Super Monkey Ball was one of my favorite franchise back in the GameCube era, I played the first two of the franchise for hours and never got tired of them. Back in 2006, a new entry called Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz launched on Nintendo’s Wii, offering the same type of gameplay with a little less originality. This game got remastered into Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD and serves as an introduction to the franchise for many new gamers, but, is it worth it?
The least favorite of the bunch
First things first, let’s address the elephant in the room. Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz wasn’t the best game in the franchise, some even claim it started the downfall of the entire series, so why remake this? Well, we can’t forget that this will be the first introduction to the franchise for a lot of gamers. It’s true that compared to the first two games, Banana Blitz played it safe, toning down the crazy level designs and offering rather vanilla challenges instead. It’s nothing to really worry about when this is your first experience with a Super Monkey Ball game but if you played the originals, don’t expect the same type of quality. Although being a truly enjoyable game, Banana Blitz never reached the same heights as its predecessors, something a simple remaster can’t fix. But for those who are new, let me explain the basics.
Super Monkey Ball is a challenging puzzle/platforming game where you control a Monkey trapped in a ball, or rather, you control the level. By tilting the floating level with your analog stick, the Monkey will start rolling around in its ball. Being only able to jump, the Monkey can’t really interact with its world, as a player, you’ll carefully have to tilt the level in order to reach the goal at the end. To make things a little harder, all levels are timed, you’ll need to reach the goal before the timer runs out. This all adds up to a rather unique and fun game to play, even in the more vanilla Banana Blitz, the core gameplay remains challenging and fun.
Roll your way to victory
The main problem with this entry back in 2006 was the needless addition of motion controls since it was released on Wii. Due to this, it was a lot harder to control the level and this affected the level design a lot. Where the original two went crazy with narrow paths and dangerously placed obstacles, Banana Blitz kept it more simple, allowing gamers of all ages to reach the goal. In the remaster, they dropped the motion controls and went back to the analog sticks, which is one of the best decisions in my opinion. Thanks to the tighter controls, you can finally play the game with ease, taking away the frustrations of the original, but, the levels themselves were kept the same.
This means you’ll play on the safest and most uninspired levels of the franchise, even though it all looks incredible in its High Defenition visuals, the game can’t mask the fact that it could have used some more originality in its main game. The levels aren’t really innovating or surprising but they are fun to play. There’s something about rolling your Monkey around on the level that just clicks. Offering over a hundred playable levels, including funny boss fights, the game does give you enough content for its lower price tag. Is it the best in the franchise? Absolutely not. Is it fun to play? Yes, it is!
More than just the main game
Although the main game offers tons of hours of gameplay, Super Monkey Ball is far more than just that. On top of the main levels, you also have access to a couple of mini-games, ten to be precise. The best part about the mini-games is the fact that you can play them in multiplayer, challenging your friends or the online community. Not all mini-games are equally fun or good but there are some that really stand out, Monkey Target being my all-time favorite. To encourage players a little more, Sega added the new Decathlon mode to the original. This is a completely new mode that wasn’t playable in the original.
In Decathlon mode, you’ll compete for the highest score in the ten mini-games, your score will be uploaded on the online leaderboards where you can spot your rivals any time you want. It’s not the biggest addition to the game but it certainly adds something to the fun, keeping you entertained and challenged while playing. That being said, messing around with the mini-games can certainly be rewarding as some are truly addictive, just don’t expect all of them to offer the same level of quality.
The remaster
At its core, this still is the same game as it was back in 2006 with the addition of a new mode, surprise character, and online leaderboards. So is this a good remaster? Well, it actually is. If you compare the visuals with the Wii version, it’s a huge leap forward. Gone are the blurry backgrounds and questionable textures. This version really takes it to the next level, offering bright and vivid colors throughout the entire game. It’s by far the best looking Super Monkey Ball game on the market and it makes me wish that Sega releases a completely new one if this remaster becomes a success. With these visuals, I’m sure everybody will enjoy a new entry.
Conclusion:
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD is a great remaster, trading in the motion controls for more accurate controls, better visuals, a surprise character, and the new Decathlon mode. It’s a remaster done right but it doesn’t really fix the main issue of the original, being the uninspired levels. If this is your first Super Monkey Ball game, you’ll have a blast for sure. If you played the original two games, don’t expect the same level of creativity or challenge. That being said, it’s not a bad game at all and I’m pretty sure al lot of gamers will enjoy every second of it.
