Super Monkey Ball

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Super Monkey Ball
North American GC cover art
Developer(s)	Amusement Vision
Publisher(s)	Sega
Platform(s)	Arcade, Nintendo GameCube, N-Gage
Release date(s)	Arcade 2000 GameCube JP September 14, 2001 NA November 17, 2001 PAL May 3, 2002 N-Gage[1] NA October 6, 2003 PAL October 7, 2003
Genre(s)	Party
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	ELSPA: 3+ ESRB: E OFLC: G8+
Media	1 × GameCube disc

Super Monkey Ball is an arcade platform game developed by Amusement Vision and published by Sega. The game debuted in Japan in 2000 as an upright arcade cabinet called Monkey Ball (which featured a banana-shaped joystick) and later that year was released as one of the launch titles for the Nintendo GameCube.

[edit] Main game

The objective of the main game is to guide a monkey character encased in a transparent ball across a suspended series of platforms and through a goal. The main game is very simplistic; the only control required is the directional analog stick. By moving the joystick, the player tilts the entire set of platforms that make up the level, called the floor, and the ball rolls accordingly. The player is not in direct control of the ball. In this way, the gameplay mirrors that of a labyrinth toy. While moving across the floor, the player can collect bananas by rolling the ball into them. The bananas award extra points, and an extra life is awarded when 100 bananas are collected. If the ball rolls off the floor and "falls out," the player loses a life. There are three difficulty settings; the levels increase in complexity and become less navigable on higher settings. Beginner difficulty is 10 stages long, Advanced difficulty is 30 stages long, and Expert difficulty is 50 stages long. If the player can complete all of the floors on a difficulty setting without running out of lives (and therefore using a continue), extra floors are unlocked. The Beginner and Advanced modes must be completed without losing a life at all in the US version^{[citation needed]}. Finishing all of the floors in the expert difficulty (including the extra floors) without using a continue unlocks the master difficulty, which contains the ten most difficult levels.

[edit] Sequels and re-releases

The popularity of the game in Japan, North America, and Europe has led to several sequels and ports: Super Monkey Ball 2 (2002) for the GameCube; Super Monkey Ball Deluxe (2005) for PlayStation 2 and Xbox, which included levels from both GameCube releases plus original levels, as well as updating the party games; Super Monkey Ball Jr. (2003), a release for Nintendo Game Boy Advance based on the original title; a release under the original title for the Nokia N-Gage gaming system (2003); a release for the Nintendo DS entitled Super Monkey Ball Touch & Roll (2006), and Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz (2006) for the Wii console. It is also featured in the Sega SuperStars Eye Toy game for the PlayStation 2 (2004). The franchise took a new direction in 2006 with Super Monkey Ball Adventure developed by Traveller's Tales which came out for PS2, GameCube & PSP. Other iterations of the franchise include Sega Super Monkey Ball (2004), Monkey Ball Mini Golf (2006) and Super Monkey Ball: Tip 'n Tilt (2007) for mobile phones. A Super Monkey Ball iPhone application was released on 2008 as well, in which the platforms are tilted by tilting the device.

[edit] See also

• Neverball, a similar game available under the GPL for Windows 2000 / XP, Linux, FreeBSD, and Mac OS X
• GooBall
• Marble Madness
• Marble Blast, another similar game to Super Monkey Ball.
• List of characters in the Super Monkey Ball series
• Ballance

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• "The Psychophysiology of Video Gaming", Niklas Ravaja, May 31, 2005.
• Mansized review of Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz