Buy Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD And Sega Might Remake The Original Games

Nah, we're not doing that any more. The Switch is a popular system that plenty of companies are finding success on. I'll support Monkey Ball games that I actually want to play.

Capcom running Sega now?
they said that when Ultra Street Fighter 2 was announced.
it sold well and here we are a few years later

Screw off with this mindset, game companies.

So basically, pay $30-$60 for a game you don't want and maybe the game you do want will get ported.

Sounds fair to me.

Or y'all could suck my balls?

Or I could just keep playing the original versions of the first two games instead of wasting money on this one because of a false promise

Bought it first or second day!

Damn Sega, you are better than this. Why stoop to Capcom's level now? Totally lost my respect for you. Because of this I'm not even going to bother going to the theater to watch your crappy live action Sonic movie.

F*** off.

I already did but only because it was a Black Friday sale for $25. That said, Logically, Sega really should have started with the original as an HD port and followed with SMB 2! THAT would’ve made more sense to me.

Well, now I officially don't care about any Super Monkey ball games coming to the Switch.

I was going to buy it but it came out at a bad time for me with a bunch of other games I purchased instead. The black friday price for this game wasn't bad but once again I decided to buy other games. I'll probably pick it up when it drops down to around $20 or less.

Why not, you know, remake the more popular games first? Wouldn't they make more money and be a better indicator of series demand?

Well, I guess that’s it for the Monkey Ball series huh. Cause I ain’t buying this one.

Honestly, Sega should of remastered the first 2 Monkey Ball games instead of Banana Blitz. And apparently if we don’t support Banana Blitz HD, the Monkey Ball series will be locked up in the Sega dungeons for eternity. Really Sega? You’re better than this.

I guess sales and money talk more than actually giving fans what they want.

I get it. If the newest game in a series doesn't sell well, that tells the company/studio that people aren't interested in the IP anymore, and they won't waste anymore money on the series anymore. I get that.

But when fans beg for a remake of a game, and your response is "if this game sells well enough, we'll remake the game you guys want," it just feels a bit wrong to do. You're squeezing as much money as possible from the fans by making them buy the game they didn't really ask for (That being a remake of Banana Blitz, the worst game in the series I've heard), and make them buy the remake of the game they wanted to be remade. And what if that remake doesn't happen because sales talk more than fans apparently?

If people really want the game that bad, shouldn't that mean the game could sell decently? That you would make people happy, and you can have people who haven't played the original (like me) check it out for the first time, which means even more sales? I might be overthinking it, stuff like this just bugs me a bit, and honestly, I don't think it would cost that much money to make.

So, yeah, Sega can screw itself for this practice. :/

Yeah we got a word for that Sega
It's called blackmail.

No thanks.

I bought it, but what the heck Sega?

Go beep yourselves !!! I am so tired of this nonsense! Let it buried, ok????

Cool. Guess I won’t expect any more Super Monkey Ball.

Like seriously, it’s one thing to stop releasing games in a series when they start dropping in sales, that’s fair, but to actively admit you remade an inferior version and then say, “well if you want the better ones, buy this one”? Yeah, that made me want the game less. It was on my wishlist for a sale but I removed it now. I’ve no interest in a company holding their better games ransom.

Sega already sabotaged the sales 2 ways. Overpricing it, and not remaking the ones people wanna buy.

That's the dumbest thing I've ever read, oh buy the remake of the rubbish game in our series and then we'll remake the games that we know are much better and more popular. What were they thinking?

Screw off. They did it because they wanted to test the waters, so they chose the one that they only had to up-res and put on digital storefronts. It probably would have taken a lot longer to get a full remake out, plus the panzer dragoon remake guys already had their hands full with panzer dragoon. Would you have really preferred super monkey ball 1 and 2 over panzer dragoon? That's the only way I could see those two feasibly getting remakes instead of what we got. And for the record, I got the game as soon as I could and loved it.

Thanks, but no thanks.

Yeah we don’t need to do that anymore besides why do these devs choose to do the worst game of the series and then think they are going to sell millions I’m looking at you Sega Capcom Konami the switch is very popular we don’t need to be held to ransom they only need to read the comments on here to understand what people want

I hate this type of ransom, yes I bought this game but only because I thought the original ones were not going to come to the switch. Now this??? What a load of smeg!

lol pathetic, buy x game or we won't make another! well no-one asked for this one to be remade anyway, the consensus is that one and two are near masterpieces but you went ahead and remade a critical dud? yeah great decisions all round here!

I just don’t get why they didn’t give us the better games (1&2) in the first place!?

@datamonkey It must be easier to port Wii games to Switch than GC games. Even Nintendo hasn’t ported any GC games to Switch (yet). The Wii U got only two HD ports from GC - Wind Waker and Twilight Princess.

The GC also has pressure sensitive shoulder buttons. The Switch does not. I don’t think they are used in the main game of Super Monkey Ball 1 & 2, but they might have been used in the mini games (I don’t remember).

And finally cost. If there is no GC emulator for them to use, then they may have to recode the games 100%. Using a different game engine may not give the games the same look and feel. Regardless of popularity, it may be quite expensive to remake the first two games.

