Super Monkey Ball 2

Last updated
Super Monkey Ball 2
Super Monkey Ball 2 Coverart.png
North American cover art
Developer(s) Amusement Vision
Publisher(s) Sega
Director(s) Toshihiro Nagoshi
Producer(s) Toshihiro Nagoshi
Designer(s) Junichi Yamada
Daisuke Sato
Programmer(s) Hisashi Endo
Artist(s) Mika Kojima
Composer(s) Hidenori Shoji
Haruyoshi Tomita
Ryuji Iuchi
Series Super Monkey Ball
Platform(s) GameCube
Release
  • NA: August 26, 2002 [1]
  • JP: November 21, 2002
  • EU: March 14, 2003 [2]
  • AU: March 16, 2003 [3]
Genre(s) Platforming, party
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer

Super Monkey Ball 2 [lower-alpha 1] is a platform party video game developed by Amusement Vision and published by Sega in 2002 for the GameCube. It is the second installment in the Super Monkey Ball series, and the first installment to have a storyline and to be exclusively released on a home console.

Contents

Super Monkey Ball 2's stages were remade as a part of Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania .

Gameplay

Super Monkey Ball 2 continues its predecessor's core Marble Madness -style gameplay. [4] [5] The player controls a monkey running in a ball with the joystick through maze-like stages with obstacles to dodge, which have to be completed under a time limit without the monkey falling off platform ledges. [4] [5] As the game progresses, there are more paths that loop, spin and corkscrew, and levels that move horizontally, vertically and 360-degrees. [5] The sequel has a more spiked difficulty curve as a result of new design choices. Looped paths occasionally have obstacles and cockscrewed paths within them and some rotating stages have pillars popping out of holes. [5] Another addition is switches scattered throughout that fast-forward, rewind, play and stop platforms while rolled over onto them, making the sequel more focused on strategy and puzzle-solving. [5] [6]

Unlike the first entry, Super Monkey Ball 2 has a single-player Story Mode grouping levels by ten. [5] [6] Dr. Bad-Boon is an evil scientist who steals all of the bananas from Monkey Island, putting four protagonists, AiAi, MeeMee, GonGon and Baby into action to chase him through booby-trapped stages he has set up. [5] The story takes place over 100 levels split between ten worlds with animated cutscenes that play in between each. [4] The player is given an infinite number of lives and can complete each world's ten stages in any order. [7]

Challenge mode allows up to four players and plays like the main mode of the original Super Monkey Ball. There are three difficulty levels: Beginner, Advanced and Expert, consisting of 10, 30 and 50 floors each. Players navigate each set in order with a limited number of lives and continues. [7] Beginner Extra, Advanced Extra and Expert Extra floors are unlocked when each respective difficulty level is completed without a single continue. There are ten extra stages in each difficulty. [8] A hidden set of ten Master floors can be unlocked through playing the Expert Extra floors without using a continue. At this point, the player will be able to select this difficulty as if it were a normal mode. If a player completes all ten Master stages without using a continue, they will go to the Master Extra stages. [9]

Multiplayer

There are 12 multiplayer mini-games, six of them reprisals from the predecessor with more gameplay styles and level types: Monkey Race, Monkey Fight, Monkey Target, Monkey Billiards, Monkey Bowling and Monkey Golf. [5] Monkey Golf rejects the mini-golf courses of the first game for larger environments standard of regular golf, with terrain and wind affecting the power and trajectory of a shot, and the ability to drive and chip. [6]

Monkey Race allows players to race up to eight computer opponents, larger than the previous game's three, and has new weapons such as the Hunter Missile which shoots several rockets at a time. [6] Having only three arenas, Monkey Fight introduces crumbling fighting rings, the ability to charge a fight, and a sudden death mode. [5] [6] Monkey Billiards has Japanese 9 ball and Rotation as new gameplay modes, as well as a few more camera angle options. [6]

Monkey Bowling contains a Special Mode in addition to the typical game present in the first. It has ten lanes that feature non-linear paths, such as zig-zag and concave, and moving parts. [5] [6] The monkeys also differ in attributes, such as GonGon being the best with speed and Baby better at maneuverability. [6] Like the first game's mode, Monkey Target has the player controlling a gliding monkey to land on a target while avoiding falling into the water. [6] However, it differs in how items are collected; instead of receiving them from bananas, which are now only points, they are now in the middle of the air to be collected on the monkey's trajectory. [6] Formation flying, where the direction of up to five monkeys can be controlled simultaneously, and a split-screen feature of up to four players are additions. [5] [6]

