November 27, 2002 - The Super Monkey Ball series is one of the key reasons to own a GameCube system. Its goofy concept, maniacal challenges and hidden extras are just some of the reasons why this game has sold so well on the Nintendo console. THQ and Sega have branched out its success in a handheld rendition of the first game, Super Monkey Ball Jr., and it's pretty much as impressive (if not more so) in its Game Boy Advance form. Realism, a development studio formed from key members of Software Creations before its Acclaim absorption, has put together a stunning GBA production that mirrors nearly everything that made the GameCube title such a charmingly fun console game. Don't miss this one, folks.

Features

  • More than 60 challenges in Normal Mode
  • Unlockable mini-games: Monkey Fight, Monkey Bowling, Monkey Golf
  • Four playable characters
  • Cartridge save (one slot)
  • Link cable support for four players (multiple cartridge)
  • Only for Game Boy Advance
Super Monkey Ball isn't exactly a new concept, as its main game is honestly just a 3D version of Marble Madness; players control one of four different monkeys as they wander around inside a ball. The monkey inside the ball is honestly just the game's personality...he doesn't exactly do much during the action except walk, run, or rotate around inside the enclosed sphere. The game's main mode is a "simple" challenge of maneuvering the ball around mid-air suspended mazes of increasingly difficult construction in a set amount of time. Most of the game "labyrinths" have no barriers surrounding their edges, so one false move and your poor monkey falls off into the great beyond with an ear-piercing "yahhhhhh!!!" The challenges range from simple and flat mazes to complex structures that slope and wind around curves, holes, and pinball-style bumpers. There are platforms that slide on their own, rock up and down, or spin around to make maneuvering through the challenges that much more devious. Stack this on top of the fact that the clock is ticking away...and that bananas are tossed around the area for extra points. The challenges are downright nasty in the expert levels, and even more so if you manage to unlock the EX levels by completing one of the difficulty settings without continuing.

In Super Monkey Ball Jr., Players don't actually control the ball, they physically manipulate the entire level with the controller, tilting the entire area to cause the monkey ball to roll down the hill. While the GameCube game had the luxury of analog movement through the use of the control stick, the GBA title has to make due with the not-so-versatile digital D-pad; the on-off controls aren't quite Super Monkey Ball friendly since there are many areas where you'll have to roll the ball slowly down a narrow platform or around a complex series of pitfalls, so the developer offered a little more control in the form of action buttons: the B button used with the D-pad will allow for more exaggerated ball movements, and the A button, of course, makes the inclines a bit more subtle. It works, it just requires a bit of practice.

Like the GameCube game, all of this takes place from a behind-the-ball perspective, and the terrain itself is actually manipulated through a very competent 3D engine. The GBA engine, in fact, is extremely impressive simply because the developers have produced graphics that the GBA was never really meant to pull off; the graphics are simple polygons, sure, and more complex levels feature a bit of draw-in off in the distance, but it's still great to see the ambition that went into this project. Most GBA developers would probably have gone the cheaper way out in 2D had they been given the Super Monkey Ball Jr. project from THQ and Sega, but Realism must be commended for keeping with the original title's style on the handheld. The team even went the extra yard to keep the console game's soundtrack intact on the GBA. Even the console's menu system has been recreated in Super Monkey Ball Jr. These guys really understood what made the original game so cool. Either that, or they worked extremely close to the original design team. Either or, the game benefits from the attention to detail, big time.

The main game in the GBA version does suffer some of the same "camera" issues of the GameCube version, which indicates that it's more intentional than accidental. See, the camera doesn't always stay behind the ball...if players roll the ball towards the camera, it won't immediately swing around so that players can see ahead in the opposite direction. This causes some serious problems when the player wants to roll the ball in a specific direction, but cannot see where he's going simply because the camera refuses to rotate around and settle behind the ball where it belongs. This could have definitely been remedied had the L or R buttons be utilized to manipulate the camera when these issues happen. It seems they're only in there to make the game more difficult than it should be. It's a minor problem in an otherwise excellent design.