Gaming Forums => Nintendo Gaming => Topic started by: MarioAllStar on November 19, 2006, 02:08:18 PM
Title: Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: MarioAllStar on November 19, 2006, 02:08:18 PM
Who else bought this game? I think the single player main adventure is really nice with the Wiimote, but a lot of the mini games are lacking and I have trouble with controlling some of them. Has anyone tried enough of the mini games to find some gems?
Title: RE:Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: NWR_DrewMG on November 19, 2006, 02:19:11 PM
I found the game to be really frustrating. I keep hoping maybe I'm just not doing it right. The tilt thing wasn't really all that intuitive. Monkey Bowling was virtually impossible, as unwanted spin kept me constantly guttering.
I dunno, I'm not ready to throw it to the fire yet, but it was very disappointing when I started getting into this game.
Title: RE: Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: Martin Q. Blank on November 19, 2006, 02:36:01 PM
The single player game is alright. I'm still not used to the controls, I wish Sega would've had an option to allow use of the Nunchuk.
I also agree that the minigames are lacking, seems like Sega went with quantity as opposed to quality. Many of them are hard to control and simply not very fun. The best Monkey Ball imo, is still the first one. Overall, I'm disappointed in this game and it looks like it may go back to the store.
Title: RE:Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: MattVDB on November 19, 2006, 04:39:34 PM
And I thought I was the only one. I got this game and Zelda, and it honestly had me reconsidering my purchase. Can anybody else tell us what we are doing wrong, because I've been stoked for this system for far too long for this game to tick me off to the point of me returning my Wii.
Title: RE:Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: NWR_pap64 on November 19, 2006, 04:48:49 PM
Quote Originally posted by: MattVDB And I thought I was the only one. I got this game and Zelda, and it honestly had me reconsidering my purchase. Can anybody else tell us what we are doing wrong, because I've been stoked for this system for far too long for this game to tick me off to the point of me returning my Wii.
Isn't that a bit extreme, though? Just because ONE game doesn't work as well as it should it doesn't mean that the entire system isn't worth it.
One question, though. How do you hold your Wiimote? Do you hold it sideways or what?
Title: RE: Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: MarioAllStar on November 19, 2006, 04:52:04 PM
In those games like Whack-A-Mole it is near impossible for me to postion the hammer where I want. Obviously, there is a difference between how far your hand moves in comparison with the hammer. For things like the Wii's on-screen pointer, this is acceptable. We can easily scale our movements to get the pointer to the desired location (as we have been doing with computer mice for years). When they have you do this in 3D, it becomes very difficult to deal with. For Whack-A-Mole they should have just done a top-down view.
Obviously, there are plently of mini games that have control issues in Monkey Ball. I am just singling out Whack-A-Mole to describe my problem with that type of full 3D navigation. A down view would make a lot of these games easier to play.
Title: RE:Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: MarioAllStar on November 19, 2006, 04:53:03 PM
Quote Originally posted by: pap64 One question, though. How do you hold your Wiimote? Do you hold it sideways or what?
Nope, you hold it verticaly like normal. This suprised me at first, but it works just fine for the main single player adventure mode.
Title: RE:Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: NWR_pap64 on November 19, 2006, 05:01:29 PM
Quote Originally posted by: MarioAllStar
Quote Originally posted by: pap64 One question, though. How do you hold your Wiimote? Do you hold it sideways or what?
Nope, you hold it verticaly like normal. This suprised me at first, but it works just fine for the main single player adventure mode.
I ask because of this paragraph from NWR's impressions: "If you had to imagine how SMB should control with the Wii, what would it be like? Stop to think for a moment. Now contrast your thoughts with how the game actually plays. The tilt sensors in the remote control the tilt of the board. So far so good right? Ok, but the designers apparently decided that you ought to hold the remote in one hand. However, when doing this, it's natural for the remote to be angled upward a bit and pointing at the TV. So they made that the neutral position. If you can manage to find and hold this position, your monkey will not roll anywhere. Good luck with that"
What I imagined was the controller was held sideways, like in Excite truck. This part of the impression is making it sound like its hard to control.
Title: RE:Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: Cortez the Kiler on November 19, 2006, 07:46:20 PM
I'm surprised people are having trouble with the controls in the main game. There are a few mini games I have issue with but the main games controls seem really intuitive.
