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Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania

2021-10-05

Developer: Ryu Ga Gotoku StudiosPublisher: Sega

Series X|S, PS4, PC, PS5, XONE, Switch

Single player, Multiplayer, Co-operative, Split screenThird person

Platform

Puzzle

Arcade

Action

Comedy

Kids

Party

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania is a "modern HD remaster" of Super Monkey Ball, Super Monkey Ball 2, and Super Monkey Ball Deluxe. This bundle was created to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the franchise.

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TildeShambles

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania

3 months ago

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acelgasReviewed a game4 months ago

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania

3 hours

Guapardo pero mas dificil que darksouls , me caguen la leche que difisil diantre

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BradaloopReviewed a game9 months ago

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania

20 hours

Soundtrack

Visuals

Gameplay

Story

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania is a pretty good game. It brings together levels from Super Monkey Ball 1, 2, and Deluxe, and adds some new and interesting modes. It’s probably the most Monkey Ball content in a single package, and that’s one of its greatest strengths. Banana Mania has a lot of key improvements over the original two games, but it’s unfortunately not the clear definitive version of these. I’ve not finished every level in the game, as there’s such a large amount of these, and some are really challenging, but I think I’ve played enough to give a general idea of my thoughts. Banana Mania makes significant changes to 1, 2, and Deluxe – being more of a compilation title of levels from these games, as opposed to a remake or remaster of these. The games are visually overhauled, and I can see how some might prefer the look of the originals, but I personally significantly prefer the new art style. The game was clearly scoped for Switch first though, and some textures are incredibly low resolution across all platforms, which is unfortunate. This does mean that the game is quite performant on all platforms, generally maintaining 60 frames per second – aside from some drops on Switch caused by certain graphical effects. While these graphical effects cause no issues for the other platforms, both PS4 and PS5 versions of the game exhibit frame drops – or at least some kind of hitching – at inexplicable times. PlayStation 5 is undoubtedly the worst for this, with the game seemingly freezing at times. I don’t think this is an issue with the visuals straining the platform, and I don’t actually think what’s going on is actual frame drops. It seems as though the camera is hitching, rather than the entire game, and this might be an issue caused by Unity’s physics tick rate. It’s really unfortunate that no version of the game is as smooth as it should be. Precision is key in these games, and – especially on PS5 and Switch – this is somewhat taken away from you at times. Quite possibly the largest issue with the game is the adjustments that have been made to the gameplay though, and the lack thereof at times. Lives have been removed, which is a welcome change, but this also makes collecting bananas feel somewhat pointless. Gathering enough bananas to earn extra lives was an integral part of the original games, and most of the levels seem to be designed with this in mind. There’s not even a way to play with lives optionally. I’m glad they’re removed, but I’d have preferred if they could be optionally restored; there’s no way to play the stages exactly as intended currently. Similarly, the physics in Banana Mania are significantly different to those of the original game. For someone with limited experience with the originals, this didn’t matter all that much, but looking at some comparisons of certain stages in both versions it’s quite clear that the new physics also serve to break some of the original design intentions. They really should have endeavoured to make them as close to the originals as possible, as Banana Mania generally seems to be seen as more of a good casual starting point rather than the best version to play, as a result of these changes. Another confusing design choice, though this time more related to UX, is how the levels are presented. As stated, I don’t have much experience with the originals, so I initially struggled to understand where exactly Super Monkey Ball 1, 2, and Deluxe actually were within this new package. Nothing in the game states this, but Story Mode is Super Monkey Ball 2, while Challenge Mode is Super Monkey Ball 1. The Deluxe levels are relegated to an optional unlockable in the shop, and it’s not really clear what these are either. I had to search all of this up to understand it. It sort of feels like the game is trying to obfuscate its original structure, which is bizarre. “DX Mode”, as the Deluxe levels are now dubbed, contains some of the best stages in the game, and most will likely not engage with it. The same potentially goes for the levels from 1 also, since they’re similarly treated like a side mode. Despite the generally positive gameplay changes – the removal of lives, the addition of a helper function, and the ability to pay in-game currency to skip levels – you’re still unable to save mid-run in the Super Monkey Ball 1 challenge mode. Closing the game means you need to start all of these again, which really sucks when the later difficulties start to consist of 40+ challenging levels. This feels like the biggest change that should’ve been made, and yet it wasn’t. Despite this all, the main game remains solid, especially if you don’t remember the originals in meticulous detail. I expected to like this main game, but I didn’t expect to like the party games as much as I ended up doing. Bowling, billiards, and golf are all genuinely fun, and the tennis and racing games are decent also. They’re not of the highest quality, but I’ve had a lot of fun playing them with friends. Some games like Monkey Target and Monkey Baseball, however, are pretty terrible, largely due to the physics changes. I’m not referring to the main game physics changes here either; party games have had their physics changed in such a way that they resemble neither the originals nor those of the main game. These party games originally felt like extensions of the core game – mirroring the physics of this – and now they’re entirely disconnected, almost stapled onto the package. Some are fun regardless, but the changes are once again bizarre and disappointing. Despite its many issues, Banana Mania really does offer an impressive amount of content. The new modes add further variety, and the new characters have made the roster massive. Playing as Sega characters is really fun, and the ability to customise the characters original to the game is neat also. Jumping, while technically a “cheat” that makes the game easier, is also a neat unlockable, allowing for much more significant sequence breaks. I’ve seen some say that this addition alone justifies the game’s existence, at least as an alternate experience. It just really sucks how much the ball was dropped in certain ways when it comes to this game. It’s still incredibly fun, and it seems to be a perfectly serviceable way of experiencing the levels from the original games, but it’s far from what it could’ve been.

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BradaloopReviewed a game9 months ago

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania

20 hours

Soundtrack

Visuals

Gameplay

Story

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Bradaloop9 months ago

Oopsie. Wrong rating.

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PlayerGamer17

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania

1 year ago

Fin

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PlayerGamer17Reviewed a game1 year ago

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania

4 hours

Soundtrack

Visuals

Gameplay

Story

clairement pas fou comme jeux concept intéressant qui donne envie sur le papier mais l'histoire est clairement à chier je m'attendais à beaucoup mieux comme à des combats de boss par exemple mais l'histoire n'a pas de dialogue juste un singe méchant qui fait chier qui est raconter à travers une télé les niveau eux sont bien sauf un bon quart qui sont terroriste je trouve bre fje retenterais un autre jeux de cette licence mais clairement déçu

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BaeginningReviewed a game2 years ago

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania

3 hours

Soundtrack

Visuals

Gameplay

Story

Pretty, monkey ball is always a fun time, just colorful fun puzzle rolling

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DJFiraReviewed a game3 years ago

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania

This is a nice blast from the past for this game.

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