball bananamania involves,rolling your way through hundreds of,stages with increasingly difficult,obstacles early stages might be as,simple as rolling from one end of a path,to the other collecting bananas along,the way later on youll find your monkey,pals being hurtled through the air,teetering along paper-thin bridges,navigating moving platforms and so on,the gamecube era graphics have gotten an,overhaul so its cartoony art style is,more vibrant than ever because its a,mashup of several super monkey ball,games there appears to be an almost,overwhelming amount of content at first,theres the story mode originally seen,in super monkey ball 2 which is less a,cohesive campaign than it is about 100,levels spread across 10 worlds loosely,stitched together with brief dialogue,free animated cutscenes,challenge modes from the first two super,monkey ball console games appear as well,although the separate modes have some,startlingly similar courses,challenge mode doesnt feel,significantly different from story mode,gameplay wise but the twist is that you,cant pick up where you left off you,have to get through all of the challenge,stages in a single sitting the problem,with the story in challenge modes is,that after 30 or 40 levels they both,begin to feel like a slog the difficulty,in story mode really ramps up around the,halfway point going from a light and,breezy challenge to a frustrating,exercise and failure very quickly and,while the environments and backgrounds,might be fun and colorful much of the,playable level design is repetitive and,uninspired the further you get the more,it can feel like a chore after finishing,a tricky level theres no satisfying,adrenaline rush that accompanies,overcoming a challenge just a sense of,relief that its finally over,completing levels is how you earn points,which can be used to unlock new,characters outfits and gameplay modes,joining the initial six character roster,of ii and his monkey menagerie are,familiar faces from other sega games,like sonic the hedgehog and jet set,radios beat playing as one of these,characters even changes the bananas on,each level to items from their,respective games which is a thoughtful,touch the super monkey ball franchise,has always been at its best as a party,game and that continues to be the case,with bananamania party mode has a dozen,mini games and most of them have,surprising depth for example the mario,kart s monkey race game has 12 different,tracks and multiple game modes another,point in party modes favor is same,system multiplayer a rarity in a time,when everything is online gathering a,few friends for a night of monkey,nonsense is far more enjoyable than,playing the straightforward story mode,on your,[Music],own with over 300 stages and a dozen,party games super monkey ball banana,mania has plenty to do but not all of it,is fun its levels quickly become,repetitive and frustrating and the,bright cheerful environments and silly,characters arent enough to combat the,tedium when you consider the various,gameplay modes difficulty levels ranking,challenges and unlockables it could take,dozens of hours before you see,everything though youre likely to run,out of momentum long before that point,its much more enjoyable as a,multiplayer party game so stick to party,mode or skip it entirely,for more check out our reviews of i am,fish and toehum and for everything else,stick with igm,[Music],[Applause],[Music],ready
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania Review – Return to Monke
in the span of just over two years weve,gone from super monkey ball being a,forgotten relic of segas past to being,a relevant ip once more with two new,games on the shelves for those of you,that dont know i am a massive fan of,monkey ball,or at least,i am a fan of what it once was back in,the gamecube days super monkey ball 1,and 2 were essential to anyones,collection they took the concept of,guiding a ball to its destination in a,labyrinth and manifested themselves into,explosions of creative brilliance,amusement vision used their high speed,game engine to create levels that were,all abstract anomalies of design just,from looking at some of these levels you,can probably understand what i mean they,tested accuracy speed momentum generally,using the environment to your advantage,and those environments were endlessly,varied each level was a fresh challenge,and almost no two levels looked alike,spirals slides gears seesaws bowls,corkscrews even things i cant put a,name to anything that could potentially,make for a spectacular and frenetic,display of physics puzzle solving went,in all of this wacky stuff and all you,really needed to complete these levels,was an analog stick this is where the,depth of super monkey ball lies you can,tilt the stage with such finesse to,either guide your monkey to its,destination or send it flying towards,the goal in a seemingly impossible,fashion as a feat of human ingenuity,while super monkey ball 1 and 2 are some,of my favorite games of all time the,same cannot be said for its subsequent,follow-ups banana blitz sacrificed the,unparalleled accuracy of the original,control scheme for motion controls as a,wii launch title and as a result the,levels were forced to change as well,they resembled something more akin to,monkeyballs initial inspirations and,lacked any concrete identity whereas in,the original games every single level,had a very distinct look and feel to it,that and the game implemented a momentum,shattering jump button as well as guard,rails for automatically correcting your,mistakes now at the time i thought this,would only be a temporary switch in,order to fit the wiis motion controls,but this became the standard for monkey,ball and it drove the series into the,ground,although,from what i understand this was