Sonic And Co. Roll Into 'Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble' With The 'SEGA Pass' DLC

Kiryu surely? Best part of Banana Mania having him roll about collecting Staminans

Sega had been milking Classic Sonic (and not Modern Sonic) and his classic friends for far too long now. It looks like that trend ain't stopping any time soon.

This is mundane at this point. I like Sonic, its in my profile pic, but still there is a point of too much. And being behind a pay wall. tsk tsk tsk. Sonic Says "That's no good"

I hate how they make you feel like you're buying an incomplete edition if you don't pay an extra $20.

I'm already approaching this game with trepidation due to the lack of several classic party games, so announcing paid DLC already isn't helping 😮‍💨

I bought the last one day one, I think I got one of the dlc packs, it was so disappointing. Terribly made game for the price, worthless dlc, you can only use cosmetics in single player or something.

I would love if the the last 2 characters were DK and Diddy, but the name “Sega pass” seems to indicate Sega characters only

why is 2/3 of this so-called "Sega Pass" filled with Sonic characters?
you might as well just make the last 2 characters also come from Sonic and just call it a Sonic Pass at that point

I swear down, if this franchise becomes Super Sonic Ball, I will be furious!!! Grrrr. (Still, the more the merrier!)

Adding a ball version of Sonic for only £22.29, sounds like a bargain...

I won't buy this rip-off game until it's at least 50% off including all DLC.

Calling a game sans its DLC "incomplete" is so meaningless.

But 20 pounds for this DLC is sort of ridiculous.

There are plenty of other issues with this but like, why are they getting so insistent on using the classic Amy design anyway? It was an awful look that was pretty much instantly abandoned and forgotten for a reason, stop trying to force nostalgia for it.

What is it with SEGA and wanting to have Sonic on everything? And why does it have to be DLC when it comes to Super Monkey Ball? Can't they add him to the base game from the get-go?
Am I asking too many questions?

Might as well start putting him on Atlus games. See @Lizuka 's response below.

I wanted to like Banana Mania but it became increasingly luck-based and I grew uninterested. I did enjoy it at times but I'll likely pass on this unless the reviews are overwhelmingly posititve

@HammerGalladeBro I mean there is a Sonic skin in Persona 5 Dancing.

I'm really getting sick and tired of seeing that annoying blue rat in almost every crossover game. However, it's also one of the main reasons he remains relevant.

Asset reuse from superstars

@RupeeClock and that's why Roblox is evil

This would be really fun as a secret unlockable! As a paid DLC though? No thanks.

@_Figo_ I know right? I saw "Sega Pass" and was expecting Ichiban Kasuga or Akira in a ball

And the funny thing is, (and I'm not sure if someone's already mentioned it or not) but in Banana Blitz HD at least Sonic was available in game as a secret character. This feels scummy

@Ogbert
I agree! Why reward players with meaningful unlockables when you can just fleece them for more $$$??

I'll never embrace the concept of DLC. I think I'm just too old-fashioned. Give me a complete, physical game, that I can buy, in a store, on release day. No patches, no DLC, no DRM or EUL or internet required. Sadly, those days will never return. That's progress, I guess... ugh.

@RupeeClock
I do remember this being a thing. At least the backpacks being tied to the Cards, I didnt know the cards amount would be so outrageous though.

Bunch of conmen. You didn't have to pay for Sonic and Tails, last time!
And not even ready for release, since it's this month that the game releases.

SEGA, you clowns!

@RareFan Bruh.

Rolling balls without monkeys or hedgehogs inside can be fun as well.

Any Kororinpa fans around?

(The title reminds me of Tingle.. Kooloo-Limpah!)

The Kororinpa series was made by Hudson Soft.

Kororinpa/Kororinpa: Marble Mania (Wii. JP: 2006, EU/NA: 2007.)
Marble Saga: Kororinpa (Wii. JP: 2009, EU/NA: 2009.)
E3 2010: Kororinpa game announced for the 3DS.

2012: Konami buys Hudson Soft. Hudson Soft is no more.

Kororinpa game for the 3DS: Cancelled.

...

Konami? Are you there?
Maybe it's time to make Kororinpa 3? ^___^

Nothing puts me off buying a game more than DLC being announced before it's even launched.

These should be basic unlockables within the game! I know that's not the climate we live in these days, but it still rankles.

I like Super Monkey Ball and I like Sonic but I have no desire to see Super Monkey Ball turned into some weird Sonic tribute. I'll just buy the standard edition

I've got this on order for launch day but am now tempted to cancel it, or at least wait for a review before splashing out for this. The paid for DLC which should be in game is a kick in the teeth for sure.....

I have the hot take that the recent Super Monkey Ball DLC is one of the least awful DLC practices. At least based on the last game.