Title: RE:Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: Griffin on November 19, 2006, 08:07:15 PM
I bought this game as well, along with Zelda (duh) and Trauma Center.
After reading these impressions, I was really wary about playing the game. However, I had almost no problem with the game controls. It might depend on the way you hold the remote.
I basically held it like it was a mouse, and the A button was the left mouse button (lightly gripping the sides of the remote with my fingertips). This seemed to keep my hand steady, and still allowed me to comfortable rotate my wrist left and right.
Granted, I only played the first 8-9 levels of beginner, but I was able to get through every one of them without any hassle at all (well okay, I screwed up twice on level 7, but that was totally my doing, and not the controls).
I'll have to test out the multiplayer games to give it my full impression, but as for the single player, I have no issues with the controls at the moment (thank god...)
Title: RE: Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: MattVDB on November 19, 2006, 09:07:42 PM
"Isn't that a bit extreme, though? Just because ONE game doesn't work as well as it should it doesn't mean that the entire system isn't worth it."
Well, honestly, it was a lot of little things. Wii Sports is fun, but the ball for example in Tennis rarely does what you tell it to. You swing left, it goes right. You swing right, to keep it in bounds, and it goes further left. The spin in bowling felt completely unnatural at first. Baseball felt flat. It was after all these simple annoyances that I then loaded up Monkey Ball. I loved the first two, and heard great things about this one. My first impression would have distinctly said otherwise.
Whack-a-mole sucks. The Trombone DDR clone? What were they thinking? Catch a fish on a piece of paper? Yeah, my thoughts exactly. Many of the control methods for the monkey ball minigames just don't fly for me. The pointer based ones work the best, and most of those were cool. It's just unfortunate that the classics, like Monkey Target (The very reason to own Monkey Ball 2) were murdered. Instead of 3 levels, with items and variety, there is one level with no items, and half of it is already completed for you, as you get shot out of a cannon towards the landing pad. This was just sad. There was just one poor game after another poor game after another in Monkey Ball's 50 minigame lineup. That made me sad. I knew there would be some stinkers but man it was hard to find enjoyable ones. My worry was that this would become a common trend for Wii games, and that made me scared. (Then again, it could be the fact that I've only had two hours of sleep in the past two days that caused me to be over concerned)
Then I found them. The alusive good minigames. They do exist. There is a Shmup close. There are physical exertion tests (The shotput/discus clone. The batting cage). My roomates and I were swining our controllers around so much, getting into them seriously, just trying to get the furthest distance in each competetion. We ended up breaking a sweat, and it actually turned into a partial workout, the way we had it set up. That was great. There are some that are just so weird, and just not possible on anything but the Wii, that are insanely fun. It's gotten better, but it's a shame that after playing most of the games only a few stand up. WiiSports with 4 player Tennis/Bowling has changed my mind as well. That is just crazy fun. Even if the ball bounces weird from time to time.
Title: RE:Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: Cortez the Kiler on November 19, 2006, 09:16:23 PM
I also think the minigames NEED friends to play with. I may only enjoy 70 percent of the mini games but with a friend I really enjoy that percentage a lot. I'm still not sure if my choice of this over Rayman was right but it is still a really good time.
Title: RE: Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: UltimatePartyBear on November 20, 2006, 02:35:14 AM
A friend bought this. After a while of being frustrated in the mini-games, I realized that the game wasn't using the tilt and motion of the controller as much as it claimed to. I stood up and tilted it down, and if I pointed high at the screen, the game claimed I was tilting way far back. We didn't retry any of the mini-games that gave us trouble after I realized that, though.
Title: RE: Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: RickPowers on November 20, 2006, 03:13:15 AM
The only mini game that I've found to be worth the time so far is Monkey Darts. I'm incredibly disappointed, and am trying to figure out how you could screw up something that was as fun as Monkey Target.
Title: RE: Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: Kairon on November 20, 2006, 03:26:17 AM
Maybe what was fun about monkeyball was actually tied into using the analog stick? Or maybe sega just busted up the controls?
