Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble Review — Go Bananas!

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble is the newest title in the cult favourite Monkey Ball series that defies taking things to the next level! Introducing a new spin mechanic ripped from the Sonic games, carefully crafted levels, and dense optional game content, does it succeed in reinventing itself for a more modern audience while also giving enough fan service? Or does the game fall flat after slipping on too many of its own banana peels?

I can confidently report that it does both!

Super Monkey Ball is notorious for its cute exterior and keen and disciplined attention to its tight-core gameplay mechanics. Simply put, you need to get your monkey in the ball to the end of the level. While, in principle, it may sound easy enough, don’t judge this book game by its cover.

If this is your first game in the series, understand that it is based on movements—and to be even more specific, precise movements. You will need to pay keen attention to calculated momentum moments to ensure you can finish the levels. The single-player mode is the main meat of the game and arguably its best part.

Running at a silky smooth 60 frames per second. The single player mode consists of 10 stages that you need to complete each within 60 seconds, and each one levels has around 10 stages, all in all there are over 100 levels, not including time trial modes and multiplayer. While the game teaches you quickly on how to use your new spin mechanic as well as the controls. Nothing can really prepare you for the increasing difficulty, in the last stages especially, you will die a lot.

Luckily, the games introduce an assistance mode after several failed attempts, similar to the assist block found in Super Mario Land. Whereby the assist mode gives you access to a ghost that guides you through the level, as well as a generous checkpoint system that gives you multiple opportunities to pass the level and move on to the next challenge.

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Visually, the game looks great in single-player mode. The worlds are varied and new, they are all unique in their challenges and hurdles that the game provides, keeping the visual style colorful and vibrant throughout! Then you start to play the multiplayer.

You can tell that there is clear inspiration from a couple of big games in Mario Kart and Fall Guys. Banana Rumble has a few multiplayer modes that really try and keep you playing this game as much as possible. While I found the modes to be fun, that ‘fun’ moment only lasts for just a short time. One other big gripe is that when you go online to play others, you can’t help but feel as if your matchmaking moments were predominantly CPU players and not human players. Each character had unique usernames that read awfully like everyone’s favourite Instagram bots.

In multiple attempts at matchmaking, I found that most of the time, I was paired with CPU players. Even crazier still is the huge drop in frames that the game experiences to maintain its 15-player limit. It goes straight to 30fps or even lower, depending on what’s happening on screen, which is a jarring experience when you consider how great the single-player component plays. Sadly, to report, the game during multiplayer looks and plays like a PS2 game.

Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble is a dense title. It has numerous modes, ranging from an in-depth single-player to a very adventurous multiplayer section. You have an in-game achievement log with many challenges that you can attempt to complete, a storefront to unlock characters, costumes, and more.

As a game title, Banana Rumble is full of so many things to unlock, and I think that’s great! Especially if this is the only game you choose to buy, it’s well worth the price of admission just with the amount of variety on offer.

With more modes unlocked as you progress, the content train keeps delivering to keep you entertained for many weeks ahead. More impressive are the people who can smash through the levels within 5 seconds. Seriously, YouTube the speed runs for Monkey Ball; they are ridiculously impressive and make me feel so much like a rookie. This game has the potential to become a great speed run title.

While it’s great to see Super Monkey Ball come back stronger than ever, a few limiting technical complaints and a steep learning curve really stop it from achieving its ambitious goals. Generally speaking, I had a lot of fun. I think most Monkey Ball fans will love it too, and I can appreciate it for what it is.

Even though it was hard at times, it felt great to beat the levels and continue to the next level. As one of the last games to be released on the Switch, I’m glad that Monkey Ball got some time in the sun before the sun sets one last time.