Oct 2021
It's been 20 years since Super Monkey Ball first gave us nightmares about rolling monkeys in balls while we pushed the necessary buttons in increasingly ludicrous angles. With 'Banana Mania', Sega has unleashed a glorious remaster/remake of the first three Monkey Ball games, letting us roll bananas again in gloriously nostalgic fashion while introducing a few new twists spicy enough to make your mom's curry look bland. Buckle your seatbelts, because this ride is going bananas!
The core gameplay is like drinking an energy drink with a hint of old college nostalgia; you guide a monkey in a ball through 300 stages of platforms while tilting the environment around them. Your job, should you choose to accept it (and trust me, you will), is to navigate through the course and reach the goal without spilling your monkey onto the floor. The catch? Physics are involved! Your ball will accelerate, decelerate, and generally behave like a sugar-crazed toddler on a caffeine high. With features like ‘Golden Banana Mode’ where collecting bananas is your mission and the new ‘Dark Banana Mode’ which adds a torturous layer by throwing rotten bananas into the mix—good luck with that folks! Plus, there are online leaderboards to compare scores (because who doesn’t like to gloat about their digital superiority?). Whether you're a newcomer or an old vet wearing a nostalgic blindfold, the gameplay is absurdly addictive.
Visually, 'Banana Mania' has taken a journey from pixelated childhood memories to a ball of shiny fruit goodness. Built on the Unity engine, it dazzles with vibrant, colorful graphics that look like the inside of a high-end candy store. The remaster shines especially in its attention to detail—each banana gleams with an inviting glow, and the environments are beautifully crafted, reminding you of those childhood wonderlands (you know, before adulthood sucked the fun out of life). You’ll notice the textures are smooth, the animations are fluid, and the monkeys—oh the monkeys—are as charmingly manic as ever. Quite frankly, they put the furry chaos in ‘chaotically cute’!
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania is a celebration of the series' rich history and an embodiment of cartoony, chaotic fun. It gives us everything we loved and more, presenting a perfect blend of nostalgia, intense gameplay, and a boatload of accessibility options. Whether you’re rolling solo or challenging friends in party mode, this game shouts ‘fun’ from the treetops. While its minor quibbles like some levels being too easy for veterans or the occasional hiccup in advanced physics might exist, it's hard to argue against rolling with our favorite monkey buddies again. So grab your controller, collect those bananas, and remember to avoid the rotten ones—unless you enjoy losing. Happy rolling!
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