Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania

Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania is a confident and addictive reminder of why Monkey Ball was so popular back in the day. It truly feels like a celebration of the franchise that’s jam-packed with content, bonuses, and unlocks. Monkey Ball still holds up with addictive challenge, fantastic music and a goofy, yet endearing premise, and all of it is accentuated by small yet meaningful additions that makes it more accessible than ever before.

Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania is a loving recreation and just pure, uncomplicated FUN.

As a fan of Super Monkey Ball since 2001, I found myself really happy with Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania. The package captures the fun and challenge of the first two games, while also including new content that makes it feel fresh. Banana Mania also offers a ton of content for its price point, and players are guaranteed to find something to love. Sometimes the difficulty level can get frustrating, and the Party Games could use some new options, but the game offers so much good, it's hard to complain. Whether you're a newcomer to the series or a fan from the beginning like me, I can't recommend this one enough.

It is glorious. Maybe not perfect, but still very good. It has everything I loved from Banana Blitz HD, and little of what I didn't. I highly recommend checking it out if you're new to the series, or if you just want to see a Dreamcast in a ball. [Issue #56 – November/December 2021, p. 71]

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania marks a return to form for the series, even if I am left hoping that we receive some substantial content updates in the near future to fill in gaps left from the originals. Fans who need an exact recreation of the originals or require challenge mode multiplayer might want to skip this one or wait for a deep discount, but those who just want to play Super Monkey Ball 1 and 2 again or the first time should absolutely pick this one up on Switch, especially if you enjoy playing on the go. While there is still a bit of work to do, Super Monkey Ball is back, and it’s a great feeling. I strongly recommend you don’t miss out on this one.

Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania is a fantastic addition to the Switch's library and one of the best party games on the system. While it has a few technical issues holding it back, it is still well worth your time.

Banana Mania is the best celebration for the 20th anniversary of the Super Monkey Ball series. It is full of fun with a lot of levels and minigames that any nostalgic fan would enjoy. Also, it's a celebration of SEGA with a lot of guest characters like Sonic, Tails, Beat, Kiryu Kazuma and Morgana from Persona 5.

Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania is a blast for veterans and newcomers, featuring plenty of appealing content, though I was slightly split on multiplayer. But with so much sheer monkey madness and unbridled fun, I’m very glad SEGA didn’t drop the ball.

After years of mediocrity for AiAi and the crew, there was always the worry SEGA might drop the ball when it came to a Super Monkey Ball 20th anniversary celebration. Thankfully, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania is a great remaster of the series’ best years packed full of content and given a handsome facelift. The major downgrade of the much-loved Monkey Target aside, there’s still plenty of fun to be had here fan or newcomer.

Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania retains the core appeal of the series: cute ball-encased monkeys rolling around devilishly challenging stages at high speeds. It ventures just far enough from the specifics of the original games to be considered a truly faithful remake, but those who aren’t intimately familiar with those games or are willing to adapt will find an amazing wealth of aggravating appeal and ridiculous stunts. It’s a great place to get acquainted with the series if you haven’t before, with plenty to offer veterans looking for something closer to the mark than the likes of Banana Blitz.

The newest Super Monkey Ball game isn't lacking for much. With a ton of remastered levels, modes, minigames, and unlockable prizes, this enormous package could keep a fan busy for the rest of their life - if they don't mind high blood pressure. The only thing more pervasive than the mountain of content is the franchise's usual blistering difficulty. Fun, frustrating, and rewarding, this is a great collection.

Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania combines 300 stages from Super Monkey Ball, Super Monkey Ball 2, and Super Monkey Ball Deluxe into a single, massive package of entertaining and occasionally sadistic ball-rolling action.

This is not the straight port or remake of the original GameCube Monkey Ball I might have asked for, but it’s a great game in its own right that brings to light a lot of what I loved about those earlier entries in the franchise. This is a lively, amusing video game that is stuffed with challenging marble-rolling stages, good-natured multiplayer games, and a lot of charm.

Bar none, Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania is my favourite arcade game on the Switch so far. The game’s short burst levels, no matter how challenging or luck-based they may be, lend themselves so well on a portable console. Rya Ga Gotoku Studios have done incredibly well in recreating and returning the niche love their arcade series has brought over the years. With plenty of playtime, cute characters to play around with, minigames to battle your friends in and challenging missions to overcome, Banana Mania can be everything you’ve ever needed in an arcade game on the Switch. It’s worth going ape over, folks.

