''Super Monkey Ball'' is a series of

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

platform Platform may refer to: Technology * Computing platform, a framework on which applications may be run * Platform game, a genre of video games * Car platform, a set of components shared by several vehicle models * Weapons platform, a system or ...

video games initially developed by

Amusement Vision is a video game developer housed within the Japanese video game company Sega as part of its division. It is known for developing the games in the ''Yakuza'' series, which the studio is named after, since ''Yakuza 5''. The studio's origins can b ...

and published by Sega. The series debuted in 2001 with the arcade game ''Monkey Ball'', which was ported to GameCube as ''Super Monkey Ball'' later that year. Several sequels and ports have been released.

Games

*'' Monkey Ball'' (

) (June 23, 2001) *''

Super Monkey Ball ''Super Monkey Ball'' is a series of arcade platform video games initially developed by Amusement Vision and published by Sega. The series debuted in 2001 with the arcade game ''Monkey Ball'', which was ported to GameCube as ''Super Monkey Ba ...

'' ( GameCube) (September 14, 2001) *'' Super Monkey Ball 2'' (GameCube) (August 25, 2002) *'' Super Monkey Ball Jr.'' (

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, ...

) (November 19, 2002) *''Super Monkey Ball'' ( N-Gage) (October 7, 2003) *'' Super Monkey Ball Deluxe'' ( PlayStation 2 and

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the ...

) (March 15, 2005) *'' Super Monkey Ball Touch & Roll'' ( Nintendo DS) (December 1, 2005) *'' Super Monkey Ball Adventure'' (PlayStation 2, GameCube, PlayStation Portable) (June 30, 2006) *'' Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz'' ( Wii) (November 19, 2006) *''Super Monkey Ball: Tip 'n Tilt'' (

J2ME Java Platform, Micro Edition or Java ME is a computing platform for development and deployment of portable code for embedded and mobile devices (micro-controllers, sensors, gateways, mobile phones, personal digital assistants, TV set-top ...

) (2007) *''Super Monkey Ball'' (

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...

) (2008) *''Super Monkey Ball: Tip 'n Tilt 2'' (

) (2008) *''Super Monkey Ball 2'' (iOS) (2009) *''Super Monkey Ball 2: Sakura Edition'' (iOS, Android,

Windows Phone Windows Phone (WP) is a discontinued family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones as the replacement successor to Windows Mobile and Zune. Windows Phone featured a new user interface derived from the Metro design l ...

) (2010, rereleased 2018 for android) *'' Super Monkey Ball: Step & Roll'' (Wii) (February 9, 2010) *''Super Monkey Ball: Ticket Blitz'' (Arcade) (2011) *'' Super Monkey Ball 3D'' ( Nintendo 3DS) (March 3, 2011) *'' Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz'' ( PlayStation Vita) (June 14, 2012) *''Super Monkey Ball Bounce'' (Android, iOS) (2014) *'' Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD'' (PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4,

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...

) (October 29, 2019 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, December 10, 2019 for PC) *'' Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania'' (PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One,

Xbox Series X/S The Xbox Series X/S are home video game consoles developed by Microsoft. They were both released on November 10, 2020, as the fourth generation Xbox, succeeding the Xbox One. Along with Sony's PlayStation 5, also released in November 202 ...

) (October 5, 2021) (May 12, 2022 for

Amazon Luna Amazon Luna is a cloud gaming platform developed and operated by Amazon. Luna was announced on September 24, 2020, with early access available to subscribers by invitation beginning on October 20, 2020. In its early access state, Amazon Luna ...

)

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 in a gachapon ball by tilting the world itself (the exception of this being ''Super Monkey Ball Adventure''). 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 the goal gate before the timer runs out, and without falling off the floor. Bonus points and extra lives can be earned by collecting bananas on the stage. Early games use traditional controllers to play while many recent titles utilize modern technology, such as the accelerometers of the Wii and iPhone titles. The gameplay is similar to Atari Games' 1984 arcade video game ''

Marble Madness ''Marble Madness'' is an arcade game, arcade video game designed by Mark Cerny and published by Atari Games in 1984. It is a platform game in which the player must guide a marble through six courses, populated with obstacles and enemies, within ...

''.

