Topic: Are you excited/interested in Super Monkey Ball Step and Roll?

Someone one Youtube playing through the 3rd world (out of 6 total):

Having watched much of the first half of the game online now, I have to say that, while the presentation looks excellent, the level design seems greatly simplified in order to accommodate the inherent difficulty of the balance board controls. Watching these videos makes me miss the ingenious levels of the very first game on Gamecube, which in my mind had the best level design of the series so far.

If Sega favours us with a review copy I'm tipped to do the review. wiifolder.com has a couple of vids (with Josh in a banana costume) and it looks like it could be fun.

No and no, the series was good on GC, but Blitz was terrible IMO, not worth checking out as far I can see.

Nope.

The levels are changed to be easier if your using the Balance Board, I still wish I could use the GC controller.

Well, I got Super Monkey Ball Step and Roll through the post this morning. Its a very, very good game. Good Monkey Ball atmosphere and no irritating music (unlike Banana Blitz). I've just completed world 5 and have to say its a little easier than Banana Blitz. The graphics are also a little more polished too. There is no jump mechanic and there are no boss battles (though I thought that put an interesting twist on the MB BB gameplay myself; even though inessentially). Its back to the old MB gameplay. I've completed world one and two reasonably comfortably with the b.board but haven't tried any others yet. I'm yet to try the mini games though the reviews tend to say they'tre decent. There are also other interesting modes like co-op, marathon and what looks like a free play mode. I'll let you know what they're like.

First impressions, a worthy addition to your collection especially at £15.97 from amazon!

Creditable reviews but unspectacular reviews from ONM and IGN, 72% and 78%repectively. I would tend to give it an 8 so far but haven't tried other aspects of the game. A lot of fun!

I was excited/interested, but then I watched the gameplay video warioswoods posted. That's not the monkeyball I know and love.

The first one on GC was indeed a fantastic game, one of my favourites. Unfortunately the first was so near perfect that every sequel will fail to live up to its greatness. Don't have a balance board and I have zero interest in this. I'll stick to the GC versions for my simian sphere fix thanks very much

In short, "no." Not even a little bit.

Honest question: should I be?

Honest answer: If you are new to monkey balls just try the original on Gamecube. It will test your patience and skills to the max. And when you do get good at it you can pull of some crazy stuff whilst looking for cheeky shortcuts through levels.

_{check these ELITE MOFO's out, pls excuse the quality}
[youtube:TLY8MmAwM2A]

The new one looks so dumbed down I doubt I'll go anywhere near it.

@Machu

I agree that the first game was by far the greatest of the series (although I still enjoyed some of the others, particularly the DS game's challenging touch controls).

That video is incredible, and reminds me of many competitive hours playing the simultaneous mode against a friend of mine. We were about evenly matched, but in different ways: he was the master of ridiculous shortcuts, like some of those in the video, but I had a big edge on him in basic skills and pinpoint control, which meant that he had to go for the dangerous shortcuts or he'd lose every level. It made our matches very entertaining to watch, with one monkey hurling itself across the level (but frequently falling) and another swiftly but surely racing along to the goal.

Ha, sounds fun. MonkeyBall is one of the few exceptions where I think an analogue stick is so much better than motion control. I enjoyed Banana Blitz very much, but never really trusted the controls as much as I did on GC. Trying to do a snap 180 with the wiimote was sketchy at best, especially with the camera taking longer to track you. I'll definitely try/rent out the new one as I'll take any excuse to dust off the balance board, but was horrified by the levels seen in the videos you posted. Where's the hazard? Where's the precarious balancing? It just looked like you're dodging those rocks the whole time. Which is a shame because the presentation and music look good.

I'll check out some videos of the later levels, but really, by world 3, the challenge should have kicked in.

no, not at all

fortunately, there are plenty of fantastic wii-games coming out this year

Right:

You SHOULD VERY MUCH BE interested, yes IMHO; I can confirm that now. This is comin from someone who's been playing it all weekend.
And that's even if you have a passing interest in the game. Its a very well put together wii game imho. This is ALSO coming from a person who played and loved SMB 2 and SMB BB Wii. The mini games are awesome in general.

I stand united with Wariowoods!

Not interested.

Not one bit, Iike the first 2 games, but everything after those two (especially Bannana Blitz) made me hate the series with a passion, sorry.

I do want another game for my balance board, to get me a little weird pseudo-exercise, but I might have to wait for the price to drop a good bit. $50 seems a little high for me, but I'd do $30.

Anyhow, the best thing about this game is the first review to pop up on Amazon.com:

I got this as a present from my grandmaw. I played with it for 2 1/2 hrs staight the day I got it!! It was the best present ever. I have never played with anything that long before. I love monkey's too.

That is an honest review, I like it.

Right, I know this isn't the 'MonkeyBall in general love thread', but I had to post this video of pwnage from MonkeyBall 2. ZOMG!
[youtube:fUmmRLQ1uG4]

It's the same game over and over again. This time it has balance board controls, they suck, so you end up playing it with the wiimote just like the last one + some bad minigames. The first one is still great, if you don't have it, get it.