That square gate stick explanation and description of gravity were great. Now I have more to say about the Banana Mania physics other than “idk it just doesn’t feel good man”.

@jamesgames4553

5 күн бұрын

To be fair, the physics are programmed in a fundamentally different way to the extent where I the acceleration of the analogue stick boundaries won’t compensate for it. Even when tilting the board forward you can tell momentum is handled very differently in Banana Mania, which breaks certain stages. Wish I had the comparison video URLs handy but they do a good job examining the changes.

I strongly agree regarding the annoying sentiment of 'steps in the right direction'. If you make a game it should be as good as it possible can be without considering any predessors or successors. If so many devs can make a knockout success on their very first try, struggling franchises should not get a free pass because they followed up a bad entry with a slightly less bad entry. For Sega, that means actually giving their devs time to make their games - the amount of out right failures they've had simply because they rushed a game onto shelves is bafflingly high.

@diddly_dude

7 күн бұрын

I know this is exactly why i hate paper mario fans, paper mario the origami king is an amazing game but most fans said its a great first step to just being thousand year door...

@bandannadoo

6 күн бұрын

@@diddly_dude yeah for what it’s worth I really liked Origami King. I still think the original formula for Paper Mario is better, what with it having more RPG mechanics like levelling and badges, but most complaints I see towards OK are just how it’s not TTYD. Maybe the next true Paper Mario will be a best of both worlds between the modern and classic style, but I think OK will still on its own even if that happens.

@xerontokyo

5 күн бұрын

Well for a small project with small dev team within RGG 2 years kinda enough full dev started around spring of 2022. Plus the fact it is 51 people within SEGA/RGG worked on this game.

@tintintin7753

5 күн бұрын

That's what so many people said about Sonic Frontiers, but I've waited far too long since Generations for another 3D game to be a "step in the right direction" when it's not even higher than a 6 at best

People are afraid of hating on games like Monkey Ball for taking baby steps because the game has the potential to not sell enough and be put back in the SEGA vault for a long time. It can be scary to think that a series you love will no longer be supported so fans will hype up the game as worth it even though it's not up to the quality of the first two. It's this fear that makes me guilty for not picking up the Donkey Kong Country Returns remake because Nintendo could just put DK back in the vault and make us wait longer for a new game because it won't be profitable. It's happened to games like Star Fox in the past, so you can never feel safe when this is an possibility.

@thebigpig2364

6 күн бұрын

Don’t let game companies scare or shame you into giving them money. They’ll do anything other than make a great game.

@psychie8625

6 күн бұрын

That's exactly what I was thinking during the "step in the right direction" talk. Not saying I disagree - Hell, I'm probably gonna wait for a sale before I get the game - but with Sega's history of shelving games and being a gamble when they choose not to, it's easy to think: "Well, if we don't take this, the series is fucked", which I'm pretty sure was the Magic Bullet behind Banana Blitz HD. Of course, seeing as we're still dealing with the same physics engine since 2019, if we do get more games without waiting long, who's to say it'll even be like the old days?

These "steps" are the best most people hope for because we've been successfully gaslit for decades into thinkin that recreating Monkey Ball's original physics, or making classic Sonic physics in 3D is "too hard."

@GymLeader_Josh

2 күн бұрын

A ghost crew team recreated Monkey Ball's physics in a steam game called Rolled Out! The game is still in beta and nobody knows when or if the game will get a full release, but it's $20 and worth every penny to have a new experience with old school physics and level design. We have all been gaslit.

I'd love to see a Super Monkey Ball 2 mod with these new levels so you can play them with the original physics.

Idk I think Banana Rumble is pretty good. I don't think it has to have the exact physics as the original two games, and this is coming from someone who adores the GameCube titles. The problem with Banana Mania having different physics than the original is that the level design is still based on how the og physics work, and hasn't been compensated for the new engine. However, Banana Rumble's levels were designed with this new engine in mind, so personally I think they made it work pretty well. Of course having the original games physics would be amazing, but it isn't an absolute need for this game imo. I do really miss the original games art style though. (Also I think the spin dash is a great addition.)

The biggest offender of all is not having the Dole logo on all of the bananas:(

You explained your points very well. I realise that i am excited, not because the game is good, but because the franchise isnt dead

and yet the legend is back when we needed him the most

Did you guys check out the settings? There’s a lot more customizable options than ever before.

