GodisaGeek: "Yet again, SEGA have served up a lacklustre slice of Monkey Ball action which is incredibly frustrating given the high quality of the best bits of the game. The Vita is a great console but we have yet to see a game with a truly excellent grasp of everything it has to offer in one package, and it is frustrating when a game that could have been a killer handheld gaming experience is weighed down by a load of gimmicky nonsense and poor structure. Even the front end and menus are clumsily done and tricky to negotiate, on a platform with a giant touch screen that works a treat. For fans of the series I would urge to proceed with caution, particularly given that there are cheaper mobile phone versions that provide a similar experience for a fraction of the price."
Phil writes, "With the recent official announcement of Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD coming to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC later this year, SuperPhillip Central is in the mood for some monkey business. Make that some Super Monkey Ball business with the best entries in the long-running arcade-style series. It's time to go bananas."
There aren't even 5 good Monkey Ball games.
Super Monkey Ball, Super Monkey Ball 2, Super Monkey Ball Deluxe, and Super Monkey Ball Jr. are the only ones worth playing. Everything else is disappointing or downright terrible.
SplitScreenGaming: "This is Super Monkey Ball, nothing more, nothing less, this version of the games comes out better for the simple fact that the hardware has an analog stick to control the game, if you prefer motion controls for some reason, those are here too. Mini-games lengthen the playtime, more so with friends and the main game will keep you coming back to conquer those harder tracks, but luck needs to be on your side for some of them."
It seems to have become a right of passage for modern gaming formats that somewhere in their infancy, typically the first year of launch, they will receive a Super Monkey Ball outing of some kind. Long past the dizzy heights achieved by Super Monkey Ball 2 on the GameCube, every successive iteration has added more content and yet delivered less rewarding gameplay. Here on PlayStation Vita the hope is that Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz can buck the trend.