- Description Set out on rolling adventures in Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD for Nintendo Switch. The remastered platform game has over 100 stages for recovering stolen bananas from Captain Crabuchin, and the time attack and decathlon modes let you compete online with fellow gamers.
- Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD is available now! Get ready to blitz through 100 twisting and turning levels as one of your favorite monkeys or speedy spe.
- A great Sega two pack for the price of one game. From my understanding, both are remade for the switch. Super Monkey Ball is like golf mixed with Crazy Taxi; it has arcade style games and story mode. Sonic Forces is a 3D/2D mix Sonic Game.
Back on Wii, Monkey Ball swapped its traditional analogue stick for tilt controls, removing the precision that seasoned Monkey Ballers expected and dooming living room windows to violent.
Release Date: October 29, 2019
Publisher/Developer: Sega
Platform: Nintendo Switch (Reviewed), PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Steam (coming soon)
Price: $39.99
Super Monkey Ball Switch Multiplayer
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz was an experiment for the series, utilizing the infamous Wiimote motion controls instead of the traditional joystick to tilt and roll your monkeyball around the level. This October, Sega is rereleasing this Wii exclusive on all major platforms. Given that motion controls aren’t guaranteed to exist on all possible platforms, they have opted to remove them entirely, returning to a traditional control scheme. While an HD upgrade, this edition has a few things taken out of it or replaced to the point that your appreciation of the game will center around which kind of control scheme you prefer.
This is my first foray into the Monkey Ball series, so I did a little research for this article. The Wiimote controls were divisive for gamers familiar with the series. Some disapproved, saying the controls were sloppy, whilst the ones who got the hang of it felt it was more precise. The Wii edition added (and this version still retains) things that were new to the series at the time, such as boss battles and a jumping mechanic. Levels consist of a series of floating islands, ramps, mechanisms and such that your selected monkey has to maneuver to pick up as many bananas as possible on the way to the goal. There’s a basic level progression, but points are also acquired based on percentage of bananas collected and time taken.
Banana Blitz had a huge assortment of minigames on the Wii that relied on the motion controls. This has been pared down from forty or so to ten. These are allegedly the best of the bunch, but it is kind of sad to see an “HD Edition” of a game actually lose content. I can also really easily see that the ones still here were made for silly motion control fun, not pinpoint analog precision. There are still motion controls in Switch, PlayStation, and certain PC controllers, but motion controls aren’t even an option. Had they allowed gamers to try the original control scheme those extra modes could have still been there, for better or worse. Also, the soundtrack has been altered a bit (I read it’s due to licensing issues) is catchy, but different if you’re looking for the same experience you got on Wii. The new music is arcadey, but it tends to get a bit repetitive.
So really, as I said before, this will boil down to controller preference. It does vastly change how these particular levels are played on a functional basis. Looking at the game with that knowledge, I really can see the effort put into the game to make it Wiimote-friendly, especially in the third level where there’s a lot of slalom-like courses. I can see it being easier to guide your monkey via subtle tweaks of a motion controller instead of the analog stick. Meanwhile, a boss became easier as motion controls would likely keep you rolling when proper timing and a jump to bounce his bullets back made the battle into a bump in the road. It further cemented this thought in my head when my son, who has never seen a Monkey Ball game at all, came out to watch me play. He thought it was neat, but after about ten seconds said “this looks like it was made for gyro controls, is there an option to swap?” I know it would leave Xboxers out in the cold, but it really would add to the game to offer the original control scheme.
So here comes another paragraph about controls...I know it’s an arcade game, and I know that prior titles in the series likely were limited, but the motion controls were tacked over to the left analog stick. That and a jump button is all you get. In a world with regular right analog sticks, I was consistently frustrated I couldn’t adjust the camera angle with the right, especially on the boss levels where you track an (occasionally randomly moving) boss instead of aiming where you want to go. Even if traditionalists hated it, giving an option to man the camera would have been better.
It’s great to see a classic series like Super Monkey Ball get a new release, even if it’s just a port. Fans of the series ought to pick it up if anything to support and show interest in more. This port, removing original music, a ton of the minigames, and it’s original control scheme, makes me feel like it could have been so much more. Yes, Banana Blitz brought new and interesting additions to the Monkey Ball formula, but the spirit has changed porting it from a lighthearted motion control game to a more serious basic control setup.
Super Monkey Ball Switch Gameplay
Pros:
-Fans of the original who disliked the motion control scheme will be pleased as it plays like previous games in the series
-HD-ified classic arcade fun (on the go with Switch!)
-Neat additions to the Monkey Ball formula with bosses and jumping mechanics
Cons:
-If anything, this HD remake is actually a non-definitive edition, removing assets of the original like music and party levels
-Controllers have motion support, if the game was built around them, offer them. If you go analog, offer some more options, like camera control or inverting the tilt
-Levels designed for motion control fun feel extremely different on an analog stick
Special Thanks to Sega for providing a download code for review!