The other six mini-games, Monkey Tennis, Monkey Baseball, Monkey Soccer, Monkey Boat, Monkey Shot and Monkey Dogfight, are introduced to the series. [7] [5] Some of these are replicas of Sega's Virtua franchises, such as Virtua Striker (1995–2004), Virtua Cop (1994–2003), and Virtua Tennis (1999–2012). [5] In Monkey Baseball, the rolling monkey ball is pitched to the batter onto ramps that serve as bases and the home plate and lead into the outfield. [5] Monkey Boat involves the racers kayaking down a river, with player's only control being the shoulder buttons to steer. [5] Monkey Shot is a light gun shooter that also involves moving down a track, but to shoot at incoming enemies, missiles, and bosses while collecting items like upgrades to automatic guns. [5] [6] In Monkey Dogfight, the monkeys fly and shoot at each other. [5]

Reception

The game won the E3 2002 Game Critics Awards for Best Puzzle/Trivia/Parlor Game. [16] GameSpot named it the best GameCube game of August 2002, [17] and later declared it 2002's "Best Party Game on GameCube". It was nominated for GameSpot's annual "Best Sound on GameCube" and "Game of the Year on GameCube" awards, which went to Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem and Metroid Prime , respectively. [18]

Super Monkey Ball 2 received "generally favorable" reviews from critics. Metacritic gave the video game a Metascore of 87, based on 34 reviews. [19] IGN 's Matt Casamassina praised the game for its core gameplay concepts, stating that it was "just as simple as the original, and also just as addictive... But where it's an entertaining single-player experience, it's a superb multiplayer one. All of the revamped mini-games are fantastic... this is one of the best multiplayer games for GCN, without a doubt and hands down." [5]

Critics highlighted the level design, particularly the enhancements. Ryan Davis of GameSpot called it "bolder," Casamassina "revamped and fantastic," "more inspired and more extravagant." [4] [5] He noted their increased difficulty, where some tasks seem insurmountable initially. [5] However, he also wrote they were addictive, where even skilled players who already defeated the harder stages would come back to figure out shortcuts and tricks to beat them in a shorter amount of time. [5] He also positively noted the pacing, specifically the constant introduction of a new challenge every level. [5] Mike Orlando of Nintendo World Report favorably discussed the levels' increased interactivity and strategy as a result of the introduction of switches, as well as the complexity of models built with otherwise simple polygons. [6] Although finding a few stages gimmicky, particularly Launchers, he claimed the Labyrinth level was better than any stage in the first game. [6]

The plot and cutscenes in the Story Mode were described as suitable to the exuberant nature of the overall experience, if "simple and at times ridiculous, weird and borderline disturbing". [5] Orlando dismissed the story as having confusing concepts, such as the monkeys conjuring magical spells and GonGon chanting "Ei Ei Poo." [6] However, he praised the Story Mode's inclusion as allowing less experienced players to enjoy a majority of the stages where they could not in the challenge mode. [6]

Casamassina highlighted the limitless possibilities of play additions to the returning party mini-games provided. He reported a huge amount of depth in Monkey Bowling alone, to the point where it could have been its own game. [5] He also praised the new mini-games, although argued they were not "as well conceived." [5] Tennis was his most favorite of them for its combination of elements from Mario Tennis (2000) and Virtua Tennis, and the potential long replay value from the two-versus-two mode. [5] Less favorably, he found Monkey Bassball too basic to be enjoyable for lengthy sessions, disliked Monkey Soccer's controls, and noted high difficulty in playing the otherwise fun Monkey Target and Monkey Boat Race. [5] Orlando positively found Super Monkey Ball 2's Monkey Race more competitive than the first game's, coming from the higher number of opponents and less complicated tracks. He also enjoyed the formation flying and addition of a multiplayer mode in Monkey Target, as well as the Special Mode in Monkey Bowling for adding replay value. [6] He also enjoyed Monkey Golf, although was confused by the wind and power shot statistics. [6] Monkey Boat Race was noted by Orlando and Casamassina for its learning curve when it came to paddling the boat, which they wrote was rewarding. [5] [6]

