The Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania Team Wants Your Feedback

Honestly, the physics are just not quite right. I regret getting the PS5 version as well, the Cube controller’s gated stick would have been a big help. I’m on world 9 in Banana Mania’s story mode but just the act of tilting left and right doesn’t feel correct at all since you slightly rotate the ball instead of shifting the whole stage unless you apply a certain amount of pressure.

First impressions were really really good, then once the levels started getting tougher I wondered why I was having so much trouble when in the past I would breeze through those earlier stages on GameCube. Friend came over and felt the same, just felt off. Booted up the GameCube version of the first game and it immediately became apparent that the way the camera works is just much better there and Banana Mania’s camera is flat out worse. Really couldn’t get on with it and it’s a huge shame- would’ve honestly just preferred emulated versions of the GameCube games in HD without all the bells and whistles included in BM.

Also, no 4 player campaign mode was a massive omission for me. That was the staple mode for me and my friends back in the day and would’ve been so simple to include here.

I didn't have a gamecube, but yes, this game just seems harder to control than it should be.

thing is, with the switch controller it's very hard to move in a dead straight line (even walking left to right in animal crossing), so i can imagine using a geted controller where you can lock the analog stick straight, etc, would be a huge help.

it's a shame, as presentation is good and there are lots of levels, but it's just too hard to move in a straight line (narrow passageways are ridiculous)

It was a good fun game, probably a return to form. That doesn't mean Banana Blitz was terrible either, it's fun in its own way but we do need that feeling of the original to get us enjoying the series again.

I did that whole survey just to tell them that Monkey Target is fundamentally broken and that porting the Wii version was a huge mistake.

@Dimey I tried it with a GameCube controller and it honestly didn’t help much at all. Being able to lock into a direction is better but when the camera is the way it is it really didn’t relieve the problem.

I'll keep it rather simple. These developers know how to properly develop games for the Switch. Sonic Team does not and should take notes.

@BrianJL same.
Nobody should be paying for this mess

Personally I love this game, yes it doesn't feel 1to1 against the originals but it's very close, and after a while isn't an issue. I'm almost at 100% completion and will get there again like I did on the originals.

Overall a good game, and in the main enjoyed with friends. But I did fill in the questionnaire telling them that the physics in Monkey Target are super weird and feels like the landing spots are miles away and takes forever to reach.
Also said it would be nice to have multiplayer in story mode like the original did.
Atm pulling out my GC whenever my friends want to play all the levels competitively together.

I've played a ton of Monkey Billiards.
... it's perfect!

I'm not bothering with the survey as I'm done with SMB now. It was great in the past, and it's been dreadful in the present. I'm happy to just leave it in the past now.

It's a shame they couldn't deliver a decent rendition of the old games. It still amazes me that they couldn't bring success with a sequel - although its not like SMB is the only SEGA IP to suffer from that problem...

Genuinely feel very disillusioned with SEGA. I think I'm just going to move on.

@Laserbeak1982
Yeah, I liked the main game just fine - and I played the originals. It feels pretty right to me. It's just the Target (my favorite part) that I was very disappointed in.

I really need to give this game a go. This might be one of my purchases that will go with a PS5 when I inevitably get one.

It's meant to be hard to control the ball and go straight, that's the point of the game, lol

Fix Monkey Target.

I have no issues with the physics or controls and I played the GameCube versions to death. Monkey target does need fixing it’s just not the same my main issue is with the way it does random levels the reason I enjoyed the original is it got progressively more difficult as you got further here it’s the most simple level followed by the most difficult it just doesn’t flow right

My largest complaint was the butchered Monkey Target, but I also mentioned the missing story/challenge co-op, gating half of the roster out of customization and party games, and weak sound effects. In hindsight, PC would have been the way to go since mods addressed a few of these minor issues.

It's interesting, because this survey is likely costing a lot of money to run - they're probably using a market research company who will draw up reports with stats and recommendations. I know it's not just about the graphical problems and physics differences, and they're likely to get a lot of info from this, but why not fix those obvious problems that are dealbreakers to a lot of us?

It means the difference between a sale and a pass for me, and it means it reviewed underwhelmingly and is not being recognised as the definitive way to play these games. Is that not enough for them to get the team to make the changes?

Physics felt good to me even if they aren’t 1:1 with the source material. Main problem was not playing with a GameCube controller where I could go in a straight line super easily. But honestly I didn’t mind it that much as it just added to the challenge (and I like challenge). I had a ton of fun beating the main game and challenge modes. Really made me feel like I was a kid again playing through these classic stages. Oh, and I also really like the emphasis on speed running.

The main issues for me were the lack of multiplayer in the challenge mode (main game) and some of the unpolished mini games. Especially Monkey Target… they really messed that up and it’s the one mini-game most people care about. It’s a great game from a single-played perspective, but an average one when it comes to multiplayer Party play.

I think Banana Mania is a fantastic game! ...except for Monkey Target which is completely unplayable.
but the main game is great, and the other mini games are also really fun!

I'll be leaving feedback about the lack of multiplayer for the Main Game.

Oooo, better get my thinking cap on. I have lot's to say!

I was really disappointed and I can't even put my finger on why. The game just didn't have the same feel as the originals. I didn't think I would be a snob about the change but it really did ruin the experience for me.

I played it only 4 hours or so before selling it.

Honestly I think Banana Mania is Awful.

For the price, I found it quite fun. Better overall than the previous game.

I filled out the survey to let them know that if they make SMB 3 that they need to correct the physics so it will be closer to the originals.

Them mini game challenges hard as hell. Almost done with challenges, I'm stuck on golf because i suck.

I did enjoy quite a bit of it, when did every single challenge in the story mode, but some of those extra advanced levels are so specific they really got old after an hour of redoing them. But the core game is quite fun, even for a newcomer and the minigames are great, loved Monkey Bowling.

1: Make the FALLOUT replays longer. Why they only show like 2 seconds of footage when they are already skippable is maddening.
2: Monkey dogfight is not fun. The monkeys cannot turn around in very tight circles so it pretty much becomes a game of either monkey jousting or whoever gets behind someone automatically wins.
3: The stage order is not very good on any of the stages. The difficulty curve on some courses is all over the place. If necessary i will go into detail, but lets just say in smb1 expert i would spend 20 seconds total on some stages and 2 hours total on others.
4: "Nostalgia" monkey skins should have their original sound effects.
5: Rename the accelerometer setting cause when i activated it i had no idea what it did so i thought my joycons were broken cause i couldnt control my monkeys.
6: Make an option for 8 way gate locking on joycons. I use a wired gamecube controller to play personally but i know everyone who uses joycons hates using them.
7: More dlc skins would be nice, and let us use dlc skins in party games.

I might edit this or add onto it

@BrianJL I DID TOO LOL... I was so pissed when i got this game and kept falling in the water. I went online to figure out how the eff you're supposed to fly without falling in the water and discovered they turned a fun, arcade-like game into a flight simulator. It was so freaking difficult to fly the monkey. I was so pissed because I wanted to share it with my kids that I bought a gamecube off ebay and a copy of Monkey Ball 2 just so we could play the way it's supposed to be played. They messed up so many mini games, but this one is by far the worst and most disappointing.

@BrianJL imo it was easier figuring this out as an adult than when i was a kid. The new system actually requires manual dexterity now instead of screwing you over for no apparent reason.