Banana Mania had more content than a lot of games, was something I'd gladly pay full price for, but instead it was cheaper than that but the extra DLC made it full priced (correct me if I'm wrong on this). And part of the DLC was the old music, which Sega did in fact (AFAIK) actually have to pay more to get in the first place than the music they made themselves and I don't care about the costumes tbh. This is not a blanket defense of it (especially if this new game is full price), but it is honestly much better than many DLC practices in many games and if you bought nearly any AAA games on Playstation or Xbox the past few years, you've already supported much worse practices (even if you didn't yourself buy those games' DLC). Like even if you don't like this specific example, I'd vastly prefer cheaper games with the rest of the would-be full price made up for with optional DLC I don't care about rather than the current trend of 70 dollars or nothing (even ignoring how 70 dollar games seemingly have more DLC and microtransactions than most 20-40 dollar games)

Also its easy for me to look at how much people whined about Advance Wars being full price (a nonsense complaint considering how it was remakes of two content rich games that still in fact, looked better than, say, any HD Pokemon RPG that you all bought), and wonder if it could've sold better with similar practices. (if 40 bucks but the extra maps were 20 bucks DLC could've made that game a hit, it would've been worth it)

Wait why? They offered a pretty cool story DLC for FREE with Sonic Frontiers.. but here they expect people to spend basically 22 euro's/dollars on skins.. here in Monkey Ball? Do they WANT non-Sonic games to fail?

C'mon SEGA....

@RareFan Haha at least Sonic still has his own games.. add to that the fact that he appears in other games (and comics too) makes him FAR more relevant than your precious Banjo Kazooie who haven't been seen since Smash Bros Ultimate (Now almost five years ago..) So who's the unrelevant one now, huh? Lmfao

@Maubari
Sonic remains popular largely because his fans purchase anything with his image, regardless of quality. Even the notoriously flawed Sonic 06 found success. IGN was spot on when they claimed Sonic was never good; it was never truly about the gameplay, but rather about the character. Without his (arguably) appealing design, the franchise might have faded away with the SEGA Mega Drive. While Banjo and Rayman may not have reached Sonic's level of success, they are beloved for the quality of their games, unlike Sonic, who thrives on superficial appeal.

@Teksetter I've nothing against DLC in general, but it has to be done right. It has to be a substantial chunk of gameplay developed after the main game. Same with patches, nothing against them in general, I'd rather they fixed the game than left it broken, but some studios do rely on them to hit a deadline too much. Though I'd rather that than the devs crunch.

But this just feels cheap. And the fact you don't even get it all when you buy it? Come on! It's 4-6 characters and swapping the banana mesh for a ring mesh, it's not crazy amounts of work in the grand scheme. It's artificially drawing it out to try and keep players engaged with the game longer (which if the game is good you shouldn't need to do). And it's so small it's not worth selling as DLC, it should just be a fun secret character or two you can unlock by meeting hidden conditions.

I was excited for this game, now I'm kind of concerned it'll be full of corporate nickel and diming.

@Ogbert
"Nickel and diming" is the perfect phrase here, and I think that is where the core of my grumpiness lies. This Monkeyball DLC really seems like something that could have and should have been implemented as bonus unlockable content on the base game, rather than expensive DLC.

@kkslider5552000 On what you said about Advance Wars, THANK YOU. The first game ALONE has MORE time you can spend on it than the ENTIRE Crash Trilogy, yet that sold 20 million copies. Sure, Advance Wars is a smaller IP, but the people going "waaaah, 60 bucks is too much for GBA remakes" is crazy.

Crazier because people are buying Luigi's Mansion 2 HD En Mass, which is FAR lazier than the Advance Wars remakes (and 40 dollar game going to 60, verses two 40's going down to 60). And yet IP sells clearly, and not actual quality.

Heck, its cheaper to buy the Advance Wars reboot than to rebuy them on GBA. More expensive to rebuy those on their original system, than to get the remake. Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon is 13 dollars for a complete copy right now, and it was originally 40 dollars. But it is a Mario IP, and Mario fans ogle for Mario games, while most don't go out of that lane, even in their older years. Is trying out games out of your norm that hard?

@RareFan To be fair about Banjo though, he's only had, three games? 4 if we count the GBA spin-off. Rayman is a great example, but Banjo never really got a shot (kinda doomed to that role, even if Nintendo bought Rare).

@InTree The only thing it had going against it is that the graphics for the Advance Wars remakes are merely fine, at least compared to a reasonable amount of other, more impressive, first party Switch games, and as you said, the inevitable success of Luigi's Mansion 2 HD breaks that. Otherwise, its a very clear "I don't want to buy the less popular IP and need a reason" moment.

@kkslider5552000 Keep preaching.