Super Monkey Ball Deluxe: Media Blast

Our brief impressions from the TGS build, along with screenshots, showfloor footage, and the uncut version of the TGS 2004 trailer.

When Sega finally made Super Monkey Ball Deluxe official last month - a project we'd known about (and even had a video of) since May this year, fans of the series were more than just a little bit happy.

They're back, now on Xbox and PS2! Yay!

The previously GameCube-only action and strategy experience would finally be coming to PlayStation2 and Xbox, with even more value crammed into the package - and only the issue of analog control remained to be judged.

Well from our hands-on time at the Tokyo Game Show last month, we're pleased to say that any worries we had about less-than-perfect control on the new versions are gone; although control is a bit of a subjective issue, the Xbox controller we used to play the game seemed to enhance the experience of controlling young Aiai, not hinder it in any way.

Just take a look at our showfloor gameplay video - we only messed up once! Be sure to check out the gameplay video along with the uncut version of the trailer, only on Kikizo.

The Monkey Ball series, which awesomely started life as an arcade machine controlled with a banana joystick, is coming in its entirety to the two new consoles, but in addition to 114 from Super Monkey Ball and 140 from Super Monkey Ball 2, 46 Deluxe-exclusive boards will also be featured, bringing the total to around 300.

In addition to new stages, Super Monkey Ball Deluxe will offer a new Challenge mode, integrating varying skill settings (Beginner, Advanced, and Expert) into one fluid ramp up, rather than breaking them out as independent gameplay sections. There will also be additional stages in the story mode. All twelve of the party games from Super Monkey Ball 1 & 2 are also to be included.

The Deluxe edition is scheduled for release Early 2005 and - at least in North America - comes at a budget price point.

Adam Doree
Director, Kikizo.com