During the
past week, I had the unique experience of reviewing two Gameboy Advance
games, Majescos Turbo Turtle
Adventure and THQs Super Monkey Ball Jr. Both games have the same
theme in that they both have a main character that rolls around trying
to get from start to finish in labyrinth-like levels. First it was a
rolling turtle, and now its a monkey in a rolling ball. And let me tell
you, thats a lot of rolling around for one week. In comparison, I
cannot only say that Super Monkey Ball Jr. is the better game, but I can
also confidently say that it is one of the best Gameboy Advance games of
the year.Super
Monkey Ball Jr. is what it claims to be, which is an offspring of the
original Super Monkey Ball for Gamecube. And Super Monkey Ball is
somewhat like a non-blood related relative of the classic Marble
Madness. Super Monkey Ball debuted with the launch of the Nintendo
Gamecube, and barely held any interest to the average gamer.
In Super
Monkey Ball, the main character is a monkey in a ball (why would that
sound out of the ordinary?). The monkey can roll around on the level
just like a hamster rolls around in its ball. The objective of each
level was to navigate the monkey from the start of the three-dimensional
labyrinth-like level to the Goal gate. With each completion, the levels
get increasing more difficulty, throwing in more twists and turns, and
obstacles along the way. But due to Segas insatiable knack for
ingenuity, and the games incredibly addictive multiplayer games, Super
Monkey Ball began to have a cult-like following. Even today, Super
Monkey Ball is one of the best multiplayer games on the Gamecube.
The
biggest concern about Super Monkey Balls port to Gameboy Advance was,
"How will we mimic the gameplay while maintaining the 3D appearance on a
less powerful system?" The answer is, practically perfectly. Super
Monkey Ball Jr. is instantly identified with its predecessor on the
Gamecube. Realism Ltd. did a fantastic job of recreating the Gamecube
experience, and keeping its main components intact, without sacrificing
a lot.
The
gameplay is spot on. The ball rolls fluidly on the screen, and being
that it is the main component of the game, the fluidity is essential.
Contrary to what one might assume, in Super Monkey Ball the player does
not directly control the monkey in the ball, but in fact controls the
landscape which its on. So tilting the level to the right will
vicariously tilt the ball to the right. And since the player need only
control the tilting of the level, the only buttons the player needs to
be concerned about is the directional pad. Perhaps the only nitpicking
that I can say about the gameplay is that the ball tends to roll faster
than its brothers on the Gamecube. Otherwise the game sounds simple,
right? As usual, that is far from the truth.
Super
Monkey Ball Jr. begins with three difficulty sets, a Beginners set, an
Advanced set, and an Expert Set. The first stage of the Beginners set is
like a friendly welcome mat to the game. Its design is a simple
oval-shaped level, where the task is to get from one side to the other.
But as the player completes each stage and progresses, the stages get
more and more intimidating. There are more tight curves to turn on,
hairpin bridges to cross, moving platforms to roll on, and bumpers that
are unfriendly to monkeys in rolling balls. Completing the Expert set
requires Zen-like patience and nerves of steel, and completing these
"How the heck am I supposed to this?" levels will probably give you the
same satisfaction and excitement as one would have from finishing Halo
on the Legendary difficulty. Unfortunately, the stages in these sets are
mostly replicas of those from the original Super Monkey Ball. Therefore,
if youve played them on the Gamecube, youll see the same ones on the
GBA.
Realizing
the difficulty of porting Super Monkey Ball from Gamecube to Gameboy
Advance, I think most of us would have been satisfied with just the
single-player game. But Realism went the whole nine yards and
transferred the multiplayer games as well. And just like the
single-player port, the multiplayer port is practically perfect.
Included are four unlockable mini-games, as well as the Link cable
capability. Playing the single-player levels and earning play points can
unlock the mini-games. The four mini-games are Monkey Fight, Monkey
Duel, Monkey Bowling, and Monkey Golf. Sadly, one of the most popular
mini-games from the original, Monkey Target, was omitted. But with the
four that Realism did include, theyre more than enough to fill your
gaming pleasure.
These
mini-games will keep you and your friends very happy. Monkey Fight pits
each monkey for itself, as each player tries to knock their opponents
off the playing level with their oversized boxing gloves. Monkey Bowling
rolls your monkey-in-a-ball down the lane with a twist of rolling in an
unpredictable direction. Monkey Golf sets your monkey-in-a-ball as a
golf ball, as you attempt to navigate through one of the zaniest golf
courses ever. Monkey Duel, a new addition to the original game, rushes
you and your opponent to finish a course in the least amount of time. No
matter which mini-game you choose, having fun is almost guaranteed.