Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania (known as Tabegoro! Super Monkey Ball 1&2 Remake in Japan) is a video game in the Super Monkey Ball series, which released on October 5th, 2021 on Nintendo Switch[1], Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Windows PCs (via Steam), PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5. It is a remake of Super Monkey Ball, Super Monkey Ball 2 and Super Monkey Ball Deluxe with additional features.
Announcement[]
The game was announced during the 2021 E3 Nintendo Direct, which took place June 15th, 2021.
Leaks[]
On the 15th of April 2021, the Australian Classification Board gave a PG rating to a new installment titled Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania.[2] On the 10th of June 2021, the Brazilian advisory ratings board listed a game by the same name.[3] On the 14th of June 2021, box art for the PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch versions of Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania were seemingly leaked online, in addition to five screenshots of the game.[4]
Features[]
The game features stages from Super Monkey Ball, Super Monkey Ball 2, and Super Monkey Ball Deluxe remade in the Unity engine. The monkeys appear in their modern designs, and the artstyle is largely based on Banana Blitz HD, with the user interface and menu designs also being based off of said game.
Added Features[]
This game adds many new features not found in the original games, aside from the remade graphics.
- All eight characters are now voiced by Noriko Hidaka, Seiki Toshihiko, and Koichi Yamadera.
- YanYan and Doctor, who were introduced in Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz; Jam, who was introduced in Super Monkey Ball: Step & Roll; and Jet, who debuted in Super Monkey Ball 3D, have been added as additional characters. However, Jam and Jet are unlockable.
- Sonic and Tails, in their classic form, were leaked as playable characters upon the game's announcement,[5] and were officially teased at the end of the "Meet the Gang" trailer.[6] The characters were officially confirmed as playable on August 11th, 2021.[7]
- Beat from Jet Set Radio appears as an unlockable playable character.
- Kazuma Kiryu from the Yakuza series appears as an unlockable playable character.[8]
- The Game Gear, Sega Saturn, and the Dreamcast all appear as playable characters through DLC, or through purchasing the Digital Deluxe Edition.
- Morgana from Persona 5 appears as a playable character through DLC. His DLC got discontinued in November 2022.
- Sanrio's Hello Kitty appears as a guest character through DLC.
- Suezo from Koei Tecmo's Monster Rancher franchise appears as a guest character through DLC. His DLC got discontinued in November 2022.
- New assistive features are available, however they all disable setting clear time records and online leaderboards:
- The jump ability from Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz is an unlockable feature which can be purchased at the Point Shop.
- The Helper Function has been added, which provides the player with several tools to aid them in clearing stages, including a doubled time limit, arrows guiding the player and the ability to enable slow motion. In addition to disabling clear time from being saved, using the Helper Function even once in Challenge Mode will prevent the player from accessing the extra stages.
- The story mode from Super Monkey Ball 2/Deluxe returns, with the cutscenes being presented in a new, simplified, comic book style format.
- Ranking Challenge has been added for both the main game and party games.
- Many customization items can be purchased, including hats, glasses, masks, shirts, shoes, and ball designs. These are only compatible with the six main monkeys in their default costumes.
- A Reverse Mode, in which the player must complete a selection of 10 stages in reverse.
- A Dark Banana Mode, in which the player must clear 10 stages while avoiding rotten bananas.
- A Golden Banana Mode, in which the player must collect all the bananas across 10 stages. Goals have been omitted from this mode.
- Completing this mode unlocks Golden AiAi as an alternate appearance for AiAi.
- An Original Stage Mode, which collects 23 stages and presents them in their original, unaltered forms from the original games.
- The ability to control the camera has been added.
- Missions have been added.
- Photo Mode has been added.
- Additionally, three special Render Modes (Sepia, Noir, and Toy) are available as unlockables. These renders add image filters to the gameplay.
- A Retry button has been added to Practice Mode.[9]
- An option to skip stages has been added.
- The lives system has been removed.
Characters[]
Characters in bold appear in the Main Game and Party Games. Characters not in bold appear only in the Main Game.
- AiAi
- MeeMee
- Baby
- GonGon
- YanYan
- Doctor
- Jam
- Jet
- C-AiAi
- W-MeeMee
- A-Baby
- F-GonGon
- P-YanYan
- R-Doctor
- N-Jam
- B-Jet
- Baby-Robo
- Golden AiAi
- Sonic
- Tails
- Beat
- Kiryu
- Morgana (DLC)
- Hello Kitty (DLC)
- Suezo (DLC)
- Game Gear (DLC)
- Sega Saturn (DLC)
- Dreamcast (DLC)
Main Game[]
The Main Game features every stage from Super Monkey Ball, Super Monkey Ball 2, and Super Monkey Ball Deluxe with some stages being altered a bit. There are six different main modes.