~Carmine M. Red Kairon@aol.com
Title: RE:Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: NWR_DrewMG on November 20, 2006, 03:32:54 AM
Quote Originally posted by: Kairon sega just busted up the controls
Bing AGAIN. </gratuitous groundhog day reference>
Seriously, Monkey Ball is perfect for motion sensing controls, but they didn't test it enough, I don't think. I REALLY want to move the remote from left to right when playing, not just tilt.
Title: RE:Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: Kairon on November 20, 2006, 04:25:04 AM
*sigh*
Oh sega...
~Carmine M. Red Kairon@aol.com
Title: RE: Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: trip1eX on December 05, 2006, 07:19:45 PM
I like this game. I heard it was broke or something, but it's downright fun. Better than RRR imo.
And Monkey Wars? No one is talking about this? It seems to nail fps controls on the Wii. Amazing. It fps controls feel better than the ones in CoD3 or Red Steel. Steady and smooth. Amazing. Check it out.
Great title.
Title: RE: Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: Nick DiMola on December 05, 2006, 11:37:37 PM
Over the week of Thanksgiving, me and my brothers played this extensively and I found all of the controls to be pretty intuitive (especially Monkey Wars, better FPS control than Red Steel). There were a few games here or there (like the trombone and whack a mole games) that worked like crap, but most of them were easy oncce you realized all of the particulars. I also noticed that you can't be too far away from the screen or else the controller doesn't seem to work right. The single player was fun IMO, not like the old ones but still fun (plus the way you hold the controller is beyond retarded). After playing I was considering a purchase just to be able to play the mini games with my friends. I'm still on the fence due to Wii Play, Wario Ware and Elebits coming out in the near future, so I may stall for now and wait for a price drop.
Just on a side note, Monkey Ball has been on a steady decline since #1. SMB2 was nowhere near as good as SMB except in the minigame department. SMBA is not worth mentioning. I didn't like SMB JR. on the GBA and I really didn't like Touch and Roll on the DS. Alternative methods of control for Monkey Ball aren't fairing well, nor are any of the true blood sequels. I think I give up on Monkey Ball ever returning to its former glory.
Title: RE:Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: zakkiel on December 06, 2006, 02:31:54 AM
Quote Wii Sports is fun, but the ball for example in Tennis rarely does what you tell it to. You swing left, it goes right.
You don't swing in a direction to aim the ball, you use timing and the strength of the swing. This is how real tennis works. I agree with you on bowling, though. I've pretty much given up on it.
Title: RE: Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: ryancoke on December 06, 2006, 02:46:57 AM
Monkey wars is awesome and so is monkey darts. There are a couple stinkers...the ring toss, monkey bowling/golf. I like the submarine one as well. The main game hurts my wrist but I think it's just because i haven't figured out the best way to hold the controller.
Title: RE: Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: Caliban on December 06, 2006, 05:14:18 AM
The single-player mode is annoying me like freaking hell, the controls suck for it, I really wished there was the option to use the analog stick, arrrrrrgh.
Title: RE: Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: Ceric on December 09, 2006, 11:04:03 AM
Its official I hate this game. I want to like I would have liked it but. I figured out you need to hold the Wiimote like a pen for it to work right. Ok annoying but ok. Then in the first set of levels I get the birds blowing me off... Ok In the others it was just you and the course.. But whatever alright... Then I beat the insultingly easy boss and boom... It puts me to the credits... I try to skip the credits so I could go but it won't let me... I don't know if it does this for each of the sets of levels by I'm about ready to shoot it... I watched credits for only a little less amount of time then it took me to beat the set of levels to begin with... Arg.... Nice way to maim a game I thought would be good. Annoyances is greater then goodness... Which is really sad because they could have all been easily address. But I don't want to see the credits ten minutes into a game. Sega, Stop m***********g yourselves.
Title: RE: Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: Pale on December 09, 2006, 11:30:56 AM
Anyone who is having trouble with the single player mode of the game, I urge you to try different monkeys. If you don't think it's precise enough, play with the baby and you'll see how precise it can get.
Title: RE: Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: Mario on December 09, 2006, 11:38:48 AM
I'm still getting this as soon as it's not sold out everywhere.
Title: RE: Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: Caliban on December 09, 2006, 01:37:04 PM
Ceric: at the end of each world you will get credits but you can skip them now that you have seen the credits for the first time.
