Super Monkey Ball 2 GameCube Review - IGN (2025)

Sometimes the greatest games are born of the oddest ideas. Sega's Super Monkey Ball, which debuted for GameCube last year, was certainly one of those. The title pitted players as ball-encapsulated monkeys whose only goal was to traverse giant, maze-like 3D levels without falling off the platforms to their demise. It was a twisted Marble Madness for the next-generation. Packed full of levels and equally topped with multiplayer-centric mini-games, SMB was addictive, fresh and purely entertaining. It was also a relatively simple, intuitive game, which made it a perfect selection for both children and adults, male and female players.

Now Sega and developer Amusement Vision have returned with a spirited sequel in Super Monkey Ball 2. The follow-up adheres to the play style and mechanics of the original offering, but adds an overwhelming supply of new single-player levels, expands upon the sizeable multiplayer mini-games already featured with several fantastic entries, and updates the graphic look so that environments are flashier and more animated. As a single-player game SMB2 is more difficult and satisfyingly challenging, but its multiplayer mode is untouchable by everything else currently available on Nintendo's next-generation console.

Features

• Control ball-encapsulated monkeys through 3D-like mazes
• New story mode
• 150 new stages
• One to four players can compete, cooperate and collide in 12 addictive Party games
• Explore 10 Monkey Worlds filled with unique themes and incredible visuals in the new Story Mode
• Six totally revamped Party Games: Monkey Race, Monkey Fight, Monkey Target, Monkey Billiards, Monkey Bowling, and Monkey Golf
• Six brand new Party Games: Monkey Tennis, Monkey Baseball, Monkey Soccer, Monkey Boat Race, Monkey Shot, and Monkey Dog Fight
• Simple control scheme
• Runs in progressive scan mode

Gameplay

Super Monkey Ball 2, like its predecessor, enjoys a simple premise, which is to roll monkeys encased in glass balls through large, maze-like, and wholly interactive levels. The control functions have remained totally unchanged from the original game, which in our opinion is a good thing. The GameCube's analog stick steers the monkeys, and that's all there is to it. The trick is in making sure the characters don't fall off the platform ledges, or that each stage's countdown timer doesn't run out, before gamers can successfully make it through a goal located on each level. It's all very intuitive.

While the premise is certainly simple, the challenges themselves aren't always as quickly passed. The phrase "easier said than done" comes to mind when writing about some of the areas featured in the sequel, which boasts some 150 totally new levels and a noticeably more difficult learning curve. While the first batch of stages is easily beaten, particularly for players accustomed to the controls of the franchise, the hard areas surface quicker than they did in the original game. There are, of course, more looping, spinning, corkscrewing areas to navigate, and there are likewise levels that move up and down, left and right, and spin things around as gamers stare in awe. The overall level design is more inspired and more extravagant than in the first title. Loops are bigger and longer, and filled with other obstacles, corkscrews move, challenging players to stay on, and levels rotate while thrusting pillars upward through holes, making navigation entirely hopeless the first time through. Sega has also added new function pads -- play, rewind, fast-forward and stop -- that trigger and move parts of levels when rolled over resulting in an improved element of strategy in-game. The single-player levels alone, revamped and fantastic, are reason enough to consider picking up Super Monkey Ball 2.

That will be times when completing a stage seems a task near impossible, and sometimes this will prove frustrating. Indeed, some of the obstacles can be described as "cheesy" the first time through as gamers have no idea what to expect and are sure to fail. But there's something intangible there, too -- attribute it to clever design or the simple will of players to win -- that will almost certainly keep gamers trying again and coming back for more. And even bested stages present new challenges to crafty players looking for the best shortcuts and time bonuses. Meanwhile, SMB2's pacing is commendable, serving up new tasks in stage after stage, all of them classy and fun in their own way, if difficult at times.

The levels themselves are one thing, but what about the new additions? There are plenty to list. First, Sega has included a Story Mode in the single-player game. It's simple and at times ridiculous, weird and borderline disturbing, but it fits with the over-the-top style of the game. In it, a tyrannical monkey scientist named Dr. Bad Boon, desperately seeking friends, has kidnapped the bananas of the peaceful monkeys and so they go on a quest to retrieve them. The levels in the game are then explained as booby-trapped challenges that Bad Boon has setup for the monkeys. It's not deep or thrilling, but it is cute enough and the occasional in-engine cut-scene tells the story as players advance.

