A new entry, even a remaster, in the Super Monkey Ball series from SEGA is definite cause for excitement. Except that Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz HD isn't quite the monkeys trapped in balls experience we were after. In that when it came to choosing which game to bring back, like that old knight in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, the developers chose... poorly.

The original 2006 release of Banana Blitz meant that it was a game designed and built for the Nintendo Wii. Of wiggle, waggle, motion control fame. As the world was swept up in the Wii Sports craze of the mid-naughties, Nintendo fans who Monkey Balled on the Cube were genuinely excited at the prospect of getting to play Super Monkey Ball with full motion controls. Holding the Wii Remote in the palm of their hands as they tilted and turned and guided Aiai and co towards to the goal. On paper at least, it sounded like a natural evolution for the series. It wasn’t.

The result wasn’t terrible but like with all things motion control; moving the stuff on the screen was spotty at best. For a series that lived and breathed precision, this was not ideal. Also, as Super Monkey Ball had already seen its formula perfected in the excellent Super Monkey Ball 2 the development team at SEGA’s Amusement Vision also felt it was time to experiment and merge Super Monkey Ball with a traditional 2D or 3D platformer. Jungle worlds, ice worlds, lava lands, jumping, boss battles, and platforming.

Click Here to Read Our Full Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz HD Review