I bought this game on sale for $10 and installed a mod which replaces the OST and announcer with the Wii version's. Banana Blitz HD has gorgeous audiovisual design! I like that you can short-hop your jumps, really makes the game feel more responsive. I don't think you could do that on the Wii. Playing this game with a GCN controller makes me feel like I'm playing Super Monkey Ball!

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz has level design which doesn't compliment its controls or physics. Levels range from bland to confusing. Often levels will have winding paths, which, if you try to simply roll up the path, the monkey will roll off the side (Space Case 7). There are times when the level is a straight line with boost panels leading up a ramp, and the monkey will simply not clear the jump or miss what the path seemed to lead the jump to (Volcanic Pools 1, 8). Some levels are completely made up of winding paths with boost panels, with a short time limit, requiring players to speed through to make it to the goal in time, but, because we're playing Super Monkey Ball here, the monkey often simply rolls off the side, no matter how much you fight it. So, you can't enjoy going fast, because you have to slow down to not fly off the stage, but you can't go too slow, or you'll run out of time. It is a challenge, but it feels like the challenge is fighting against the game's physics instead of mastering them. There are obstacles and enemies in this game to impede progress and present a challenge, but the jump is so powerful, you can simply jump over everything dangerous. I almost feel more secure in the air than on the ground. This game features thin, winding platforms which require precision to roll across(Volcanic Pools 2), but they weirdly don't build up to it, and the first level which has them, Cobalt Caverns 5, is a rough introduction, because the path tits downwards slightly and turns sharply. Banana Blitz has boss battles, in which the player waits patiently for the enemy to make itself vulnerable, then they bop them on the head. The bosses feel incomplete, because the octopus boss lets the player clip into its tentacles and hit him for free, and the final boss will knock the player off the stage with the windups of his attacks more than his actual attacks. I also think that half the bosses KOing the player instantly isn't a very interesting gameplay situation, especially when they're already so bad at conveying their own danger (despite having a giant arrow over their hot pink weak point).

It's so strange that the level design in this game is so weak, because every ten levels, there will be a level which feels like a Super Monkey Ball level, a level which actually compliments the gameplay(Pirate's Ocean 3). I can tell that the developers were thinking about what they had, because certain levels reuse concepts from earlier levels, with the spiral towers and the wire-path platforms, but none of it comes together.

Still, the gwaphix are so pwetty, so I got a kick out of this game, while I was on my Monkey Ball kick. As a Super Monkey Ball fanatic, I've been tempted to get this game for a while, despite knowing exactly what it is, so now that I've played it, I don't have to be tempted anymore. SEGA's releasing a remake of Deluxe, which I should vibe to, but I certainly don't trust them to design new levels, if they decide to make an actual, new game. That hypothetical, future Super Monkey Ball game will have to stand up on its own merits.

It's a fine enough title. Doesn't quite live up to the fun that Super Monkey Ball 2 had seeing as the story mode of this game is a bit lacking. I also found the game less difficult than other titles due to the jumping ability, which was useful in being able to correct mistakes that I wouldn't have been able to otherwise, but it also made several maps far easier for me to complete. I haven't tried out the party games yet but I intend to once I have a group of people to play them with. The graphics are tight as one would hopefully expect from a game made in 2019.

Super Monkey Ball is a very dear series to me, I've played a lot of SMB 1 & 2 as a child back in the GameCube days, and for some reason I never got to play Banana Blitz on the Wii, and I am hyped for Banana Mania, saw this on sale and decided to give it a try, and well this game is just... frustrating. As the first game in the series to add the jump ability, I don't think this helps at all in the design of the stages, and it's weird cause I tought the game is good up until world 4, then the rest is just hell, the bosses are not fun either. But one thing I liked is that you can strategize because characters have different stats, the stage has thin platforms? Choose Baby and you'll have an easier time, GonGon bigger size and weight helps not falling for certain platforms and so on. I also didn't like finding out they replaced the soundtrack with a new one in this HD version, even if the new one isn't exactly bad I'd like the original experience. The game has character skins that you unlock just by playing normally and I appreciated this very much, but in conclusion, most of the stages are not fun and the designed with just thin platforms for you to fall off and the physics are very bumpy, making it extremely frustrating. If you want to play a Monkey Ball game, just wait for Banana Mania and I'm sure you'll have a better time;