I was pretty excited to see Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble when it was announced during the February 2024 Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase. I’ve spoken in the past about my fondness of Super Monkey Ball but so far the Switch—which is the perfect system for its brand of fun and challenging gameplay—has only received two remakes of past entries in the franchise.
And while it’s still nice to be able to experience a few of the greats on modern consoles, it’s been more than a decade since we’ve had a true new entry in the Super Monkey Ball series. Thankfully, Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble has finally broken the streak with a fun and imaginative game that delivers on all fronts.
Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble sees AiAi and his friends vacationing on Juicy Island where it’s said a wonderful treasure known as the Legendary Banana is hidden. However, the Legendary Banana was sealed away by seven Out of Place Artifacts—also known as OOParts. While trying to enjoy a tasty banana on the beach, AiAi and friends meet a young adventurer named Palette who asks for their help in finding her father who went missing while searching for the Legendary Banana.
The group naturally agrees and together they set off across Juicy Island, discovering its many unique and exciting areas and meeting colour villains along the way. It’s an infectiously adorable plot that consistently keeps the mood light and fun. Even when drama is inserted into the story, it’s done in such a way that never loses its sense of playful optimism. At no point in any cutscene was I ever not smiling.
“While it can take a bit of getting used to, at its core, the movement and basic gameplay feel as tight as ever and once you understand the mechanics it’s incredibly intuitive and fun.”
In my review of Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania, I said the game was “pure, distilled, uncomplicated FUN.” If that were the case for that game, then Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble is pure, distilled fun that has been aged to perfection in an oak cask. Everything that remains good about Super Monkey Ball is perfectly intact in Banana Rumble but improved and made more accessible through a lot of quality-of-life improvements.
Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble feels like the most beginner-friendly game in the series while also being optimized for higher-skill players. If you’re unfamiliar with Super Monkey Ball, allow me to explain—players roll their balled monkeys through a variety of obstacle courses trying to reach the goal before the time runs out.
Unlike traditional ball rolling games, where players usually control the ball, Super Monkey Ball is unique in that players tilt the course and use the game’s physics to get their monkey ball where they want it to go. While it can take a bit of getting used to, at its core, the movement and basic gameplay feel as tight as ever, and once you understand the mechanics, it’s incredibly intuitive and fun.
New to Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble—though lifted straight out of SEGA’s most popular franchise—is the ability to Spin Dash. While rolling, players can charge a dash and release in whatever direction they’re aiming. While at its most simple, it allows players a quick boost of speed while moving through levels, but it also creates a lot of unique moments for creative mobility and course exploits.
Since Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble—and the majority of the franchise, for that matter—is governed mainly by movement physics, releasing a dash at the right moment or hitting a ledge just right will allow you to get incredible height and skip large parts of the stage. This becomes an incredibly helpful tool in getting the best time on a course, or just speedrunning attempts in general.
While the Spin Dash makes Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble feel much faster and more experienced in the micro, the game’s macro also feels a lot more streamlined and expeditious. There’s a lot less wait time between Falling Out of a course and starting back up, and even courses themselves feel a bit smaller—being more intricately laid out rather than having challenges of length.
“But these modes are all made much more interesting by the game’s Spin Dash as players are not only given an offensive edge during matches but can utilize the Spin Dash to great effect.”
But the game goes even further by giving players three simple challenges for every stage: beating the minimum time, collecting a certain number of bananas and collecting the Golden Banana. Each challenge is kept on screen with a checkmark indicating whether you got it—or, for the time challenge, whether you’re still under the minimum time—allowing players to easily keep track of what they’re going for.
It’s small things like this that make the game so easily readable and adds to the speed at which players can get in and start playing. It creates a solid pace that keeps the game continuously fun and fluid. However, if players need a little extra then they can turn on the “Helper Functions,” which have been greatly expanded since Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania.
Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble’s Helper Functions give players checkpoints throughout the level, a rewind function, a character ghost that shows you how to clear each level, and a route guide to show players the optimal way around a course.
While turning on the Helper Functions prevents players from earning points or setting times on levels, as well as not being able to clear missions, it gives beginners a lot of freedom to experiment and learn the controls until they get comfortable—also, the game will prompt players to turn them on if they Fall Out three times in a row.
Of course, much like with Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania, if players need a break from the main game, there’s a collection of multiplayer modes available as well. While there are only five modes compared to Banana Mania’s seven, they are all immensely fun and incredibly replayable, especially with up to 15 opponents.
Naturally, there’s the standard Race mode, but there’s also the Banana Hunt mode, where players compete to collect the most bananas. Ba-BOOM! Where players frantically pass bombs off to each other before they explode; Goal Rush, where teams roll through Goals for points; and Robot Smash, where teams work together to destroy robots.
But these modes are all made much more interesting by the game’s Spin Dash, as players are not only given an offensive edge during matches but can utilize the Spin Dash to great effect. This is especially true in Race mode, where players can utilize the Dash to hit edges just right and clear large sections of the map. I could see this becoming a really useful tool for players looking to have a competitive edge in matches, especially if they’re committed to online play.
Visually, Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble maintains its adorable, incredibly likable aesthetic, although it looks much more updated than its predecessor. Character models all look a bit softer, more chibi, and much more expressive. Each area features a unique and colourful aesthetic—from Banana Farm’s tropical vista to the Floating City’s Venetian waterways lit by a gorgeous sunset.
The visuals are backed by an amazing soundtrack that ranges from poppy, tropical rhythms to upbeat, smooth jazz. Every track has you bouncing in your seat and perfectly keeps you in the mood to keep playing. Much like its predecessor, every track has that great SEGA vibe and makes the whole game so much more enjoyable to play.
However, if there’s one thing I don’t love about Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble, it’s SEGA’s decision to lock notable SEGA characters behind a DLC pass. Unlike its predecessor, characters like Jet Set Radio’s Beat or Crazy Taxi’s Axel—along with Tails, Knuckles and Amy Rose—need to be bought rather than unlocked in-game, with more coming in future DLC packs.
Considering there doesn’t seem to be much in-game cosmetics to unlock anyway—done using points earned by completing challenges—it feels particularly scummy that SEGA would restrict some of their iconic characters behind a paywall.
However, these gripes aside, Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble is an incredibly fun, uniquely challenging and consistently fun game. Like its predecessor, it’s perfectly suited to a system the Nintendo Switch that is defined by its fun and approachable games. If you’re a fan of the Super Monkey Ball series, then you’re definitely going to love this one!
