I was pretty excited but weary of this game when it got announced. I've loved Super Monkey Ball my whole life, I grew up on the Gamecube originals and even now think they're some of the most pure fun arcade game experiences ever made. The main mode filled with insanely creative and fun level design, the aesthetics and OST are so insanely iconic to me, a good amount of fun mini games to grind out with friends with a surprising amount of effort put into them! I mean I even had a Super Monkey Ball themed birthday party when I was little (thanks mom you're the best!), I absolutely adored this franchise! That explains the excitement aspect of my initial reaction, but not why I was worried for this game. A large part is that to be brutally honest, this series has been pretty bad for the last 20 years! I really don't think any original, non-remake Super Monkey Ball game since the original 2 was more than Just Okay to me. I played them all, don't get me wrong. I loved this series and wanted to support it, but it just felt like they had entirely lost what made the original games so special and fun. There was a glimmer of hope with Banana Mania, but ultimately that was just a port of the actual good ones so it was hard to place a ton of faith in the series just off that. 20 years of mediocrity with the only shining light being a port of the classics is where the weary part of my initial reaction came from. Thankfully, I'm thrilled to say I loved this game! I don't think it's perfect, and the classics will realistically never be beaten, especially from a nostalgia standpoint. Still, it's hard for me to care about my small issues when an entirely brand new Super Monkey Ball gave me this feeling. It's been like 20 years man!
Sorry that was kind of just me rambling about my history with the series a bit, as far as the actual game goes it makes me so happy to see how many good steps forward this game takes for the series. The first improvement you'll notice is an extremely cute and charming aesthetic! It's immediately apparent how much effort went into the overall vibe of the game. The tutorial and opening cutscene are a cute introduction but once you get to the main menu there's an overwhelming feeling of identity and care put into this series for the first time in a long time. The main menu is an adorable beach scene where all the monkeys are hanging around and doing their own thing. You can even buy some items for them to use and liven the place up! It's super charming and that charm makes its way everywhere, from the cutscenes to the level themes, and even the menus. Post GameCube era Monkey Ball has always had a pretty boring and generic aesthetic to it. Banana Blitz HD and Banana Mania went a new direction that I'm glad they moved on from. They had a very minimalist and sleek vibe to them, which on its own wasn't terrible by any means, but for how silly and weird this series is it feels like what Banana Rumble is going for fits it so much better. The music is also a big improvement from Banana Blitz HD and the few tracks I've heard from Banana Mania's new OST in my opinion. The menu theme is great, and all of the world themes are also great, Rose Garden is a massive standout though.
The biggest improvement bar none is the level design though, coupled with the Spin Dash (a feature I was a bit worried about on reveal) this is the most fun I've had playing a Super Monkey Ball game since the originals by a TON! After they added Jumping I'm a bit weary of new mechanics but the Spin Dash is amazing and insanely fun. It leads to so many exciting skips and thrilling moments that make even the average person feel like a speedrunner. It's for sure a bit busted, but IMO in a very fun way instead of a trivializing the game kind of way like Jumping was. It's still pretty tough to pull off some of the more insane skips you'll think of while playing and there's a ton of satisfaction finally nailing it. A huge problem with the post GameCube era games is that they were either way too easy or difficult in an uninteresting way. This game has a much better understanding of what made the difficulty in the originals so satisfying and gives you the tools to have an insane idea that you can almost always execute on. I still find this game on the easier side compared to the originals but there are some genuinely tough and challenging levels in the later half of adventure mode and especially in the EX worlds. That feeling of having an insane idea and wasting 30 minutes trying to execute it to finally hearing the announcer yell "GOAL" is that magical loop the newer games haven't been able to recapture until now for me. The physics are still a bit on the floatier end and slopes especially are a lot more generous but it still feels solid. The multiplayer battle mode is a cute little distraction but nothing I see myself returning to all that often. Built-in multiplayer for the traditional adventure modes is really cool though and exciting to have fully implemented finally! There's some fun customization for each individual monkey like cute hats and new balls that look pretty cool! Each monkey comes with their own set of stats as well. I'm not crazy about the stats, in a game like this I just wanna be my favorite guy and stick with them, but I played the whole game as Baby with no issue so it's not such a big deal that it hinders characters on specific levels at least... or Baby is just the goat, Baby could just be the goat.