a,conscious choice made in an effort to,appeal primarily to kids and families,and the developers always wanted to,revisit the original games philosophy,on level design for years super monkey,ball was a dormant franchise until the,series made a surprise return in 2019,with banana blitz hd it was a means of,testing the waters they had a limited,amount of time and money to work with,and the end result was a mixed bag the,lack of motion controls made most levels,even easier while other levels that,worked solely because of the motion,controls were replaced but thankfully,the game was successful enough to,warrant the existence of super monkey,ball banana mania which brings together,all of the levels from super monkey ball,1 2 and deluxe and includes quality of,life improvements new features and more,in an effort to reintroduce super monkey,ball to the world,banana mania is a golden opportunity for,the franchise its been a long time,since the brand was active and with the,effort sega has put into marketing this,thing as well as the care that the,developers took in crafting it things,are finally looking up,sega was actually kind enough to give me,a code for this game so ive had plenty,of time to evaluate its place in the,franchise,to tell you the truth im shocked that,they reached out i was really bitter,towards bananablitz hd in the past and,ive learned a lot in the past two years,im not nearly as uh blunt as i used to,be,anyway thanks for choosing me sega i,dont usually do these kinds of videos,but i couldnt pass this game up lets,see if bananamania makes the most of,this golden opportunity,super monkey ball banana mania goes out,of its way to be more succinct and more,coherent than deluxe ever was while also,delicately tweaking the game to be more,accessible for newcomers and more,replayable for veterans,super monkey ball 1 and 2 have their,challenge modes divided both by game and,by difficulty which is a far cry from,the ridiculous sizes of the challenge,modes and deluxe for some reason deluxe,thought it would be a good idea to lump,levels from across the three games into,its three main difficulties making for,these massive and largely bloated,endurance runs rather than using the,standard 10 for beginner 30 for advanced,and 50 for expert deluxe went with 40,stages for beginner 70 for advanced and,a whopping 100 for expert and thats,excluding the extra levels keep in mind,in order to unlock the extra levels in,each difficulty youll have to beat each,difficulty without using a continue,imagine limiting your deaths across a,hundred of monkey balls hardest levels,all lumped together,its not easy thats why bananamania,took the sensible approach in preserving,the challenge and experience that comes,with each previously compiled challenge,mode and you can unlock the deluxe,levels in their own separate mode by,spending your bananas thats the other,thing 100 bananas wont get you an extra,life as this game completely nixes the,live system the bananas you collect are,for unlocking characters modes and,customizable cosmetics for the monkeys,this is actually where theyve,quarantined the jump feature which is,pretty funny to see if you feel like,seeing how you can break the game its,there for you to unlock while it would,have been nice to have the option to,toggle lives i understand why theyve,done this it was pretty demoralizing for,a continuous run of challenge mode to,die toward the end of your playthrough,even if you feel yourself improving with,each attempt as the story mode of super,monkey ball 2 demonstrated you dont,necessarily need a life system to keep,monkey ball compelling simply completing,the level was an accomplishment in and,of itself,this means that the extra levels,corresponding to each difficulty are,included in their respective challenge,modes as long as you can reach them just,like the originals if you give up on a,challenge mode run at any point youll,have to start from the beginning next,time so in a sense the spirit of the,original arcadey philosophy of monkey,ball is still alive you cant give up on,the run at any point if you want to,reach those secret levels but even if,you do the experience youve gained from,those previous runs will stick with you,either way this gave me a chance to,experience levels that i could only,watch videos of on youtube as they were,previously too hard for me to reach like,the master levels i was finally able to,play some of the hardest and best levels,from some of my favorite games and im,incredibly grateful for that,going back to super monkey ball 2 story,mode that was also included in banana,mania in full while the presentation may,be simplistic in order to save on,development costs the experience from,super monkey ball 2 has been preserved,throwing yourself at all of these levels,and restarting as many times as you like,is still just as fun as it once was and,a small selection of levels from across,the game have been subtly tweaked to,reduce their insane level of difficulty,including the infamous arthropod they,actually managed to make arthropod,tolerable simply by making the goal,stand up straight if youd like to play,these levels in their original form you,can still unlock them with your bananas,there are also challenges for meeting,all sorts of criteria across the various,modes and levels which net you even more,bananas the replay value is through the,roof here and as it stands this feels,like a definitive collection of the best,that monkey ball has to offer,oh and in case youre wondering most of,the minigames are at their best here in,banana mania there are some unfortunate,oddities though monkey billiards forces,you to play with a computer player,whereas the origi
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania Nintendo Switch Review – Is It Worth It?
