Slowly but surely, Super Monkey Ball has become one of Sega’s most prolific series, with nearly 20 original games (and several ports and remasters on top of that). From its humble arcade roots, the series has stayed consistent in offering accessible yet tricky fun for over two decades. The latest entry is Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble, which includes 200 new stages, a new technique borrowed from a certain hedgehog, and some hectic online play.
The core gameplay of Super Monkey Ball has largely stayed untouched since the arcade original. Players don’t control the characters (the titular monkeys in balls). Instead, they tilt the world in order to guide the monkey to the goal at the end of a level. These stages start off as quite simple, and there are also bananas to collect — so you can go into levels with either a speedrun or completionist attitude — but get incredibly difficult by the end.
Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble doesn’t switch up the formula, although it does add in one important distinction. While you can’t jump like in some past games, you can now use a spin dash maneuver. This works a lot like it does in Sonic as the monkeys can unleash a sudden blast of speed that the player determines by how long they press down the button. This leads to new opportunities to turn ramps into impromptu jumps and opens up a ton of new shortcuts in levels. This is a mechanic that is fun in execution and will lead to some really wild speedrunning once experts get the game.
New players and veterans alike will find a lot of fun to be had in the game’s adventure mode, which is where the 200 new levels are found. There’s a story here, as each world is bookended with cutscenes, as players meet a new monkey named Palette who is looking to reunite with her lost father by collecting the Legendary Banana. It’s not going to win any storytelling awards, but it is enjoyable and gives you a narrative reason to power through the tougher levels. Plus, there are even some non-monkey characters that pop up as you progress, which was a fun surprise.
While the game does get very difficult, Sega has done a great job adding optional assist features for players who are looking to improve and get past the later levels. You don’t get to register a high score using these, but you can make progress. These add a trail to follow while also adding a rewind ability and mid-level checkpoints. It’s quite a helpful way to practice until you can beat a level legitimately. The game doesn’t just cater to new players, though, as after you beat the adventure mode, you unlock even more difficult EX stages. This is truly a Monkey Ball game for everyone.
Of course, it’s not a Monkey Ball game without a party mode, and Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble has some of the most fleshed-out multiplayer experience in the series. Beyond being able to race friends on the Adventure stages, there are five unique multiplayer modes that range from collecting the most bananas to passing exploding bombs to other players. Matches can get quite hectic as they go up to 16 players (up to four locally — the rest can be bots — or all humans online), but that adds to the fun as winning really feels like an accomplishment. I quite liked the two team-based modes, Goal Rush and Robot Smash, as the larger matches are quite conductive to playing as a group.
The robust multiplayer, which will see more stages and modes added in future updates, will lead to Banana Rumble having a ton of replayability. It also helps that players can earn a daily bonus reward for playing online once a day and that there will be free season passes filled with different customization items. The store is already quite robust at launch, so players will have a ton of options to make their monkey stand out.
Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble Review: Final Verdict
Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble is yet another success in Sega’s platform party game series. The 200 new levels get deviously tricky, and the new spin dash maneuver opens up some incredible speedrunning opportunities. Throw in the multiplayer, which is fun both locally and online, and you’ve got a new party game standard on top of the main adventure mode. Needless to say, collecting bananas has never been so satisfying.
SCORE: 8.5/10
As ComingSoon’s review policy explains, a score of 8.5 equates to “Great.” While there are a few minor issues, this score means that the art succeeds at its goal and leaves a memorable impact.
Disclosure: The publisher provided a digital Nintendo Switch copy for our Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble review. Reviewed on version 1.01.
