By far the best Monkey Ball game. It's a port of the arcade version with new Master levels, a practice mode, and multiplayer.

Where this game shines above all the rest is the consistently excellent level design, which requires mastery of the controls and physics. There are no gimmicky randomized levels like in 2, except Master 5 and 8, but those are rather tame compared to Dizzy System. Stages are short and to the point, without the extended starting platforms of 2 or the boring maze-like levels in Deluxe (and 2's story mode).

Scoring is simple, with more points earned the faster you complete a stage and the more bananas you collect. Completing with more than half the time remaining nets you double points, and you get further bonuses from green and red goals. There are constant decisions to be made on whether to collect bananas, or skip them and save time, and it keeps scoring interesting no matter what skill level you're at.

You unlock stages in Practice mode as you reach them in Arcade mode instead of requiring you to clear them first, which is helpful. You can also easily save and share replays here.

The controls for the GameCube version are excellent, though you don't need a GameCube controller. No matter what controller you use, this game is simply more responsive and precise than Deluxe and Banana Mania. The game is just programmed better, and something clearly went wrong in the development of those later releases. I would still recommend using a GC controller if only for the directional notches that make some stages a bit more comfortable.

If you are a fan of arcade games like STGs but want something a bit different, Super Monkey Ball might be what you're looking for.

I didn't think I could be traumatized by a game with funny monkeys but here I am.

Farthest gotten: Floor 26 Advanced Mode

I don't think I want to play this ever again.

A masterclass in game design. Pure fun and arcade goodness that's easy to pick up, but tough and satisfying to master. A fantastic test of consistency and grit that still has plenty of variety. If you're a casual you can even be satisfied with the minigames! A truly misunderstood masterpiece. The world was honestly not ready for Super Monkey Ball, and I will say that completely unironically. It's a real fucking shame Sega has consistently missed the fucking point with this series and it mostly has a legacy as a "hehe monke" game rather than the incredibly designed brutal arcade game that it was.

Man, we lost Amusement Vision way too soon.

Super Monkey Ball is a short, arcade platformer with a mile high skill ceiling. Without jumps, players must master the minutia of the joystick to roll their balls to the goal. Precision is key. Great soundtrack. Good sound design, with the rolling sound effect and the sound of the ball hitting the ground. Levels are creative and varied. It was clear that the level designers were exploring what could be done with 3D, at a time when 3D gaming was new. Super Monkey Ball may be difficult, but its consistency aids in abating frustration. Moving platforms will always be in the same place at the same time every time the level is played, and there's even a timer on screen to help players cheat time their rolls just right. Super Monkey Ball is minimalist perfection. Oh, and it has shitty minigames, I guess.

The jump in difficulty between the Beginner and Advanced stages in this game is rightfully infamous.

The developers seem to have started off trying to make fairly normal marble puzzles, but by the 11th level they're just taking someone's rough sketch of a guitar and saying "yep that's the level bro upload it". One is literally a model of their own logo!

Nice one guys well done.

Recently I've decided to return to monke (ball) and play both of the gamecube Super Monkey Ball games again, my first time playing them since I was a kid. I have to say the simple, clean visuals of Super Monkey Ball hold up very well, same with the great DnB OST.

Super Monkey Ball 1 fully embraces the simplicity of its concept with its lack of a proper story mode, instead going for a pure arcade structure (as to be expected since this is effectively an arcade game port). Get the monkey to the goal by tilting the stage in the right way while also maybe collecting bananas is all you need to know to get into monkey ball. The courses start off simple in the beginner course but the advanced course steps thing up into a decent challenge to 1CC and the expert mode becomes absolutely ridiculous with each stage being an almost literally surgical test of precision that pushes the fundamentals you developed from the previous courses to the limit.

Super Monkey Ball at the end of the day is one of those games that is truly timeless despite its lack of scope due to the clean visuals, tight arcade level design and a simple but well-executed concept that still feels fairly unique for 3D platformers, as well as one that avoided many of the issues that plagued 3D platformers at the time. It's also good to go back to a game that absolutely filtered me as a kid and do quite well at it because now I actually have a thing called patience lol.

---I think every college student's favorite video game is Super Monkey Ball. After all, it's got a dirt simple premise with fun looking stages yet hard to master gameplay. For those who are unfamiliar with Super Monkey Ball, it's a Sega published platforming game made by Amusement Vision where you play as a Monkey in a Gashapon capsule trying to collect bananas and reach the goal with an alotted amount of time. The kicker is that to move, you use a control stick or track ball to tilt the stages. This is widely different from normal platformers where input influences the player character.
---What this control scheme does is allow for some extremely engaging gameplay. Monkey Ball's physics are very on point, making the act of moving the Monkey feel very fluid. You can also skip parts of stages if you're skilled enough. Amusement Vision even put in minigames and unlockables to give players goals to work towards. The aesthetic of Super Monkey Ball is very vibrant, yet very readable. I especially love the inclusion of grid textures here. I also like the mini-map, which helps with spatial awareness.
---That being said, I don't think Super Monkey Ball is perfect. It's camera for one is also influenced by input, which can be a real pain when you're trying to line up to thin pieces of environment. I also thought the lives and continue system wasn't necessary. If anything, it acts to prolong the game. Same goes for the replays you have to skip or watch everytime you die in the game. Finally, the expert stages aren't great, especially with their reliance on precise input, which Super Monkey Ball does not support. Still, I think this game deserves it's legacy. It's an extremely fun and welcoming platformer that I can see myself coming back to in the future. - [08/10]