If you are looking for a simple, fun game for the whole family, you may be interested in this Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania review. This game, which is actually a remastering, brings together the first three games of the franchise, all the minigames, and all the extra content. Super Monkey Ball Banana Manía is the best version, without a doubt, of these games, because it is a fairly complete and fun collection. With this game, Sega celebrates the 20th anniversary of the first installment.
As a video game I can say that you cannot expect wonders. Sega made with this franchise a game that bet on fun and little else. There is nothing deep. It is a monkey enclosed in a sphere that you must take from point A to point B by moving the stage and overcoming obstacles. In addition to this, they have several mini-games of golf, soccer, fighting, airplanes, etc. each one quite fun and refreshing to the experience, to play locally with your friends.
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Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania Review
Visually, this remastering of the first three Super Monkey Ball games received an update that allows us to enjoy a quite satisfactory experience. And this is not the only change, for the better, that the game has. All in all, this title has a major flaw. Due to its simplicity, and its more than 300 levels, it feels repetitive. Depending on your level of patience, of course, but after doing the same thing 50 times, you get to feel saturated.
This review of Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania could be summed up in that: a lot of fun in the beginning, but repetitive in the long run. There are several things to mention about the game, because in this version of the game there are several things that have been changed to make it feel like a game appropriate to this time, despite being a remastering of a collection of games that has been on the market for a long time.
Super Monkey Ball in the year 2021
This is one of those games that presents its proposal to you from the beginning of the game. You know how to develop it, improve it throughout the levels, but it is basically the same from the beginning to the end. Its formula was designed in the 2000s, and it is something very interesting how timeless it became to carry a monkey in a ball through obstacles. The levels are going to be a challenge, and you will have to arm yourself with patience and reflection, to overcome the challenge that they propose to you.
This remastering had a significant change that makes the game more satisfying. This change basically consists of lives no longer exist. You do not have to worry that a game over will force you to repeat the levels that you have already overcome. Which is very appropriate when you face levels that can become a headache due to their difficulty. Something as simple as eliminating lives, completely renews the playable experience.
New in this collection is a help mode that doubles the time limit and provides a visual route to the goal, which can be useful for those moments of greatest frustration, without being a definitive help. This only allows you to understand where the end goal is, but then you will need to test-drive how to get there. There is also the option to skip a level that is being a headache.
Between the elimination of lives and these tools, what was achieved with Super Monkey Ball Banana Manía was to adapt it to the current needs of all audiences. In addition, except for the lives, the others are totally optional, and they become a resource that you will only use if you want. Finally, graphically and sonically the game offers a satisfying experience, so there will be no complaints in these respects. In fact, the soundtrack is something that fans will enjoy greatly.
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Playing better rewards you well
It’s not just about passing levels. In fact, Super Monkey Ball Banana Manía has a reward system based on points. As you play, you earn points that you can use to earn new characters, costumes, and even game modes. This is an option, for example, to change your monkey for Sonic or Tails, as playable characters. Most of the unlockables are cosmetic elements that have little or no effect on the game. But they are no less attractive for that.
Too you can unlock costumes for each monkey by buying new costumes from them. You can even buy a skip button that you can use in single player content. None of these extras are too expensive, so you can unlock whatever you want just by playing the main game for a bit.
Although it is clear that the main criticism that can be made of this game is that it becomes repetitive, the minigames are that variety you need. These are games to play with your friends, which have also always been a very popular Super Monkey Ball feature. This collection is one of the few games that offers local multiplayer in an age when almost everything is online. This makes it an ideal game to play with friends in gatherings and so on.
There are a total of 12 mini-games Among which you will find, Golf (with miniature golf included), monkey fight, one that would offer the experience of kart racing, Monkey Racing, billiards, tennis, bowling. Each minigame is totally original, and it becomes a lot of fun when you play in a group. And there is no doubt that proof of this is the sheer variety is incredible and can make an afternoon of gaming with friends go by quickly.
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conclusion
Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania is certainly a great way to celebrate the franchise’s two decades of existence, offering an experience so complete that you can get tired of playing its levels and not finish it. This is perhaps its main flaw, that it is not a game that renews itself or changes its mechanics. If its premise definitely doesn’t appeal to you from the get-go, this may not be the game for you.
Super Monkey Ball is a game that does not pretend to be more than it is, entertainment for one player or for several, with more than 300 levels in which you will have to carry a monkey from point A to point B and 12 very varied mini-games to play locally with friends in social gatherings. It is done. Yes, this means that it is a game that ends up being repetitive, but it is precisely due to the fact that it has a large amount of content.
In any case, the updates that the game had, which in addition to the visual and sound, were few in terms of mechanics, but they came in handy to make the experience more pleasant at this time. So i believe this is a good game for fans and new players immerse yourself in the challenge it offers and in the fun of its mini-games.