---I think every college student's favorite video game is Super Monkey Ball. After all, it's got a dirt simple premise with fun looking stages yet hard to master gameplay. For those who are unfamiliar with Super Monkey Ball, it's a Sega published platforming game made by Amusement Vision where you play as a Monkey in a Gashapon capsule trying to collect bananas and reach the goal with an alotted amount of time. The kicker is that to move, you use a control stick or track ball to tilt the stages. This is widely different from normal platformers where input influences the player character.
---What this control scheme does is allow for some extremely engaging gameplay. Monkey Ball's physics are very on point, making the act of moving the Monkey feel very fluid. You can also skip parts of stages if you're skilled enough. Amusement Vision even put in minigames and unlockables to give players goals to work towards. The aesthetic of Super Monkey Ball is very vibrant, yet very readable. I especially love the inclusion of grid textures here. I also like the mini-map, which helps with spatial awareness.
---That being said, I don't think Super Monkey Ball is perfect. It's camera for one is also influenced by input, which can be a real pain when you're trying to line up to thin pieces of environment. I also thought the lives and continue system wasn't necessary. If anything, it acts to prolong the game. Same goes for the replays you have to skip or watch everytime you die in the game. Finally, the expert stages aren't great, especially with their reliance on precise input, which Super Monkey Ball does not support. Still, I think this game deserves it's legacy. It's an extremely fun and welcoming platformer that I can see myself coming back to in the future. - [08/10]

+this almost certainly is the crowning game design success of sega's turn-of-the-millennium arcade output, both in how addicting the concept is and how strong the execution is
+because this is the first in the series, this one gets to horde all of the most pure ball-rolling puzzles that reward player control, where the later ones had to lean into gimmicks more
+the physics are so tight and the controls are equally precise, giving the game a steep yet rewarding difficulty curve
+amusement vision was a master of sega's cutting-edge proprietary arcade hardware, and that knowledge transitioned to their three gcn games. the fact that this is a launch game for the gcn and somehow one of its best looking titles is astounding
+the minigames are equally as engrossing, especially for parties. some of these (bowling and billiards specifically) were continuing to be the model for the equivalent yakuza minigames up through the mid 2010s
+if anything this indicates how well sega understood the mechanics of their own arcade games, and how well they could design challenges that require mastery of many different skills to overcome. so much nuance to rolling a ball around with a single joystick

-the beginner extra stages repeat through advanced and expert extra as well... minor nitpick, but they feel out of place in terms of difficulty
-the vast majority of players will never get to see much of expert mode (which contains over half of the stages in the game) due to the brutal difficulty. there's certainly plenty of more casual content, but it demands a lot in order to experience the game as intended
-a specific qualm I have related to the above is the difficulty curve of expert: I think the biggest hurdle for players are the levels from 15-25, with the rest of the 50 levels being more reasonable in what they expect. perhaps the level order should've been changed... again, a nitpick

toshihiro nagoshi has had so many successes as a director, and this one of his best. finally getting through master mode in this game was such a huge personal accomplishment after playing this game on and off since I was a child, and I would recommend taking a whirl of it whether you just want to try it out or really dig into it

You know that feeling you get in your arm when you tilt an analog stick and the weight of what's happening on-screen transmogrifies into a 6th sense? That climb upwards which matches the thumb's losing grip on rubber? That illusive beat of existence where motion transcends action and becomes sensation?

They made a game about that.

(P.S. Monkey Target is fun.)