I'm not sure if this is the first game to let you control the maze instead of the ball/character inside of it, but it's the earliest one I can think of and it does a good job with the concept.

I got myself a little hyped up for this game and and ended up beating it really fast. There just isn't much here. Four worlds plus an expert world of levels that are virtually indistinguishable with very few parts. It's a neat core gameplay loop, but the game doesn't really go out of its way to do anything with it. While seeing Mode 7 in action is cool, the visuals are just okay, and there's one song in particular that plays a lot which is obnoxious and has strange talking-SFX baked into it.

kinda monkey ball in a sense that you move the world instead of the ball which creates a fun brain-reworking to be able to efficiently utilize momentum and wall bounces instead of how you might initially feel inclined to maneuver. you might end up On the Ground though with how dizzying the mode 7 shenanigans are here (looks cool and I rock with it but I can easily see it making this unplayable for some)

one of the wildest games ive played on snes, i was not ready

Balls, nuts, even

cool lil 30 min game with an impossible final few levels