Pale: the game is way too sensitive for me, I've used Aiai, the Doctor, the new monkey-girl, and GonGon. I don't know, maybe it's just me that I just can't get used to the new controls.
Have you guys noticed that the levels in this game are much simpler in design (not the extra polygonal details) than the levels in either SMB 1 and 2? If there was the option of just using the analog stick this game would be very easy. I'm stuck in the desert world, 5th world I think, and the level design is still very simple.
Title: RE: Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: Ceric on December 09, 2006, 02:02:43 PM
Ok. I've gotten to the 5th level. I have no idea where the mythical pause button that lets you save your progress that it talks about is but I can't find it. As mentioned I finally am comfortable with the pen style holding that is required. I wish that all the buttons that weren't used for something else would be jump. The game definitely gets better each world. I'm consisting finding less and less stages that I hate as the world progresses. Which tells me they could have done a better job with the level orders. I don't like any of the levels that rely mostly on jumping because I find those I'm fighting with the camera more then actually playing the level. I've settled on the Doctor and thats working out well.
Though I think whoever decided to not have a way to exit a level during play or the ability to switch your monkey between stages without backing out should be flogged. The Whole menu systems is relatively unintuitive. Not that great. I haven't played the mini-games yet and I probably won't till the single player is done. So far it feels good but a little hollow in a way.
I do feel it is a little easier on the non-mainly jumping levels.
Title: RE:Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: Ceric on December 12, 2006, 04:03:02 AM
Ok I'm now at the Cobalt Mines and I've beaten all the levels except for 8 and 4. I just can't get pass the flippy platforms in 4. Any suggestions?
Title: RE: Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: RiskyChris on December 12, 2006, 07:45:03 AM
Why couldn't they have designed the game like Excite Truck. That's what I imagined when I heard the game was being released and got *very* excited.
Argh.
Monkey Wars, however simple, is extremely close to the perfect FPS setup for the Wii. I had more fun playing that than the dozens of times I've tried to play Halo 2. I shot who I wanted to shoot as soon as I wanted to shoot them. Amazing.
Title: RE:Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: d-mode on December 12, 2006, 06:42:45 PM
i dont understand how anybody can have a problem controlling the monkeys in this game. the controls are way more intuitive. did you know in real life there is this thing call inertia and momemtum. you guys realise you are controlling the ground and not the monkeys. so when the floor is tilted the monkeys move but if you tilt it right away in the EXACT opposite direction the monkey will gradually change directions. you gotta anticipate what you want to do. and also its easier if you hold the remote normally with your arm ONLY moving up and down(kinda like doing a curl with weights) so full speed forward would mean the infrared thing is pointed at the ground, and full speed backward(or stop) would mean IR thing pointed to ceiling. and here is the tricky part, ONLY twist the remote left or right to move your monkey left or right. but you have to twist while keeping the remote perpendicular to your body. if you are like my friends and twist while rotating the remote the floor wont angle as much. main thing to try to do is KEEP the IR thing on remote pointed straight. it has nothign to do with the sensor bar, but all to do with how much the remote tilts. in know this sounds easy but after watching some of my friends play they end up rotating the remote rather than tilting it.
Title: RE:Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: d-mode on December 12, 2006, 06:58:40 PM
Well, honestly, it was a lot of little things. Wii Sports is fun, but the ball for example in Tennis rarely does what you tell it to. You swing left, it goes right. You swing right, to keep it in bounds, and it goes further left. The spin in bowling felt completely unnatural at first.
for tennis make sure to do back hand swings when the ball bounces to your backhand otherwise the ball goes all wacked out, and if you are doing a forehand make sure the ball is going to your forehand. also if you are spiking with your closer character make sure to do the proper swing as well. the ball does weird stuff if you swing the wrong way. and there are so many different types of shots as well. crazy side spins, back spins, top spins, lobs and one of my faves the drop shot. i dont know how to do it proper but one of my friends was doing it the whole time, it was funny cuz she was swinging as hard as she could and the ball kept floating and suddently drop over the net. i think if you dick around with tennis you will find that it does exactly what you want the ball to do. so many times i hit a nice one down the line and crazy cross court shots that are unreturnable. and hit your serve as soon as the ball hits its apex, you will get smoke coming off your ball, tough to return if you arent paying attention.