[Music],super monkey ball is an incredibly,simple idea poor little monkeys are,trapped in airtight balls they can,probably breathe but it isnt specified,and all you have to do is roll them to,the goal yet somehow the original two,games in the expanded deluxe took that,premise and moulded it into one of the,very best games ive ever played,everything was polished to a shimmering,gleam the stage design the visual and,audio feedback and most importantly how,it feels to move in 3d space but every,single one of those points is something,the series has severely struggled with,since it has come close to those beats,of grayness but more often than not its,hitting incredibly low lows so how is,such a simple idea executed so poorly,repeatedly well it all comes down to the,engine in the first games everything,works as you would expect so much so,that finishing the game in a linear,fashion is more like the tutorial the,meta of monkey ball is exploiting the,stages moving the monkey in ways the,developer likely never even intended,check out some speedruns if you havent,before people do bananas things in these,games this also extends to the party,games which may seem like completely,different experiences but whether youre,playing billiards or flying through the,sky at monkey target the importance of,physics and momentum is still at the,forefront of the entire experience,its been 19 long years since monkey,ball 2 and ive gone to finish every,game in the series out of admiration for,i loved in the past even though for most,of them its been a pretty bad,experience but the future has never,looked so promising super monkey ball,banana mania is here and aims to bring,everything we love about the originals,back just with the new coat of paint and,a ton of quality of life improvements,the heart is clearly here everything,looks right,and thats why i heard so much to say,that this isnt quite the return to form,we were hoping it would be,banana mania is a good game and if this,is your first time diving into the,series youll probably still have a lot,of fun but unfortunately its remaking,something that we hold to an incredibly,high standard and it must be judged by,those standards my first impressions,were positive the game greets you with a,banger of a theme song and as you jump,into the story or challenge modes youll,be taken straight back to the launch,days of the gamecube they remade all 300,stages across monkey ball 1 2 and even,the new stages of deluxe as faithfully,as possible only a few minor changes,here and there and if you dont want any,changes theres an unlockable level pack,presenting them exactly as they were in,their original states content-wise,theyve thought of everything the,original games only had four playable,characters but the base roster of banana,mania has been tripled to 12. not,counting dlc yan yan and doctor are,obvious inclusions but less obvious are,beat from jet set radio and kiryu from,yakuza whats more they feel strangely,at home rolling around in balls remember,jam and jet of course you dont they,debuted in monkey ball 3d and werent,even fully playable in their own game,just a few party games no one played,because they were very bad wed be,surprised if anyone has any love for,these characters but the fact that,theyre here is amazing this truly feels,like a passion-filled celebration of,monkey balls 20-year legacy this clearly,isnt some cheap cash-in to make the,most of assets lying around from banana,blitz hd its undoubtedly the best,monkey ball has been since deluxe but it,all comes back to that engine the,originals physics were so precise and as,soon as you boot up monkey target and,banana mania its clear something is,very very wrong you still roll off a,ramp and use your ball as a set of wings,to glide your way towards the target but,it simply doesnt feel right you can,probably see it doesnt feel right the,movement is no longer an extension of,the main game its loose and messy worst,of all the physics and the momentum feel,cheated if you simply walk off the ramp,as slowly as possible the game will,still play a launch animation as if you,ran off you wont get very far but the,animation is part of the problem even,when running properly at full speed the,jump of the ram feels scripted as you,jump off you have no control and it,doesnt feel good the satisfying,momentum is gone if youre a fan of the,series you know how important monkey,target is im sure plenty of us have,played it more than the main game and,its incredibly disappointing to say,this version isnt good enough its,better than that found in banana blitz,and banana splits but its not one of,the best multiplayer games of all time a,high standard to me for sure but whether,its fair or not that is the standard,other party games fare a little better,monkey bowling can still be a lot of fun,with his wacky special lanes and while,monkey fight doesnt feel quite as good,it can still be decent fun almost all of,them come with little caveats they are,fine and when playing with friends,youre bound to still have a good time,but they no longer feel like theyre cut,from the same cloth as the main game and,thats what made them so fun in the,first place and thats a shame because,in comparison the main game actually,holds up very well the stages are still,incredibly well crafted and while the,engine isnt flexible enough to pull off,every outrageous skip you can still,exploit them in fun and chaotic ways,treated merely as a fun romp banana,mania can be very enjoyable and theres,plenty it does even better than the,originals in monkey ball 2 story mode ii,was weirdly the only playable character,even though the rest of the cast was,right there in the card scenes but now,players anyone you want even hello kitty,if thats what you desire when you fall,off or start a stage it now takes mere,moments to get back the flows much,faster and the accessibility features,are awesome you can slow down the game,speed double the timer and display,arrows showing exactly where the goal is,these are entirely optional but greatly,appreciated for those who need them this,is far from a waste of a remake its,filled with great ideas that improve the,surrounding pillars of monkey ball and,if anything its just great to have a,game on the switch there isnt banana,blitz