Critics praised the use of animated assets in the backgrounds, such as volcanos, lava flows, clock gears and space stations, solving the first game's issues of drab, empty environments. [4] [6] They also appreciated the use of particle and lighting effects, such as sparks when a ball hits the ground and Volcanic Magma's flying embers. [4] [6]

The similarity between the first and second games' upbeat techno music, voice clips and sound effects were noted. [4] [6] However, Orlando highlighted the increased variety and depth to the soundtrack, and particularly enjoyed the music of the multiplayer modes. [6]

By July 2006, Super Monkey Ball 2 had sold 760,000 copies and earned $22 million in the United States. Next Generation ranked it as the 80th highest-selling game launched for the PlayStation 2, Xbox or GameCube between January 2000 and July 2006 in that country. Combined sales of games in the Super Monkey Ball series released between those dates reached 1.1 million units in the United States by July 2006. [20] The game sold well enough to warrant a GameCube Player's Choice budget re-release game. [21]

Legacy and impact

A 2002 study recognized Super Monkey Ball 2 as one of several video games associated with improved performance in laparoscopic surgery. [22] An extended study, performed over three years with 300 participants, found that surgeons who played Super Monkey Ball 2 and other video games for at least six minutes prior to operating performed better in a virtual surgery simulation than surgeons that did not play. Results include a significant drop in errors and an increase in speed and overall score. In response to these findings, Dr. James Rosser created a gaming area in the physician's lounge at Florida Hospital Celebration Health, [23] saying "I want all the surgeons to warm-up and make sure they give Super Monkey Ball a chance." [24]

Notes

  1. ↑ Japanese: スーパーモンキーボール2, Hepburn: Sūpā Monkī Bōru Tsū

Related Research Articles

<i>Mario Tennis</i> 2000 video game

Mario Tennis is a 2000 sports video game developed by Camelot Software Planning and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64 (N64). Following Mario's Tennis, it is the second game in the Mario Tennis series. The game is known for being the introduction of Luigi's arch-rival, Waluigi, and the re-introduction of Princess Daisy and Birdo.

<i>Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour</i> 2003 video game

Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, known in Japan as Mario Golf: Family Tour, is a 2003 sports game developed by Camelot Software Planning and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. It is the sequel to the 1999 Nintendo 64 title Mario Golf, and is the third game in the Mario Golf series. It was released in North America on July 28, 2003, in Japan on September 5, 2003, and in PAL regions in 2004.

<i>Mario Party</i> Video game series

Mario Party is a party video game series featuring characters from the Mario franchise in which up to four local players or computer-controlled characters compete in a board game interspersed with minigames. The games are currently developed by Nintendo Cube and published by Nintendo, being previously developed by Hudson Soft. The series is known for its party game elements, including the often unpredictable multiplayer modes that allow play with up to four, and sometimes eight, human players or CPUs.

<i>Metroid Prime 2: Echoes</i> 2004 video game

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes is a 2004 adventure game developed by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. The sequel to Metroid Prime (2002) and the first Metroid game with a multiplayer feature, Echoes was released in North America, Europe and Australia in 2004 and in Japan under the name Metroid Prime 2: Dark Echoes in May 2005.

<i>F-Zero GX</i> 2003 video game

F-Zero GX is a 2003 racing video game developed by Amusement Vision and published by Nintendo for the GameCube console. It runs on an enhanced version of the engine used in Super Monkey Ball. F-Zero AX, the arcade counterpart of GX, uses the Triforce arcade system board conceived from a business alliance between Nintendo, Namco and Sega. Published by Sega, it was released alongside GX in 2003.

<i>Super Monkey Ball</i> (video game) 2001 video game

Super Monkey Ball is a 2001 platform party video game developed by Amusement Vision and published by Sega. The game debuted in Japan at the 2001 Amusement Operators Union trade show as Monkey Ball, an arcade cabinet running on Sega's NAOMI hardware and controlled with a distinctive banana-shaped analog stick. Due to the discontinuation of Sega's Dreamcast home console and the company's subsequent restructuring, an enhanced port dubbed Super Monkey Ball was released as a launch title for the GameCube in late 2001, garnering interest as Sega's first game published for a Nintendo home console.

<i>TimeSplitters 2</i> 2002 video game

TimeSplitters 2 is a first-person shooter video game, developed by Free Radical Design, published by Eidos Interactive, and released in October 2002 for PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube. The game's story focuses on the efforts of a space marine who seeks to recover powerful time crystals from a race of alien mutants called TimeSplitters, which leads them to taking on the form of an individual dealing with their own problems across different time periods between the 19th and 25th century. The developers focused on expanding the story element following 2000's TimeSplitters, and features influences from various film genres, including horror, action and science fiction.

