Super Monkey Ball 2

Nintendo console exclusive

The objective of Super Monkey Ball 2 is to guide a monkey trapped inside a plastic ball through a maze to the goal. There are three variations, story mode, challenge mode, and practice mode. In story mode you have an unlimited number of tries to complete a stage, and after clearing 10 stages a movie clip is shown followed by a new world of 10 stages. In challenge mode, you have a limited number of monkeys and a time limit to complete numerous levels of increasing difficulty. In practice mode, you can play any stage already completed in the other two modes.

Released: 25 August 2002
Platforms: Android GameCube
Genres: Arcade Party Platformer
Developers: Amusement Vision
Publishers: —
Modes: Multiplayer Single-player
Perspective: Third person
Themes: Action Party
Country: Japan
Age ratings: ESRB E PEGI 3
Composers: Hidenori Shoji

About

Super Monkey Ball 2 is a 2002 platform video game developed by Amusement Vision and published by Sega 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.

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

›Story

The story shows the Super Monkey Ball team and all the Jungle Island inhabitants happily enjoying their day, when suddenly, Dr. Bad-Boon's airship flies over the land and vacuums up all of the bananas. AiAi demands he give back all the bananas, but he will only do so if MeeMee marries him. MeeMee refuses, so Bad-Boon flies off, and the Super Monkey Ball team jumps into action.

Dr. Bad-Boon's first nefarious scheme is to blow up Jungle Island by making a volcano explode with a time bomb. He leaves it floating inside of it, and the team finds it. GonGon says he will destroy the bomb, despite MeeMee's pleas against it.

He punches it out of the volcano, and it lands all the way in Bad-Boon's airship. It sinks into the sea, which drive Bad-Boon to swim away with the team chasing after him.

Keywords

gravity
minigames
bowling
physics-based platformer
instant replay
time management
timer
bonus stage
monkey
split-screen multiplayer
game critics awards
minigame collection

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Super Monkey Ball 2 continues its predecessor's core Marble Madness-style gameplay. 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. As the game progresses, there are more paths that loop, spin and corkscrew, and levels that move horizontally, vertically and 360-degrees. The sequel has a more spiked difficulty curve as a result of new design choices.

Looped paths occasionally have obstacles and corkscrewed paths within them and some rotating stages have pillars popping out of holes. 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.

Reception

The game won the E3 2002 Game Critics Awards for Best Puzzle/Trivia/Parlor Game. GameSpot named it the best GameCube game of August 2002, 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.

Super Monkey Ball 2 received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. 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."

Legacy

A 2002 study recognized Super Monkey Ball 2 as one of several video games associated with improved performance in laparoscopic surgery. 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, saying "I want all the surgeons to warm-up and make sure they give Super Monkey Ball a chance."