I think most of us would pay $60 for a Super Monkey Ball 1&2 combo pack for Switch. The question is, “Is that enough to cover the development costs?”

SEGA should do a Super Monkey Ball 1&2 Kickstarter.

Yeah but it's rubbish. Id SEGA want to make some money and make some good games and act like an actual company they should do exactly that. It isn't down to the public to support sub par games in the hope of better ones.

When will companies stop the if you buy this then we think about porting,remaking or making sequels tactic

This is ridiculous

I prefer a new title but I cant say i'm into the remaking SMB1&2, the games don't really seem to have issues that warrant remaking. Just remaster the Deluxe port, idk why people just want 1&2 when the deluxe version is the both of those plus more. Really odd choice.

@RupeeClock Ahh, Vinesauce club.

I’ll not be bullied into to buying a sh*te game in the hope of getting a future release of a good one. Sorry Sega, Monkey Ball in any shape or form is now off my list

This is irresponsible journalism which has been deceptively worded to rile people up and attract more views. And it's irresponsible reading on behalf of many in the comments (ultimately you are responsible for getting to the truth of the matter and seeing beyond the spin, especially when the statement is in the article for all to see).

Read the actual statement:

If there is enough support for Banana Blitz HD, this will open up doors for remaking the first two games or even a whole new title to the series

That's not telling you to "go buy it". That's not telling you to do anything, least of all buy a game you don't want. But the article headline already planted the seeds of how to view it- not as a logical "my bosses make the decisions, so if this does well hopefully I can convince them to make more" but as an ultimatum "you must go buy this game, like it or not, or you'll never see your precious series again"

This was just an honest statement. If the game does well, they'll have ammo to convince their decision-making superiors to make a new entry or port other ones (and even acknowledges the first two could be candidates). That's how the world works.

I'm rather surprised to see the response of some in the comments, people who I thought had the wisdom to see beyond the spin being put on this statement.

Oh come on

Everyone hates it when companies say "well if you want X game then you gotta buy Y game first until we make it"

I didn't buy Banana Blitz, and I don't particularly want to buy it.. I want SMB1 and 2 in a nice package xD

@Chunkboi79 I don't know why I find this so hilarious lol I think it was the added "ya'll" before saying suck my balls xD

gotta love that murican twang

I got it on eShop yesterday because it was discounted. I'm liking it so far! I never owned it on the Wii and from what I understand this version is superior. I hope Sega realizes there is still a market for Monkey Ball. Though the game producer's statement may come off as greedy, I think he just meant that they put a lot of resources into remaking Banana Blitz and it would help the future of SMB if people bought the Banana Blitz remake. I think that reasoning is fair but he could've worded that better.
EDIT: Actually I misunderstood the game producer's quote because of the way the article paraphrased it, upon closer inspection I don't see a problem with the way he worded that.

@w00dm4n but capcom has ported quite a bit of its lineup

Whereas I will sing the praises of monkey ball 1 and 2 from the highest mountain, I’m not a fan of this practice 😕

Well that was a PR master stroke....

Blackmail. Lovely.

Not this **** again. C'mon Sega, you're better than this.

He just said he wanted to see support guys, Jesus...

Though I’m not sure why I should be surprised considering you all HAVE to be on a moral high ground all the time. Classic Nintendo Life.

@Tandy255 yeah good points but wasn’t the development setup mostly the same for GC and Wii? Think they were both x86 and the Wii was effectively a GC x1.5... could be wrong though!

@datamonkey Not sure. I believe the reason the original Wii could play GC games was because it had physical HW dedicated for the GC.

I loathe this kind of statement, but I already bought Banana Blitz anyway. And you know what? It's a great game. I think a lot of people are prejudging it based on the motion controls from the Wii debut. Those are no longer a factor, and all that's left is another great Monkey Ball game. The level design is tight, the challenge ramps up perfectly as you progress, and the bosses are actually an interesting break from
the regular gameplay.

The minigames are definitely not as good as SMB's original party games, but no complaints at all about the main game. Well worth the money in my opinion.

Nah, I'll stick to emulating the old ones. SMB2 has an amazing Community Mod Pack, which I consider to be the Super Monkey Ball 3 we never had, or 2.5, since the story is the same. Either way, fans are continuing the tradition of doing SEGA's job better than SEGA.

Sounds strange. Like, if they knew the first 2 are popular, why didn't they remade them instead of banana blitz?

Still, I'll love to see an HD version of Deluxe.

I've got a better idea:
I'll continue not to buy and support games I'm not interested when given the blackmail of "we'll give you what you want if you buy what you don't" because it's a vile trend that I hope everybody stops falling for.

I was thinking of picking it up too since I just wanted some monkey ball and not heard anything for or against it, but I refuse to support games where they've given this kind of ultimatum since I don't want my purchase to contribute to them thinking that these statements work.

@SteelSunglass

"I get it. If the newest game in a series doesn't sell well, that tells the company/studio that people aren't interested in the IP anymore..."

