These segments are presented as talking-free, simple motion comics, watched by the monkeys on a television. Banana Mania splits the difference, offering the basic story beats to those who want them. Story in the early Monkey Ball games ranged from nonexistent to notoriously bad and plodding. But it’s good that these stages are included here. The next ones broadened things out, with some stages that were more manageable on-ramps for new players. The first game built a focused challenge. Each of these games’ stages are held in higher regard than Banana Blitz’ offerings, and for good reason. There are even more special modifiers to unlock. It packs in so many levels from those first three games, delivering them in a lot of different ways. In terms of sheer content, it’s hard to beat the offering in Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania. (And some non-Sega properties too, like Hello Kitty and Monster Rancher.) Banana Mania definitely takes the Christmas tree approach, unafraid to keep adding ornaments in an attempt to catch your eye. Through a series of cameos, both included and as downloadable content, it looks to expand the game’s audience to fans of Sonic, Yakuza, Persona, and other Sega franchises. A selection of 12 minigames from those releases is here, too. It includes hundreds of stages from Super Monkey Ball, Super Monkey Ball 2 and Super Monkey Ball Deluxe. Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania is meant as a celebration of the series’ early games. And, as history has shown, really hard to get right! But Banana Mania does its best, and its best is honestly pretty okay. Sega clearly intends Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania to be a marquee release for the franchise, with a host of courses, modes and cameos. Super Monkey Ball is back! And this time, what’s returning is what most players love: the stages and minigames from the series’ early installments.
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