Generally speaking I would say this is a great game, and I don’t think people are throwing their money at a sub par game. People are legitimately enjoying this game and not in the same vain as a few of the past titles. It also becoming part of people’s top 3 in the series honestly. I think it might come down to preference if anything, which would respect. I do have my problems with it though, as everyone else does( battle mode could have done with a bit more work for example ). I do agree with you that people have their own opinions, and while it’s disappointing that you didn’t enjoy it; people need to understand when something pertains to entertainment everyone has their own things the look for. That’s what makes video games, tv series, movies etc; so amazing

I've never played these games, but they always seemed interesting to me. Thanks for the vid now I know which monkey ball to skip out on. P.S. it was great hearing you say monkey ball so many times

Mr. Soda Crab youtube played this so I didnt feel I had to. Like dying for my sins. Thank you, Mr. Soda Crab youtube.

After watching this review, I'm gonna say this: I've never been so happy to not understand the "secret sauce" that makes the gamecube games so brutally unreachable to some people. I don't see it. For more than two decades I haven't been able to see it. And I'm glad. Because this game is PEAK to me, man. Maybe ignorance is bliss, but to me, this is not a "step in the right direction". That term is so condescending and stupid it needs to burn and die faster than "rough transition to 3d". This is a GREAT Monkey Ball entry, period. A very fun, enjoyable, creative entry with great music, nice level design and a lovely art direction. Some parts of your review make me feel like... maybe you didn't understand the dynamics of the game properly? how is it that you can count with a single hand the times the spindash was useful to you? The entire game is built around it... maybe that's why you didn't understand the game at all? "oh yeah it just makes you go off ramps... or die", It can literally send you at high speed through fast areas, it can make you take sharp turns, it can even stop your momentum when you use it properly. The fact that you accept that the speedrun community will most likely use it more effectively implies that maybe you weren't even gonna try anyways. "The game doesn't feel good" is so subjective at this point... this is getting close to the Smash Bros Melee discussions. I feel bad for you, man, I really do, I hoped you would enjoy the game, but eh, what do we do, maybe you have your GC muscle memory built very deeply into you. Bottom line, I respect your opinion and agree with the multiplayer aspect, but playing a videogame while holding SO tightly to the past, unwilling to evaluate what the new entry provides, completely deflated from all motivation to actually playing the game, makes this review a little less genuine and a little too emotionally driven. The part at 9:15 is an outright lie for example, most levels aren't laid out like that and you know it. My thought is that maybe those were the experiences that you disliked the most, and since you came to this game with a negative mindset, this is what stuck most to you.

@lambasted6886

7 күн бұрын

As a Sonic fan I can empathize by having a very particular gold standard for physics. But I wouldn't wish that curse on anyone, and I'm glad I don't have that for Monkey Ball so I can actually enjoy these games. I had no idea Monkey Ball purists are like Melee fans.

