Topic: Super Monkey Ball: Step & Roll Impressions

I've read a lot of reviews on the latest Monkey Ball game. The common complaint seems to be that the controls suck. I've heard this a million times when it comes to Wii titles. I want to know the NLife community's opinion. Are the controls nearly as bad with the balance board as reviewers say they are, or do you think this is another case of the media "not getting" Wii?

I'm playing this for the NL review at the moment. So far I've only used the Balance Board and I've been able to complete the first three worlds thus far. World three is where I hit my first real frustration points. The control works pretty well and I like the fact that you don't actually have to grab any targets - unlike Kororinpa - in order to complete a level, so if you like you can play to try and get all bananas or decide to complete the level as quickly as possible.

The only thing that's really made me bananas are these portals that appear in World 3 which require you to hit them with a decent amount of speed; unless you're heading downhill trying to keep a straight line can be difficult and hitting a wall slows you down so you can end up bouncing back and forth trying to hit the goal or something else. Still there's only one level which heavily features those that gets annoying and that's mainly down to trying to figure out where to go in a limited amount of time. I still find it enjoyable generally, but then I like the novelty of the Balance Board; I expect the Remote will provide a greater level of precision and I look forward to trying out the mini-games.

I'd say there's a lot of people that like the original Super Monkey Ball on the Gamecube who don't like playing games with Motion controls and these are the same people who are the harshest critics of this game. I expect it wouldn't matter what the motion controls are like: they just want to play with a control stick. Well, sorry guys, but this game is clearly aimed at families with kids or people who are more open to the control scheme. I really don't see what the point would be to have a gamepad interface - you'd really be making a different game.

@Sean

Interesting; I look forward to your full review.

@brandonbwii

There's also some discussion (and gameplay video) in this recent thread: https://www.nintendolife.com/forums/wii/are_you_excitedinteres...

QFT. Glad another person came to this realization. Which others would realize that this game is to branch out to OTHER audiences, now, and to take advantage of the Balance Board capabilities especially. I look forward to reading your review.

I tried playing with remote-only last night, and getting past the first stage of world 4 was impossible. Remote play is a bit easier control-wise, but to compensate they stick barriers in place. Mini-games aren't terribly fun with the remote (of course with more than one player that's what you're using) either.

I still have to put some more time in, but right now I'd say that if you have kids or are into party games it's a no-brainer and you'll have fun, but people who are looking for something like Kororinpa or the original may want to give it a pass.

Yeah, the first level on world 4 is hard to get to the end of in the allocated time. Big spike in difficulty when compared to world 3 in fact. I managed it after much repitition. The b.board is way, way too hard from this point onwards too imho. Look forward to Sean's revw.

I don't understand why you'd want a control stick control on a game that is so obviously ideal with wiimote motion controls? The boring debate was done with banana blitz two years ago, why does it need to re-surface again? It'd be bizarre to have a non-motion control monkey balll game on the wii. Bizarre. I loved Monkey Ball 2 but that's history!

Oh, YOU.

Yeah, did it yesterday with the board. The difficulty curve is really poor making it unclear who they're aming this game at. There's a lot of mini-games, but some of them don't work too well (spinning tops doesn't feel right with the board or the remote) or are too short (the lunar lander game is great, but you only get one go and game over?) and the fact that many of them play better with the balance board (sumo, balloon race) means that multiplayer games are using the inferior input method.

The main game has the difficulty spike sharply in the last three worlds, but if you want to use the remote for a little more control, they throw in barriers so it's not "too easy" which makes it harder than using the board and there's no settable difficulty - seriously, small kids cannot play the regular game beyond the first couple of worlds. At the very least I'd have liked a "stop" button!

The party game aspect works well and I think you can have some fun with the main game (if you're not a completionist). It just seems like they should have focused more on the core game and done fewer, more fully-fleshed-out mini-games and they'd have had a winner. It's not horrible, but could have been so much better.

I've got the game coming on Monday, and I'm looking forward to it. I dont have one so never will use the balance board, and from what I've read from reviews all over the web elsewhere, the game is fun if you stick to the remote.

What sounds great to me is that the stupid story mode is no more, and it's gone back to worlds and levels format, etc. Much much better. Regarding the minigames, who honestly cares. although there's no denying that the early Monkey ball games that had no more then 8 or so minigames were better, less is definitely more. I can easily just live on Monkey Target and not play any of the rest.

