So, I’ve been sitting in a ball of thought thinking what my next review should be. Suddenly it hit me, as if someone threw an idea at my
head and yelled, “Hey, pay attention to me.” But that’s aside the point. Today, we’re going to be reviewing a game developed by Sega’s Amusement Vision department, better known as AV. They created their own version of Marble Madness, but with one major difference: MONKEYS! Because why not, right? So, let’s delve into the 3-dimensional experience of one of the most frustrating puzzle/platformer/physics series known to mankind…On the Gameboy Advance.

Gameplay:


Now, already my first problem comes with the design of the Gameboy Advance. The Dreamcast, (Or if you’re more familiar with the Gamecube version) the system Super Monkey Ball debuted on had an analog stick, so you could move all around in a smooth circle. The Gameboy Advance has a D-Pad, which is an immensely bad design choice for a 3-D game. You can’t just back up, or you’ll just fall off, you need to take time and slowly turn by pressing on the D-Pad. Thankfully, it’s the only control you’ll use in the game. Unlike in all the other games where pressing the A button zooms in or out of the map, you don’t have a map at all. But, let’s just start this up and see what this game has to offer in the menu. (Fun fact, if you try to input the Konami Code on the title screen, the game will mock you by changing the title to ‘Super Nice Try.’ ) You have Main Game, and Party Games. (There’s also Practice Mode, but you have to beat the stage in Main Game to unlock it.) Sadly, you can only play the Party Games with another person and a Link Cable. (Or the Wireless Adapter, whichever works) So, Main Game has three difficulty setting similar to SMB; Beginner, Advanced, and Expert. Sadly, the levels are cut down, and Advanced has 20 levels, and Expert 30. Beginner still has the same 10 levels. You select one of four monkey characters, AiAi, MeeMee, Baby, and GonGon. As far as I know, none of these characters have any differences except different appearances. Starting the game, you can pretty much tell all of the levels are carbon copies of the original levels, except on a handheld.

Now, I can’t say too much about that unless you have truly played Super Monkey Ball. This game is very slowly paced. Literally. Your movement speed is pretty slow, even when you’re going full speed. If you’re thinking of using your speed running skills in this game, you’re sorely mistaken in doing so. Everything you do is so slow, you’ll probably fall because of it. Moving up slopes in this game is a pain as well due to this. I suppose they had to do this for the fact that maybe it would be too hard with a directional pad or something like that, but even if it’s the case, it’s still a major setback. If you think of a game like Super Mario 64 DS that fared pretty well even though you played with a direction pad (Even now they have improved that with the Circle Pad of the 3DS) and compared it to this, well… You get the idea. Something else that really irritates me about this game is every time you collect a banana, you character has some sort of victory cry. It may be cute the first time, but when you’re collecting a line of bananas, it just gets obnoxious. Oh well, apart from all the bad things about this game, at least I get to enjoy that nice credits minigame that was from the first SMB… What? They don’t have it here?! Fine, let’s just wrap this up.


Graphics: 10

Although the Dreamcast/Gamecube version is superior in just about every way, I do have to give them credit for designing a very well graphically done game. The levels actually look like they were from the original, and the shading isn’t bad at all.


Sound: 7

The music doesn’t sound that great in comparison to the original either. Given, it’s not the worst remix, but it just doesn’t sound the
same. And we can’t forget that sound effect that plays every single solitary time you collect a banana.


Addictiveness: 6

Given, you do probably want to replay this game over and over, it just doesn’t have the fast paced feel the original does. But what about those Party Games? Yeah, you don’t want to play those…In fact, if I remember correctly, there’s less games here.


Story: N/A

There is no story whatsoever. I don’t know, maybe they’re collecting Dole’s missing bananas? I think the better question is why these
monkeys are rolling around in hamster balls.


Depth: 6

This game is pretty lengthy, but with some levels being taken away, it subtracts points away. (Then again, I suppose it is for the best.)


Difficulty: 8

Being Super Monkey Ball, this game is hard. However, being the fact that there are less levels, I had to bump the difficulty level down a
little. The only real difficult part about this is you’re too slow, and this is a really big problem for levels that require you to be fast, like Expert Floor 7. You know the floor…


OVERALL: 8.4

Well, I gave this game a chance as a really young kid, and seeing as this was a Christmas gift, I did play it a lot. But, I think I’ll just stick with the original. I mean, some of these levels are pretty impossible without a da- Wait, what? By holding A, you can dash? Oh…I guess, until next time, I leave you with this review…?


"Aaaaahhh!" ~AiAi - Super Monkey Ball Jr.


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Gosh, This game IS hard for me. I think I played a different version of this game in the arcade. But sadly, I keep falling off and die. I wish they had more walls.

Black Bot : I'm not familiar with an arcade SMB. It was most likely some other game with similar mechanics. And really, no walls make the game all the more challenging. The only time they actually put handrails is for extremely easy levels.

Wonderful review! However, I felt that the lack of detail was left out as the review went on. I saw this huge chunk of a first section, and very tiny bits of a second section.