@SodaCrab

7 күн бұрын

Thank you for leaving such a well thought out comment! I want to clarify a few things: I get that a lot of people don't take issue with the way the game handles the way I do. But my critique of this game's controls and physics isn't "this is different from before, I don't like that", it's "this feels bad, which is bizarre because they had it feeling great 20 years ago". Even in a vacuum, in a world in which Monkey Ball 1 and 2 never existed, this game wouldn't magically feel better in my hands. I play sequels of games I love every day, sequels that feel vastly different from their originals, in a number of different genres. Mario Kart 8, for example, feels extremely different from Mario Kart Double Dash, the one I grew up with. Double Dash feels great, it has aged fantastically , they really nailed it with how racing feels in that game. If I had this arbitrary hatred of change, that would mean Mario Kart 8 feeling different would be a huge issue for me. But it's not, Mario Kart 8 is a beautiful game, both in terms of aesthetic and gameplay. I like it even more than Double Dash, despite my "Gamecube muscle memory" from an entire childhood of playing it over and over. Every Mario Kart feels different, but they still feel great in their own ways. Same with Smash Bros, I grew up playing Brawl alone, with friends, and with family, it was one of the most played games in my childhood, but I vastly prefer Ultimate these days. If change was a bad thing for me, I'd still be playing Brawl. This is true with almost every series I play, Fire Emblem, XCOM, Pikmin, Yakuza, I like the new ones just as much if not more than the old ones despite the myriad changes that completely flip the way the games play and feel on its head. Monkey Ball is the only series where I have this problem. It's not some weird inability to let go of the past, I genuinely just do not like the way the new games feel. It's not like they need to just make more Monkey Ball 2, I can play more Monkey Ball 2 whenever I want, there are dozens of fan made level packs out there. I'm fine with them doing new and different things. The problem is just that the physics feel cheap and unpolished, I don't know how else I can say it. It's not bad because it's not Monkey Ball 1 and 2, it just feels bad by itself, the Monkey Ball 1 and 2 comparison simply exists to point out "they did something great 20 years ago, why can't they make something that feels as good?". "As good" doesn't have to mean "the exact same", it just has to be of the same level of polish and quality, which I believe Banana Rumble is not. Despite me still not liking it much, I like this game a hell of a lot more than Banana Mania, which is a game I went into with high hopes and the belief that it would be great. But I ended up not liking that game at all. I played Yakuza 0, another game by this same studio, for the first time 5 or 6 years ago, and I went into that game expecting to not really care for it. Yet I ended up enjoying the hell out of it and it's one of my favorite games I've ever played. Having expectations going into the game doesn't preclude the game from deviating from them. Banana Rumble just happened to meet my expectations, which makes sense, considering I had 2 games of precedent on the Switch to base my expectations on. I didn't decide to like or dislike Banana Rumble before I played it, I played it and determined I didn't like it, and I really don't understand why this whole "you expected it to be bad" thing is always so prominent in discourse about new games. Obviously there's no way to definitively beat the "you wanted it to be bad" allegations without somehow giving you all a peek inside of my head, but I'm telling you, I didn't go in wanting to dislike this game. As for the Spindash, I don't see how the game is built around it. I really don't. That's my biggest problem with the feature. There are some shortcuts littered throughout, and there are some levels built around it, but a lot of levels are just not conducive to launching yourself off in any direction. I even wrote in my notes while I was playing this game sometime around world 5 "this game barely feels like it was designed with the spindash in mind". I think the fact that I completed most of the game while barely using the spindash is really telling, it should be important, I should be incentivized to want to use it, but most of the time it just felt safer or more efficient to just not touch the B button. When I think of a game that's built around a central new mechanic, I think Mario Sunshine, so let's use that as an example. That game lives and dies by Fludd (yes, people do challenge runs without him, but the whole reason that's a challenge run is because it's outside the scope of what the developers intended and what the game's design heavily encourages.) You're using Fludd constantly without even thinking about it. Hovering becomes second nature early on, before long it feels less like an additional action you have to perform and more like a natural extension of Mario's jump. Spraying water is something you immediately learn to try as a solution to any problem, whether it's graffiti, an object in the environment, or an enemy. When the game takes Fludd away from you for a secret level, his absence is felt in every move you make. The game feels entirely different trying to platform without him. Mario Sunshine is Fludd, and Fludd is Mario Sunshine. The Spindash is nothing like that. 99% of levels are easily completed without it, and tons of levels aren't conducive to its use. Sure, if you get really experienced with Banana Rumble, like a speedrunner would, you could learn to take full advantage of it, but for most people who will play through this game once, twice, a few times, then maybe pick it up again once every 6 months, the spindash is neither intuitive nor widely applicable. Even if I'm wrong and literally every other person who has played this game makes HEAVY use of the spindash, the fact that I was able to beat the game easily and efficiently while not really getting the point of it is telling about its importance as a central mechanic. Imagine if I went from 64 to Sunshine and just went, "huh, I don't really get this whole fludd thing", then beat the game without it. That doesn't scream "the game is designed around it" to me. I didn't go into this game clinging to the past and unwilling to evaluate what the new game provides; the general uselessness and hollowness of the spindash IS my evaluation of this game's new feature. And regarding the level design comment at 9:15, I didn't say that most of the levels are like that. I said a lot of levels fall into either the "waiting" or "path" categories. And there are a lot of these levels. Just off of the top of my head, for levels with tons of waiting involved, there's the elevator level I used on screen during that part of the video, there's the first level of world 10 where you're sitting there waiting for the platforms to rotate in such a way that you can move forward, there's that stage in world 9 where it drops you off at those 2 platforms to press switches and you have to wait for the rotating arms to come pick you back up and take you to the next switch, and more. Those are just off the top of my head, there were a lot more levels that involved lots of waiting around for the level to come pick you up. For the "path" levels, the early game is absolutely loaded with these, just some kind of variation on a straight path with different turns, curves, or trivial obstacles. There are fewer of them as the game goes on (they still pop up from time to time though), but a huge amount of the remaining levels that DON'T fall into one of these two camps are obnoxious or boring gimmicks. Like I'm still stuck on this, what was going on with that Manhole level?? Who thought that was a good idea? Or the binary level in the candy world? Or these weird maze levels like the pyramid, the switch maze with the holes in the floor in world 8, or that level called switch adventure in world 9? So many levels stuck out as bad to me in this game, and a lot of the ones that didn't were very boring and lackluster. I'm not saying every level in this game is trash, I just think the overall level quality hovers around a 5 or 6 out of 10, and the few 9s or 10s sprinkled throughout don't go far enough to make up for that overall boring mix. At the end of the day the level quality subjective, but I definitely wouldn't call my statement a lie, there are a surprising amount of levels that fit into one of those two camps. Sorry for the large wall of text, your comment just encompasses a lot of common complaints I anticipated and have already seen, and it seems what you're saying resonates with a lot of people, so I figured I'd respond. I appreciate your comment and your constructive criticism!

