+new story mode that presents a chance to familiarize oneself with all of the levels before attempting the arcade mode
+the first game already looked great and this one looks even better, with extremly detailed backdrops even down to having collision
+all the minigames from the first retained, with 6 new ones as well
+instead of buying more continues in the in-game store, you buy more lives per continue, making the endgame content easier to reach with the 1cc requirement
+no repeated stages in the extra worlds, and the later extra levels aren't included in story mode either, making it a treat to unlock them. master mode has its own extra set now too, meaning an 80 level 1cc expert -> master extra run is possible

-relies far too heavily on gimmicky stage design, specifically moving stages and stages you have to control with switches. these feel too finicky, especially since the sophisticated physics engine retained from the first game is not equipped to handle the kind of interactions these stages provide
-because there are far more moving stages/objects, the game becomes increasingly reliant on catching the right cycle, which leads to a lot of timer strats on levels. not very fun, especially when they make the level trivial to complete ie "hold forward once the timer hits 58 seconds to win"
-there's no special world/background for master mode....
-the bonus stages feel like much more of a chore this time around

I don't feel like this game is quite as good in core design as the first one, but the game is much more accessible than the first and has more content overall. still very addictive, even though I find many of the stages somewhat frustrating or boring

Such a fun time. Easy to sink hours into. I loved finishing the story mode, and the challenge mode is even better. Its a genuine challenge, but you want to keep going because its so fun. Incredible level design and the game is so charming. And the minigames. The minigames are all great additions, but monkey target 2. My god thats such a fun game. That could be its own game. Ive sank so many hours into this one minigame. This is one of my favorite games, and I wish the rest of the series stayed on this level of quality. I'm praying for banana mania.

Same excellent gameplay, even better presentation, a droll (but superfluous) story mode, but sadly (and crucially) the individual levels are nowhere near as good as the ones in the first game. Much of the challenge here is focused on timing your movement around big gimmick setpieces, which means a lot of start/stop gameplay that I feel like kind of betrays what made the first one so great. It's actually a lot easier overall (which is nice on the one hand, because the first one gets brutal, fast) but paradoxically the levels often seem more frustrating to navigate. This one gets tiresome to me in a way that the first one didn't.

"I really love bananas!" - Aiai

I've heard some Monkey Ball fans complain about 2 making too many additions, saying that it removed the purity and simplicity of 1, but truthfully I think every addition SMB2 makes is for the better, turning an already fantastic into the best version of it to ever exist. Story mode is a great way to allow players to see all the levels without having to get through all of Arcade mode, but Arcade mode is still there for anyone who wants the pure Monkey Ball experience. Story mode also adds an incredibly delightful story with cutscenes, where the monkey protagonists are like a group of superheroes who use their balls as super suits, and they have to stop an evil Baboon from taking their Dole bananas. It's the perfect mix of sincerity and goofiness.

More mechanics are added to the courses in a way that doesn't make them too complicated or long, but instead diversifies the kinds of stages that can exist. I love the mix of more puzzle-like stages, reflex-oriented ones, timing stages, and so on. Every time I saw the most wildly different stage in the game, there was something else a couple stages later. Luckily, the moveset and feel of control has not changed, as perfection isn't to be messed with, which is something that future Monkey Ball did not understand.

On top of the incredibly solid single player stuff, even more multiplayer/mini games are here than the last one, and it's truly impressive how fleshed out these games are. On top of new versions of all the very engaging mini games in the last one, we have six new ones that all also have a lot going on, and are great for playing with friends. I mean, they put just a whole tennis game and bowling game into this just because they could. It makes sense that the guy who directed this would go on to work on the Yakuza series, a series known for it's greatly fleshed out side content. If you put 18 holes of mini golf in Super Monkey Ball, why wouldn't you put an entire cabaret club simulator in Yakuza? (Also important to note that story mode makes getting play points a lot easier, leading to unlocking mini games a lot faster as well)

This is the full package, this is the peak of Monkey Ball, this set the standard that the future games would basically not even try to uphold. My literal only complaint is that the "hurry up" music is unnecessarily shrill and annoying, I just need a countdown man I don't need you to play high frequency attack sounds at me.