bowling is so accurate its not even funny. first off, how many of you let go of the button too late, meaning the ball lands like 15 feet in front of you, if you do that the ball will lose most of its spin. for those of you who let go too early, meaning the ball leaves your hand at the front of the lane, the ball will have all its spin you put on it. now the main thing here is people seem to think that you need to be infront of the sensor bar, the sensor bar is only for pointing. you can be upstairs in the bathroom and play bowling. ive bowled stikes without even being in the same room as my wii,(the remote beeps so you know its your turn.) you just need to have really good muscle memory( you know like shooting a free throw with you eyes closed) just rememer to do the exact same thing over and over again to get strikes. the best way to bowl is to let go of the button at like a 45 degree angle towards the floor. that way the ball lands where it is supposed to, not too early and not getting launched into the air. so to get the ball going straight down the lane you hold B, as soon as your guy moves drop your hand down, then BEFORE he gets to the line swing your arm forward and let go at that 45 degree angle and KEEP the remote buttons facing the ceiling, no tilt. to make sure you arent tilting to the left physically look at your remote after you let go of the button, chances are you are holding it with tilt to the left(if you are right handed). to add spin just tilt. its that easy.
Title: RE: Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: Mario on December 12, 2006, 07:16:01 PM
Quote Well, honestly, it was a lot of little things. Wii Sports is fun, but the ball for example in Tennis rarely does what you tell it to. You swing left, it goes right. You swing right, to keep it in bounds, and it goes further left.
Dude, that isn't how you play Tennis! It's about TIMING! Say you are on the right, the earlier you hit it it means it'll go left (other players right) and if you swing at the last second it'll go the other way. The way you use the remote simulates speed, spin and height, and the timing you hit it dictates which way it will go. Honestly I think Wii Tennis is one of the best games of all time, it's the perfect tennis game.
EDIT: Whoops I didn't notice the post above explained it too! Ah well.
Title: RE: Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: Caliban on December 15, 2006, 04:11:33 PM
Has anyone gotten any Gold crowns yet? I've got the first 4 worlds completed without continuing, which warranted me a gold crown for each of those worlds.
Btw, I was playing the world "Pirate's Ocean" and I thought the levels were aaaarrrrggggghhhhh-annoying, that is until I got to the boss..like HOLY FREAKING BULLSH!T ANNOYING FOCKER OF A BOSS AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH...so anyone got any easy way to finish him off?
Edit: Nevermind, I got through the boss and I'm at the Cobalt Mines.
Title: RE: Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: Mario on December 23, 2006, 02:16:00 AM
That boss annoyed the crap out of me too, but I sort of figured out a pattern to beat him, just by jumping a lot up close over his legs.
Quote Though I think whoever decided to not have a way to exit a level during play or the ability to switch your monkey between stages without backing out should be flogged.
Dude you just hold down the + button. I've only played the game for a few hours so far and I knew that. I'm enjoying the main game so far, and I love the music, i'm not sure about the controls yet. They seem good until I die I always end up blaming them. This level 5 boss is really annoying me though. It seems like its going to be VERY hard to do super awesome shortcuts in this, with the lack of instant landing control you have.
The minigames surprised me, I thought most would be total rubbish, but only a few are! I've enjoyed heaps of them. Has anyone been able to actually play games like Golf or Ring Toss? They seem broken beyond belief.
Title: RE:Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: MarioAllStar on December 23, 2006, 05:42:57 AM
I simply can not play any of the games that have you aim with the Wiimote (left, right, up, and down). They are a great example of using motion controls where the D-pad would have worked better (like bowling and golf in Wii Sports).
Title: RE: Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: Mario on December 25, 2006, 12:36:19 AM
Alright... 7.1, I can't even get up the hills. EDIT: Nevermind, switched Monkeys from Doctor to Gongon, he's heaps faster.
Gah now 7.5 is pissing me off, and my hands are getting really sweaty so i'm losing grip on the remote, this has to be the most hardcore game ever.