weve all had moments where we,found ourselves in a tough position to,physically move around and turn the,camera but now just move it freely the,default sensitivity is a little low but,crank that thing up and it starts to,feel really good although in some,instances cranking it down can be,helpful too a particular path was too,narrow to cross but bring the,sensitivity all the way down to the,bottom allow me to line myself up,perfectly there are more options than,theres ever been and theyll make the,experience more pleasant to be honest we,were initially excited by the absence of,lives but it does impact the enjoyment,of challenge mode the extra flaws used,to be a reward for those who made their,way through without a continue for those,who have mastered and memorized the,entire set but now theyre a jarring,difficulty spike for everyone no matter,how much youve mastered the courses you,can fall and fall and fall but the set,wont finish until youve played the,hardest levels in the game that is,unless you use the accessibility options,in a sense it robs it off purpose but,not completely however the game features,leaderboards and these completely change,the competitive dynamic were proud to,say that as of this review we are,officially the greatest monkey ball,players in the entire world that is,until all of you played the game,suddenly challenge mode makes far more,sense when youre attempting to perfect,each stage as fast as possible the skill,ceiling is bound to be high but,competing with friends thats going to,be heated for me online ranking is,bananamania at its very best the,developers are truly encouraging you to,break the stages as best you can it,absolutely has its pos
Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania Review – The Final Verdict
[Music],my,just in time for super monkey balls 20th,anniversary were getting banana mania a,new entry in the series that features,remastered content from the first three,major console games all wrapped up in,the presentation of a sort of best of,compilation from its many levels bonus,characters and multitude of party games,and challenge modes bananamania is quite,the comprehensive package for super,monkey ball fans and a perfect entry,point for newcomers there are basically,two types of people those who like super,monkey ball and those who have no idea,what it is yet it looks like bananamania,is more or less trying to satisfy both,with this inclusive collection of monkey,ball levels and modes no matter what,form it takes the delightfully goofy and,approachable gameplay of the super,monkey ball games has always been,something that anybody who likes fun can,enjoy it might not keep you glued to,your couch for days on end but at the,very least its always been a good,choice to burn a few hours at a time,bananamania seems to know this and leans,into the more successful levels and,modes from across its many many games,because of this fans of the seriess,offshoots like banana splits might feel,a bit left out but since the game plays,it a bit safer with being populated by,the greatest hits its still pretty hard,to not have a good time with it that,crowd-pleasing approach might come at,the cost of some depth though some of,the mini-games do feel a bit overly,simplified monkey target in particular,seems to have lost some of its nuance in,ways that are hard to describe but are,definitely there whether this was a,purposeful design choice or just a,byproduct of unity being used for,development for the first time in the,series will ultimately be irrelevant to,old school fans looking for an,immaculate return of the exact same feel,from the early 2000s that said the,differences are generally lateral ones,and never really felt inherently better,or worse than what i remember its just,a little different and perhaps a tad,easier if you take anything away from,this review let it be that despite some,scaling back of technical subtleties,bananamania still plays great and,provides a fun experience across the,board the main game is probably where,youre going to want to jump in first,here youll see several familiar worlds,all containing several levels that can,be played on multiple difficulties,including an assisted mode that,telegraphs the safest path to the goal,and lets you play in slow motion which,doesnt really give you that much of an,advantage control wise as your tilting,commands are still in slow motion but it,can help in tough spots where precision,is key although if you use this mode you,wont be rewarded nearly as much,speaking of precision newcomers might,not realize the wide array of level,types that monkey ball games can throw,with them sure youve got your linear,speed driven levels with ramps and,slopes to use to your advantage but,youve also got a healthy dose of more,technical levels with moving platforms,and various hazards where accuracy is,paramount one small mistake might send,you falling out of the level and,starting back from the beginning so its,incumbent on you to change up your,mindset accordingly and rise to each and,every challenge,[Music],with that wide array of level types also,comes a reasonably large scope of,difficulty some levels might stump you,for an hour while you completely breeze,through others but most are of course,somewhere in the middle the fact that,the difficulty increases arent always,straightforward and the game can spring,surprisingly difficult and easy ones on,you at seemingly any time is a nice way,to keep things engaging and surprising,after so many games being released in,the series at this point im not shocked,to see such a refined sense of pacing,and variety for the games mainline,levels but im just as glad as ever that,its here bananamania is much more than,just a campaign though a fairly beefy,list of party games await you that add,some spice to the general gameplay,including kart racing style races tennis,bowling golf target and several others,that long time fans should recognize are,represented well and are mostly fleshed,out well enough to be enjoyable,diversions bowling and racing are the,standouts in my opinion but theyre all,worth a try they even have their own,reward systems that give you more coins,for doing better at them in various ways,and just generally mastering their ins,and outs you also have