Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD Review
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD was released on the Nintendo Switch on October 29, 2019. Banana Blitz is the seventh entry in the Super Monkey Ball franchise and was originally released as a launch title for the Nintendo Wii in 2006. Developed by New Entertainment R&D Dept. and published by Sega, this HD remaster brings back the platformer franchise after thirteen years. This review of Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD will cover the Nintendo Switch version of the game.
Banana Blitz has a total of 100 main game levels and 50 minigames. There are many levels in this game that are very difficult. This game takes a lot of patience when you are first playing it. There are eight different worlds filled with eight stages. In stages 1 through 7 the player must make their way to the finish, trying to collect as many bananas as possible, while trying not to fall off the course. Stage 8 of each world consists of a boss battle where the player must avoid these big enemies and jump on their weak points. Each world has a fun theme to it. For example, World 2 is a jungle theme and world 5 is an ocean theme. The Worlds are filled great soundtracks that fit themes wonderfully.
This Super Monkey Ball installment follows AiAi and his friends; Baby, Doctor, MeeMee, and YanYan, on their adventure to recover the Golden Banana Bunch. A new villain named Captain Crabuchin has stolen the Golden Banana Bunch and scattered pieces of it across the eight different worlds. Each one of AiAi and his friends are playable characters who offer different statistics when it comes to speed, jumping, balance, weight, size, and life. Each character plays drastically between the others which adds a variety of difficulty. You can replay each stage with a different character in order to collect more bananas and set records. Banana Blitz also offers unlockable content. Through progression of the game and banana collection the player will receive deferent outfits for the characters as well as an additional playable character, Sonic the Hedgehog.
In addition to the story mode that Bana Blitz has, it also offers multiplayer mode. Here up to four players locally can compete in 50 different minigames. For those who are not interested in party minigames this game also offers Time Attack Mode. Here the players will compete in time trials against each other for the fastest time. Time Attack Mode is very fun when it comes to competing with another player. It is always fun trying to set records for the stages.
Banana Blitz offers a story mode that is very difficult when it comes to completing the later levels of the game as well as the boss battles. Each level in this game is completely different from the others so you never know what is coming your way. The stages are nerve racking and intense, while the boss battles are annoyingly difficult. The concept of them is easy but at times it is difficult to jump to the weak point. You need to be very precise with your jumps and if you miss most of the time the boss will bounce you off the stage causing you to fail. If you get knocked off the stage or you run out of time you will have to restart the battle from the beginning. The boss battles bring this game down because in order to unlock new courses you need to beat them and at times, I felt like I was stuck replaying the same levels because the boss battles where nearly impossible.
Overall Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD can be fun when it comes to completing the stages and playing minigames, but this game is dragged down by its difficulty and touchy controls. There were too many times that the sensitivity of the controls got in the way of trying to defeat a boss or stage, and time after time it became annoying to the point where I would lose interest. This game felt like a chore at most points but there were still some fun levels to play. Banana Blitz is definitely not worth the price of the new game at $59.99 but is a game that you should check out to say you have played it.
