The premise is simple, you are a monkey in a ball and you must get to the goal. It's too simple, and yet it makes for some of the most heart-pounding and stressful gameplay I have had on the system.

In the main mode of gameplay, you must take your monkey of choice to the goal of each stage no matter the obstacle. That could be moving platforms, uneven edges, or launchers trying to throw you into the atmosphere. And to top it all off, you must do it within a set time limit. It is a lot, and I cannot believe that it works as well as it does.

This is all thanks to its incredible physics engine. Every movement that you make feels deliberate, and any mistake made always feels like it was your fault. This gives it a very addictive quality that makes you want to keep trying at a level one more time.

In addition to that, there are twelve different party-style games that players can partake in. Each of these games could've easily been its standalone title if fleshed out more. Of note, Monkey Target is just as addictive as the main game and is fun to play with friends again and again.

With all that said, this game is very hard. It does not hold back on the difficulty, especially in some of the later levels. If you want to beat it you have no choice but to practice and get good. Other than that, I highly recommend this game to anyone who wants a challenging yet fair title for the Gamecube. This is worth your time.

This game feels accidentally amazing. Like how can something be so incredible on purpose.

I do not own the first game but have played it before. This makes the first game look like a waste of time. Has double the content, more courses, a story mode, you name it.

This is a hard SOB, especially on the later levels, but the gameplay is so enganging and the physics give you a lot of room to explore and find ways to cheese it.

Not every party game is great, but a majority are, and they can all be played with other people.

Shoutout to Dogfighting. And Target 2 is just heavenly. I could play that mode forever.

This is all probably helped by the incredible soundtrack. They all take me back to a happy place.

Just so incredible all around, in every way. Even for an old GameCube game the visuals are just gorgeous.

Must play.

Pulled all the way through this time after initially running out of steam around world 6 about a year ago. The fundamental gameplay alone is certainly a home run, but the playful music and atmosphere further enhance things and give the game an oddly comforting and familiar feel for me. It might be that it's very reminiscent of games I'd download free trials for off Nick Arcade as a little kid (such as SpongeBob SquarePants Obstacle Odyssey). Either way, really good stuff all around. I can see myself coming back to this several times in the future.

It's not without its hiccups, though. Launchers and Arthropod, for example, are insanely egregious and difficult for the first half of the game's standards, creating a really weird bump in the otherwise smooth, steady difficulty curve. Similarly, in the last world in Story Mode the design philosophy completely changes and noticeably becomes totally obtuse. They're not even necessarily harder than the levels in the previous two worlds, but it's a very jarring shift that doesn't really result in any enjoyable levels out of those last ten.

Would very strongly recommend this game, but definitely don't let your guard down. It gets a lot harder than it initially lets on.