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Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD - 29th October 2019

Tim B

By Tim B
in Nintendo Gaming

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Dcubed Proficient

Dcubed

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Dammit SEGA! Wrong Monkey Ball game!!

 

This was the second most disappointing game I’ve ever played.  It should’ve been an absolute slam dunk winner, but they utterly botched the level design, the mini games were literal shite, the boss battles and jumping mechanics were horrendous and they didn’t even have a proper arcade mode!!!

 

Cant believe that we’re getting this instead of the two GCN games.  What a stupid choice!

Edited by Dcubed
S.C.G Community Regular

S.C.G

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content-4-35870-supermonkeyballbananablitzhdbanner.jpg

Up on the front page. :peace:

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD published by Sega available on 29th October for £34.99

While it's good to have Super Monkey Ball back on a Nintendo platform again, let's hope the changes are significant.

Hopefully the changes to the controls will make it more playable, though I can't see them changing the stages much.

The minigames are now down to just ten so let's hope they kept the best ones.

Dcubed Proficient

Dcubed

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The controls were never a problem with the original game; they were actually the one thing that was good about it!

 

The problem is that this banana is rotten underneath the peel... You can put normal controls on this game and it would still be crap.

sumo73 Rookie

sumo73

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I'm clearly in the minority here but I thought Banana Blitz on the Wii was good and it was certainly an improvement on Super Monkey Ball Adventures, Touch and Roll and what came after with Step and Roll. However a new monkey ball game close to the first two games style is really what is needed here rather than SEGA looking at older games and HDing them.

 

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Aperson Newbie

Aperson

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The first two Monkey Ball games were developed by Amusement Vision who were absorbed into SEGA during the Sammy takeover. The same company that also made F-Zero GX. I don't think they could do just a straight up port of the game without removing stuff like the stage shaped like the Amusement Vision logo but even that wouldn't take too much work surely? I don't think Sega really knows what to do with Monkey Ball, it was a smash hit during the transition to becoming a third party publisher and gave SEGA another franchise they could bring to consoles but... this is the same SEGA who was also around during a time when Sonic was starting to be run into the ground. They never understood what really made the original games so good and sadly this franchise has seen a general decline.

 

Super Monkey Ball is one of the hardest games I've ever played. The skill level is immense especially considering you play the entire game with just an analogue stick and it's not surprising that you often see these in Games Done Quick Marathons. Absolving Amusement Vision into SEGA seems to be the turning point for Monkey Ball. I never played Banana Blitz but the reviews at the time turned me off as it seems they were turning towards gimmicks more to help sell the game. That being said, I didn't get the other Wii tilting game, Kororinpa, either.

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Dcubed Proficient

Dcubed

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18 hours ago, GenericAperson said:

The first two Monkey Ball games were developed by Amusement Vision who were absorbed into SEGA during the Sammy takeover. The same company that also made F-Zero GX. I don't think they could do just a straight up port of the game without removing stuff like the stage shaped like the Amusement Vision logo but even that wouldn't take too much work surely? I don't think Sega really knows what to do with Monkey Ball, it was a smash hit during the transition to becoming a third party publisher and gave SEGA another franchise they could bring to consoles but... this is the same SEGA who was also around during a time when Sonic was starting to be run into the ground. They never understood what really made the original games so good and sadly this franchise has seen a general decline.

 

Super Monkey Ball is one of the hardest games I've ever played. The skill level is immense especially considering you play the entire game with just an analogue stick and it's not surprising that you often see these in Games Done Quick Marathons. Absolving Amusement Vision into SEGA seems to be the turning point for Monkey Ball. I never played Banana Blitz but the reviews at the time turned me off as it seems they were turning towards gimmicks more to help sell the game. That being said, I didn't get the other Wii tilting game, Kororinpa, either.

The original people who made Monkey Ball have no interest in returning to the series, and the ones who are still left at SEGA are happy making Yakuza games and Yakuza spinoffs instead.

 

I don't think they've got what it takes to make a new Monkey Ball game like the originals anymore.  The talent and skillset just isn't there anymore.  It's a shame; the best we could hope for is a HD remaster of the first two games.

Edited by Dcubed
sumo73 Rookie

sumo73

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On 7/18/2019 at 5:41 PM, Dcubed said:

The original people who made Monkey Ball have no interest in returning to the series, and the ones who are still left at SEGA are happy making Yakuza games and Yakuza spinoffs instead.

 

I don't think they've got what it takes to make a new Monkey Ball game like the originals anymore.  The talent and skillset just isn't there anymore.  It's a shame; the best we could hope for is a HD remaster of the first two games.

Former head of Amusement Visions and producer of Monkey Ball/Super Monkey Ball, Toshihiro Nagoshi is still at SEGA. He has been behind many of the Super Monkey Ball games including Banana Blitz however he is also behind the Yakuza series as well.

Regarding an HD remaster of the first two games, I think a remaster of Super Monkey Ball Deluxe for the original Xbox is worth it.

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S.C.G Community Regular

S.C.G

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There's an interesting interview over on Nintendo Everything...

https://nintendoeverything.com/super-monkey-ball-banana-blitz-hd-interview-remake/

It's got Toshihiro Nagoshi (supervisory role) and Masao Shirosaki (producer and director) answering loads of questions about it.

From the depth that they go into, it does sound like they are actively trying to improve the game across the board, so maybe there's hope?

