
Hot on the heels of Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble's release, one fan has suggested perhaps the coolest way to play the series: using an actual ball.
Now, it might not be the most accurate way to navigate the sky-high courses, but Dr Tom Tilley's creative build — which uses the same trackball principle as the Super Monkey Ball Ticket Blitz arcade game — certainly looks the part.
Shared to Twitter in the following video, the build utilises a mouse trackball and three old roll-on deodorant balls to take to the slopes in the most immersive way possible. The 3D-printed AiAi encased in the build is the icing on the cake, with springy arms and legs reacting to every movement.
You know what? This is really one of those that needs to be seen to be believed. Here's the controller in action on what appears to be the OG Super Monkey Ball:
The creator, Tom Tilley, designed the controller last year to play the obscure '90s Japanese arcade game Armadillo Racing. He has since put it to the test with Katamari Damacy too, though there is something about this Monkey Ball addition that just feels right. Tilley even hopes to adapt the build to get AiAi's legs running as the ball rolls. Okay, now we really want one.
We found AiAi's latest adventure to be a fun ride in single-player with "some of the best stages we've seen in recent memory", but we were disappointed by its lacklustre multiplayer modes and short runtime. You can find out full thoughts below.
What do you make of this Monkey Ball build? Roll down to the comments to let us know.
[source x.com]
Comments 11
Thank you for making this day that much more magical. I would love to give this a go! Simply brilliant!!
i still dont get how a game like this works with an infinitely rolling ball, as the level only tilts a certain amount in any direction and then returns to center if/when you release the controls.
the final "product" looks incredible though! the wai AIAI stays centered in the ball as it rolls around is perfect!! 👍
Hilarious and brilliant, kudos to the creator!
Labo 2: Electric Ball-a-boo
Me wants! 😂😆☺️😂😭😆😅😁. .............
I had to add more characters because I couldn't just say "me wants" in this comment section on Nintendo life 😐
Well, I'm happy to overlook you don't actually control the monkey in these games...it's still awesome!
If only this one works with modern systems.
That's very awesome and creative.
This is one of the reasons why i love it when games are designed to be played with a controller of your choice, aside from the obvious comfort and/or accessibility benefits it also allows players to come up with many creative ways to play games. (someone managed to beat dark souls using bananas, that would certainly be an apt controll method for monkey ball)
This is awesome, they should make a trackball controller for Switch to play this on...also Marble Madness as it was meant to be played
Very cool, but now make a jumbo one that you can run around in yourself.
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