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Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz HD Review Thread
- Thread starter Deleted member 17627
- Start date
6 or 7/10 is about right for it. The boss battles are just as terrible as they ever were and the party games are a joke compared to SMB2's selection even with their improvements, but the main game is plenty of fun and very challenging in the back half, especially when going for the Champion medals.
Anyone lamenting the lost party games should probably go back and give the original Banana Blitz a spin to discover whether the removal of 40 of the worst shovelware minigames you'll ever play in your life are truly worth mourning.
Anyone lamenting the lost party games should probably go back and give the original Banana Blitz a spin to discover whether the removal of 40 of the worst shovelware minigames you'll ever play in your life are truly worth mourning.
It is what it is at this point. If Sega came to this conclusion then they're just straight up clueless.
Don't worry. In 10 years they'll give us the remaster we all really want.
Step & Roll HD.
Just bought this for 15 bucks...I want my Monkey Ball 2 back. Good old times. Beating the master levels back then made me feel like I am the king of the world :D
OP
OP
I honestly feel like Step and Roll took a step (hehe) in the right direction in terms of polish, but then they made the entire game Balance Board focused so the level design was basically you moving between obstacles on a flat, steady plane.
I have no point of reference for the Wii version, but I loved the original two so $22 seemed like a fair deal for the only current gen Monkey Ball game, even if it is a step down from prior entries. Lower difficulty and the ability to jump which seem to be points of contention are actually something I look forward to as well, so here's hoping.
Removing bosses and adding a new world should have made it a far better game but it's quite enjoyable anyway
My 3/5 review for Hey Poor Player is up here. King of Dreamland
I truly was open to giving this a second chance, but as elaborated within, the spark's still not there -- here's hoping we not only get the first two ported down the road, but we get a sequel worthy of their legacy. (Did I mention the GC/PS2/Xbox games are dirt-cheap on eBay?)
I truly was open to giving this a second chance, but as elaborated within, the spark's still not there -- here's hoping we not only get the first two ported down the road, but we get a sequel worthy of their legacy. (Did I mention the GC/PS2/Xbox games are dirt-cheap on eBay?)
Come on, that'd make sense. Not SEGA's way of doing things with this franchise.
OP
OP
I'd still give that to Sonic Forces. This was a quick remaster which if not for what the core game is, would be great as all the new UI elements, polish, and even some of the new music, are all stylish and clean.
Sonic Forces took FOUR YEARS only to make a product with a terrible self-insert story, irritating techno music for its soundtrack, poor controls, level design being either too awkward too navigate, or being too basic in that it's just a straight line, recycling content from Generations and Colors, and ultimately lacking in content.
People give other Sonic games criticism, but at least they have something people like about them, same can be said about this game. There really isn't anything people liked about Forces. It wasn't bad, just overwhelmingly meh.
Added to the OP!
Sonic Team being Sonic Team just seems like regular Sega shit at this point. And with the custom character feature you can at least kinda parse what the target audience for the game is.
Spending time and money on a chopped up HD remaster of a game most people don't even fuck with in a series with far better games ripe for remastering is just plain bizarre, especially considering the remasters Sega's done/is doing this gen that people at least wanted (Valkyria 1, Yakuza 3-5, Shenmue I & II despite the issues)
OP
OP
That's fair, although I wonder if it managed to even reach that audience given how SEGA doesn't want to talk about that game's sales figures compared to their other titles. At least Sonic Team is working on Sakura Wars now.
You're right on the "who wanted this?" part. But after seeing some of the dev diary videos, it definitely feels like this was a choice based on what they thought would be easiest to remaster, and Banana Blitz's cel-shaded style seemed to fit that choice unfortunately.
I also got to cover this for my site and as my second ever MB title (next to 3D), I enjoyed most of it. But this game has moments where it felt like they didn't playtest it at all and I swear that people will rage hard on World 7 to the point I bet a lot of other players will agree on how 7-2 feels like a broken edit, along with the tunnel stage Jon mentioned in his video. World 7 is truly very bad.
The minigames are indeed bad, but I do think the seesaw one is tons of fun. I could replay that one a lot, and the snowboarding one with friends, but none of the others. Monkey Target is absolutely horrible coming from a newcomer to it and I don't know how anyone could like it unless SMB 1/2 removed the water hazards this game's version is littered with. The fact it kept me engaged enough to beat it is what made me not outright hate it.
The minigames are indeed bad, but I do think the seesaw one is tons of fun. I could replay that one a lot, and the snowboarding one with friends, but none of the others. Monkey Target is absolutely horrible coming from a newcomer to it and I don't know how anyone could like it unless SMB 1/2 removed the water hazards this game's version is littered with. The fact it kept me engaged enough to beat it is what made me not outright hate it.
Eh, not shocked about the reviews. I'd obviously love a remaster of 1&2, but who knows if it'll happen at this point.
If you like this game you really owe it to yourself to play the first two since they are head and shoulders above every other game in the series. Hell, I'd argue that the first one is even head and shoulders above the second.
OP
OP
I guess I'll buy it on sale, but I just want the first 2 games
Give us Samba De Amigo you cowards
I know
Give us Samba De Amigo you cowards
Just beat the game. As a Monkey Ball Veteran there were like four or five challenging stages with Ultra Heaven Stage 5 being the hardest one. The game was nice while it lasted but by far the worst Monkey Ball entry I've played so far. I really want my SMB 1+2 back.
(On a side note: I only play the main game and do NOT care for the mini games.)
(On a side note: I only play the main game and do NOT care for the mini games.)
My brother got it and we played a few worlds. Was better than I expected but something felt off to me. The camera is a bit to violent for me in 2019 -- I don't remember if SMB1&2 were like this, but I don't like it today. The levels were still OK, but man the boss battles are a total miss. I don't think I'll get it but I'm glad to have finally played it. I hope it does well enough to bring out the first two, as contradictory that is of me to say after saying I'm not diving in on this one.
I would buy Super Monkey Ball 1 or 2 for the same price in a heartbeat. But they had to port Banana Blitz.
What I loved most about SMB1+2 was that you have to play 50 levels in a row on the highest difficulty. It felt like an adventure.
What I loved most about SMB1+2 was that you have to play 50 levels in a row on the highest difficulty. It felt like an adventure.
Wait so they had the results of this poll and still decided to remake a shit one.
What the fuck are you smoking Sega?
Oh wait its recent. Still baffling.