Super Monkey Ball (series)

The Super Monkey Ball series is a series of arcade platform games developed by Amusement Vision and distributed by Sega. It features 4 characters (3 in the arcade version): AiAi, MeeMee, Baby and (appearing only in console versions) GonGon. The game debuted in Japan in 2001 as an upright arcade cabinet simply called Monkey Ball (which featured a banana-shaped joystick) and later that year was released as one of the three original Nintendo GameCube games. Since then, many sequels and ports have been created.

Games

Here is a list of games in the Super Monkey Ball series.

• Monkey Ball (Arcade)
• Super Monkey Ball (GameCube & N-Gage)
• Super Monkey Ball 2 (GameCube)
• Super Monkey Ball 3 (Cancelled)
• Super Monkey Ball Deluxe (PlayStation 2 & Xbox)
• Super Monkey Ball Jr. (Game Boy Advance)
• Sega Superstars (PlayStation 2 EyeToy game features Super Monkey Ball as minigame)
• Super Monkey Ball Touch & Roll (Nintendo DS)
• Super Monkey Ball Adventure (PlayStation 2, GameCube, PlayStation Portable)
• Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz (Wii)
• Super Monkey Ball (iPhone)
• Super Monkey Ball 2 (iPhone)
• Super Monkey Ball: Tip 'n Tilt (Mobile Phones)
• Super Monkey Ball: Tip 'n Tilt 2 (Mobile Phones)
• Super Monkey Ball 2: Sakura Edition (iPad)
• Super Monkey Ball: Step & Roll (Wii)
• Super Monkey Ball 3D (Nintendo 3DS)^[1]
• Super Monkey Ball (PlayStation Vita)^[2]

Gameplay

As opposed to normal games where the player takes control of the character itself, Super Monkey Ball has the player move their character around by tilting the world itself (the exception of this being Super Monkey Ball Adventure and Super Monkey Ball 2). By tilting the board at various angles, players can control the speed and turning of the character. The goal of each level is to reach a goal banner before time runs out and without falling out of the level. Bonus points and extra lives can be earned by collecting bananas littered across the stage. Early games use traditional controllers to play while many recent titles utilise some of the modern technology, such as the accelerometers of the Wii and iPhone titles.

Characters

From left to right: MeeMee, Baby, AiAi, GonGon

The playable characters of the whole series are AiAi, MeeMee, Baby, GonGon, YanYan, Doctor, Jam, Jet, C AiAi, W MeeMee, A Baby, F GonGon, P YanYan, R Doctor, N Jam, and B Jet. AiAi is a playable character in Sonic Riders & Sega Superstars Tennis‎ (the latter of which also features MeeMee as an unlockable character). AiAi also appears in Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing. In this game, he rides a banana car and his All-Star move has him racing in his ball along with MeeMee, GonGon and Baby crashing into the computer players.

The primary characters are AiAi, MeeMee, Baby, and GonGon. They are present in many games. Super Monkey Ball Adventure, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz, and Super Monkey Ball 3D incorporated a larger roster of playable characters, usually varying from title to title.

• GonGon was not a playable character in the classic Monkey Ball arcade cabinet. His first appearance was Super Monkey Ball on the Nintendo Gamecube in Japan.^[3]

References

1. ^ http://www.gametactics.com/2011/01/super-monkey-ball-3d-aiai-new-screenshots-and-trailer/
2. ^ http://www.computerandvideogames.com/318542/super-monkey-ball-vita-is-official-trailer-screens
3. ^ "Super Monkey Ball for Vita". Senpai Gamer. 28 September 2011. http://www.senpaigamer.com/sony-vita/super-monkey-ball-vita-09142011-1403. Retrieved 28 September 2011.