Remember when Monkey Ball was good on Gamecube and it used the analog stick?

GC Monkey Ball was a brilliant Monkey Ball, but a different Monkey Ball......

Anyway, managed to get to end of world 6. It very tough. It the time limit that's the real b#gger in this version of MB, not necessarily the level design. My lad can only manage the first two worlds (as Sean predicted). Proud of him as its the first time he's really seriously played a physics based wii game.

I can't remember that when you completed a level in a particular world in banana blitz, you could leav the game and then re-start it back on the next level. In Step and Roll, you have to complete the entire world otherwise you have to start way back at the first level of that world. Annoying.

The mini games all work, unlike some of the banana blitz ones. There's about 6 or 7 decent ones in there I'd say with the rest average though certainly not awful. I can't believe they omitted Monkey Bowling. Bizarre decision.

Anyway, its "decent", but as Sean said, it could've been a lot better.

So which game has the better 1 player mode using the Wii Remote?
Bannana Blitz or Step & Roll? I'm interested in using the Balance Board though...But I have a feeling I'll most likely end up sticking with the Wii Remote.

They have slightly different wiiremote capabilities. They operate to equal accuracy and response but banana blitz allows you to jump unlike all the other monkey ball games including S&R. The level design involves you occassionally having to jumpr from platform to platform or over an obstacle in banana blitz. The MB purists (and they do irritate me so ;-p ) hated the jump function in banana blitz but I thought it was an interesting take on the whole MB gameplay added to the wiiremote capabilities. Some of the banana blitz mini games didn't work that well tbh and the main game has boss battles (again not in the other MB games).

The idealn MB wii games would be a mixture of both games, counter-acting eachother's detrimental issue and adding adjustable difficulty to that

Got the game today; and it's very clear to me how to play it.

• Single player, worlds and levels format is good. And I have warmed to using the Wii Remote to play it. I'd have preferred , say, 10 worlds, instead of 7... I'm disappointed there isn't more... but there's a nice touch regarding the game's music - it builds up bit by bit starting from level 1 and ending at level 10 in each world... it works very well.
• Completely ignore the mini games. Most of them are border lining gaming retardation. Infact I'm so embarassed to have played them I'm not going to talk about it. But what I will say is that they have somehow managed to make Monkey Target a pale imitation of what it was on the Gamecube. Monkey race likewise.

All in all, yeah decent, but standards have undoubtedly slid since the GC days. I was so angry at Banana Blitz I didn't even complete it. This one I'll at least complete the single player mode and marathon's.. but it won't last long in the memory.

I've submitted my review, so it should be up in the next 24 hours. Mixed to say the least. The time limit and inability to stop and get your bearings really spoiled the basic game for me. There's too many mini-games and of those I enjoyed they're just too short - I loved the Lunar Lander game, but one go and that's it? And why the hell am I not prompted to replay them? Why isn't there a tournament mode?

Frankly I was disappointed. The good outweighs the bad, but it's not going to stay in my collection.

Agreed Sean, mostly. Although you really are too generous on the mini-game analysis. I cannot think of a single mini-game that I will play again after playing it once to try them all. Even the 'old favourites' such as Target or Race suck big time on this new game.
By the way, is this one of the shortest SMB games ever or not, my memory of the GC versions are sketchy - 7 worlds with 10 levels each - 70 levels, seems to be well short of what the game usually provides? Or am I wrong?

Hell, I'm still mixed. I've very curious about the Balance Board controls but i hear they're just alright and the levels are more bland because of the difficulty curve. Anyways, Which of the 2 games had the better levels?

Well, I thought there were several that were pretty good. I loved the Lunar Lander one - that could be the basis of a great WiiWare game! Monkey Ball glider, the pinball game, the platform tilting and the sumo one also worked pretty well. I think people who are into that kind of thing (especially families with game playing kids) would get a lot of mileage out of it.

Not for me so to the shop I go!

Frankly, the level design is superior in Banana Blitz. There's more emphasis on solving the level than the time limit. In Step and Roll, its the other way round

I thought 6 or 7 of the mini games including target were good. Especially in mulriplayer