@magolor-3100

7 күн бұрын

​​@@SodaCrab​While the spin-dash isn't something that's forced to be used, i still think it was a great adition because of the shortcut options it added Even as a casual monkey ball player that has only played 1, banana mania and this game, i was able to use it for shortcuts in almost every stage i played For example, the stage shown in 17:41, with a spin-dash, you're able to fly directly to the goal Or the stage 18:54, with a good time spin-dash + dash panels you can take the top of the rings instead

@MagillanicaLouM

6 күн бұрын

As someone person who hasn't played SMB2 since the 00s and has only clocked in to monkey ball discourse after banana blitz HD came out, comparing it to competetive melee players and pretty much everyone else that plays the series, is a pretty spot on comparison, looking in from the relative outside. The actual core of the series is still pretty neatly intact and they aren't releasing embarrassments in game dev or anything. It just feels slightly different from some folks fav from 20 years ago, sure, fair thing to be annoyed with. But i feel it gets taken to degrees i can only rationalized as being played up for entertainment reasons in videos

Thank you for your video critique. I can tell you put a lot a passion with this critique of Banana Rumble. I haven’t played 1 or 2 so I’m in the camp of not knowing what those games are like. I saw a video from the Party Crashers and it honestly looks like a fun multiplayer game that I’ll enjoy with my family. I respect your opinion on the game, but I still pick it up because it looks like a genuine fun party game to me.

I actually liked Banana Rumble but i respect opinions haha. PS: What is your opinion on the game Marble It Up? It is a Super Monkey Ball clone but way better than Rolled Out.

@SodaCrab

7 күн бұрын

I'd never heard of Marble It Up until just now! It looks awesome, I bought it immediately since it's on sale. Thanks for the recommendation! I'll have to make a video comparing different Monkey Ball-likes sometime!

@chezzums2801

7 күн бұрын

@@SodaCrab You're welcome! Your videos are good content and i am a big fan of Super Monkey Ball too! 🙂

@thebigpig2364

6 күн бұрын

In a lot of ways Rolled Out is the best Monkey Ball ever, but it’s just completely broken

@mz-power9587

2 күн бұрын

@@SodaCrabthe “monkey ball guy” allegations will never die.

love you monkey ball man. unfortunately i do think you got caught in the "i knew this would be bad so i looked for things to prove im right" spectrum cause this is just genuinely a good game man. the physics thing very much seems like an internal feel issue due to being different from the older games. it actually plays great.

@SodaCrab

7 күн бұрын

I can understand that point of view, and I can't really disprove your point without somehow giving you a glimpse inside my head, but I mean it when I say that I try to go into every game I play with an open mind and give it a fair shake. I've played plenty of games that I expected to be great and ended up disappointed with, and I've been pleasantly surprised by plenty of games too. Banana Mania is an example of a game I went into with high expectations and was disappointed with. I set my expectations more reasonably for Banana Rumble, and lo and behold it ended up more or less meeting them. Sometimes a game just ends up being exactly what you expect, that doesn't necessarily mean I went in rooting against it. I'm glad you're getting enjoyment out of it though!

