GameCube

Super Monkey Ball

At last, a children's game that breaks the mould and delivers an original gaming experience. The concept is simple: monkeys are encased in transparent bubbles that are controlled by the analogue stick. In the main game mode it's your job to spin the monkeys along, collecting as many bananas as you can in the time available. Sounds simple, but there is a catch. The mazelike paths you must negotiate are suspended in midair, they move and are quite often full of holes - timing can be everything. If you fall out of the course, you are placed back at the start. Three fallouts and the game's over. There are three levels of difficulty, and thinking this would be child's play we made the mistake of heading straight to the hardest one - we soon turned back.

Super Monkey Ball is much more than an arcade port, cleverly adding ingenious and addictive multiplayer games that everyone can enjoy.

Sega couldn’t have chose a better game to launch on the game cube, giving Mario Party a good run for its money. Definitely worth picking up.

Auch ich war anfangs ein wenig skeptisch, was die rollenden Affen betraf. Nach den ersten Missionen musste ich mich aber eines Besseren belehren lassen und habe immer mehr Parcours erfolgreich beendet. Durch die Vielzahl der Spiele ist für jede Menge Abwechslung gesorgt und der Multiplayer-Modus bringt weitere Motivationsschübe. Würde die Grafik die Fähigkeiten des GameCubes noch ein wenig besser nutzen, hätte Super Monkey Ball sicher am Platin-Award gekratzt. So ist es ein super Geschicklichkeitsspiel für die ganze Familie!

From the visual point of view, Super Monkey Ball is like many of Sega's games, very colorful. Using the GameCube hardware capabilities in full swing, Sega is able to define their vision of quirky little monkey characters rolling around in transparent balls quite accurately. The game's four individual monkey characters (Aiai, Baby, Meemee, and GonGon) all have their own motion pattern and post-level animation. In the midst of gameplay, you can clearly catch a glimpse of how a glossy reflection veers off of the ball. Little nuances, like the sparks that fly when the ball goes from slow to faster speeds, make the seemingly unbelievable become believable.

As gaming has matured, games have grown in complexity. Complex games have their place in the market, but sometimes you just feel like something different. Sega is one of those companies known for fairly regular treks into the "something different" zone. As the company shifts to multiplatform development, it seems to be in fine, quirky form with Super Monkey Ball, its first GameCube release. An enhanced port of developer Amusement Vision's arcade title Monkey Ball, the game makes a strong case for the power of simple yet incredibly addictive gameplay.

The game is basically a twist on the old arcade/NES classic Marble Madness. Your monkey is in a hamster ball, and you must guide him through an endless series of platforms, hairpin turns, and past numerous obstacles to reach the goal. But, instead of directing your monkey, you tilt the playing field to manipulate his movement. It’s a simple, yet brilliant, concept that harks back to the earlier days of video games, when all that mattered was pure gameplay.

This single-player mode plays like those old marble games where you tilt a board on both axis to navigate a maze. You have to traverse some very perilous platforms without falling off. The first few stages aren't so bad, but the advanced levels are like walking a tightrope! Opening the mini-games soon becomes a major chore, and you'll be looking up and down for a cheat code. Other than that major flaw, Super Monkey Ball is a fine package that will keep you and your friends occupied for hours on end.

This game can quickly become addictive as players feel compelled to keep trying to better their last performance. However, most children will find the game too challenging on higher levels. A seasoned 11-year-old tester could not make it past the twelfth stage of the Expert level's 50 stages, for example. The game is great to have on hand for multi-player fun, however, and is best played occasionally (it gets monotonous with overuse).

Super Monkey Ball is an action party game that takes a family of four monkeys in hamster balls on a wild ride through mazes, billiards tables, golf courses, and more. The main game plays much in the same way as the classic game Labyrinth. The monkey you choose is essentially a marble placed into a gigantic maze. You control the "ground" and try to tilt the monkey all the way to the goal before he falls off the edge of the world. It's easy in theory, but pretty tough to execute. Three levels of difficulty offer from 10 to 50 mazes, which can be played both in single and multiplayer modes.