That's not true at all. Well, I get that's what might be understood by stupid business people that only understands stats and the bottom line on some spreadsheet, but if people don't buy the new game in a beloved IP, it often only means that the game is BAD or NOT UP TO EXPECTATIONS, not that people aren't interested in the IP anymore.

I mean, if you put out a not-so-good game in a series, would you say people aren't buying it because they lost interest in the franchise? I think it's much more probable they didn't buy it because it was not-so-good to begin with, no?

The way SEGA is handling this reeks of incompetence. Even from a business standpoint. Not working on games that would probably sell more than the current one (I mean come on, a compilation of both games from the Gamecube era would sell like hotcakes) is just stupid. It is literraly asking people to buy something they don't want in the hope of maybe getting what they want in the future.

Show support for something you don't want if you want us making what you want. I don't know who the marketing VP at Sega is, or who takes such decisions, but I surely wouldn't want any of these people in my business if I had one.

@Realnoize Yeah, I get what you mean, and honestly I don't agree with the mindset either.

What I trying to say is that I get it by a business point of view since as a business, you need sales in order to keep your company alive. But as a consumer, the point of view is just selfish and greedy. If the game isn't good, nobody's going to buy it, and studios should know that.

But sadly nowadays, if people don't buy the game, the studio thinks people just aren't interested anymore, no matter the quality of the title. That's what I'm saying.

That makes sense, right?

They do realize the Switch has a huge player base now right? This is Wii U era crap.

Know what? This is actually kinda smart. Seriously. This is a perfect way to sell a game that isn't selling.

Yeah, it can be dumb and forceful, but who knows, they might update the game too. Possibly add some more classic party games and courses. I want classic skins for the monkeys combined with their classic voice clips.

The title of this article is twisting words and its really scummy

@RyanSilberman Can't help but feel porting the 1st two games would be alot easily then porting this wii game with new graphics/controls

Just gives us Super Monkey Ball Deluxe, like they did with SADX/SA2 in the PS3/XBLA era wouldn't even need to change much tho improved graphics/models would be nice

@Damo
If someone said, “if we win this war, we’ll enjoy a lasting peace”, have they told you to go personally sign up as a recruit, whether you want to fight or not?

Saying “if this game does well, it’ll potentially mean I can convince my superiors to sign off on more” is not telling anyone to do anything. It’s merely a statement of intent. If the game does well, here’s my intentions. If event A occurs, I hope to see event B.

There is a clear difference between a statement of intent and an ultimatum.

I bought your game Sega now where is my Skies of Arcadia HD?

@JaxonH

An ultimatum is a statement of terms which have a negative outcome if not met. That's what he's done here. If this does well (which is said to influence) then y. To me he if his intent is to try and convince Sega to let him remake the first two games just say that. Those games are different and their sales don't have anything to do with how well this worse game does.

I also think you intentionally don't read the first part. He says I KNOW THE FIRST TWO GAMES ARE LIKED MORE, now let me tell you how maybe you can get those. So he knows exactly what he's doing. He's trying to persuade you to buy Banana Blitz by using those as a cookie.

And honestly he should know better. Developers say things like this all the time and people take it as an ultimatum. So regardless of his intent, there are many different ways to say what you are saying he is trying to say and he should have picked one of those ways.

I think he should have given a legitimate defense for the game he just made instead of saying I know it's not the best and then say that he wants to do the remakes. Something like, "I think we did a great job working with Banana Blitz. The control scheme is new and I think if people give it a legitimate chance they'll like it. I loved working on it and I would love to work on a remake of the originals or a brand new sequel if Sega gives me a chance." It's logical that more sales leads to future games but we don't need him to drawing a solid line for us.

All I know is unless I was stupid angry I would never say to my wife if you do x, then I'll do y. Trying to tell her that it's not an ultimatum but was just letting her know my intentions is going to end up with me looking for some place to sleep.

I see most people feel the same about this kind of garbage begging that I do, so not much else to say.

I didn’t buy it because I’m a pretty casual Monkey Ball fan and the price was a bit steep for me. Even on sale.

@cleveland124
You’re reading things between the lines that aren’t there. Nowhere does he say “Let me tell you how you can”.

He simply acknowledges the first two games are in demand, and notes his interest, even despite demand, primarily lies in making a new entry.

If they released 1 and 2 as a package or even digitally I'd buy them in a second...as it is, I supported this release and will gift it to my friend's son because Monkey Ball

why didn't they remake SMB1 or 2 in the first place? the more popular, favoured games with the fanbase. beats me.

Even if SEGA decides not to remake the original games, the modders will show up sooner or later.

SEGA is really just screwing themselves in the bigger picture.

GUYS IF WE DONT BUY SUPER MONKEY BALL BANANA BLITZ HD
THERE'S A 0% CHANCE THAT THE CLASSIC SUPER MONKEY BALL REMAKE WILL COME
SEGA SAID THEY WILL MAKE MORE SUPER MONKEY BALL GAME IF BANANA BLITZ HD SELLS
PURCHASE IT NOW

@KayFiOS wait that illegal XD that was a joke

@Franklin I HATE WHEN YOU SAY BEEP OFF