A long time ago, back in the days of SMS and MSN Messenger, when emoticons were a thing, I'd often find myself using variations of this vaguely monkey-looking chap: @('_')@
I don't know how I stumbled across it, but something tells me I might have been inspired by Super Monkey Ball, a strange little game that I was aware of, but only peripherally. Its premise is simple. Take a strong hint of Marble Madness, but replace the marbles with monkeys in spheres.
Job done, game on.
Fun Times
No, really, it is that simple. This arcade title made its way to the Nintendo GameCube, which is the version I'm emulating, and the controls are practically singular: you just move the analogue stick, which in turn moves the level underneath your choice of monkey, who proceeds to roll around the place collecting Dole-branded bananas.
How are they able to pick them up inside their airtight balls? That's not explained, and I don't think Super Monkey Ball is concerned about nonsense like that either.
I don't know how precise my inputs are after going through layers of emulation, but the game feels superb. Nothing really judders, though you can move the stick in a way that would produce those results. Instead, the floor tilts, your monkey gathers speed, the ball gets rolling and away you go, bouncing off the walls until you burst through the goal line before the time limit runs out.
Coupled with smooth graphics, simple though they are, are some show-off touches like lens flares. Really well-done lens flares. Entirely out of place lens flares. Is this just an absurd tech demo? The lighting looks on point, the Goal ball cracks in half and dumps confetti everywhere... this game is a bit of a visual treat.
Mirrored floors? Come on, now... The title you show all this off with is Super Monkey Ball? What's going on here?
Frustrations
There are several game modes, for both single and multiplayer gaming, but you will soon test the limits of your patience when you meet wicked level designs surrounded by seemingly infinite drops. Luckily, you've a life system in place, perhaps fueled by bananas (I've not been keeping track of my banana intake if I'm honest), so while mistakes can and will happen, setbacks aren't necessarily too harsh.
While the physics are a little weird compared to those you might be familiar with, their rules are obeyed such that most of the mistakes you make will be the result of your inputs, rather than the game screwing you over.
I say most because I'm not quite sure how to categorise some of the failures later on in my Beginner mode game. At one point, I bumped the goal post and flew off the edge of the level. Kinda hard to blame that on my inputs, right?
If you're the type of player who can get a little annoyed, and each successive failure compounds that annoyance into something much worse, then Super Monkey Ball might just give you something to think about. Failure is around every corner, and it's ridiculous in what it wants you to do on some floors, all within a strict time limit.
The final floor of my baby mode entry to Super Monkey Ball tasks you with snaking your way across five barely ball-sized paths, each their own challenge. The first entices you to pick up speed (you're being timed, after all), but not so much that you fly off the edge at the end.
The second is a flat path that just requires a precise run. If you start in the right direction, you can just hold the analogue stick forward, and your monkey will go - it barely wobbles once it is up to speed, but it's that initial wobble of lining yourself up that often slowed me right down.
The third is a stepped version of the second, which serves no real additional problems for you, other than it striking fear into you, thinking that it'll cause your monkey ball to bounce unpredictably or something. So far as I can tell, it doesn't. Just treat it as a ramp and go.
The fourth, after some little banana bridges, is an uphill affair, and for some reason, it likes to induce all the wobbles in my monkey ball.
I can tell you that either pointing backwards or having the camera end up looking at you from the front, is a nightmare. The time you spend nudging yourself into a more useful place to carry on with the level is time wasted, and having 7 seconds left on the clock to get up to the top of the ramp, and then to traverse path number five is not a good place to find yourself in.
That was as far as I got in the last level, and subsequent attempts all ended with 'FALL OUT' splashing across the screen, accompanied by replays of my failure. Thanks, Super Monkey Ball. Rub it in, why don't you?
I kid, it's a useful feature sometimes. Doesn't show much and it shows it quickly, but I've got a few ideas from my replays. Chief amongst them, can I skip two of these paths entirely by jumping this gap...
I dread to think of the speed run of these games, knowing how unbelievably slow I can be trying to get these beginner stages right.
Final Word
On the balance of the blog post, my fun times with Super Monkey Ball were fleeting, but I don't think that paints an accurate picture. While I was disappointed in failure after failure, as many of us would be, I was perhaps a little surprised at how smoothly this game ran, and how good it looked.
Arcade games can often look so polished in comparison to home console ports, but this one comes really close to matching the original - in my mind at least, having not actually seen the arcade version. It's bright, it's colourful, it shows off lighting and lens flares... it screams 'look at me, I'm fun!' but it's a GameCube game.
If I just wanted a goofy little game to play against someone, then Super Monkey Ball is probably an excellent choice for some entertaining evenings. If I wanted to play something to the point of mastering it, or at least completing it, I have to say I can think of better uses of my time.
It's good to have played it, definitely to learn how good it felt to control, but I'm not desperate to go through puzzling courses as monkeys in balls. I don't quite see the need, though why does anyone need to play a video game in the first place is quite the question that I'm unqualified to answer.
Play Super Monkey Ball. Definitely. Will I play it again? Probably. Will I play it much beyond that? Highly doubt it, but in places, its a laugh, ain't it?
Fun Facts
Super Monkey Ball was the first game Sega published on Nintendo hardware after they left their own Dreamcast to gather dust on collectors' shelves.
Super Monkey Ball, developed by Amusement Vision, first released in 2001.
Version played: Nintendo GameCube, 2001, via emulation.