This is a huge dissapointment for fans of the original games.

Not only that they failed to recreate the physics of the original games, but this game is literally just monkey ball deluxe but with a weird fresh coat of paint, a female voice actress (that doesn't sound as enthusiastic as the male one), and they butchered Monkey Target to the point that it literally can't be beaten.

I would rather stick to the dolphin port of Monkey Ball Deluxe as that's the best way to play the game. The PS2/Xbox versions are alright, but this is a Disc Hack of SMB2 which is already perfect. Never playing this game again.

Technically, I played the Anniversary Edition, but the game itself is the same across all editions... I don't know why they've been split up here, but I figure most people will be clicking on the normal version so here's where my review will go.

The physics are noticeably looser, as if every stage is made of glass. There's no sense of weight or momentum, partly due to the worse sound design (impacts and rolling noises are reduced, sometimes absent). The controls are less precise, and for some baffling reason they decided to make the camera follow you more loosely, while letting you adjust the camera with the right stick to make up for it.

You may be asking, "but doesn't every game now use the right stick for camera control?" Yes, however... It sounds counterintuitive, but the way the original games' camera always followed your movement made navigating precise stages much more comfortable and reliable. In Banana Mania, you will be making many, many camera adjustments while simultaneously trying to control a ball on tight ledges - with a strict time limit, by the way. It adds up to create an unnecessarily cumbersome experience.

The added content is cool, particularly the evil banana mode, but it means nothing when the core systems of the game feel so loose and imprecise. I suppose it's a step up from the PS2 port of Deluxe, but that's not saying much.

Stick with the GameCube versions of 1 and 2, and use 2's Deluxe mod for the Deluxe stages. They perform really well on Dolphin, so you should be able to get at least 480p60 on even the weakest laptops and phones of today.

having only played banana blitz before this banana mania was a very pleasant game to play. the levels are very well designed and the difficulty was a lot harder than banana blitz. there's also just a lot of levels to sink your teeth into with this one as it has all the levels from 1, 2 and deluxe plus variations. the minigames were alright but from what i have heard they butchered monkey target. just a really solid time and i hope with sega reviving a bunch of series that we get more monkey ball

the opening theme is also a banger :)

hallo
hallo
hallo
hallo
bad-phy-sics

I hope y'all enjoyed their best attempt at classic monkey ball bc you will not be seeing it again for a while, and they'll site this game as why

at least dark banana mode was fun

on one hand: monki funny :)
on the other: this one's really fuckin weird. i never played the originals but i could tell from stuff like the weirdo comic book "adaptation" of the story mode that this one wasn't as good. i know a lot of people here say the physics are weird compared to the originals, and even though i don't have a reference point i kinda agree. sometimes clipping a random object will just shoot you a million miles off course, some slopes are so steep that you have to just slowly walk up them if you run out of momentum, etc. nothing game breaking but sometimes it's like. what the fuck aiai just walk up the damn stairs.

but ignoring the fact that it's inferior to a game ive never touched, it's a pretty fun. out of all the levels in the story mode and the ones from SMB1/2 that i played, there were only like three that i actually got frustrated with. otherwise, they're pretty diverse, challenging, and fun. i haven't touched too many of the other modes but there's definitely a lot to do if i ever feel like getting back into this one.

SMB: Banana Mania is Sega's attempt to recapture the magic that SMB1/2 had in the early 2000s, featuring remastered versions of SMB2's Story Mode stages, as well as all of the Challenge Mode stages from both SMB1 & 2.

While the look of Banana Mania is fresh and new, the feel of the game is what falls short. The physics engine and controls are much clunkier compared to the early Monkey Ball titles, and there are also some small QoL issues that make going through the game a bit of a slog if you aren't fully invested. The party games this time around have very little heart & soul put into them, as they are simply graphical remasters of old party games combined with the new, worse control scheme. Completing the game is also proving to be a tedious task, as every single story mode level has its own list of missions to complete in order to earn every achievement.

Banana Mania is probably one of the best modern SMB titles, but it really only achieves that status by remastering the content that Amusement Vision created 20 years ago. Even with its flaws, I have still enjoyed my time with the game as a huge fan of the original SMB titles.