It's so insane and exciting that there's an entirely new Super Monkey Ball game after so long, and not only that, but it fuckin rocks! There's still some work to be put in to get a game on the same level of Super Monkey Ball 2, but this is far and away the best entry in the series since that game and is honestly around the same level as the original Super Monkey Ball to me. I really hope this revitalizes this franchise and they can build on this game, but even if we get another Super Monkey Ball drought I'm extremely happy that we got Banana Rumble and it feels great to have such a wonderful new entry into this franchise I love.
Sorry that was kind of just me rambling about my history with the series a bit, as far as the actual game goes it makes me so happy to see how many good steps forward this game takes for the series. The first improvement you'll notice is an extremely cute and charming aesthetic! It's immediately apparent how much effort went into the overall vibe of the game. The tutorial and opening cutscene are a cute introduction but once you get to the main menu there's an overwhelming feeling of identity and care put into this series for the first time in a long time. The main menu is an adorable beach scene where all the monkeys are hanging around and doing their own thing. You can even buy some items for them to use and liven the place up! It's super charming and that charm makes its way everywhere, from the cutscenes to the level themes, and even the menus. Post GameCube era Monkey Ball has always had a pretty boring and generic aesthetic to it. Banana Blitz HD and Banana Mania went a new direction that I'm glad they moved on from. They had a very minimalist and sleek vibe to them, which on its own wasn't terrible by any means, but for how silly and weird this series is it feels like what Banana Rumble is going for fits it so much better. The music is also a big improvement from Banana Blitz HD and the few tracks I've heard from Banana Mania's new OST in my opinion. The menu theme is great, and all of the world themes are also great, Rose Garden is a massive standout though.
The biggest improvement bar none is the level design though, coupled with the Spin Dash (a feature I was a bit worried about on reveal) this is the most fun I've had playing a Super Monkey Ball game since the originals by a TON! After they added Jumping I'm a bit weary of new mechanics but the Spin Dash is amazing and insanely fun. It leads to so many exciting skips and thrilling moments that make even the average person feel like a speedrunner. It's for sure a bit busted, but IMO in a very fun way instead of a trivializing the game kind of way like Jumping was. It's still pretty tough to pull off some of the more insane skips you'll think of while playing and there's a ton of satisfaction finally nailing it. A huge problem with the post GameCube era games is that they were either way too easy or difficult in an uninteresting way. This game has a much better understanding of what made the difficulty in the originals so satisfying and gives you the tools to have an insane idea that you can almost always execute on. I still find this game on the easier side compared to the originals but there are some genuinely tough and challenging levels in the later half of adventure mode and especially in the EX worlds. That feeling of having an insane idea and wasting 30 minutes trying to execute it to finally hearing the announcer yell "GOAL" is that magical loop the newer games haven't been able to recapture until now for me. The physics are still a bit on the floatier end and slopes especially are a lot more generous but it still feels solid. The multiplayer battle mode is a cute little distraction but nothing I see myself returning to all that often. Built-in multiplayer for the traditional adventure modes is really cool though and exciting to have fully implemented finally! There's some fun customization for each individual monkey like cute hats and new balls that look pretty cool! Each monkey comes with their own set of stats as well. I'm not crazy about the stats, in a game like this I just wanna be my favorite guy and stick with them, but I played the whole game as Baby with no issue so it's not such a big deal that it hinders characters on specific levels at least... or Baby is just the goat, Baby could just be the goat.
It's so insane and exciting that there's an entirely new Super Monkey Ball game after so long, and not only that, but it fuckin rocks! There's still some work to be put in to get a game on the same level of Super Monkey Ball 2, but this is far and away the best entry in the series since that game and is honestly around the same level as the original Super Monkey Ball to me. I really hope this revitalizes this franchise and they can build on this game, but even if we get another Super Monkey Ball drought I'm extremely happy that we got Banana Rumble and it feels great to have such a wonderful new entry into this franchise I love.