Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania

Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania is a re-release of the early Super Monkey Ball games, developed by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio. For the 20th anniversary, SEGA bundled over 300 courses from Super Monkey Ball, Super Monkey Ball 2 and Super Monkey Ball Deluxe. The game combines rolling balls, narrow obstacle courses, twelve party mini-games and a comic-style story mode.

Steam dates the PC version to Oct 4, 2021. For the regular console release, SEGA, PlayStation and Nintendo gave Oct 5, 2021. Store times vary by region, and early access to some special editions can explain other dates. The developer was Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, and the publisher is SEGA.

SEGA released the base game natively for Windows PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch. The official SEGA game website lists each platform separately. On Xbox, the edition supports Smart Delivery. A dedicated Nintendo Switch 2 version is not confirmed and is not inferred from compatibility.

The focus is not on directly running a character, but on precisely rolling a ball with a monkey inside it. Narrow paths, slopes, edges and moving obstacles call for controlled speed. Bananas and the timer encourage you to retry the courses and find better lines.

The 300+ redesigned courses come from Super Monkey Ball, Super Monkey Ball 2 and Super Monkey Ball Deluxe. It is therefore a bundled re-release, not a completely new level set.

Steam originally listed Windows 8.1 64-bit, an Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 or AMD Phenom II X2 550, 4 GB RAM, a GeForce 8800 GT or Radeon HD 5750, and 4 GB storage. Recommended are a Core i3-540 or Phenom II X4 965 and a GTX 750 or Radeon HD 7850. The Steam client itself now requires Windows 10 or newer. These details come from the store and are not our own benchmarks.

Apart from the obstacle courses, the base game contains twelve standalone mini-games. These include Monkey Race, Monkey Soccer, Monkey Bowling, Monkey Baseball and Monkey Target. The rules switch between racing, hitting and skill tasks. These party games are an essential part of the collection and not an additional paid expansion.

Up to four people can use the local multiplayer modes. Steam lists split screen, shared or competitive local modes, and Remote Play Together. The online leaderboards serve to compare times and results. A leaderboard alone does not prove full online co-op for story mode.

AiAi, MeeMee, Baby, GonGon, YanYan and Doctor make up the character gang. In short comic scenes, the team follows the plan of scientist Dr. Bad-Boon on Jungle Island. Character choice and cosmetic customization complement the skill game. SEGA also features guest characters from other brands; some are explicitly labeled as DLC and are not included in every edition.

Besides the base game, the Digital Deluxe edition includes classic character variants, SEGA Legends and the original soundtrack, among other things. A physical anniversary edition was offered with an artbook and collector's material. On Steam, Classic Character Pack, SEGA Legends Pack, Customization Pack and Classic Soundtrack are also available individually. These packs add to the base game without forming a new campaign.