Super Monkey Ball (video game)
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Super Monkey Ball is a 2001 party platform video game developed by Amusement Vision and published by Sega for the Nintendo GameCube, originally released as an arcade game in Japan under the name of Monkey Ball, until it was ported to the Nintendo GameCube the same year as a launch title, and with enhanced graphics.
Why It's Bananas (in a good way)
- Simple yet also very challenging gameplay. All you have to do is roll your ball into the goal without falling off or letting the timer reach zero.
- While bananas may seem pointless to collect at first, they can be a prominent part of the gameplay, with each banana being worth 100 points, and collecting 100 bananas earns you an extra life. This is especially recommend due to the pretty high difficulty of the game.
- Another big highlight of the game would be its soundtrack, which is absolutely phenomenal, including many bangers that in which some have a funky rhythm to them. The same rhythm would later go on to be re-used in the game's sequel, Super Monkey Ball 2.
- Good controls to work with, with the level design and physics being reminiscent of other games with similar genres such as Marble Madness and Labyrinth.
- There are also a few party games that are available to the player from the start unlike the minigames, without you having to unlock them by collecting Play Points, which includes:
- Monkey Race: One to four players simultaneously race across six courses divided into three difficulty levels, with steering being handled by the analog stick, while the A button is used to activate items (if enabled) that can be used to produce an increase in speed or to adversely affect opponents. A Time Attack mode involves the careful use of three available speed items to achieve faster times.
- Monkey Fight: One to four players simultaneously engage in combat by rolling in any direction with the analog stick, and using the A button to punch opponents with a boxing glove attached to their monkey's ball. Points are awarded for knocking opponents off one of the three available arenas, with more points being awarded when the player currently in the lead is knocked off. The player with the most points is declared the winner of a round when the in-game timer reaches zero. Items can be used to extend the reach, size, and strength of a player's boxing glove.
- Monkey Target: One to four players take turns rolling their monkey down a ramp, launching it into the sky. The monkey's ball opens on command to resemble a pair of wings, allowing it to fly. The monkey's trajectory is manipulated with the analog stick. Wind direction and strength, altitude, and speed (in addition to random hazards selected by an optional "Wheel of Danger" feature before each flight) impact the player's ability to land the monkey on one of several dartboard-like targets in the middle of the ocean. Bananas collected while airborne enable the use of items in later rounds that can eliminate wind resistance, control the ball's roll, multiply the player's score, or guarantee a sticky landing.
- There are also a few minigames that can only be unlocked by collecting 2,500 Party Points or more, which include:
- Monkey Billiards: One to two players take turns competing in a game of nine-ball. You can use the analog stick to change the direction of the billard stick, and the A button is used to stop the moving gauge that determines shot speed. A tournament mode featuring four AI challengers is also available.
- Monkey Bowling: One to four players take turns competing in a game of ten-pin bowling. The analog stick is used to move left and right, the A button sets the direction and strength for each throw, and the L or R buttons apply spin to the ball. A challenge mode featuring 10 pin arrangements and permitting only 12 throws is also available.
- Monkey Golf: One to four players take turns competing across 18 holes in a game of golf with stroke play scoring, or two players compete using match play scoring. The direction and general rolling distance of each shot is arranged with the analog stick, and the A button is used to determine the shot's strength.
- A very nice and detailed anime-esque art style and graphics, especially for 2001 GameCube standards, allowing the game's graphics to hold up for a little bit longer.
- The main game is divided into three modes: Normal, Practice, and Competition, in which the former has three difficulties (Beginner, Advanced, and Expert) consisting of 10, 30, and 50 levels each, in which the player can choose the difficulty that matches their skill best. In Practice mode, any level that was already cleared in Normal mode can be replayed as many times as the player wants with no penalties for failure. Losing all of your lives in the Normal mode causes you to get a game over, but you are offered five opportunities to continue, and eventually, unlimited continues can be unlocked. Extra versions of three aforementioned difficulties in the Normal mode are unlocked once you have completed the normal versions of those three modes without losing a life, or not using a continue in Expert mode. Afterwards, a hidden set of Master Floors can be unlocked by playing through the Extra floors without using a continue.
- The game managed to spawn a sequel one year later, titled Super Monkey Ball 2, which introduces even more content, including a story mode.
“Fall Out” Qualities
- Due to the high difficulty of the game, (even on some of the Beginner stages) it can cause the player to rage a few times.
- The life system is not as generous as the sequels, as you always start at 2 lives and an extra life requires 100 bananas.
- The camera is completely uncontrollable, due to the game just simply being ported from the arcades.
- The game can be hard that you cannot play the Extra Stages for just one mistake, except in Expert.
- What makes it even harder is that you can not access Master in the difficulty select screen as it’s treated more like Expert Extra Extra, meaning that you have to complete Expert without getting a game over, and complete the extra stages, just to access the Master stages!
- The original arcade version hasn't aged very well, due to the game being controlled with a banana-shaped joystick which is very uncomfortable to hold with it's awkward shape and circle movements when compared to the GameCube Analog Stick, making the game very hard to control. However, it was a prototype of the GameCube version and was meant to be a testing ground for many of the features and mechanics that would appear in later titles in the series and many of the flaws from the arcade version were improved in the GameCube port, and we wouldn't have the Super Monkey Ball series without this original arcade version, and to put it bluntly, it isn't that bad and is somewhat decent.
Reception
Super Monkey Ball has reached critical acclaim, with a score of 87/100 on Metacritic[1] indicating "generally favorable reviews", and with it being awared as the "Best GameCube Game of 2001".
The game was commercially successful upon release and remained as one of Sega's best-selling titles in the United States through much of 2002, with the game having strong North American sales not too long after it was released, in addition to a further 105,000 units sold in August of 2002.
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