Super Monkey Ball is the first Sega game to appear on the GameCube and it shines as one of the best party games available on any system. The twist with Super Monkey is that you don’t control your monkey in a ball, you control the environments. Think of Marble Madness with moveable backgrounds, add lots of party and mini-games and that’s what Super Monkey Ball is like.

The main game of Monkey Ball involves reaching the goal at the end of the level. This is easy at first but soon it become ... more >>

Super Monkey Ball is the first Sega game to appear on the GameCube and it shines as one of the best party games available on any system. The twist with Super Monkey is that you don’t control your monkey in a ball, you control the environments. Think of Marble Madness with moveable backgrounds, add lots of party and mini-games and that’s what Super Monkey Ball is like.

The main game of Monkey Ball involves reaching the goal at the end of the level. This is easy at first but soon it becomes increasingly difficult. Negotiating tightrope-like pathways is one thing, but when the levels start moving, flipping, twisting and distorting, it doesn’t seem so easy anymore. Beginner Mode offers 10 levels, Advanced is 30 levels and 50 levels make up the Expert challenge. And you don’t want to know about the hidden master levels!

Earning points in the main mode will unlock the mini-games of Monkey Bowling, Monkey Billiards and Monkey Golf. The name of these mini-games identifies what kind of games they are. Each game is good enough to be a stand-alone product.

The party games are one of the best features of Super Monkey Ball. They include Monkey Racing, Monkey Fight and Monkey Target. Monkey Racing is similar to Nintendo’s Mario Kart, with its turbos and weapon power-ups. Monkey Fight is where each player has a extendable boxing glove attached to their ball, and points are scored by knocking the other contestants off the platform. Finally, Monkey Target is a hang-gliding game where you must land on platforms that float on the sea.

The graphics in Monkey Ball are impressive: the smoothness of the game engine, the procedural textures, they all look great. This game is cute, original and fun. Be sure to buy additional controllers when you buy your GameCube and this infuriatingly addictive game.
<< less