Super Monkey Ball is an arcade platformer series published by Sega. It first debuted in 2001 as an arcade game called Monkey Ball, and had a GameCube port release a few months later. This series was initially developed by the now-defunct Amusement Vision in the early 2000s, but is now being handled by Ryu Ga Gokuto Studios, who you may know for the Yakuza/Like a Dragon series!

The premise of Super Monkey Ball is simple; you have to move a monkey in a giant hamster ball around each stage, guiding them to the goal. The stages do get more complex as you play, but it's part of the challenge! While the first game was a simple arcade experience, Super Monkey Ball 2 had its own full-blown story mode where you have to complete a certain amount of stages before moving on to a new world! There are also party games if you need to take a break from the platforming.

Originally, there were just four playable monkeys; AiAi, MeeMee, Baby, and GonGon. When Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz rolled along in 2006, so did YanYan and Doctor, two new playable characters! Jam and Jet were also introduced in later titles, though I sadly am not as familiar with them.

Words cannot describe how important Super Monkey Ball is to me. I've literally known about this series since its infancy, so you could say I grew up alongside this series? This was literally one of my earliest fixations alongside Sonic (hah, funny, both are Sega franchises), one that was essentially my weekly reward for surviving ballet class in 2002. That is, until my parents eventually bought a copy of the first Super Monkey Ball game for me when I saw it in stores. I had rented it so many times at Blockbuster before that.

I've played every game in this series except for the N-Gage port of Super Monkey Ball, Tip 'n Tilt, and Banana Splitz. Yes, I've even played each of the iOS titles, including the defunct Super Monkey Ball Bounce. I actually got to play the original arcade game, yes the one with the banana joystick, at a con I attended during the summer of 2023!! Being able to finally play the very game that started it all literally felt like a dream come true!!

The only title I really wouldn't recommend out of the ones I've played is Super Monkey Ball Adventure. The lore for it is off the walls (not sure in a positive or negative way) and the story mode's frustrating this time around sadly. As cool as exploring Jungle Island and meeting other monkeys outside of the Monkey Ball gang is, a lot of the missions are frustrating. A lot of the party game stuff in Adventure is locked for whatever reason too?? Unless you're wanting to play every title out there, I do not recommend playing this one. Okay, maybe I wouldn't recommend Banana Blitz HD too... Music licensing issues aside, they didn't bring Monkey Wars, the best party game in the original Banana Blitz, back.

My favorite character to play as is Baby. Despite how young he is, he is rather smart with how he's able to use a Monkey Ball for himself and being able to time travel! Not only is he adorable and should be protected, but there is a slight advantage to play as him. He's smaller than the rest of the playable characters, so it's a bit easier to see what's ahead of you in the stage you're playing on. I seriously think he would be good pals with Watt from Paper Mario, but that is another story for another day. He also sparked my love for the "kid time travels to the past to help their parents, the protagonist" trope that I adore. And yes, that is actually Monkey Ball 2's story in a nutshell. Baby time traveled to help out his parents, AiAi and MeeMee, to stop Dr. Bad-Boon!!

Super Monkey Ball 1 and 2 on the GameCube are titles I will go back to frequently whenever I need something to help me feel a bit better (rather ironic since the later stages actually can get frustrating). I also do enjoy Touch and Roll and Banana Blitz. The 1 and 2 remake, Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania, is very cute! I'm honestly just glad it can be accessible for a newer generation if anything! In short, I absolutely adore this series and would personally would recommend it if you're up for a challenge with the later levels.