Title: RE: Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: ShyGuy on December 27, 2006, 07:08:11 PM
Sister got this for me for Christmas. I like it, it's a lot of fun, but I think Super Monkey Ball 1 & 2 were better. Okay, here is my take on the fifty minigames:
Alien Attack: Annoying control, no explosion of the aliens when you shoot them to give you satisfaction. Status: Meh Asteroid Crash: Simple shooting gallery, but a ton of fun. one of the best in the bunch. Status: Great Banana Catch: Ok, this one might be ok if it worked, but the controls are broken. Seriously. Status: Awful Banana Thief: Hrrm, it works about half the time, but it's more annoying than fun. Status: Meh Bugs Balance: very simple. but it executes it's idea well. Status: Good Dangerous Route: Not for everyone. Very tedious, but a test of skill. Status: Good Disc Golf: Urgh. The first couple of holes lull you into thinking it might be ok. Then it cranks up the suck. Status: Awful Fish Catcher: Floaty and annoying. Status: Meh Free Throw: Simple, but has a smidgen of fun. Status: Meh Frog Ball: Ugh, with different controls it may have been something. As it stands, it is poo. Status: Meh Fruit Basket: I liked it better in Mario Party 43. Status: Meh Hammer Throw: Hard to get the timing right, but spinning a wiimote in a circle is always a good time: Status: Good High Wire Act: Not bad, but not much. Whatev. Status: Meh Home Run Derby: I'll be saying this a lot, but it makes you appreciate Wii Sports. Status: Meh Hovercraft Battle: About the Same broken controls as Alien Attack. Status: Meh Hovercraft Race: See above, except more confusing. Status: Meh Hurdle Race: A kick in the pants, good stuff. Status: Good Jigsaw Puzzle: Fun, racing against an opponents adds an element not seen in the Wii Photo Channel puzzles Status: Good Jump Rope: Very short, but good in a simple, simple, simple way. Status: Good Keepy Up: There's the roots of a deeper action/puzzle game in here. Status: Good Monkey Bowling: THE SPIN IS MENTALLY RETARDED. WiiSports Bowling is awesomely better. Status: Awful Monkey Boxer: Bummer, you can mover around the ring but the boxing is crap. Status: Meh Monkey Darts: Very similar to real darts, I like it quite a bit. Status: Great Monkey Fencing: What a disappointment. Finally a sword duel for you and your friends and the controls make no sense at all. Status: Meh Monkey Golf: Wow, I really dislike it. A lot. WiiSports Golf is TOOOOOOOONNNNNS better. Status: Awful Monkey Race: Not as good as its predecessors, but still enjoyable. Status: Good Monkey Snowboard: Not bad, actually makes me want to try that EA snowboard game coming out. Status: Good Monkey Squash: Huh? let's come up with worst way to play. Status: Meh Monkey Target: Wow, I miss the old monkey target. This shallow thing gives it a bad name. Still, if you have played the awesome originals it's not bad. Status: Good Monkey Wars: I like it but my friends don't. What do they know? Status: Good Monkeysmith: Uh... that's it? Wow. Status: Meh Number Ball: No monkeys, but pretty fun. Status: Good Paper Sumo Fighter: I don't get it. Status: Meh Paraglider: Yaaaawwn. Status: Meh Racing Birds: I donno, I just didn't like it that much. Status: Meh Red Light, Green Light: UURRRGH I WASN'T MOVING THE CONTROLLER STUPID GAME! Status: Meh Ring Toss: Simple but it works. Status: Good Rock-Paper-Scissors Attack: I don't get it. Rock-Paper-Scissors-Hammer-Helmet? Huh? Status: Meh Scoop the Goldfish: Stupid and broken and lousy even it did work. Status: Awful Seesaw Ball : Actually pretty good. Status: Good Shepherd: When it works, it's pretty cool. But it breaks half the time. Status: Meh Simon Says: Need Voicework. Status: Meh Sling Shot: Okay, I can't hit anything. Status: Good Space Monkey Attack: Starfox ala Monkey. good stuff, wish it was a full game. Status: Great Spaceship Landing: Short and sweet. Status: Good Treasure Submarine: I got bored with it. Status: Meh Trombone: I suck at music games. Status: Meh UFO Capture: Okay... whoop-de-doo. Status: Meh Whack-a-Mole: It works like whack a mole, but somehow, it doesn't work. I donno, it's odd. Status: Meh Yacht Sailing: I don't like, nuff said. Status: Meh
So in summary, five times the minigames of previous Monkeyball, but one fifth of the depth and polish of previous Monkeyball.
