The announcer enthusiastically shouting “Ready? Go!” only to shortly follow up with the statement “Fall Out” as my ball plummets into the depths below the level quickly became my experience of Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania. Having never really played the series until now, my initial reaction to hearing the announcer saying “Fall Out” every 30 seconds had me thinking that it wouldn’t be too long before I wanted to “fall out” with the game itself.
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania is a remaster of the first three home console games in the series - Super Monkey Ball, Super Monkey Ball 2, and Super Monkey Ball Deluxe. For those who are unfamiliar, the game centers on the concept of you tilting various stages to maneuver a monkey in a ball around or through obstacles to collect bananas and reach the goal. If that sounds a bit bananas, that’s because it is - but delightfully so.
Despite my initial irritation, which admittedly was the result of my own failings, I kept playing. Regardless of my clear inability to master the game, I still found it incredibly enjoyable. There’s something especially charming about its simple style and gameplay that took me right back to when I was a kid growing up in the ‘90s. It’s not trying too hard to be something super modern or cutting edge. It’s just a classic platformer with the same upbeat music and all the arcade trimmings you’d expect from a retro title, but with the added benefit of a clean, up-to-date look.
The game is incredibly newcomer-friendly - which I understand wasn’t always the case - and ensures that even those who struggle with certain mechanics or particular levels can still progress. Firstly, if you’re finding a level too difficult you can enable the Helper Function, which doubles your time for that stage and gives you the ability to slow down time at the press of a button. If you continue to struggle, even with the Helper Function, you can pop into the menu and simply choose to mark the stage as complete for the price of 2,000 points - the currency you earn as you play.
Naturally, you don’t unlock some of the extra modes for any levels you “cheat” through with these workarounds, but for the peace of mind of not throwing your controller at your TV screen out of frustration, it’s a godsend. You can also go into the menu and choose the “View Stage” option to find your bearings in a level if you’re not quite sure where the goal is that you’re aiming for. Another helpful tool is the Jump ability, but you’ll need to fork out 30,000 coins in the Point Shop to unlock it first.
The game offers over 300 levels in total, allowing you to switch it up with various modes - though most of these you have to unlock with points - so there is always an abundance of things to do. For the main story mode, levels are split into different themed worlds, each of which has ten levels to complete. At first I assumed that levels would scale in difficulty, and then each world would become more challenging. In reality, you’re naturally becoming more adept as you play through, so while it’s true the worlds become more complex and more challenging, I found that the levels weren’t necessarily more difficult as you progressed further.
This was a really refreshing change from other arcade puzzle action games, as I didn’t feel as much of a failure for skipping one level if I was then able to complete the next one with ease. I think this largely comes down to the personal skills of each player, for example, I struggled with levels that required precision balancing more than the levels that required precision timing.
Sometimes successfully completing a level came from not finishing it in the way you (presumably) were supposed to. While the game might want you to balance around on slim platforms to reach the goal on the other side this isn’t the only option. Doing a run-up to the edge of the platform you start on and then yeeting the ball towards the far platform where the goal is - all while exuding YOLO energy - definitely paid off on more than one occasion, since it effectively skips out all the obstacles in certain levels.
It was clear from other stages that the game intends for you to experiment with different solutions. For example, some levels have you hitting a button immediately that sends whichever obstacle you have to face into overdrive, such as making a rotating level spin even faster so you get flung off more easily, but more than once there was a hidden button that allowed you to slow the obstacle down again for easier completion. Other levels had multiple routes and goals, so you could choose easier ways to complete the level if you wanted to.
Having said that, once I reached world seven, I found the difficulty spiked considerably, and all of a sudden I was getting a reprise of my earlier “Fall Out” beat on repeat. Until that point, I had found the game was pleasantly challenging, rather than punishing, and while some players probably enjoy overcoming more difficult levels, it was at this point that the single-player story mode soured for me. I was skipping so frequently that I was essentially no longer playing the game and I was rinsing through coins quicker than I was earning them on the main levels.
Fortunately, you can earn coins from playing party games too and this is the main reason I delved into these. There is a selection of 12 fun minigames to break up the monotony of grinding through level after level, including a Mario Kart-style race, bowling, boating, and a retro arcade-style shooter, to name just a few. Like most party games, you get the most enjoyment out of these by playing with others, though rather disappointingly the game only offers local co-op and not online multiplayer.
This is fine if you have a few friends or family members who want to sit and roll monkeys around with you, but if you’re playing by yourself, it will regrettably remain that way. As a consolation prize, there is an online ranking system, so you can still compete against other players for bragging rights, just not in a way that’s actually entertaining.
One of the fun additions added to Banana Mania is the Photo Mode. At first, I thought this seemed like a strange feature for a platformer game like this. However, I found myself snapping far more photos than I would have believed. It is utterly hilarious to capture your characters grimacing as they are flung against the side of the capsule ball or when they are trying to balance awkwardly on an edge. As soon as I had the 5,000 coins to purchase him, I invested in Kiryu Kazuma - the protagonist from the Yakuza series - and his adorable little chibi expressions kept me entertained for far longer than any of the monkey characters would have.
Playing as Kiryu also made the usual banana collectibles change into Staminan X energy drinks. If Yakuza isn’t your thing there are a number of Sega characters that you can unlock in the Point Shop. Another example is Sonic, and selecting him makes the bananas become rings. The inclusion of other series’ characters is a nice little bit of fan service, but not without its drawbacks.
The main issue is that you cannot customise unlockable characters like Kiryu in the same way as the default Super Monkey Ball characters. The Point Shop has lots of costume items, such as hats, shoes, clothing, and even different capsule balls that you can buy - but none of these work on the unlockable characters. That meant I couldn’t give Kiryu the Hannya Mask accessory I desperately wanted him to wear in order to give him a Majima vibe. Additionally, you can’t use the unlockable characters in the Party Games either. I guess the other Sega mascots didn’t get the party invite.
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania is a roll down retro memory lane with its charming classic arcade format. However, the game soon loses its shine with the sudden difficulty spike that makes it incredibly hard to enjoy in the later levels, despite the inclusion of accessibility options. This is a great choice for a party game when you want a local co-op title, but the lack of online multiplayer means the game begins to feel a little stale when playing alone, despite the wealth of levels, modes, and unlockables.
Score: 3.5/5. A review code for PlayStation 4 was provided by Sega.
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania brings the first three puzzle-platformers to modern systems, brought together to mark two decades of the series. There are hundreds of stages to play through, as well as a host of other modes and features.