{"id":365185,"date":"2025-10-25T15:16:50","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T15:16:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/article.php?article_id=2169786"},"modified":"2025-10-25T15:16:50","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T15:16:50","slug":"super-monkey-ball-banana-mania-review-effective-cover-version-of-an-all-time-great","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/super-monkey-ball-banana-mania-review-effective-cover-version-of-an-all-time-great\/","title":{"rendered":"Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania review – effective cover version of an all-time great"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Let’s get some important stuff out of the way up front. While Super Monkey Ball Mania is effectively a remake of Super Monkey Ball Deluxe – itself a compilation of the brilliant first two entries in Sega’s simple and often supremely satisfying series – this is not the Monkey Ball of old. With new assets, a new soundtrack and oh-so-slightly reworked physics, this remake in Unity is not the Monkey Ball that once kept me up for endless sleepless nights chasing a perfect score in Monkey Target with friends. There’s something flatter, duller, not quite so magical to its visuals, never mind the fact the all-important momentum you used to manage at the bottom of the slope in Monkey Ball’s most cherished mini-game, and most frequently mishandled in the entries ever since, is now replaced with a rude and not-so-subtle shove into the heavens.<\/p>\n

There’s always a risk with remakes, of course, especially remakes of games as cherished as the original Super Monkey Ball – it’s remarkable how strong an emotional attachment you can have to a 20-year-old game about pushing simians in hamster balls around checkerboard courses. Maybe it’s nostalgia getting the better of me, but to these tired old eyes this is a remake that looks demonstrably inferior to the originals; I miss that distinctive chunk of the Sega Naomi era, or details like how the polished sheen of shimmering bonus level floors doesn’t quite have that sparkle. <\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let’s get some important stuff out of the way up front. While Super Monkey Ball Mania is effectively a remake of Super Monkey Ball Deluxe – itself a compilation of the brilliant first two entries in Sega’s simple and often supremely satisfying series – this is not the Monkey Ball of old. With new assets, a new soundtrack and oh-so-slightly reworked physics, this remake in Unity is not the Monkey Ball that once kept me up for endless sleepless nights chasing a perfect score in Monkey Target with friends. There’s something flatter, duller, not quite so magical to its visuals, never mind the fact the all-important momentum you used to manage at the bottom of the slope in Monkey Ball’s most cherished mini-game, and most…<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":365186,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[230],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-365185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eurogamer"],"yoast_head":"\nSuper Monkey Ball Banana Mania review - effective cover version of an all-time great | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Let's get some important stuff out of the way up front. 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