Sometimes a videogame comes out that makes gamers question what drugs the designers were on when they first thought of the idea. Sega's Super Monkey Ball for GameCube is such a title. The offering can loosely be called an action-puzzler, but that hardly describes it. The odd project plays and looks like a mixture of the classic Marble Madness turn 3D and doused in Sega craziness. And with both its finely tuned single-player experience and addictive multiplayer one, Super Monkey Ball has sleeper hit written all over it.

SMB is another worthy title to add to your collection. It may not appeal to the lone player but it will do so for anybody looking for a game to play with friends or family. The main mode is original and fun, albeit often frustrating. The multiplayer games are exceptionally fun and will keep you coming back for more. In summing up, SMB is a clean, fun and original game that is a great purchase for the multiplayer appeal and worth at least a look for others.

Bei kaum einem anderen Spiel liegen Siegestaumel und Frustration so eng beieinander wie im Solo-Modus von Super Monkey Ball. Da neigt man den Analog-Stick nur einen Hundertstelmillimeter zu weit zur Seite und schon stürzt der Primaten-Ball ab und man darf den Level von vorne anfangen. Daneben machen die Party-Games aber mächtig Laune. Wenn ihr auf die Schnelle mal ein lustiges Multiplayer-Game braucht, könnt ihr mit Super Monkey Ball nichts verkehrt machen.

Um für Abwechslung zu sorgen, hat Sega noch den Party-Modus eingebaut, in dem man vor drei komplett andere Aufgaben gestellt wird: Im Race-Game saust man nach Sonic-Manier durch Rennstrecken gegen seine Mitspieler. Im Fight-Game ist jeder Affe mit einem Boxhandschuh ausgestattet und versucht seine Gegner von der Plattform zu stoßen. Dabei gibt es diverse Extras mit denen der Boxkampf nochmal richtig aufgepept wird. Im Target-Game schießt man sich von einer Rampe und versucht eine Punktgenaue Landung im Ziel. Wer genug Punkte gesammelt hat, kann diese dann gegen Mini-Games eintauschen. Monkey Ball ist ein Pflichtkauf für Puzzle-Fans! Wer gerne mit Freunden daheim an den Joypads hängt wird vom Party-Modus begeistert sein!

In all Super Monkey Ball provides a lot of entertainment in one package. The graphics are very polished, but these are the kinds of games that make you forget about graphics in a hurry. The most important features are game play, control, and variety, and the SMB scores very highly in these areas. At the very least DP readers should give this a rent. You might well discover that you'll want to spend more than a weekend with it.

Monkeys and games have traditionally fused together well, as can be seen from the likes of Timesplitters 2, Metal Slug 3 and Ape Escape. Rather than be an exception to this rule, SMB is the definition. It may be the only game of this generation to require just one finger (well, a thumb) to play, but AV have created a beautifully simple - and fun - game that is a true delight to play.

This game has really opened my eyes. I mean, why don't we put all our monkeys in plastic spheres? Super Monkey Ball's plethora of game options is great, yet I still wonder how it will be viewed when there's more than a handful of GameCube titles available. I say it's a fun launch game that becomes a forgotten one a year from now.

L'univers coloré et « enfantin » de Super Monkey Ball cache en réalité un challenge très difficile à relever mais aussi un soft très fun à jouer. A plusieurs, c'est l'éclate totale grâce à tous les mini-jeux variés et rigolos.

Se você está procurando um jogo que ofereça satisfação rápida e diversão garantida, e não se importa com o fato de que esse não é um game para longas sessões... Super Monkey Ball é mais uma obra-prima da Sega que exibe excelente valor de produção e é acessível por gente de todas as idades e gostos. Não se deixe enganar pela nota - se você curte esse estilo, esse é o jogo certo para você.