I loved Super Monkey Ball on the Gamecube. I remember the pleasurable frustration of Level 7 on Expert and how it felt to finally eke past it one day, and yet eventually being able to blow past it like it was Level 1. I remember the first time (ok, honestly, probably the only time) I beat Expert without a continue after probably hundreds of tries and finally receiving my reward of playing the extra unlockable levels, something that truly felt like a huge accomplishment. I remember the shortcuts, the warp goals, all of it. And I remember the sequel being a disappointment, killing the arcade challenge in favor of playing the levels one at a time, although at least the levels themselves were fun! And then I remember never getting around to Banana Blitz when I had the Wii, with it always managing to slip off my radar.
Looks like I didn't miss much.
You would think the concept is hard to screw up. You control a monkey in a ball. Actually, scratch that, you control the tilt of the ground underneath your simian friend. Press up on the control stick, the ground tilts downward, and the ball starts rolling. Keep tilting until the monkey hits the goal, move on to the next. And don't fall off the stage! Maybe collect some bananas along the way, and 20 of them will give you an extra life. It's a simple concept, but challenging to master. The tilt means you have to worry about momentum, and learning to control your speed while spiraling downhill or learning how to stop your momentum suddenly is key. Simple to learn, difficult to master, perfect for that arcade feeling.
So what went wrong? To start, there are only 82 levels in this game, compared to 118 for the first game. That alone isn't horrible, but the problem is the challenge really only starts around level 30 or 40 or so. Before that, the game is mind-numbingly easy, to the point where you almost have to try to lose. The paths have fences... fences! How are you supposed to fall off the path if there's a fence in the way?? OSHA may be happy, but safety goes hand in hand with boring. You'll march through the first few worlds with nary a death, with your only minor threat being the generous timer counting down. But even then, yeah, no problem. Oh, things will pick up, and the last few worlds are suitably painful, but compared to the dozens upon dozens of challenges of the first game, it feels a bit barren.
But I would also argue that those rarer late game challenges also felt cheaper. Perhaps it's the control. The game was played with motion controls on the Wii, but can be done with the analog stick on the Switch. But I think the Switch's analog stick is just less sensitive than the GC one, so it feels like you have less control. Giving juusst the right amount of tilt to get your momentum going in the right direction feels harder these days. Hey, maybe it's just me, maybe I'm just getting older, but I could ride on rails 1/5 the size of my ball on the GC, and yet seemingly simpler challenges now see me fall to my doom.
Also, I blame jumping. Yes, no longer are you just tilting the screen to move around, now you can jump. So, it's a platformer now, but the game isn't designed for platforming! The largest issue is that the camera is near the ground and way too close to you (compared to zoomed out and slightly above you in most 3D platformers). This gives you no depth perception, making jumps across gaps feel like a matter of luck, especially in a momentum-based game where your speed (and thus, length of jump) is highly variable compared to a typical platformer. So if you're jumping over obstacles like bumpers or balls, fine, but jumping from platform to platform? Just an unpleasant feeling all around.
Speaking of which... well, let's be honest, Monkey Ball's camera has always been terrible. It simply can't keep up with any sharp movements, and will circle around your monkey as it tries to figure out which way is forward. And you have absolutely no control over it. This camera didn't matter too much in the first game when you stopped on a dime and paused to get your bearings straight, but the jump compounds the issue. One level has you jump from a rail to another rail at a 90 degree angle, and the camera will never let you line them up correctly. So you have to guess. With no depth perception. See the problem?
Meanwhile, the game also introduced boss battles. But they're just awful, no getting around it. Because of the tilt mechanic, you don't have the precision for an exciting platformer-based battle. So instead it feels almost random at times. You learn the few patterns readily enough, and then hope for the best as you try to tilt and jump your way to the obvious weak spot. Usually it's no problem, but the camera (again...) makes it hard to tell where the boundaries of the level are, so if you're focusing on attack you may just be opening yourself up to getting thrown out if you build too much momentum. So random frustration mixed with simplistic patterns and shaky execution means it just wasn't a worthwhile addition to this
Seventeen years ago, I wanted to master these levels. Now I just wanted to get through them. Remember what I said about level 7 in the original? It wasn't enough to have a lucky run once and finish it, I needed to become one with the level. It needed to be an instinct to get through, something I could do consistently every time. The initial hill, the final curvy thin line, all became second nature. That's how the game is meant to be played. But given how frustrating the controls and camera were here, I just wanted it over with. And dreading a challenge rather than relishing it is a death knell for an arcade game like this. If Sega wanted to see if there was any life left in the Monkey Ball franchise, they sure chose the wrong game to remaster.
2/5