<i>Mario Power Tennis</i> 2004 video game

Mario Power Tennis is a 2004 sports game developed by Camelot Software Planning and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. The game is the sequel to the Nintendo 64 title Mario Tennis, and is the fourth game in the Mario Tennis series. The game was ported for the Wii in 2009 as part of the New Play Control! series, and was also re-released as a Nintendo Selects title in 2012. A companion handheld game, Mario Tennis: Power Tour, was also released on Game Boy Advance around the same time as the original GameCube release, bearing the same title as Power Tennis in Europe.

<i>Super Monkey Ball Jr.</i> 2002 video game

Super Monkey Ball Jr. is a platform game, part of the Super Monkey Ball series, developed by Realism and Creations for the Game Boy Advance. It is one of the few games on the system to make use of its 3D graphics capabilities. It is generally seen as a port of the first game in the Super Monkey Ball series, as it reuses many levels from it, but has a few differences.

<i>Super Mario Strikers</i> 2005 video game

Super Mario Strikers, known in Europe and Australia as Mario Smash Football, is a 2005 sports video game developed by Next Level Games and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. The game's developers had worked on NHL Hitz Pro before development of Strikers, which served as an influence for the fast-paced and physical nature of the game. This was also the last Mario game to be released on the GameCube in Japan and North America.

<i>Beach Spikers</i> 2001 video game

Beach Spikers is a beach volleyball video game released in Japanese arcades in 2001. The game was developed in-house by Sega AM2 and published by Sega. A GameCube port, renamed Beach Spikers: Virtua Beach Volleyball, was released in 2002 for all regions.

<i>Super Monkey Ball: Touch & Roll</i> 2005 video game

Super Monkey Ball: Touch & Roll is a party video game for the Nintendo DS, part of the Super Monkey Ball series. It uses the DS's touch screen as the primary controller for maneuvering the monkey around the level, although D-pad control is also supported.

<i>Super Monkey Ball Adventure</i> 2006 video game

Super Monkey Ball Adventure is a platform video game developed by Traveller's Tales and published by Sega. Part of the Super Monkey Ball series, it was released on 2006 for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and GameCube.

<i>Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz</i> 2006 video game

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz is a platform game developed and published by Sega, the seventh title in the Super Monkey Ball series, following Super Monkey Ball Adventure. It was released as a launch title for the Wii system on November 19, 2006, in North America, December 7 in Australia and December 8 in Europe.

<i>Super Monkey Ball Deluxe</i> 2005 video game

Super Monkey Ball Deluxe is a platform video game developed by Tose and published by Sega. It was released for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox in 2005. The game compiles all stages from Super Monkey Ball and Super Monkey Ball 2, as well as adding original levels.

<i>Swingerz Golf</i> 2002 video game

Swingerz Golf, known as Ace Golf in Europe and Wai Wai Golf in Japan, is a sports video game released by Telenet Japan in 2002. It is a golf simulation game that allows the player to choose from 14 different characters, each with different strengths and weaknesses, to play on any of the game's 6 courses, varying greatly in difficulty and atmosphere. Along with normal match and stroke modes of play, the game offers a tour mode, which simulates the career of a chosen character, a mission mode, consisting of a series of challenges that gradually increase in difficulty, and minigames, including a sudden death style of gameplay and a near-pin style of gameplay.

Super Monkey Ball is a series of arcade platform video games initially developed by Amusement Vision and published by Sega. The series debuted in 2001 with the arcade game Monkey Ball, which was ported to GameCube as Super Monkey Ball later that year. Several sequels and ports have been released.

<i>Super Smash Bros. Melee</i> 2001 video game

Super Smash Bros. Melee is a 2001 crossover fighting video game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. It is the second installment in the Super Smash Bros. series. It features characters from Nintendo video game franchises such as Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Star Fox, Pokémon, and Donkey Kong among others. The stages and gameplay modes reference or take designs from these franchises as well.