I'd like to think so, even if I'm wrong :D come on though... with these two on board, I refuse to believe that this remake will be complete trash, it's got to be good.

Although I must admit, I'm kind of longing for any decent(ish) Super Monkey Ball game that I'm not too familiar with at this point.

Also, the whole thing about "why not the original Super Monkey Ball 1&2?" this leads me to believe that we may get a range of HD Remastered GC games at some point.

Edited by S.C.G
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  • 3 months later...
Aneres11 Newbie

Aneres11

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So I picked this up and am at world 4 now. This game is really rather shit isn't it. 

I played it on Wii but couldn't remember it and I love the series hence picking it up. But the boss fights are absolutely dreadful and ruin the whole game. 

Think I might just trade it in before the price plummets. 

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S.C.G Community Regular

S.C.G

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3 minutes ago, Aneres11 said:

So I picked this up and am at world 4 now. This game is really rather shit isn't it. 

I played it on Wii but couldn't remember it and I love the series hence picking it up. But the boss fights are absolutely dreadful and ruin the whole game. 

Think I might just trade it in before the price plummets. 

I hear what you're saying about the game, I owned it on the Wii back in the day but I'm still curious about this Switch version regardless. :D

I mean... it still has plenty of stages inbetween the boss battles if I remember correctly and it does have mini games including Monkey Target at least...

If you were doing to trade it in, I don't know where you were going to take it but CEX voucher price is £23 at the moment, I could match that in cash if you like? £25 posted?

Only if you really wanted rid of it mind... I was considering picking it up but didn't and there are so many games out but I would have picked it up at some point. :peace:

I hope you manage to get some enjoyment out of the game yet anyway but if not, PM me as the offer stands and I'd gladly buy it off you. :smile:

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Aneres11 Newbie

Aneres11

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22 hours ago, S.C.G said:

I hear what you're saying about the game, I owned it on the Wii back in the day but I'm still curious about this Switch version regardless. :D

I mean... it still has plenty of stages inbetween the boss battles if I remember correctly and it does have mini games including Monkey Target at least...

If you were doing to trade it in, I don't know where you were going to take it but CEX voucher price is £23 at the moment, I could match that in cash if you like? £25 posted?

Only if you really wanted rid of it mind... I was considering picking it up but didn't and there are so many games out but I would have picked it up at some point. :peace:

I hope you manage to get some enjoyment out of the game yet anyway but if not, PM me as the offer stands and I'd gladly buy it off you. :smile:

Tempting offer! Will probably take you up on it once I'm done with it (or when I get bored trying to get through it!). 

I'm off this week, so intend to get it done and dusted if that's ok with you?! 

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S.C.G Community Regular

S.C.G

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20 minutes ago, Aneres11 said:

Tempting offer! Will probably take you up on it once I'm done with it (or when I get bored trying to get through it!). 

I'm off this week, so intend to get it done and dusted if that's ok with you?! 

Yeah that's fine. :smile:

If you end up warming to the game more and don't want to sell it then that's fine as well, I just thought that this way you'd get a bit more than trade value and then wouldn't have to worry about having credit to swap for something else plus I was thinking about picking up the game anyway and that's around what it's going for on eBay at the moment anyway. :D

I hope you manage to get some enjoyment out of the game this week in any case. :peace:

Also, I didn't think to ask... I just assumed but, it is the Switch version... right? :p

Part of me is hoping that this game does still do reasonably well on all platforms, if only for the possibility that Sega might decide to port Super Monkey Ball DX one day...

  • 1 month later...
nekunando Contributor

nekunando

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Any ideas..?

Initially, I thought it might be due to not having recorded any score at all in the bonus stage as I managed not to get any bananas at all. However, I went back and opened up the bonus stage again only to fail twice more by not managing to hit at least one banana.. much to my frustration. Unlocked it one more time (again, by clearing 4 stages) grabbed a banana and then fell to my death.

There was still no medal so I figured I'd clear the final stage again.. and still nothing :angry:

What am I missing? I'm sure as hell not going back to 10-5..

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  • 5 months later...
S.C.G Community Regular

S.C.G

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Hmm, maybe the Super Monkey Ball series will be getting the game it deserves afterall...

If you haven't seen the video where Nick Robinson tracks down the original announcer behind the original games, then check that out as it's worth a watch.

But essentially, the announcer Brian Matt has since reprised his role and managed to let a few details out about the new Super Monkey Ball game which is in development. :D

Long story short, all signs point to it being good news and we may yet see either a new proper entry in the series or at least something which recreates the originals. :)

Providing this turns out how I think it will, with Sega releasing the equivalent of Super Monkey Ball 3... I really hope that those who have asked for it will support it. :peace:

If it's coming out on a platform which I have access to at the time of release, and if it's that true return to series form then I'll certainly by this in a heartbeat. :heart:

Also, no... I still haven't played that copy of Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD, but I may well do now just to more fully appreciate the gulf of quality between it and the originals. :rolleyes:

Plus... I'm kind of in the mood to play a Super Monkey Ball game now, and this is the only one out on the Switch... at the moment.

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Dcubed Proficient

Dcubed

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Well we can only hope.

TBH though, I don’t think that modern SEGA are capable of making a proper, good Monkey Ball game again.  They’ve been trying ever since 2006 and have failed miserably each and every time.

They’ve lost their key talent and the company isn’t what it once was anymore. I don’t think they can pull it off, even if they try.

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