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GameSpot editors' review
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CNET editors' rating:
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Excellent
Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 01/17/2003
- Released on: 11/19/2002
- Originally published on GameSpot: Super Monkey Ball Jr. (Game Boy Advance) Review
Few games can boast a concept as simple as that found in Sega's Super Monkey Ball series. Monkeys are trapped inside of spherical balls that allow them to roll around like marbles. These monkey marbles are stuck high in the air atop a lofty maze. Your job is to roll the monkey to the goal at the end of the maze before the time limit elapses and without falling off the edges of the maze. It's pretty easy, in theory. For as simple as it sounds, however, rolling the monkey to the goal is not an easy task. But it sure is a lot of fun.
Tilt and roll your monkey down the course.
Many of the stages feature narrow, curved pathways that make it easy to slip off, while momentum can launch your monkey ball off the lip of a curve as effortlessly as you'd toss a pebble into the air. There are other obstacles to consider as well, such as rotating platforms, powerful pinball bumpers, and hills with inclines so steep that they fight you every step of the way. You can play Super Monkey Ball Jr. without ever pushing a button, but it's every bit as addictive as games with twice the complexity, primarily because you continue to believe that you can solve the current stage even after numerous failed attempts.
As you may well know, Super Monkey Ball Jr. is fashioned after the original Super Monkey Ball games that appeared on the Sega Dreamcast and Nintendo GameCube consoles. One of the best aspects of Super Monkey Ball Jr. is that it's pretty much identical to the game that is available for these more powerful systems. The features are the same. There are four monkeys and three difficulty settings to choose from, with a grand total of 69 different stages to solve. The graphics are the same. The stages are composed of crisp, 3D polygons that tilt and rotate as you navigate your monkey down the course. The monkeys themselves don't really do anything except tumble and spin, so there isn't much legitimate action to observe, but the overall size and visibility of each maze are astonishing on a system that's barely known for its 3D capabilities. Even the audio in Super Monkey Ball Jr. is identical to that of its console counterparts. The music is upbeat and happy, like what you'd hear while watching golf or tennis on a Sunday morning, and the sound effects are full of digitized speech, hilarious monkey cries, and a good variety of dull thuds that accompany your monkey ball along the course.
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Super Monkey Ball Jr. (Game Boy Advance):
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