All things Super Monkey Ball

[James]

Issue 110 will see Leon, Tony and Darren G attempt to cover the entire Super Monkey Ball series in one 90 minute discussion. Why not make their task even more difficult by providing them with more eloquent and illuminating ruminations on the other SMB games than they can possibly handle?

Lots to discuss from the 2001 debut in arcades (arcades!) to last year's so-unknown-it-doesn't-even-have-a-Wikipedia-page Banana Splitz on the Vita. So let's have your memories, thoughts and opinions.

[AndyKurosaki]

Picked up the original SMB cheap when I got my Gamecube a few years after release. I'd never played it before, but going from the high praise Gamestm kept giving it, I felt it was worth a £20 punt.It certainly was. Can't say I was brilliant at it, once I got to the Hard stages I struggled a bit. But that didn't matter, the game was just so much fun. Then I tried out the mini games, specifically Monkey Target. Which proceeded to dominate me and my brother's spare time. I've fond memories of setting a high score, going to work, only to come back and see Colin had utterly destroyed them. So I'd try to one-up him and so the cycle repeated.
Monkey Bowling was also well worth the price of admission.

Haven't really played the rest of the series, I rented the Vita one but didn't play much of it. But the original was a work of genius.

[CoffeeJezus]

The only Super Monkeyball i've played was the version on the Nintendo Gamecube.

I still have fond memories of the Miss I was dating and I playing couch battles on the multi-player stuff; in particular Monkey Fight [the one with the boxing glove on the spring] had some triumphant tournaments between us, lots of digs, laughs and a big memory from way back when.

As for the Miss, I'd wager she's still the ghost in my heart. Which is perhaps why i've never returned to the franchise. [*shrugs*]

[Alex79]

Similar to Andy, I only ever played the first one on the Gamecube ages after it came out. I think I picked it up second hand for a few quid on the strength of praise I'd heard for it. I thought it was fun enough for a bit, but it never really grabbed me that much. I wasted a bit of time playing the mini games with a mate, but we always found we'd just stick Worms or Mario Kart on or something after a bit. Not really a series I'm a huge fan of. Shouldn't have bothered posting this really, should I?

Oh actually, I bought only today a copy of Super Monkey Ball on the 3DS for my son for Christmas. I know it's not supposed to be amazing, but he absolutely loves the SMB rip-off Super Hamster Ball on the PS3, plus he's only seven and a bit stupid so he'll probably love it.

EDIT : That bit where I said he was stupid was a joke for comic effect because I'd bought him a bit of a crummy game. Don't call the NSPCC.

[dezm0nd]

The 3DS game is actually spot on for kids. I played it through in under an hour and didn't offer a SMB1 veteran a challenge at all but he'll love it! Be careful though, the 3D effect is ridiculously strong. It destroyed my poor brain when I turned it on.

[James]

EDIT : That bit where I said he was stupid was a joke for comic effect because I'd bought him a bit of a crummy game. Don't call the NSPCC.

You'll have to take it up with the judge!

Also, hey CJ! Welcome to the forums.

[dezm0nd]

There's a new (old) Super Monkey Ball out today. It might not be what I wanted, but it's what we got and i'm on the leaderboards with the Switch version.

See you there?

[Craig]

Had a go of the demo, and while the aesthetics and all were fine I just can’t get over the jump button. It feels like every time I press the button I’m losing control of my simian, which is the last thing I want from a monkey ball game.

[dezm0nd]

Yeah and they also removed the minimap making the jump button even more confusing. In the original games if you took a leap of faith you had the minimap to pinpoint your location, here you're just guessing.

I don't think i'll be keeping this game for very long. I'll get through it and sell it hoping that there's enough of us buying to suggest to sega that they should be remastering the real deal next.