Super Monkey Ball is a series of arcadeplatform video games initially developed by Amusement Vision and published by Sega. The series debuted in 2001 with the arcade game Monkey Ball, which was ported to GameCube as Super Monkey Ball later that year. Several sequels and ports have been released.
As opposed to normal games where the player takes control of the character itself, Super Monkey Ball has the player move their character around in a gachapon ball by tilting the world itself (the exception of this being Super Monkey Ball Adventure). By tilting the board at various angles, players can control the speed and turning of the character. The goal of each level is to reach the goal gate before the timer runs out, and without falling off the floor. Bonus points and extra lives can be earned by collecting bananas on the stage. Early games use traditional controllers to play while many recent titles utilize modern technology, such as the accelerometers of the Wii and iPhone titles. The gameplay is similar to Atari Games' 1984 arcade video game Marble Madness.
Characters
From left to right: MeeMee, Baby, AiAi and GonGon
The original Monkey Ballarcade cabinet featured three playable characters: the primary protagonist AiAi, his wife MeeMee, and their son Baby, who has traveled back in time from the future; a fourth, AiAi's best friend and former rival GonGon, was added in the game's GameCube port, Super Monkey Ball.[6][7] These four have become the primary characters of the series, appearing in every subsequent title to date. Two new characters, the martial artist lemur YanYan and the amnesiac scientist Doctor, were introduced in Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz, while another two, athletic trainer Jam and AiAi's archrival Jet, first appeared in Super Monkey Ball: Step & Roll and Super Monkey Ball 3D, respectively. Several games feature unlockable variations of these characters wearing alternate costumes, along with occasional guest playable characters such as Sonic the Hedgehog. Some games such as Super Monkey Ball 2 and Super Monkey Ball Adventure have also featured various non-player characters, such as the villainous Dr. Bad-Boon, a scientist from Baby's time who travels to the past to prevent MeeMee from marrying AiAi and take her as his bride.[6]
As of December 8, 2006, the franchise has sold 4 million copies.[8]
The iOS version in 2008 was one of the first games on the App Store and was the best selling app on launch day.[9]
In 2009, Edge ranked the first Super Monkey Ball #39 on its list of "The 100 Best Games To Play Today".[10] Writing in 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die, Christian Donlan described Super Monkey Ball as "one of Sega's grade-A triumphs".[11] An enhanced engine of the GameCube games was used in F-Zero GX,[12] which was critically acclaimed[13] and Nintendo considered a step forward for the franchise.[14] The developers of Super Monkey Ball went on to make the Like a Dragon series.[15][16]
When commenting on the differences of the franchise between the GameCube games and the Wii entries with Banana Blitz and Step & Roll in a Tokyo Game Show 2009 interview, Toshihiro Nagoshi stated that they were made easier for kids and families. However, he stated that if they got the chance, they definitely would like to go back and make a game in the style of the old games that particularly the fans overseas want.[17] Due to the older demographic of the PlayStation Vita, the difficulty for Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz was made more on par with the GameCube entries.[18]
In 2015, the mobile games were removed from App Store and Google Play and thus are now considered lost media.[19]
In 2023 the emulator touchHLE was released, supporting the 2008 original iOS version of the game.[21][22]
On 21st February 2024, SEGA announced Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble during a Nintendo Partner Direct, set to launch on the Nintendo Switch on 25th June 2024.
