I was a Nintendo kid growing up but I wasn’t completely separated from SEGA. I really enjoyed Sonic the Hedgehog and ended up getting a Dreamcast after playing a friends system and this led me to discovering classics like House of the Dead, Chu Chu Rocket and Crazy Taxi. From this point on, I was keenly aware of SEGA’s game(s) and so when Super Monkey Ball released I was all over it. I loved the first two Super Monkey Ball games but after playing the sub-par Banana Blitz on the Nintendo Wii I just lost interest. The series had lost the spark that made the original so fun.
SEGA clearly knew this because they released Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania, a remake of the first two games combined with new stages and a fresh coat of paint. While Banana Mania was great, it wasn’t without issue, however it did paint a good sign for the series’ future and showed SEGA hadn’t lost that spark entirely. They just needed to make an entirely new entry, rather than rely on old content, to show that they fully understood what made the old Super Monkey Ball games fun and that’s what they did with 2024’s Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble.
This brand spanking new title is a Nintendo Switch exclusive, telling the story of AiAi and friends on vacation where they meet the monkey Palette. She’s a treasure hunter and the island they are on is said to have a legendary treasure hidden somewhere. So Palette teams up with AiAi et al to travel the island and find this treasure before this band of thieves can claim it for themselves. It’s a simple plotline, but one that utilises a number of characters, both new and old, that flesh out the world. And with every character being redesigned with new styles and unique stat lines, it shows a conscious effort from SEGA to make Super Monkey Ball into a bigger series with more depth.
But all of this is basic and aesthetic. The real meat of Super Monkey Ball as a series is its physics and level design, as it’s these aspects that really made the original two shine and everything after it feel weak by comparison. Regarding the former, the physics of Banana Rumble is the same as it was in Banana Mania, which might concern some fans. The physics of that game were one of its most contested points. However, it actually works in Banana Rumble and the reason is simple. Banana Mania was using a new physics engine on an old level design that wasn’t made for it, leading it to feel awkward. All of the new stages introduced here in Banana Rumble are made with this engine in mind, and it really shows, as it plays fantastically. The level design is top notch in Banana Rumble and rivals the original games. There’s a great balance of doable and difficult levels that will make fans of all skill levels happy. There’s also a great mix of gimmicks from stages that require speed and control, stages that ask the player to be a master of balance and stages that require the player to understand some kind of unique gimmick.
Of course, as is tradition in Super Monkey Ball, highly skilled players (or should I say very lucky players) can find shortcuts and ways to utilise the physics to completely break open a level and clear it in record time. And this is greatly encouraged by the game, as every stage has a ‘time to beat’ challenge alongside a challenge to collect a majority of bananas or acquire the Golden Banana hidden in the level, which encourages replayability.
Speed-running is also encouraged by the inclusion of a brand new mechanic – the spin-dash. Unlike the poorly implemented jump mechanic from prior games, the spin dash is a natural fit for the faster paced elements of this series. It’s a wonderful addition that requires actual understanding of a level to make full use of and something I hope returns in later games.
It’s not all praise for Banana Rumble unfortunately. One of the best parts of the original two games was the multiplayer Party Mode and that is entirely absent here in Banana Rumble. Instead we have the Battle Mode, which uses some of the more competitive party games like Banana Race but is a far-cry from what previous games had before. It doesn’t hurt that you can only play battle mode with two-player split screen or online, which is weird as the new co-op campaign can be played in four-player splitscreen. It just meant that I rarely touched the battle mode because any multiplayer I experienced with this game happened in-person.
I will say though that the local co-op for the campaign is shockingly good. My friends and I had a blast playing through some of the harder levels of the game as a quartet, messing around to see who could reach the end the quickest or finding fun short-cuts by taking advantage of each others collision (because yes we played with collision on, it’s the only way to go). I was really impressed with how well the game ran, even in four-player co-op which only saw a little slow-down depending on the level. Most of the time it ran silky smooth and I had no issues in two-player co-op. I would’ve expected simultaneous Super Monkey Ball to be a disaster but it works surprisingly well and is a great way to tackle all the challenges the game presents at once.
Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble is the return to form that fans have been clamouring for ever since the Wii generation. With levels designed around the new engine, the game feel is vastly improved and all the little minor additions like character customisation and unique stat lines are welcomed. It is let down slightly by the lack of a party mode, and some handicapped multiplayer offerings, but the actual co-op campaign is surprisingly fun and works remarkably well. If this is a sign on what the future of the franchise has in store, then SEGA deserves that Golden Banana.
- Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble | Review - September 18, 2024
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