There are almost 70 classic levels to unlock using points, too, and ten Reverse Mode stages, which flip the start point and goal - these prove to be more worthwhile unlockable modes than Golden Banana and Dark Banana.Īs remastered collections go, you don't get many quite as all-encompassing and comprehensive as Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania. Earning thousands of points to unlock new characters, customisation items, and modes comes easily enough, although some modes, like Golden Banana (collect all of the glowing bananas) or Dark Banana (avoid all of the rotten bananas) are ludicrously tough. Points are earned through practically every facet of the game, whether it's simply beating levels, playing Party Games, or messing about with the monkey customisation. Alternatively, you can part with points, accumulated by completing milestones, to mark a level complete and skip it, with the understanding that your leaderboard time won't be recorded. Once activated, the time limit is extended, and you can hold a button to slow things down and follow a guideline indicating the optimum route to the finish. Banana Mania acknowledges this, offering a ‘helper function’, which can be switched on via the pause menu, or is prompted after you've failed a level several times (which can be irritating and, in a sense, a bit patronising). It's certainly lost none of its sometimes vexatious difficulty, either, pitting you against narrow winding pathways, sheer drops, pitfalls, spinning obstacles, portals, difficult inclines, seesaws, and numerous other tricky traps and hazards to traverse with a dextrous thumb. This compendium marks more than 20 years since the first game rolled its way into the world, and in that time the series has lost little of its monkey shine. Playing them again, it’s easy to forget that, beneath the bold colours and jaunty presentation, there's an immensely challenging maze puzzler, some of its more fiendish stages requiring a steady hand and a lot of patience. Some levels can be remarkably complicated. Certain stages you can roll through in a straight line at speed, while others require a deft touch or a much slower approach, or become a lot easier if you can locate a switch to slow obstacles down or alter their behaviour. What does matter is that those old, early-2000s Super Monkey Ball games still hold up rather well after all these years.Įach of Banana Mania's ten story mode worlds represents a sort of 'grab bag' of levels, each with its own set of 'missions' to complete (earning points in the process), like collecting every banana, completing the level without stopping once, or reaching the goal within a stringent time limit. The narrative, such as it is, involves a nefarious plot hatched by the evil Dr. Comprising a head-spinning 300-odd levels and twelve endlessly enjoyable Party Games, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania is a colossal collection, its various mazes tied together by a story mode that includes daft little interstitial animations.
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