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Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz HD Review Thread

Deleted member 17627

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,364
Metacritic: 65 (hyperlink system is being dumb, so: https://www.metacritic.com/game/switch/super-monkey-ball-banana-blitz-hd)
OpenCritic: 64

Destructoid: 7/10

Nintendo Wire: 7/10

IGN Spain: 7/10

Hardcore Gamer: 3.5/5

Dualshockers: 6.5/10

Nintendo Life: 6/10

Cubed^3: 6/10

Nintendo World Report - 5.5/10

Gamespot: 5/10

Push Square: 4/10

GameXplain: Disliked




Seems the common opinions are that the main game has been improved through the addition of analog controls, but that they still have issues with poor level design. And in terms of content, 40 of the original's 50 mini-games being removed is weird only for the mini-games that stayed to be relatively untouched.
 
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Adulfzen

Adulfzen

Member
Oct 29, 2017
3,606
why did they remake this ? Did this game sell a lot when it was on the Wii or something ?
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 17627

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,364
I think for me, it's hard to buy this version for $40, especially with the new costumes not being able to offset the mini-games that got cut. I never had a problem with Banana Blitz's motion controls either, so if anything, I feel kind of tempted to go pick up a copy of the original Wii game from Gamestop for $5.
 
OrakioRob

OrakioRob

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,491
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
I bought the Wii version years ago and... Well, it's the only Monkey Ball game I've ever played, so I find it fun. Flawed (controls were awful), but fun. If they improved the controls, I might bite when it goes on sale. And IIRC, the minigames annoyed me, so I'm happy they cut most of them.
 
ZeoVGM

ZeoVGM

Member
Oct 25, 2017
76,055
Providence, RI
MaitreWakou said:
It hurts to think that Sega probably just decided "all right, this one is the best selling one, so let's remake this one"
Fuck
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Six months from now, in the Sega offices:

"The poor sales of our HD remaster of a bad Super Monkey Ball game that no one asked for shows that there is not much interest left in the franchise. Because of this, we will be cancelling our plans to remaster the original two games."
 
Hero of Legend

Hero of Legend

Member
Oct 26, 2017
13,606
I adored it on Wii, but a lot of that had to do with the music which most of it was replaced. It was by Noisycroak and I guess SOMEHOW AGAIN Sega let them have ownership of it?

Not to mention visually it's kind of ugly here. The lighting and color de-saturation makes it look much worse even though it was a pleasant-looking game on Wii.

And I even dug the motion controls (sans the tilt-based menu... okay then). So really it's just a downgrade across the board. If you're going to remaster Banana Blitz, they should have done it as faithfully as possible both audibly and visually. Even giving it Step & Roll's bump in visuals alone would've been better.

Really heartbroken with this. :(
 
Piston

Piston

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,155
MaitreWakou said:
It hurts to think that Sega probably just decided "all right, this one is the best selling one, so let's remake this one"
Fuck
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From the NPD numbers I have seen, it isn't actually the best selling one (with a bit out-of-date numbers). The first two did really, really well, but the majority of their sales were at $20, so maybe Banana Blitz did better at a higher price.
 
SinCityAssassin

SinCityAssassin

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,171
King of Dreamland said:
I think for me, it's hard to buy this version for $40, especially with the new costumes not being able to offset the mini-games that got cut. I never had a problem with Banana Blitz's motion controls either, so if anything, I feel kind of tempted to go pick up a copy of the original Wii game from Gamestop for $5.
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Amazon has it for 33. It only makes it very slightly easier. It's like being a sugar cereal junkie and you only get a little bit of marshmallow in every bite. It's something.
 
Hero

Hero

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,742
If this was a SMB 1+2 HD Collection I would've dropped 60 bucks on it. This I will pass. I would love a new SMB, but if Sega is basing it on this HD port, well....
 
jeelybeans

jeelybeans

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,948
It's perplexing they chose to remaster this when there are GOOD Super Monkey Ball games...

What a missed opportunity.
 
Grettir_the_Swole

Grettir_the_Swole

Member
Nov 1, 2017
1,348
FL, United States
King of Dreamland said:
I think for me, it's hard to buy this version for $40, especially with the new costumes not being able to offset the mini-games that got cut. I never had a problem with Banana Blitz's motion controls either, so if anything, I feel kind of tempted to go pick up a copy of the original Wii game from Gamestop for $5.
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This wouldn't be the first time a shoddy HD remaster caused the original to shoot up in value. If it's still $5 I would jump on it iiwy.