<i>New Super Mario Bros. Wii</i> 2009 video game

New! Super Mario Bros. Wii is a 2009 platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii. A follow-up to New Super Mario Bros., it was first released in Australia, North America, and Europe in November 2009, followed by Japan a month later. It was released on the Wii U's Virtual Console in 2016, though only in Europe, Australia and Japan. A port in high definition resolution for the Nvidia Shield TV was released only in China in December 2017. Like other side-scrolling Super Mario games, the player controls Mario as he travels eight worlds and fights Bowser's henchmen to rescue Princess Peach. New Super Mario Bros. Wii was the first Super Mario game to feature simultaneous cooperative multiplayer gameplay; up to four people can play in cooperative and competitive multiplayer modes, taking control of Mario as well as Luigi and one of two multicolored Toads. The game also introduced "Super Guide", which allows the player to watch a computer-controlled character complete a level.

<i>Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania</i> 2021 video game

Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania is a platform party game developed by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio and published by Sega. It is a remake of the first three console entries in the Super Monkey Ball series, and was released in celebration of the series' 20th anniversary for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on October 5, 2021. A version for Amazon Luna was released on May 12, 2022.

References

  1. ↑ "Super Monkey Ball 2 Releases on the GameCube". August 26, 2002. Archived from the original on March 8, 2006. Retrieved November 21, 2023.
  2. ↑ "Super Monkey Ball 2". Eurogamer . Archived from the original on October 2, 2015. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
  3. ↑ "Super Monkey Ball 2". Gameplanet . Archived from the original on September 27, 2003. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Davis, Ryan (26 August 2002). "Super Monkey Ball 2 Review". GameSpot . Retrieved 5 October 2021.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 Casamassina, Matt (24 August 2002). "Super Monkey Ball 2". IGN . Retrieved 5 October 2021.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Orlando, Mike. "Super Monkey Ball 2 Review". Nintendo World Report. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Bramwell, Tom (14 March 2003). "Super Monkey Ball 2". Eurogamer . Retrieved 21 June 2017.
  8. ↑ BlueGator's Temple Of The Azure Flame (26 April 2015). "Super Monkey Ball 2 (P2: Challenge Mode)". YouTube. Retrieved 19 March 2018.[ dead link ]
  9. ↑ scrap651. "Super Monkey Ball 2 - Expert-Master Extra [Deathless/Warpless]". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. ↑ "Super Monkey Ball 2 for GameCube Reviews". Metacritic . CBS Interactive . Retrieved 2019-10-05.
  11. ↑ ニンテンドーゲームキューブ - スーパーモンキーボール2. Weekly Famitsu. No.915 Pt.2. Pg.102. 30 June 2006.
  12. ↑ "Super Monkey Ball 2 Review". GamePro . Retrieved 5 October 2021.
  13. ↑ "Super Monkey Ball 2 Review". GameRevolution . Retrieved 5 October 2021.
  14. ↑ "Super Monkey Ball 2 Review". GameSpy . Retrieved 5 October 2021.
  15. ↑ "Super Monkey Ball 2 Review". GameZone. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
  16. ↑ GameZone (4 May 2012). "Sega Games Win Game Critics Awards Best of E3 2002". gamezone.com. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
  17. ↑ The Editors of GameSpot (September 7, 2002). "GameSpot's Game of the Month, August 2002". GameSpot . Archived from the original on February 6, 2004.
  18. ↑ GameSpot Staff (December 30, 2002). "GameSpot's Best and Worst of 2002". GameSpot . Archived from the original on February 7, 2003.
  19. ↑ "Super Monkey Ball 2". metacritic.com. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
  20. ↑ Campbell, Colin; Keiser, Joe (July 29, 2006). "The Top 100 Games of the 21st Century". Next Generation . Archived from the original on October 28, 2007.
  21. ↑ "Super Monkey Ball 2 (Player's Choice) - Nintendo GameCube - Best Buy". bestbuy.com. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
  22. ↑ Rosser, James C. Jr; Lynch, Paul J.; Cuddihy, Laurie; Gentile, Douglas A.; Klonsky, Jonathan; Merrell, Ronald (February 2007). "The Impact of Video Games on Training Surgeons in the 21st Century". Archives of Surgery. 142 (2): 181–186. doi: 10.1001/archsurg.142.2.181 . PMID   17309970.
  23. ↑ Zoeker, Bill (19 October 2013). "Super Monkey Ball proves effective warm-up for surgeons". Destructoid. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
  24. ↑ Lien, Tracey (14 October 2013). "Doctors play Super Monkey Ball 2 to warm-up before surgery". Polygon. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.