mission levels,with specific goals and online time,rankings so between that the beefy,campaign and fairly comprehensive list,of mini-games the sheer amount of ways,to play monkey ball in banana mania is,perhaps its greatest strength i also,cant continue without shouting out the,assortment of customizable items that,can be purchased including shirts hats,and even ball collars whats more,several characters from other notable,sega ips are here like sonic beat and,kazuma kiru all of which change the,collectible bananas to objects from,those characters worlds i.e sonic,collects rings beat collect spray paint,cans etc although i was a tad,disappointed that you cant customize,the bonus characters the way you can the,canon monkey ball ones which was a,letdown to discover as i really wanted,to put some sunglasses in a sega shirt,on sonic oh well,[Music],as we should expect bananamania looks,and runs great the timeless art,direction and level design cues that,made the franchise such a standout in,arcades and home consoles 20 years ago,is lovingly translated here and its,just as effective as it ever was rocking,the entire level back and forth at such,a brisk pace while maintaining,semi-realistic physics was a formidable,challenge for the gamecube and ps2 but,now clearly isnt even remotely an issue,running buttery smooth on ps5 is,something that id be shocked to not see,but for what its worth any graphical,hitches or frame rate drops that i might,have experienced were too subtle for me,to notice so no complaints there while,some of the backdrops might leave a bit,to be desired in terms of fancy lighting,or post-processing effects the loud,color schemes of monkey balls various,worlds and landscapes still pop nicely,and that is the most important thing it,also helps that the musical cues are,often either reminiscent of tunes from,the past or fit right in with them as if,they were always there,[Music],the bouncy melodies of monkey ball games,were never really much to write home,about on their own but still fit the,wacky visuals perfectly so its nice to,see the soundtrack treated with equal,respect here super monkey ball gameplay,has always reveled in its simplicity and,liberal twists to the format that are,introduced throughout their games in,recreating that idea with a,comprehensive collection of modes and,levels that worked best throughout the,franchise super monkey ball bananamania,is largely a success while notable its,hard to get too hung up on some of the,more subtle drawbacks with simplified,physics and some of the franchises more,unique ideas not being represented,ultimately bananamania might be a bit,more aimed at newcomers than returning,fans but given its smorgasbord of modes,levels and thoughtful touches here and,there youd be hard pressed and not have,a good time with it,and that brings us to the end of the,video a quick request we upload new,videos every single day and if you like,what were doing please consider,subscribing it really really helps us,out also dont forget to enable all,notifications by clicking the bell icon,so that you can receive daily video,updates thanks for watching
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania – REVIEW (Switch & PS5)
[Music],nope,nope,oh come on,come on come on,dang it,oh,oh,wait yes yes,okay got it whoo,these are just some of the things i,found myself muttering while rolling,bouncing and speeding my way through the,latest monkey ball game,super monkey ball banana mania is a,celebration of the series 20th,anniversary and is essentially a remake,of 2005s super monkey ball deluxe which,itself combined the best elements of,super monkey balls 1 and 2 from a few,years earlier with over 300 levels a,story mode plus all 12 original,multiplayer minigames hundreds of,missions to complete new characters and,even more extra content its clearly,packed with a ton to do to keep players,busy but its not easy,especially since this is actually my,first monkey ball game ever i was eager,to find out if the satisfaction of,clearing each challenge was enough to,entice me to stick with it or if the,game slipped up on its own banana peels,and functioned as little more than a,dated relic well lets find out the,story mode is where i spent a good chunk,of my time featuring a hundred levels,within the loose trappings of a story,but unlike the original story in deluxe,which featured fully animated,pre-rendered cutscenes and an actual,plot to follow here in banana mania its,reduced to a series of short comment,like animations that the monkeys are,watching on television before,flying off into space,okay im not really sure whats,happening here to be honest but the,start and end of each world feature a,short cut scene of ii and company,dealing with dr bad boone,and thats about it really,its almost more like a recap or short,summary of the original story than,anything else,as someone who never played the original,game i found that itd be cute little,shorts even if they didnt really amount,to much beyond adding some vague context,for each of the world settings,though cute i mostly found myself,skipping them to continue on to the next,actual level and they are a,disappointing step back compared to the,full cut scenes of the original game for,those new to the series players tilt the,world itself using the left stick,thereby making the character roll,through it through the power of gravity,its pretty much a big marble puzzle,requiring careful finesse as you roll,down long straightaways manage tight,corners or navigate a busy map filled,with holes and other obstacles to,carefully avoid all the while carefully,managing your speed so you dont,overshoot and go flying off the ledge,except in cases when you need to,but unlike most marvel puzzles this one,is actually fun a lot of fun while it,took me a couple of attempts to,understand exactly how it worked the,core gameplay is far more fun than i was,expecting it to be and fans of the,series are sure to feel right at home,the physics feel good and really test,the limits of the level design as well,making what appear to be gentle slopes,be far more dangerous than they seem the,controls are smooth and responsive and i,always felt in control of my actions at,least when i wasnt launched away by,some obstacle while the motor controls,were