More importantly, though, are the multiplayer-centric mini-games, of which there are many. The six minis featured in the first game are back, including Monkey Race, Fight, Target, Billiards, Bowling and Golf, and all of them revamped and boasting new additions. Each mode has been deepened considerably with the inclusion of more levels, or more holes, or more lanes, or more arenas. For instance, Monkey Bowling now comes complete with regular lanes and fantastical ones that move, zigzag, or go concave. In truth, these new lanes could probably be released as a stand alone game; exploring the mode is that much fun, that rewarding. But the fact that Monkey Bowling is only a small part of the huge title is a true testament to how much replay value it radiates. Monkey Fight now includes a sudden death mode; Target has formation flying and split-screen play; Race has several new track themes. All of these are great fun. Players can imagine the multiplayer possibilities.

But there are six brand new party games too including Monkey Tennis, Baseball, Soccer, Boat Race, Shot and Dog Fight, several of them true winners. It seems some of these are a monkey-ized reproduction of Sega's other games. Monkey Tennis plays a lot like a cross between Mario and Virtua Tennis, for instance, which pleases us greatly. It even supports two-on-two multiplayer action -- an option that is sure to waste the hours and days of gamers in college dorms across the globe. Baseball lacks depth, but is fun in short bursts. It follows the basic structure of the sport with some major changes. One player must pitch, or roll, a monkey ball down to the batter. Once the ball has been hit, it rolls over ramps in the outfield that jettison it off for a single, double, triple or home run; if all ramps are missed, the batter is out. Soccer plays like Virtua Striker, which means it controls sluggishly. In Race, gamers must kayak down a river using the L and R buttons to steer. It's hard and frustrating, and will definitely take some practice, but it's also fairly rewarding once it's figured out. Shot is something like Virtua Cop, meaning that players control a target and must shoot objects as they are guided around on a track; it's fun primarily as a multiplayer experience. Finally, Dog Fight, a mode in which monkeys fly through the air and try to shoot each other down, is very enjoyable, though hard.

In our experience, the six additional games aren't as well conceived as the original six, but there are standouts. Tennis, for instance, is incredibly enjoyable. And still, the fact that they have even been included is amazing given the sheer selection already available.

Graphics

Super Monkey Ball 2 is difficult to rate from a graphic standpoint because it's not a game that's designed to be a visual stunner. With that noted, though, there are several things that Amusement Vision has done right with the franchise, and better with the sequel. SMB2, like the original, takes players through several differently themed worlds, from greenery locales to water-filled levels, space spots and fiery mazes, all complemented with Sega's almost trademark-like crisp texture work, commendably detailed. The fluidity is always at a rock solid 60 frames per second, which is well done. But on top of that, the levels in SMB2 are filled with much more going on in the background, far more geometry, and it's often animated. For example, there are cogs that turn, or water that waves and splashes about onto entire cities below, or lava that spits up flames, and so on. It looks great.

The presentation of the monkeys themselves is still cute and appealing. When they successfully navigate a landscape, for instance, players are rewarded visually with all sorts of animations, from dances to rolls and more, all of it nicely conceived. The game is very colorful and bright, accentuating its arcade-like feel and style. But at the end of the day the graphics are still simple, geometry low, polygons limited, which is somewhat disappointing, but hardly an issue. SMB2 runs in progressive scan mode this time around, which makes us very happy.

Sound

The audio portions of Super Monkey Ball 2 are its greatest weakness, so far as we're concerned. The title delivers adequate sound effects, sometimes even cute, for monkey bounces, calls, cries, and shouts of joy during match wins. But the music is out of date, to say the least. The mixture of old riffs and outrageous beats is more usually, but not always more annoying than it is pleasing. We often play our games loud with no complaints from other editors, but every time we leave SMB2 on we're always told by several of them to close our door or shut it off immediately.