Maybe Sega plans on putting features back in for the sequel, like EA does with Madden.
Title: RE: Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: couchmonkey on January 12, 2007, 07:42:44 AM
Speaking as a casual Monkeyballer, I love this game. (I've played the first two, but I only own number 2, and I have only played about 1/4 of it).
The main game is a little on the easy side - not enough precision areas, as some others have said. In spite of that, I love the controls, and I'm having tons of fun. Plus, to be honest, I've never beaten either of the others, so the low challenge level may be a blessing to me.
The party games - some have been dumbed down, doesn't bother me to be honest (though more levels in monkey target would be good). I'd like to see more balance in the game length, and the controls on a few are crap, but overall, I enjoyed it just as much as the other Monkey Ball multiplayers.
I also think the new graphical style is heaps better than the original, and I'm loving the soundtrack for some reason.
Again, I think my casual interest in the series makes me more accepting of the "flaws" in this one - I don't expect a minimum amount of complexity or challenge going in. Still, from that perspective, it's quickly becoming my favourite of the series.
Title: RE: Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: Mario on January 12, 2007, 01:34:33 PM
Completely agree, the soundtrack is absolutely awesome, the graphics are perfect, and the main game is a lot of fun and very well crafted. If you think it's easy wait til you get to World 9/10.
Title: RE:Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: MarioAllStar on January 12, 2007, 03:17:42 PM
I go back to this game every couple of weeks to try and squeeze a little bit of fun out of it, but I just can't. The controls are awful, even in the single player mode. At first I could tolerate it, but now it is just too much. I am in the 4th world (the desert one) and now there are opening/closing gates, enemies that run around, and inverted domes (i.e., depressions into the ground) that you must jump out of.
If the control was held horizontally and the rest of the mechanics/design were more like the original Monkey Ball (no jumping, no enemies, etc.) then I think this could have been a pretty good game. Mercury Meltdown Revolution is supposed to use the horizontal control setup, so I might have to try (rent) that one.
Title: RE: Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: Mario on January 12, 2007, 04:02:32 PM
I'm the opposite, I didn't find it very intuitive at first but now I think it's more precise than the analog stick. What has changed more I noticed is the actual physics of the game where it's harder to pull back if you're going really fast or bouncing.
Title: RE: Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: King of Twitch on January 13, 2007, 02:09:28 PM
I rented the game, it was really fun towards the beginning and hard to put down. Once I got past that ridiculous roller coaster lava level I was ready to return it; now that I'm at a part that has a long series of rotating platforms resembling tick tock clock in Mario 64, I'm more than ready to snap the disc in half before taking it back. It was a good time but it has stopped being fun.
Title: RE:Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: Caliban on January 14, 2007, 10:45:48 AM
Quote Originally posted by: MJRx9000 ...I'm more than ready to snap the disc in half before taking it back...
That just about summarizes what is the single-player mode for SMB1/2/BB.
Title: RE: Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: MarioAllStar on January 14, 2007, 12:11:50 PM
I didn't feel like poor controls cheated me in the first game. In this game, I always get the feeling that I would do so much better with an analog stick or better Wii controls.
Title: RE: Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: Caliban on January 14, 2007, 01:04:11 PM
There were some levels in SMB1 where it was more a matter of look than skill. I agree that, in SMBBB, having the option to use the analog stick would have made it alot easier for us. As I've said it before, the level design in SMBBB is alot simpler to roll through compared to SMB1/2, but the motion control makes it alot harder to progress, which I think was a cheap way for SEGA to make the game challenging.
Title: RE: Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Post by: couchmonkey on January 15, 2007, 03:22:17 AM
I played some more and I take back any complaints about the game being too easy.
Personally, I find the "steering" controls just as good as analog. My only complaint here is that my arm gets tired after a while (but the same could be said for my thumb in the other two games). Maybe horizontal would have been better, but I'm not really having a problem with them as it is.
I admit that some of the jumping stuff is annoyingly hard. I like the jumping in general but the precise jumping sections are unfair because you can't predict a safe landing with those balls bouncing and rolling all over the place.
