Super Monkeyball Banana Blitz, THE TRUTH!

[VeggieManUK]

After learning that Nintendo had a new idea for a controller (wiimote) that used motion sensing the first thing I thought about was how Super Monkeyball could be implemented with this new concept. You see, I’m a huge fan of super monkeyball and my skill on SM1&2 I would consider to be above average. Don’t get me wrong, i'm not trying to blow my own trumpet here.

Then I heard bad things about SMBB that SEGA had screwed up the controls, I was left thinking how? HOW on earth could you screw something like that up?

You see, the way I imagined that the controls would work was as if you had one of those simple ball bearing puzzles in your hand and you had to tilt it to get the balls into holes.

Then one of the lads I work with bought it and said it was awful, controls were broken and the mini games were less than useless. I asked him to explain the controls to me and to my surprise they sounded exactly how I had imagined them so I asked what was wrong with them, he explained that HE couldn’t manage them and they were to SENSITIVE. Hmmmmm.

So I decided to buy it and see for myself what the fuss was about. So I get it home and put the disc in and await with dread the awfulness that had been described to me. So, what do I get, I get a control mechanism that is second nature and so intuitive you feel insulted that there are any instructions for it.
It was EXACTLY with pinpoint accuracy what I had hoped for and above all else responsive.

I was left wondering what all the fuss was about and why some (Most people I’ve spoken to) have had so much problems with it.

I decided to let the wife have a go to see if I could see any difference in the way she handled it compared to me, the first thing I noticed was that she was treating the controller as if it were a stick of dynamite and didn’t want to move it to much and her game play suffered for it to as she struggled even on the first world stages.

I when decided to demonstrate to her how I worked the wiimote, she watched for about 5 minutes and then had another go, to my surprise her game play improved so much that she can now even challenge my scores on the first 3 worlds and i’m guessing its only a matter of time before she’s even challenging them to the end levels.

Now the way I handle the wiimote is with force, if I need to stop the ball dead my wiimote is in a vertical position for a split second before going back to horizontal and the same goes for the other three directions, the way the wife was doing it was to gently tilt the remote until the ball had stopped, needless to say that by the time the ball would come to a dead stop it had fallen off the table and caused sheer frustration.

Now all I’m trying to say here is that for me the controls are as perfect as I would hope for them to be and that if you find them quirky in any way to just give it time, you cant expect to master every new technique that the wiimote throws at you the first time you try them.

It just seems to me that most reviewers only gave it a five minute try before slating it, my question to them would be, "How else would you have implemented it then?".

----------------------------------------------------

OK, so I've established that the controls are perfect for me but what do I think about the course designs? Well to be honest I’m a little disappointed, I was hoping for more of a challenge. I’m not saying it was all easy as the last three worlds did take some beating but I just felt as though the courses in SM2 were harder. Its a shame Nintendo didn’t emulate the thumb stick from the GC controller as it would be possible then to see if the wiimote would make the SM2 courses any easier, maybe but I guess we will never know unless we get SM Deluxe on the wii. I can dream can't I?

So then, whats my final view on SMBB? well i'd score it 8/10, It looses one point for Monkey Race and Monkey Target not being up to scratch and another Point for the courses not being challenging enough.

Can I recommend this game? hell yes but please give the controls time.

 

[BlenderWizard]

Glad you liked it, but I think the controls totally suck.

Just look at Monkey bowling vs. Wii Sports bowling. Wii Sports nailed how bowling controls should be, and I was severely disappointed with the way the controls are laid out on SMBBB.

 

[Squall7]

I only had a five minute go on SMBB, but I'm with you on the controls. They are pretty fine. I liked the minigames in the original Super Monkey Ball, I never got the chance to play many on SMBB, but I think they should have focused on making fewer ones better, rather than many of them.

 

[VeggieManUK]

BlenderWizard,

Thats a fair point about Monkey Bowling and I would have to agree with it, my only defence (wich might sound lame) would be, do you realy want every game now to use the same mechanism for the controls? I could understand if the Bowling was a stand alone game but it is not, its part of the 50 party games that are bundled with the main game and are only intended as five minutes of fun here and there where as wii sports is slighly more serious.