Anyone who has played these Monkey Ball titles before will be satisfied with this new available version. Those who have never touched the series before and are looking for a challenging physics-based platforming adventure should try out Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania.

Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania is a bumper remaster package that has clearly been made with love by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio. It contains all of the best levels from the series’ most beloved entries, a fleshed-out ranking system for the most ambitious players and a dozen party games to extend its lifespan. With cute crossover characters, rewarding puzzles and an absolutely banging soundtrack, you’d be foolish to skip this one if you’re yet to engage with the Super Monkey Ball franchise.

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania is an excellent time with bags of replay value, potential in its online leaderboards and competitive play, and works a treat in local co-op thanks to the fun, if sometimes superficial minigames.

Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania is a solid celebration for the 20th anniversary of the series’ inception. It caters to fans who have stuck around to see the next big thing and does so in a complete package with new surprises and things to come.

Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania is the best attempt yet by Sega to get back to the brilliance that was the original games. While purists will still feel just a little off at the game's physics, everyone else probably won't notice. With the stack of party games, things to unlock and almost near infinite replayability, Banana Manaia will be something you return to repeatedly. We've all been begging for a remake of Super Monkey Ball. We've finally got, and while it's not perfect – really what is?

Difficulty spikes and a wonky camera will occasionally have players throwing their controllers across the room. Still, this otherwise compelling remastered package demonstrates why Sega needs to make Super Monkey Ball one of its premier franchises.

It’s upbeat puzzle-platforming fun at its most deceptively chaotic, and while some aspects of it still feel stuck in the past, there’s also lots here to remind people of what made it so great in the first place.

Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania is just as fun and infuriating as I remember. It’s a content-complete package that celebrates the series. It can feel a bit too limited, with no online play or unlockable characters in minigames, but it’s still a unique experience you can’t get anywhere else.

Banana Mania takes the best Super Monkey Ball games and combines them into one solid package. Frustrations from those original games remain, and the lack of online play is a disappointment, but new options allow for a less stressful time.

Ultimately Banana Mania is a lot of fun, and a solid starting point to those new to the series. Long term fans might find the changes to accommodate a wider audience just too bitter a pill to swallow though.

The best of Monkey Ball, for nostalgics and newcomers. Banana mania doesn't betray its old school gameplay, and makes it more accessible to everyone.

Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania is a good game on which you can have fun and spend good moments. Whether you are a new player or an old player of the license, you will find what you need. However, you will have to be patient to get through some stages. With this opus, Sega invites players to rediscover their first love of the series by offering levels from the first Super Monkey Ball. As a bonus, the addition of mini-games is a plus to have fun with your friends during parties even if some mini-games are not necessarily the most exciting. As for the small drawbacks, we regret the fact that you can't play all the characters in all the modes or the difficulty which is not always progressive.

It may not be saying much but Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania is the best the series has been in almost two decades and newcomers are bound to find a lot to love. It wears its heart on its sleeve and clearly the team has true passion for the franchise. It's packed full of content, new ways to play and there are so many extras and improvements that never existed in the original. Unfortunately, the engine beneath it all isn't quite up to the job. What they've achieved with Unity simply isn't on par with the originals and while the main game is still enjoyable, many of the party games are severely hindered. Until Monkey Target returns to its former glory, we cannot truly say Super Monkey Ball is back.

Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania is a competent and well-done remaster of the first three Monkey Ball console games. There are issues with how engaging those games can be, mostly due to the nature of the franchise's arcade style, so there are caveats about replayability. That said, Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania makes up for that repetitiveness by including as many modes and as much variety as possible outside of its core gameplay loop, which gives both new and returning fans something to look forward to, especially thanks to the multiplayer party games from Super Monkey Ball Deluxe.

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania should include everything fans love about the series: Skill-based difficulty, great music, fun minigames, and excellent replayability with a good group of buddies by your side. Unfortunately, this collection feels like a rushed remake that throws out the precise controls and stellar music of the original titles. The charm and fun gameplay of the original games are still there, but this remake doesn’t feel like much of an improvement over the classics.

I'm all for retro compilations giving players the option of making games more accessible, so players can set their own experience. Rewind features in old arcade shooters and platformers are great. But imagine if a retro re-release of Castlevania (or whatever) made it impossible to fall down a gap or get killed by a boss by automatically rewinding the mistake. Now imagine they gave players no way of turning that off? To deny people an inherent, defining quality of a game in favour of something that fundamentally changes the experience, without completely redesigning the game so that the new experience makes sense... Nah, it hurts this to say because I love Monkey Ball, but this is all terribe decision-making by everyone involved.