- Story Mode
- SMB1 Challenge Mode
- SMB2 Challenge Mode
- SMB1 Practice Mode
- SMB2 Practice Mode
- Special Mode
Stages[]
A list of all the stages that appear in Special Mode can be found below.
- Main article: Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania/Stages
Worlds[]
Returning from Super Monkey Ball
Returning from Super Monkey Ball 2
- Jungle Island
- Volcanic Magma
- Under the Ocean
- Inside a Whale
- Amusement Park
- Boiling Pot
- Bubbly Washing Machine
- Clock Tower Factory
- Space Colony
- Dr. Bad-Boon's Base
- Mid-Sky
Party Games[]
- Monkey Race
- Monkey Fight
- Monkey Target
- Monkey Billiards
- Monkey Bowling
- Monkey Golf
- Monkey Boat
- Monkey Shot
- Monkey Dogfight
- Monkey Soccer
- Monkey Baseball
- Monkey Tennis
Ranking Challenge[]
You can help us by adding to it.
- Main article: Ranking Challenge
Time Attack[]
Score Attack[]
Costumes[]
You can help us by adding to it.
- Main article: Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania/Costumes
Headwear[]
Clothing[]
Shoes[]
Ball[]
Gallery[]
- Main article: Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania/Gallery
Videos[]
- Main article: Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania/Videos
Animations[]
- Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz Main Game Victory Animations
- Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz Podium Animations
Trivia[]
- When on the main menu, pressing L L R L R R (Nintendo Switch version) will replace the menu music with the full lyrical version of Hello Banana!!, which is normally not accessible, even on the music menu, which only plays the shortened version of the song.
- Unlike Super Monkey Ball Deluxe, stages in Challenge Mode are now separated not just by difficulty, but also by which game in which they appeared, resulting in two of each difficulty, with the stages from Super Monkey Ball Deluxe being given their own mode. [10]
- Unlike other games in the series, "Beginner" mode is referred to as "Casual", and "Advanced" is referred to as "Normal".
- Jam and Jet share the same victory animations as AiAi.
- This is the first Super Monkey Ball game with a female announcer since the Japanese versions of Super Monkey Ball 2 and Super Monkey Ball Deluxe. Coincidentally, this is also the first Super Monkey Ball game where it has a female announcer outside of Japan.
- While the female announcer is in the main game, the male announcer is also in the party games too.
- On top of that, this is also the first time where the female announcer speaks English too.
- When running along level ground without jumping or otherwise gaining air, the top speed that can be reached is 105km/h going forward, and 95km/h going backwards.
- When selecting "retry" on the menu that appears after completing a stage in Story Mode or Special Mode, the stage overview animation will normally repeat, however if the player has failed the stage at least once, then retrying the stage after completing it will skip this animation. This will persist until the player changes stages.
Reception[]
Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania has received generally positive reviews. It received a 76 out of 100 for the Nintendo Switch version, a 76 out of 100 for the PlayStation 5 version, and a 76 out of 100 for the Xbox Series X version.
References[]
- ↑ https://nintendohill.com/2021/06/super-monkey-ball-banana-mania-releases-new-official-trailer/
- ↑ https://www.classification.gov.au/titles/super-monkey-ball-banana-mania
- ↑ https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2021/06/a_new_super_monkey_ball_game_has_been_rated_again_this_time_in_brazil
- ↑ https://twitter.com/NilsAhrDE/status/1404528952492843010
- ↑ https://www.thegamer.com/sonic-tails-super-monkey-ball/
- ↑ Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania | Meet the Gang - YouTube
- ↑ https://twitter.com/SuperMonkeyBall/status/1425441873775169538
- ↑ https://twitter.com/SuperMonkeyBall/status/1427978596832972805
- ↑ https://twitter.com/ShirosakiMasao/status/1412266079921983489
- ↑ https://www.xboxachievements.com/game/super-monkey-ball-banana-mania/achievements/
External Links[]
- Official site
- Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania Preview (in Japanese)
Super Monkey Ball Games | ||
---|---|---|
Arcade | Monkey Ball • Ticket Blitz | |
Home Console | Super Monkey Ball • Super Monkey Ball 2 (demo) • Deluxe • Adventure • Banana Blitz • Step & Roll • Banana Blitz HD (demo) • Banana Mania • Banana Rumble | |
Handheld | Jr. • N-Gage • Touch & Roll • Adventure • 3D • Banana Splitz (demo) | |
Mobile | SEGA Monkey Ball • AiAi's Funhouse • J-Phone • N-Gage • Bowling • Mini Golf • Tip 'n Tilt • Tip 'n Tilt 2 • Mobile • iOS (Lite) • iOS 2 (Sakura) • Uki-Uki Seesaw • Bounce | |
PC | Banana Blitz HD • Banana Mania | |
Flash | SMB1 Mini • SMB2 Mini • Disco Ball • Banana Blitz Mini | |
Cancelled | Banana Crazy |