Please note also that I realy didnt go into detail about the controles in the party games, my review was only intended for the main game and im sorry if people thought other wise.

Also, i'm interested as to why people have problems with the controls for the main game, if you do can you please explain what the problem is.

 

[Cartman58]

What other mini-games come in Monkey ball? I went to pick it up but then talked myself out of it.

 

[FSUMercerian17]

There are a lot of mini-games just go to ign, I think they still have videos of a lot of them. The controls on some of the mini-games do suck, but not all of them and the main game controls are awesome. The only problem with the main game (if you have to find one) is that it gets insanely difficult towards the end. Anyone who says it's kiddy should just sit an 8 year old down to try and beat those levels, I doubt it will happen.

I can't think of any other way of doing the controls and that's just fine because they don't need to be changed.

 

[BlenderWizard]

BlenderWizard,

Thats a fair point about Monkey Bowling and I would have to agree with it, my only defence (wich might sound lame) would be, do you realy want every game now to use the same mechanism for the controls? I could understand if the Bowling was a stand alone game but it is not, its part of the 50 party games that are bundled with the main game and are only intended as five minutes of fun here and there where as wii sports is slighly more serious.

Please note also that I realy didnt go into detail about the controles in the party games, my review was only intended for the main game and im sorry if people thought other wise.

Also, i'm interested as to why people have problems with the controls for the main game, if you do can you please explain what the problem is.

Yes, I think similar games should have similar control schemes, just as they always have. Like Doom 3 and Half Life 2, or Super Mario World and Sonic the Hedgehog, etc., etc.

 

[epikon]

amen to that. a really good game.

 

[VeggieManUK]

BlenderWizard,

Its been like a few months since the wii came out and already you think all games should have the same controls even though the wiimote and nunchuck are so young and revolutionary.

Now I dont know how far back your gaming knowlage goes but once upon a time there were no FPS or true First Person games, then the likes of "Ledgends of Valor" and later "Ultima Underworld", these 2 games were true first person but both had totaly different control mechanisms. Even later on when Catacoombs Abys and Wolfenstein came out, again different mechanisms compared to the other two games, even doom and doom 2 didnt have the control mechanisms as we do now with mouse keyboard. I even remember playing Turok with Joystick and Keyboard. I dont think it was until the likes of Quake and other games around the same time that they even come close to the mechanisms we have now with mouse and keyboard. And the same goes for Joypads on consoles. Its only taken around 10+ years to get where we are now.

Im not saying it will take another 10 years to perfect the wiimote and nunchuck combo but I can assure you it will change over the comming years and all for the better.

But I do think Nintendo nailed the Bowling mechanism, but there's always room for improvement and Monkeyball certainly wasn't it.

Just remember that Wii Sports Bowling and Monkeyball Bowling are two totaly different games and even ment to be played differently.

 

[ClawiLewak]

i love monkey ball... altho this is the first MB game i got, i love most of the minigames, the controls for the main game are awesome. the minigames are awesome... especially monkey darts. and space monkeys.

 

[WiiChunk]

I've been a big monkeyball fan since the first one on the cube. I myself was never that bothered by the one player on the cube titles but when I bought the wii version it seemed the single player was born to be like this! The controls just rule and make it way more fun than using a pair of analog sticks to control the board. Much better to feel like you are actually tilting the thing yourself.
With regards to the mini games, I'm finding most of them a lot of fun especially when you get the hang of them.

HOWEVER!!!!!!!!! What the bejesus is with monkey target!!! And no monkey fight!!!????? UNFORGIVABLE!!!!!!

Still, a good game though!

 

[Nekya]

I never played any monkey ball before that one, i was a ps player so...

I rented it for a week. I really loved that, i liked the challenge of the story mode, the controls works fine. I liked the boss's also.

I gotta say that the minigames are not pretty good... i really prefered the mini-games of rayman but i havent tryed them in multiplayer so...

MonkeyBall is a good game if you want challenge for a week. I would only say rent it.