a little too sensitive for my,liking prompting me to leave them off,the button controls were where i felt,the most comfortable,speaking of toggleable controls theres,also an optional jump button its the,most expensive item to purchase in the,point shop but once unlocked it can be,turned on or off in the options menu,this allows the player to well jump,helpful for crossing gaps or making an,even faster attempt at the end goal of a,level keeping it off preserves the true,veteran monkey ball experience but i,gotta say it definitely helps to have,every level could be completed without,it so its an entirely optional,option maybe i like to challenge myself,but i havent been using it too much,personally when it comes to the levels,themselves they get pretty difficult,pretty fast world 4 in story mode was,among the most frustrating constantly,alternating between levels i found,either overly simple to ones that left,me stumped for longer than id like to,admit,then i reached world 7 and world 8,and began to find myself stuck in worlds,for hours,even my husband who is both more,familiar with monkey ball and also,significantly more talented at puzzle,games than i am was finding himself,stuck in some of these more complex,levels,and thats the thing i came to learn,super monkey ball is difficult and its,not afraid to amp up that difficulty on,the fly,and dare i say thats part of what makes,it so much fun,while i may definitely have needed to,step away for some time after just,constantly throwing myself off the edge,even the most frustrating levels were,eventually fun to solve,sometimes my husband and i would sit,down and figure out a level together,figuring out a best plan of action to,complete it ignore the bananas and focus,on reach of the goal quickly or follow,the exact path laid out by the bananas,or focus on maintaining a set speed when,i took my time to patiently learn and,understand each level even if through,trial and error i always enjoyed it the,satisfaction of finally clearing a,difficult challenge before seeing what,new one would take its place,was exciting and i was consistently,anticipating a fun challenge out of it,all this rain true even beyond the main,story levels for both the various,special modes or challenge levels,reverse mode swaps the start and end,goals of levels challenging the player,to remember specific levels and figure,out how to solve them in reverse these,got pretty difficult fairly quickly but,offered a nice spin on things,dark banana mode turns to bananas rotten,adding even more obstacles to avoid in,already difficult levels while these,were fun i already tend to focus more on,getting to the gold as quickly as i can,rather than collecting bananas so it,didnt actually change that much for me,original stage mode brings identical,replicas of some stages from the,original games and these are hard i,could barely complete any of these but,boy am i looking forward to overcoming,the challenges that these present,these are just some examples of the,extra special challenges that await you,theres also challenge modes from super,monkey ball one and two which are so,difficult i was barely able to clear the,normal difficulty of each and i couldnt,get past the expert let alone whatever,two difficulties laid beyond that,waiting to be unlocked,while the main levels are definitely,made to get more and more difficult as,you go,really testing your skill and what,youve learned up to that point the,other modes werent as generous,if you arent ready for the challenge,offered by these different modes you,will get stuck,quickly,this rolling rage game isnt only,defined by its package 300 levels though,theres also 12 multiplayer party games,to enjoy some are on the simple side,like monkey race which is quite,literally just a rolling race through a,course against other opponents or monkey,billiards which is literally just,billiards,some are a bit more complex like monkey,target,some are incredibly short and quick like,monkey fight while others can be quite,long for even one round like monkey,baseball,whether you want to play alone or with 4,local friends theres clearly a lot to,play with in the party games its just a,shame that they cant be played online,though while theres a large variety to,choose from to suit your needs im,rather mixed on many of these party,games some are genuinely very fun like,monkey billiards fight and bowling and i,thoroughly enjoy them when playing with,friends bringing out the competitive,energy of everyone collectively getting,more excited as the game goes on,theyre easy to understand and jump into,so anyone can play my personal favorite,was monkey fight where its all about,punching your opponents off a platform,its just quick hectic and silly on the,other hand theres quite a few party,games i found to be more,annoying or simple either taking far too,long to call it a quick round or being,rather unbalance
How Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania Saved The Franchise | A Brief Retrospective
[Music],there is one thing that im clearly not,doing enough of on this channel and that,is talk about my love for super monkey,ball these games have a really special,place in my heart dude see look i have,all this physical media to prove it its,not just that the original games were,super good and ive been suckered ever,since its that as an entire series,theres actually quite the interesting,lineup here listen sega has now,monopolized the mania title in gaming,you know you make a bunch of,controversial sonic games and then you,publish sonic mania and save the day,well the record is now two for two,because as far as im concerned super,monkey ball banana mania is exactly the,thing the franchise needed,obviously it is the release of banana,mania that inspired me to take a look,back at the entire series and you know,what big shout outs to sega they,provided me a review code for the pc as,well as these switch versions of banana,mania and man i am so happy between,sonic colors ultimate and now monkey,ball banana mania you guys got me good,this holiday season alright,im eating good this year but a lot of,time has passed since the series first,started a lot of you guys probably think,oh yeah you know we got those two,classic games a couple of mid-tier,titles here