With the game already being discounted on Amazon, I may as well wait for it to go on sale after Thanksgiving. I'm sure I can land a Switch copy for somewhere around $20-25 on Black Friday.
 
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Fugu

Fugu

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,729
Echoing the sentiments of others in this thread I really find it baffling that they went with Banana Blitz for the remaster.

Unfortunately, given the quality difference even between Super Monkey Ball 1 and 2 I'm convinced that Sega simply doesn't know where to go with this series. I suppose I should be glad that we got one excellent and one good game out of it.
 
Fugu

Fugu

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,729
andymcc said:
yep.

real missed opportunity.

Sega shows they listen this gen, they've done an amazing job getting their properties in the right hands, but why this game? why not SMBD with levels from both 1 + 2? makes no sense.
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Yeah, I'd really like for them to remaster SMBD since basically the only issue with that game is the controller.

It's amazing how much difference a little notch makes.
 
CyberWolfBia

CyberWolfBia

Member
Apr 5, 2019
9,911
Brazil
This is one of kind of games/series that sell despite of reviews, I think. Especially with the Switch being mainstream similar how Wii was back in the day;
 
Dizzy Ukulele

Dizzy Ukulele

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,013
I held on to the hope that this wouldn't turn out the only way it ever could. But here we are with the inevitable outcome. It's a re-release of a game nobody asked for and hasn't given anyone a reason to suddenly want it.
 
Fugu

Fugu

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Oct 26, 2017
2,729
CyberWolfJV said:
This is one of kind of games/series that sell despite of reviews, I think. Especially with the Switch being mainstream similar how Wii was back in the day;
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andymcc said:
SMB 1 and 2 were well received critically.
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This is one thing I've always wondered about SMB. I remember how this game was marketed when it was released and attitudes like this lead me to believe that some people actually do treat it like a party game so they don't so much notice/care the decrease in quality of the levels and mechanics as the series has gone on.

...So does anyone actually play this like a party game? My friend group has always been totally unable to not take SMB seriously since it's so stress-inducing and punishing. Hell, whenever we get together we play it at the beginning of the night because nobody wants to touch it after a couple of drinks.
 
CyberWolfBia

CyberWolfBia

Member
Apr 5, 2019
9,911
Brazil
andymcc said:
SMB 1 and 2 were well received critically.
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I know, but the original Banana Blitz didn't get astonishing reviews either, right? I know it was a launch title on Wii, so that helped.

but this one is multiplat too, which might be the little help the game needs. There are lots of people who never played the first two games, so they don't have any standard going into this one.
 
New Donker

New Donker

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 26, 2017
5,354
Thats a bummer, was really looking forward to a monkey ball fix. Will probably wait for a sale.
 
andymcc

andymcc

Member
Oct 25, 2017
26,271
Columbus, OH
Fugu said:
...So does anyone actually play this like a party game? My friend group has always been totally unable to not take SMB seriously since it's so stress-inducing and punishing. Hell, whenever we get together we play it at the beginning of the night because nobody wants to touch it after a couple of drinks.
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i dunno, i can remember a lot of good alcohol-fueled nights with monkey target.

but the regular arcade mode-- no way.
 
Fugu

Fugu

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,729
andymcc said:
i dunno, i can remember a lot of good alcohol-fueled nights with monkey target.

but the regular arcade mode-- no way.
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This makes sense to me, but I've always found the minigames very shallow and certainly not worth the whole price tag.

It's interesting marketing nonetheless. The original SMB is a very difficult game and a rare example of a console port of an arcade game that is more difficult than the original version. It's interesting to me that they managed to convince so many people to buy it.
 
CloseTalker

CloseTalker

Member
Oct 25, 2017
30,544
Finding out Monkey Ball was back, only for it to be a remaster of Banana Blitz, is one of the cruelest things a publisher has pulled all generation.
 
Dinjoralo

Dinjoralo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,135
I'm actually kind of interested in the PC version to see if people mod some good levels into this.

Everyone who wants some good Monkey Ball should also keep an eye out for Rolled Out, which is basically more Monkey Ball 2.
 
LuigiMario

LuigiMario

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,933
I don't really want this game but wanna buy it to support the notion of remastering 1 and 2. Pretty conflicted...
 
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