Super Sami Roll is a great game that holds itself back by being too beholden on paying homage to other franchises instead of blazing its own trail. As a ball-rolling game, it’s good and as a platformer, it’s pretty good — but not as good as the titans of the industry. It needs fine-tuning to make the platforming side more cohesive, but winds up being greater than the sum of its parts due to how fun everything is. There’s a layer of jankiness to some things — like the tongue-moving mechanic, but it still enables the game to be a lot of fun despite that. It’s a good-looking and better-sounding game, and a solid pickup for anyone who loves ball-rollers and wants something that integrates more platforming into that genre.