and there and then banana,mania happened,no,things are a little more dire than that,so there are two distinct eras of the,super monkey ball timeline there is the,classic era with the monkey ball arcade,game super monkey ball one and two on,the gamecube and deluxe on ps2 and xbox,and then everything else happened and oh,boy this series took no time to get from,the all-time great puzzle game status,that it had to just oh no i imagine by,now youre all familiar with the premise,of super monkey ball you pick your,adorable monkey of choice and you tackle,a series of challenging obstacle course,stages to go for your best times your,best banana count go for secret exits,really you can tackle these games any,way you want and that is awesome when,any game out there has a sick,momentum-based physics system it really,elevates things man this game feels so,so good a casual run is really fun but,then you take a look at whats possible,with some people like the speedrun,community getting their hands on this,and oh oh my god are we playing the same,game here and it is that combination of,excellent physics with the great,aesthetics that keep super monkey balls,special its not like theres any,shortage of marble rolling games out,there to choose from theres the core,olympic games on the wii marble it up is,a really fun one on the switch theres,this indie game on steam called rolled,out thats wearing its influence on its,sleeve and that is really really cool,but in my opinion nothing has quite been,able to replicate the rush of a really,well executed monkey ball level man this,series,man it started off so good dude and the,party games those are fantastic too you,would probably assume that these little,sports minigames in a side menu for a,puzzle game would be a bit of an,afterthought but there are 12 unique,party games to be played here,specifically monkey ball 2 and theyre,all surprisingly really fleshed out and,are just awesome just full stop monkey,target is an obvious standout here this,game has stood the test of time and it,is a consistent treat for gaming with,buddies or even solo its so good the,others though are no slouches baseball,tennis golf,man billiards all these modes all these,modes are so good i will say though the,story mode in game two yeah that was,that was pretty weird the evil dr bad,boon has taken all the bananas from,jungle island and thanks to the hero,squad of ai mimi baby and gongon,performing a,trippy and visually endangering dance,ritual you progress through enough goal,rings to stop his evil plans its weird,its just a weird thing man you see in,the original game as well as one of the,side menus of monkey ball 2 theres just,a series of levels based on difficulty,you just plow through them arcade style,its a ton of fun but here theres a,story with actual progression and,theres also this one time where you see,bad boones feet,thank you,but i have said this many times by now,man dumb shoehorn story modes and puzzle,games are my jam and this is no,exception i could just try to be the,best at the time limit but i kinda also,want to save the world at the same time,and this game lets you do that now as,you are already well aware these are the,games that are the basis for the biggest,game the franchise has seen in years,bananamania but in reality boy they they,sure kept chugging along after this,alright,now one could say that ii has had a bit,of a rough history since his jump away,from the gamecube you could say that,listen here alright im gonna keep,reusing this joke until were all so,numb to it that were able to bury it,six feet under where it belongs,super monkey ball junior did you ever,want that classic precision based monkey,ball rolling formula but this time on,the game boy advance what do you mean no,this is certainly,technically impressive but yeah as you,can expect this controls like garbage,sure there probably is no way to make it,not feel like garbage on the game boy,advance but i mean,they also didnt need to make the game,you know they did go ahead and pour this,game to the n gauge a year later so you,know clearly,they didnt care from the start then we,got super monkey ball touch and roll,how did this title screen get past the,esrb this is the title that introduced,the new art style the series uses,nowadays and it actually did a much,better job adapting the monkey ball,style to a handheld so thats cool the,touchscreen controls work pretty well,but even if you use the d-pad it,actually plays kind of fine but most of,the levels here are from one and two and,you know its cool that its portable,now but if you wanted something new here,youre gonna be a bit disappointed also,after every single world is an,unskippable credit sequence,why why is that a thing,they did include a first person shooter,deathmatch mode though so alright that,now the game is top tier then we got,super monkey ball banana blitz at the,wiis launch and it added a jump button,why,maybe this was just a kind of appease to,the mass markets that we was striving to,get at the time but this one simplifies,things to an annoying degree no longer,are the levels these obstacle course,challenges but something more akin to a,traditional platforming stage because of,the jump button every world even ends,with a boss fight its so weird this is,easily the worst part of the game boss,fights are the last thing this series,needed on its own though i will admit,its actually not all that bad all these,years later this is still one of the,better uses of the weirmotes tilting,technology and if game feel is important,to this series i think this game still,nails that but it doesnt come anywhere,near close to the highs of the gamecube,titles precision and a mastering of the,momentum-based physics made those first,games so special so its admirable that,they knew you werent going to get that,precision with a wii remote and they,built a different style of levels to,compensate for it but when the game does,require that precision,yeah no i will say though the soundtrack,is great just filled with fantastic,songs from top to bottom they were not,holding back with the music this time,around that is the best part of the game,the party games though,oh oh boy remember how i said the second,game had 12 party games and they were,all really fleshed out so as a result,they were really fun well,how about 50 super shallow ones,oh god this is simply a very clear,indicator that the developers were,trying to capitalize on that early we,hide man 50.,50. did we really need 50 minigames on,top of a full story mode i think the,developers implemented any single idea,that they could possibly think of and,figured out how to add motion controls,and pointer controls to them an
Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania Review – Noisy Pixel
[Music],super monkey ball has always been an,outlier even during its debut 20 years,ago its initial console titles were more,akin to arcade experiences opposing the,conventional norms that were well,expected during that era however across,each entry the series seemed to lose,that spark of what made it so endearing,in the first place in a surprising,release sega is getting back to basics,with the release of super monkey ball,bananamania this game has been boasted,to be a long overdue return to form for,the franchise remastering all the stages,that had us fall in love with ii and,friends in the first place thankfully,after spending extensive time with it i,was filled with the same thrilling,experience that i remember the game,supplying many years ago,[Music],super monkey ball banana mania is all,about its gameplay so it is unnecessary,to talk about its story regardless,except a few scenes of these cute,monkeys hanging around there are several,options on the main menu but most of,your time will be spent in the main game,tab upon first starting as its name,implies the story mode is housed here,and contains quintessential classic,monkey ball gameplay after picking a,character players must angle them across,obstacle course filled stages to reach a,goal post each world has a dedicated,theme granting simple but effective dose,of variety this is a game where you have,to learn through a hands-on approach,which makes it hard to describe still,the general feel of the physics and,movement of rolling around feels natural,and easy to navigate to be as,straightforward as possible each action,felt tight and responsive which is vital,for this experience there are two,methods of playability to take into,account button usage and motion,sensitivity i primarily stuck with the,former since i was more comfortable with,the buttons but i still played around,with the motion sensitivity feature to,see how it felt maybe its because i,played this on a playstation 5 but it,just felt awkward to move around the,environments in this manner it,controlled well enough dont get me,wrong but this would likely feel more,natural with the switch joy-con other,modes present within the main game tab,are notably challenge in practice modes,each stage and mini-game has missions to,complete which provide more bananas,additionally the special option contains,unlockable modes that must be purchased,from the point shop currency is earned,from collecting bananas and clearing,missions which can be spent to obtain a,slew of add-ons alongside characters,which are glorified skins there are many,cosmetic items and straight-up game,modes to purchase though some of the,more impactful than others its,gratifying to buy the shop out gradually,the functionality to buy modes in-game,through earned currency and not through,real money avenues reinforces the,classic game feel this title emits i,always felt like i was playing an,optimized lovingly crafted blast to the,past rather than a sub-standard product,solely meant to line pockets there was,always a sturdy sense of reward in super,monkey ball mania be it through your,purchases stage successes or mission,clearing the lack of shortcuts that can,be taken advantage of to reach those,heights make the feats of reaching them,all the more exhilarating difficulty in,banana mania will undoubtedly be a topic,of conversation especially amongst new,players if you are new then expect to,fail again,and again,[Music],and again,but just like the classic arcade,experience patience practice and passion,will ultimately lead you to success you,have to put in the time to get there and,not quarters thankfully theres a jump,ability that can be bought and a helper,guide that can be enabled still these,crutches the jump especially could take,away from the tension of the experience,on top of the difficulty the pacing of,progression is undeniably awkward at,points though understandably devised,instead of gradually becoming more,complex there are random spikes of,difficulty and ease due to that its,best to expect roadblock stages from,world to world this shouldnt be a,deterrent though because at least the,way i see it the developers tried their,hardest to avoid strings of stages in a,row being challenging and halting,progression entirely while it can be,demeaning make no mistake this game can,be downright brutal at points so toss,your pride away and keep on trying the,party game modes also serve mention as,they contain various enjoyable mini,games that can be played by up to 4,people unfortunately i didnt have the,opportunity to try out co-op but i had,fun dabbling around in these light,experiences on my own they are intended,for multiple people though so if you,ever have friends and family over and,want to duke it out over monkey dog,fighting or something the option is,there sadly however these minigames can,be played online regarding online though,there are ranked leader boards for the,main games time attack mode and the,party games score attack mode these can,aid in upping the ante and replayability,for particular competitive players super,monkey ball banana mania provides a,classic monkey ball experience veteran,fans have been craving for literal,decades while also cementing the,highlights from the past for prospective,new fans to dive into this hardcore,arcade experience is certainly not for,everyone but once you fall into the,niche holes of classic monkey ball there,is no getting out and you will,undoubtedly be in there for the long,haul noisy pixels giving super monkey,ball banana mania a nine out of ten,thank you for watching please read the,full review on noisypixel.net noisy,pixel is run by group of gamers work,hard to deliver news reviews previews,and more please subscribe to keep up,with all our future content,[Music]