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Rolling around in speed and style with AiAi and friends in Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble, the latest entry in the family-friendly action party series where you control little adorable monkeys encased in gachapon balls as you traverse obstacle courses to reach the finish line. That is the premise and in this entry, there will be a new battle mode to go bananas over as well as an Adventure Mode that allows you to enjoy classic rolling frenzy with 200 new levels.
Seek the Legendary Banana
Swinging in first with Adventure Mode, this is a single-player mode with a light story and score-based gameplay – collect as many of those elongated tropical fruits known as bananas, reach the goal, and set records. Sure, sounds straightforward, but you are encased in an oversized gachapon ball, remember? With no guardrails in any tracks and physics in play, you have to be precise in your movements as overshooting and falling off the tracks will put you in a restart. Each chapter contains 10 levels, and only completing all levels can players unlock the next chapter.
Of course, as the game progresses, tracks become increasingly complex, thus you have to be careful with your movements. For a game with a child-like aesthetic and atmosphere, the levels can be surprisingly challenging, especially if you are impatient like me.
In terms of story, you follow AiAi and the gang as they visit a tropical island and meet an adventurer named Palette, who is searching for the Legendary Banana. Agreeing to join her, you journey across wondrous worlds to collect special parts said to be the key to locating this prized relic – a simple story to follow.
Monkey Business to Become Chimpion
As for multiplayer, you can enjoy 5 different game modes, which are all amazingly fun in their own right. The multiplayer experience can be summed up with insane chaos as the new mode is not limited to 4 players or 8 players, but rather 16 players can duke it out in the lobby.
Adding to the whole chaos of it all are the different items to help you in the race or sabotage others – from rockets that decimate your opponents, to invisibility, increasing the weights to others, or simply freezing other players. Depending on how you use these items, it can cause significant trouble for opponents and perhaps break some friendships.
To sum it up, the modes include your standard Race, Banana Hunt, where you seek to collect as many bananas as possible, Ba-BOOM!, a mode where you pass the bomb around, Robot Smash, a team-based mode where teams have to score points by smashing robots, and Goal Rush, another team-mode but one that you races through gates. Despite how enjoyable the modes play initially, they get rather repetitive after extended play, and we do wish there were more game modes to keep it fresh.
Game modes aside, a fun activity is to collect drips to fashion your monkeys – with over 300 dress-up accessories to collect even. You can choose from multiple characters and spend points earned through gameplay and missions to purchase any accessories. This allows customization of the monkeys’ outfits and the appearance of their balls, creating unique styles.
I would also love to bring up the love and attention the developers have in bringing various accessibility features such as rewind, demo ghost, route guide, and checkpoint functions- which really help novice players learn the ropes… or vines more easily.
Monkey Barrel of Fun
Ready set roll! Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble is just a monkey barrel of fun – it sets out to be just that and achieve greatly at it without pushing for more. It sure breathes new life into a beloved series, and it does bring in some exciting new features.
One thing for certain is that the heart of the game is still Adventure Mode – imaginative, tricky, and addictively fun. Surprisingly challenging too, as you push your skill and precision with much consideration to your jumps. The new Battle Mode is also monkey mayhem, letting up to 16 players duke it out online in various fun twists, whether you’re racing, hunting bananas, or playing explosive tag. Even so, that’s about it, so it can get repetitive very quickly.
All in all, Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble sticks to the series’ roots, keeps close to what works, and adds some elements to spice up the fun. It’s a great game packed with fun for friends and family to bananas over.
Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble is now available on the Nintendo Switch. Review code provided by SEGA.
