Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble marks the return of SEGA’s beloved platformer series after a decade, offering players an adventure packed with exciting new features. While fans have enjoyed remakes like Banana Blitz HD (2019) and Banana Mania (2021) on the Nintendo Switch, Banana Rumble aims to deliver a fresh experience with local and online multiplayer options, five unique battle modes, and a dose of its signature wacky physics. Set to launch exclusively on Nintendo Switch on June 25, 2024, can Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble capture the hearts of players, or does it need a little more time in the proverbial game oven?
For those unfamiliar with the Super Monkey Ball universe, the gameplay relies on navigating through creative obstacle courses by tilting the environment, either through motion controls or the left stick, in order to roll a cute monkey-filled ball to reach the end as quickly as possible. Staying true to its roots, Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble maintains this formula, featuring refined physics that feel intuitive and responsive. Including the ability to adjust control settings enhances player preference. This outing introduces a unique “Spin Dash” mechanic inspired by Sonic the Hedgehog, allowing players to temporarily boost forward, gaining momentum. The Spin Dash feels seamless and opens doors for shortcut opportunities and speedrunning strategies, making it a feature I hope remains in future installments.
The main campaign, known as Adventure Mode, features 200 new stages that can be tackled solo or with up to three friends, either locally or online. Set on Juicy Island, AiAi and his friends join a new character named Palette, who requests assistance in locating seven artifacts dubbed OOPArts. These artifacts, resembling Chaos Emeralds, may lead to the discovery of the “Legendary Banana,” which Palette suspects may also be sought after by her missing father. Although the storyline is simple and somewhat predictable, the charming CG-animated cutscenes presented before each world are undeniably delightful.
Completing the first 100 stages (10 worlds with 10 stages each) takes only a few hours, marking the end of the story. However, finishing this section unlocks “EX” versions of all previous worlds, which introduces an additional 100 unique and significantly more challenging stages. Most stages are expertly designed, balancing accessibility and difficulty, with a gradual escalation in challenges. After finishing a world, players unlock the “Time Attack” mode, letting them test their speedrunning skills against online leaderboards. To clear a stage, players must reach the goal within 60 seconds, but there are three optional challenges per stage to rack up extra points: collecting the Golden Banana, amassing a specific number of bananas, and finishing the stage within a designated timeframe. This structure adds considerable replay value.
From the onset, players can choose between seven characters (AiAi, MeeMee, Baby, GonGon, YanYan, Doctor, and Palette) across all modes, with additional characters becoming available as you progress. Each character possesses unique stats for speed, break, weight, and spin; for my gameplay, I favored AiAi due to his balanced attributes. Players can unlock and purchase over 300 cosmetic items, ranging from outfits to ball types, using points earned during campaign play and various multiplayer modes.
Banana Rumble features five diverse Battle Modes: Race (reach the finish line first), Banana Hunt (collect the most bananas), Ba-BOOM! (hot potato with bombs), Goal Rush (roll through goals for points), and Robot Smash (inflict damage on robots for points). Online matches allow for up to 16 players, but unfortunate limitations on local split-screen restrict it to just two players, despite Adventure Mode supporting four players with optional AI companions. The game has 15 battle stages themed around the Adventure Mode worlds and competitive items can be acquired through item boxes or building up your item gauge, with certain special items reserved for particular characters. Personally, I found Race and Banana Hunt to be the most enjoyable modes, but all five are distinct enough to maintain excitement and replay value, especially when played with friends. Even though I wish there were a revamped Monkey Target mode, SEGA has assured fans that future updates will include more stages and modes to explore.
Designed exclusively for the Nintendo Switch, Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble showcases a thoughtful approach to leverage the platform’s strengths. While the graphics may be simplistic, the vibrant art style elevates the visual experience, especially on an OLED display. Loading times are impressively brief, with stages resetting promptly after unfortunate mishaps. Although I cannot provide precise details on the framerate, the game generally runs smoothly with only minor noticeable dips during multiplayer sessions when a lot of action occurs.
UPDATE: The game operates at 60fps in single-player and 30fps in multiplayer modes. This may concern some players, but the occasional performance drops I noticed occur when the framerate dips below the target.
Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble is offered in two versions: Standard (€39.99/$49.99) and Digital Deluxe (€59.99/$69.99). The latter, which includes additional content available for separate purchase through the eShop at £22.29/$24.99 for physical buyers. The Digital Deluxe edition comes bundled with the SEGA Character Pass, providing access to six additional characters from beloved SEGA titles (including Sonic the Hedgehog’s characters as well as other fan favorites) and 15 extra SEGA-themed customization items, to be released over the upcoming months. Although I typically don’t mind optional paid DLC, the price is questionable, especially considering that half of the characters offered as DLC were already part of the prior title, Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania, which had a lower price point of £34.99/$39.99. Though this doesn’t diminish my enjoyment of the game, the DLC should have ideally been part of the original game to warrant the price hike.
With an engaging Adventure Mode, a surprisingly replayable Battle Mode, and a host of online and local multiplayer options, Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble stands out as the finest entry in the Super Monkey Ball franchise for the Nintendo Switch. However, a few significant concerns remain, such as the lack of local split-screen multiplayer in the Battle Modes, the absence of the beloved Monkey Target mode, sporadic framerate issues, and questionable DLC pricing. Despite these drawbacks, plenty of enjoyment can still be found in this new Switch-exclusive offering.
7.5/10
A review copy of Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble was provided by SEGA.