Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble Preview: Familiar, Yet New
When I think of classic gameplay franchises boasting arcade-like gameplay, Monkey Ball frequently comes to mind first. While I’m only a casual fan acquainted with the series through recent releases and social osmosis, the series has a certain appeal that fits right at home with the early to mid-2000s.
After reviewing 2021’s Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania, a franchise revival that remastered the original games’ stages, I had the opportunity to try out the upcoming Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble, a welcome, original Monkey Ball experience.
In the hour I played Banana Rumble, I experienced two worlds in the Adventure mode and went through rounds of every Battle Mode minigame. Regarding the former, a surprisingly involved narrative initiates primarily regarding the new character, Palette, who’s seeking the Legendary Banana. Naturally, this begins a quest where she and the returning cast team up to find the keys needed to locate this relic. Cutscenes seem to mainly occur at the beginning and end of the worlds, but I doubt that’s why anyone chooses to play a Monkey Ball title.
Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble is a welcome, original Monkey Ball experience.
An Addictive Story Mode and Exciting New Gameplay Mechanic
From the starting stages I played, Banana Rumble undoubtedly feels like the Monkey Ball I’m familiar with, with swift yet moderately tense obstacle layouts that appeal to both newcomers and veterans. While none of these stages felt difficult, the temptation to go off course and try out unorthodox methods of reaching the goals faster got me more often than I’d like to admit.
What significantly encouraged me was the new Spin Dash gameplay mechanic, which acts as a shortcut for gaining momentum. It’s an addicting and self-explanatory tool that I found great for when you were on smaller platforms where building up speed ordinarily was more of a challenge.
The Spin Dash feels like a natural extension of the franchise’s gameplay direction.
Alongside being handy for progressing past timed obstacles, you can, of course, use the Spin Dash to ambitiously soar off ledges to reach the goal in mere seconds if it’s below you. As a result, the Spin Dash feels like a natural extension of the franchise’s gameplay direction, and I’m thrilled to try it out across increasingly perilous scenarios.
A Hectic Multiplayer Battle Mode
As for the Battle Mode, keep in mind that I only played one round of them each, but my impressions were generally positive. There are five minigames: Race, Banana Hunt, Ba-Boom, Goal Rush, and Robot Smash. Race and Banana Hunt can be understood just based on the names alone, and they’re pretty enjoyable. These two minigames feature the classic Monkey Ball gameplay formula with multiplayer alterations that keep progression consistently exhilarating. Ba-Boom, akin to Hot Potato, is also rather fun for its intuitive and addictive sense of chaos.
However, Goal Rush was more of a confusing mess. Everyone gets divided into teams, and you all try to roll through goals that match your team’s color. Due to the sheer number of goals present, this quickly devolved into rolling through whatever goal was close by, and it became tiresome since you get respawned at the start of the map once you do so.
Lastly, Robot Smash, a minigame requiring you to destroy stationary robots around the map, was also kind of a mess. Although, there is a seemingly more transparently employable strategy to consider here, with character weight impacting how much damage you deal. It’s also worth noting that Battle Mode can be played entirely with bots, too.
Closing Thoughts: Monkey Ball is Back in Action
While there’s still plenty left to experience in Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble, what I’ve played has delighted me. The gameplay feels natural and intuitive right out of the gate, and the beginning stages of Adventure Mode have a familiar, confident design that I can easily see becoming brutal near the end.
The Battle Mode gripped me for a bit, too, and there’s still a great deal of character customization, 16-player online, and other features to look forward to. Monkey Ball is the type of series that always tries to appeal to prospective players and veteran fans, and Banana Rumble is no different. Still, the originality and ambition here are evident, so I’m eager to see it all coalesced in full.
Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble will be released for Nintendo Switch on June 25, 2024.