Characters

The original ''Monkey Ball'' arcade cabinet featured three playable characters: AiAi, MeeMee, and Baby; a fourth, GonGon, was added in the game's GameCube port, ''

''. These four have become the primary characters of the series, appearing in every subsequent title to date. Two new characters, YanYan and Doctor, were introduced in '' Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz'', while another two, Jam and Jet, first appeared in '' Super Monkey Ball: Step & Roll'' and '' Super Monkey Ball 3D'', respectively. Several games feature unlockable variations of these characters wearing alternate costumes, along with occasional guest playable characters such as Sonic the Hedgehog. Some games such as '' Super Monkey Ball 2'' and '' Super Monkey Ball Adventure'' have also featured various non-player characters, such as the villainous Dr. Bad-Boon. Characters from the ''Super Monkey Ball'' series have been featured in other Sega titles. Aiai has appeared as a playable character in ''

Sonic Riders is a 2006 racing video game for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox in which the player controls characters from the ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' series on hoverboards. In the game's 16 tracks, the player competes against characters—either control ...

'' and ''

Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing is a 2010 kart racing video game, produced for Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo DS (February 23, 2010), and Microsoft Windows (March 3, 2010), featuring characters from multiple List of Sega video game franchises, Sega franchises. The game ...

'', while both AiAi and MeeMee make playable appearances in ''

Sega Superstars Tennis ''Sega Superstars Tennis'' is a mascot sports video game developed by Sumo Digital and published by Sega. It is the second title in the ''Sega All-Stars'' series, preceded by ''Sega Superstars'' (2005), and crosses over characters, locations, a ...

'' and ''

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is a kart racing video game developed by Sumo Digital and published by Sega. It was released for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii U in November 2012, for PlayStation Vita in December 2012, for Windows in January 2013, for Nintendo 3DS i ...

''. Aiai was also featured in Archie Comics' adaptation of ''Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed'' in issue #45 of ''

Sonic Universe ''Sonic Universe'' was an American comic book series published by Archie Comics in association with Sega, based on the latter's ''Sonic the Hedgehog''. It is a spin-off of the comic book series of the '' same name'', and shared continuity with th ...

''.

Legacy

As of December 8, 2006, the franchise has sold 4 million copies. A 2006 study conducted by the

Beth Israel Medical Center Mount Sinai Beth Israel is a 799-bed teaching hospital in Manhattan. It is part of the Mount Sinai Health System, a nonprofit health system formed in September 2013 by the merger of Continuum Health Partners and Mount Sinai Medical Center, an ...

found that surgeons who played ''Super Monkey Ball'' for 20 minutes prior to performing a surgical drill finished slightly faster and made fewer mistakes. The iOS version in 2008 was one of the first games on the App Store and was the best selling app on launch day. In 2009, ''

Edge Edge or EDGE may refer to: Technology Computing * Edge computing, a network load-balancing system * Edge device, an entry point to a computer network * Adobe Edge, a graphical development application * Microsoft Edge, a web browser developed ...

'' ranked the first ''Super Monkey Ball'' #39 on its list of "The 100 Best Games To Play Today". Writing in ''

1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die ''1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die'' is a video game reference book first published in October 2010. It consists of a list of video games released between 1970 and 2013, arranged chronologically by release date. Each entry in the list ...

'', Christian Donlan described ''Super Monkey Ball'' as "one of Sega's grade-A triumphs". An enhanced engine of the GameCube games was used in ''

F-Zero GX ''F-Zero GX'' is a 2003 racing video game developed by Amusement Vision and published by Nintendo for the GameCube console. It runs on an enhanced version of the engine used in ''Super Monkey Ball''. ''F-Zero AX'', the arcade counterpart of ''G ...

'', which was critically acclaimed and Nintendo considered a step forward for the franchise. The developers of ''Super Monkey Ball'' went on to make the '' Like a Dragon'' series. When commenting on the differences of the franchise between the GameCube games and the Wii entries with ''Banana Blitz'' and ''Step & Roll'' in a ''

Tokyo Game Show , commonly known as TGS, is a video game expo / convention held annually in September in the Makuhari Messe, in Chiba, Japan. It is presented by the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association (CESA) and Nikkei Business Publications, Inc. ...

'' 2009 interview, Toshihiro Nagoshi stated that they were made easier for kids and families. However, he stated that if they got the chance, they definitely would like to go back and make a game in the style of the old games that particularly the fans overseas want. Due to the older demographic of the PlayStation Vita, the difficulty for '' Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz'' was made more on par with the GameCube entries. The 2020

battle royale game A battle royale game is an online multiplayer video game genre that blends last-man-standing gameplay with the survival, exploration and scavenging elements of a survival game. Battle royale games involve dozens to hundreds of players, who st ...

'' Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout'' has been described as "''Super Monkey Ball'' for the ''

Fortnite ''Fortnite'' is an online video game developed by Epic Games and released in 2017. It is available in three distinct game mode versions that otherwise share the same general gameplay and game engine: ''Fortnite Battle Royale'', a free-to- ...

'' generation" by Tom Wiggins of '' Stuff'' magazine.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Super Monkey Ball (Series) Sega Games franchises Video game franchises introduced in 2001