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Posted on January 27th, 2006 - 6001 Reads

Rated Everyone Super Monkey Ball: Touch & Roll Nintendo DS Preview

-- Written by Justin Joseph



 Super Monkey Ball is one of the strangest concepts to come out of any gaming generation. First exclusive to the GameCube, SEGA really brought us something original when developing these games. So far we've gotten two console Super Monkey Ball games and the GBA Super Monkey Ball Jr. Next month we will be receiving the franchise's second Nintendo handheld iteration. The DS really does seem to be the perfect platform for such a type of game that would work well with a trackball. Super Monkey Ball: Touch & Roll will soon grace our beloved handheld. The question is, how does the intuitive DS get used for it?

Super Monkey Ball DS is split into various parts. You have your SMB traditional single player 'roll the monkey to the goal' scenarios, and the various party games for multiplayer fests. In the demo, only ten different stages were available in the single player mode. However, we're told the final build of the game will feature several dozens of challenges that increase with difficulty incrementally. How the tracks are designed in the demo really shows off how creative the SEGA developers have become. They use all kinds of hazardous and entertaining platforms to cause as much chaos as possible. If you fall off the edge, you will lose a life. It's merely a balance of getting to the end as fast as possible without killing yourself too much.

This particular mode can be played using either the D-Pad or the touch screen and stylus. The D-Pad doesn't offer too much in terms of analog control, but the touch screen does. Players will be able to use their trusty stylus to control their monkey ball in every which way possible. The center of the touch screen is neutral, and pushing the stylus along in any direction will cause movement in that particular direction. The sensitivity of how much your push your stylus will effect the movement and velocity of your monkey ball as well. Surprisingly this works incredibly well, and seems almost better than the console versions.

The game obviously isn't without its party mini-games either, and there are plenty. They include the returning Monkey Fight, Monkey Bowling, Monkey Race and Monkey mini-golf. Each of those feature their own touch screen controls, so variety in the gameplay certainly shouldn't be an issue here. For instance, bowling has a very unique control scheme. You have to draw a circle on the screen to put a spin on your ball and speed up its rolling. Then to toss it down the lane, you drag the stylus from the bottom of the touch screen to the top. The momentum the ball has going towards the pins is determined from the speed draw you made. Thankfully these multiplayer mini-games only require one cartridge, so having others to play with shouldn't be as difficult as it could've been.

Other games that are more of a stray from the franchise include racing, FPS and air hockey modes. The racing mode comes closest to mimicking the gameplay interface of the console SMB games. In this mode, you race other Monkey Ball players in floating race courses much like you do in the console versions. You simply race around the track as fast as possible in whatever number of laps to see who finishes first. One of the demo races strangely had the track utilizing protective walls on the side. However, most of the tracks actually do mimic the design of the console versions. These tracks cause you to take some corners cautiously and slow down when necessary. The unfortunate circumstance here is it doesn't seem to really feel like Monkey Ball.

It doesn't feel like Monkey Ball because it doesn't retain the 'tilting' function. In previous games you would tilt the world to navigate your monkey ball. This time however, the monkey powers the ball all on its own. It does make sense when more than one human player is involved, as that would cause absolute chaos for everyone to tilt the world at the same time. But this isn't the core play of Monkey Ball, so it feels more like a simple racing game. You steer the ball with the touch pad, holding the status at the top to make the monkey go faster and pull back to make him slow down. Obviously moving the stylus left or right does your steering, but it just doesn't feel like Monkey Ball.

The next mode takes a real skew in terms of what goes in during play. It's more or less a first-person shooting type of game. If you've ever played Faceball 2000, you know exactly how this works. You simply navigate a flat 3D maze containing walls and 90 degree turns. When you encounter an opponent Monkey Ball, you tap on the screen to 'shoot' at them. However, the controls aren't as elegant, as the entire scheme as changed for the mode. Instead of the exclusive touch screen, you use the D-Pad to move along with a slider at the bottom of the screen to rotate and aim. The sad thing is doing this doesn't allow you to feel the physics of the ball. We can hope the controls are more intuitive for the final build, so we'll have to wait and see.

The third mode is even a further stray from the Monkey Ball franchise. It happens to be a version of air hockey. However, the monkey balls are totally obsolete here. Instead of an actual ball, air hockey pucks are used here. If you happen to make a goal, your monkey will pop out of the puck (what?) and gloat. The actual concept driving this game is a very good idea. There is a certain amount of ink you have to draw your paddle with before the round starts. This is the drawing you use to play the game. You draw a simple straight line for an easy shot. Diagonal shots are used for attempting bank goals and grabbing the special goodies that will eventually display on the table. You're also able to draw curves to help catch the puck or release it in a more unique way. But again, something like this would be perfect for maybe a collection of mini-games. Here it just doesn't seem to work because it doesn't feel like Monkey Ball.

Don't let this get you down though, everything seems fun and the visuals are appropriate. They obviously aren't as refined as the console versions. The monkey is actually displayed in 2D rather than a 3D ball. However, the graphical engine is rather powerful for it being a handheld. SMB DS runs at a very smooth frame rate, 60 fps, and the racer mode really takes advantage of how it shined in the other games. The colorful environments and surface tiles are used, and it makes the tracks look great. Even using a 2D monkey seems to have fit well. While the monkey ball isn't quite as responsive in terms of movement, the entire presentation with an anime-like style brings the game to life. The biggest drawback in this new presentation is the audio. The console's mellow style of music is completely withdrawn from this new handheld iteration, and replaced with overly happy go lucky sound that may drive some people nuts. Nevertheless, if you're a fan of the franchise, there doesn't seem to be a reason why this can't be enjoyable.

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