And here, unlike the main game, we see some quite radical changes in physics. Then we have the mini-games, of which there are 12 in total, ranging from the exceptional to the forgettable. The core Monkey Ball experience, then, is pretty much as great, as taxing, and as rewarding as ever. Super Monkey Ball 2 in particular had a bit of a thing for gimmick stages that just feel completely luck-based (looking at you, Launchers), but with only a handful of truly bad levels out of the hundreds available, it's still an impressive hit rate overall. There are still a few naff stages in the mix, mind. It also makes reaching the Master stages viable for most players - the original unlock condition of beating dozens of demanding Expert courses without a single continue meant most would never so much as see these brutal levels. The original game's lives system has been stripped out and optional assists added to help further in getting to the end of each of the many playlists, which also allows you to go for ballsy tough routes or risk massive shortcuts without penalty, and do those ever feel great when you stick the landing. There's an awesome variety to the 300+ stages on offer here, and as you reach the trickier ones, expect to encounter plenty of frustration as your poor monkey takes tumble after tumble, but then trade that for elation after finally crossing the goal line on a level that has been kicking your ass for ages. This can cause the on-screen action to look a little unusual and even uncomfortable at times, more so when watching rather than playing and particularly in fast-moving levels where the world swings rapidly as you make quick adjustments to try and keep the careening ball on course. With Banana Mania feeling ever-so-slightly more sensitive than before (and the auto-camera exacerbating this by being a little twitchier itself), some of these high-level challenges can feel overly tough initially, but these difficulties can be overcome either with a little menu fiddling (camera sensitivity appears to affect both auto and manual camera movement) or controller adjustment where possible - certain special controller users may find that altering deadzones, using fine aim functions, increasing resistance, and extending the stick shaft can all help with accuracy.įor those unaware, you don't take direct control of the characters in Super Monkey Ball's main game - instead, you tilt the stage itself to guide the path of your chosen sphere-bound monkey pal. The other place you may notice this is in the more difficult Expert and Master stages, where minute control is essential in crossing hair-wide tightropes. Super Monkey Ball speedrunners often use pause buffering to start their runs at a specific point on the timer in order to perfectly catch cycles, and using any stage guide to try this in Banana Mania, you'll see it doesn't work - the difference, while barely detectable to the untrained eye, means the old timings are just off, and there'll be new ones (likely both timing changes and strategies that weren't quite possible before on some stages) for this new version. Faster acceleration is the most prominent, and some have put this down to the new tilt plane perhaps being a different shape to the original, resulting in slightly quicker movement. Banana Mania is a ground-up remake of Super Monkey Ball Deluxe - a compilation of the first two games in the series with some extra content thrown in - and despite a few foibles, it's generally a faithful recreation of the unique and beloved Super Monkey Ball experience, and these classics scrub up wonderfully.īanana Mania's new engine provides a largely authentic framework for the core game, bar a few ever-so-minor physics changes that only the most hardcore Monkey Ball fanatic is likely to notice. To be fair, Super Monkey Ball was refreshingly simple even on its first release on GameCube 20 years ago, and it's every bit as challenging and entertaining today. Where we're going, we don't need buttons - a single analog stick is all we require to be able to tilt the world and guide our brave monkeys through hundreds of gruelling platforming stages, mazes, obstacle courses, and seemingly impossible gauntlets. Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania Super Monkey Ball SEGA Local Multiplayer Game review Review Platformer Luke Albigés In an era ruled by games so complex that they struggle to fit all of their inputs onto a controller, and dominated by live service titles with like 18 different currencies, the return of Super Monkey Ball is the breath of fresh air we need.
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