One of those underrated title on the Gamecube, Super Monkey Ball 2 was recognized as a successful game made by Amusement Vision. This company is known to developed well known games such as F-Zero GX and Daytona USA. It was released at August 25, 2002 in North America and is rated Everyone. Genre is based on platforming. Up to 1-4 players can play in Challenge Mode and Party Games.
The gameplay has a similar procedure as its prequel, Super Monkey Ball. In a nutshell, you control a monkey in a ball where the board can be tilted at various angles. You have the ability control the speed and the turning of the character. The goal in each stage is to reach the goal banner (thus leading you to the next stage) without making the timer run out or falling off the stage. If either those conditions are met, a life is lost. Lose all lives will cause a continue to be spent. When every continues is used up, the game is over. The exception is Story Mode since you get infinite continues & lives. A maximum of 99 lives can be obtained by spending Play Points at the options menu to be used in Challenge Mode. Lives can be obtained by collecting 100 bananas at any given time. As the total points goes up, you will earn Play Points. Play Points can be used to unlock story cutscenes, extra lives, etc.
Let’s move on to Story Mode. Without spoiling much, the three monkey (Aiai, Gongon, Meemee, and Baby) have to stop Dr.Bad-Boon from stealing all of the bananas in the Monkey World. One player is allowed to play and three files are available. Aiai is the only playable character here. Saving automatically happens each time a stage is finished. There is a total of 10 worlds with 10 levels per world. Completing 10 levels leads to a cutscene and a new world. Unlike Challenge Mode, you can pick levels in any order rather than in set order.
Party Game is essentially the multiplayer mode of Super Monkey Ball 2. They consists of sports-based minigames. Six minigames are there by default right off the bat. More can be unlocked by spending 2500 play coins for each one.
My thoughts about the game? First of all, I thought the gameplay was surprisingly well done. The levels require some thinking and memorization of the gravitation. An example includes the level: Warp because you gotta make sure to control with a good enough speed (not too fast or slow) plus tilting the control stick simultaneously. The game’s difficulty can quite challenging often. Controls feel smooth without making it overly complicated. Length would net more than 14 hours thanks to the replay value of the game modes. Graphics are crisp especially in the background ranging from a deserted underwater city to a clock factory. Music is usually techno based. My only criticism is the childish storyline. I can understand though, Super Monkey Ball 2 was gear to a young audience so that’s not really much of a big deal. The humor in the cutscenes made me chuckle nonetheless.
In conclusion, Super Monkey Ball 2 is a decent title for the Gamecube. If you’re a big fan of adventure, platforming, or puzzle type of games, then this will definitely suit you.
Rating: 9.5/10