@jacksonlovesnintendo

7 күн бұрын

@@SodaCrabclassy response

Didn’t think it’d come this quickly

@Christopher-md7tf

7 күн бұрын

That's what she said

Your channel is underrated, you've earned my sub!

17:54 you could not have articulated this section any better. Amazing stuff as always man. As an FE fan I know exactly what you mean by being open to new things. I really don’t think you’re hating on this because it’s new, you’re just pointing out genuine critiques

Not sure I agree with the assertion that the game would hold more value if it was cheaper. At the end of the day, even if I paid $20 for it, I’m not sure I’d want to go back and play through it again in 5 years’ time, compared with the Nagoshi-directed games from the 2000s. A flawed game remains flawed regardless of price tag, and our entertainment time is precious.

Evil soda crab be like i love banana rumble it should cost 80$

@SodaCrab

7 күн бұрын

I would never say that, that is Sinister Shadow Shrimp Crustaceus propaganda

Turn Based Challenge Mode & fun Party games was a massive part of why the original 2 were so successful. Removing these features is such a mistake. How many times can Sega fail this franchise. Wish Nintendo would buy the IP and make something worth while. Having only 1 warp goal now and no stage transitions feels like such a huge step backwards too..

Thank you for making this review even though you didn't want to. So many reviewers are praising this game and I couldn't tell if this was a repeat of Banana Mania where they just didn't know what they were talking about. I always appreciate your Monkey Ball insight and way of explaining what makes the first two games great

this video is very very well written, perhaps your best one yet. Im not sure how you dont have like hundreds of thousands of subs but I will gladly say i was here before you get mega famous

A final level that’s a road with a rainbow pattern set in space? Boy I wonder where they came up with that idea.

14 secs in, what a missed opportunity to play the laugh track way later and out of place.

Kinda figured it would be the case that this entry is once again cut from the same cloth as the last entry. Might still get a copy when the price drops to $20 or so.

I'm not surprised. It was good to see Sega bring the series back internally; however, RGG is hyper focused on Like A Dragon and those OG Monkey Ball devs have moved on by now. Somehow, Sega thought RGG could develop a new Monkey Ball in between 3 LaD projects.

As a casual Super Monkey Ball fan, I've been enjoying Banana Rumble. I never beat the harder levels as a kid, so I find the more relaxed gameplay pretty fun.

I don’t understand people who say “you just don’t like it because it’s different” We want different. Give us new stages, new modes, new stories, and new art styles all you want, but for the love of god keep the physics the same. That’s all we ask.

@jknifgijdfui

5 күн бұрын

and all i ask is for you to git gud

Thank you for explaining the actual technical reason why the originals feel better than the new games. It’s great to know how they got that good feel in the first place

I’ve been WAITING for this omg

You can modify the controls in the menu to feel more right.

as a new fan of the series thank you for the video! i was looking forward to this since your last one. personally for me the cons you mentioned havent really affected my enjoyment and ive been having a fun time. its a solid, content filled game for me (that i have the bias of spending $25 on lol) i will add my own cons tho. it sucks that we cant customize outfits for any of the unlockable character, theyre baked into the base game so it just feels like a copout to just not have "these ones" customizable. also the online is already pretty barren? you'll still get full lobbies at a decent pace but you can tell 90% of them come from bots with keysmash names, its fun enough but it does kill a sense on competition. put this game on other platforms already

Honestly I agree with a lot of your points regarding “steps in the right direction”. I’ve dismissed it for a long time as just the nostalgia and survivorship talking: we tend to remember the good stuff from games we like and thus comparisons might not be fair. But the more I look into modern entries from a long-running series like Monkey Ball, the more I see problems stemming from development issues that shouldn’t be there. They got the Monkey Ball physics right in 2002 and it’s more or less never been replicated. Many facets of modern “battle pass” and content drip feed mechanics are present which distract and annoy you more than anything else. More and more franchises are falling out of touch with a big aspect of what made them memorable in the first place. For SMB1 and SMB2, I’d imagine a big aspect of what made those such a hit was how much control you had over your play. You stop on a dime, gravity pulls you down quickly, and you use your own momentum to get around creative stage layouts. With this, you feel like victory is earned in each stage. None of that is present here, in favor of the stage putting in speed for you through boosters and you not having the same control over what you’re doing through bad camera controls and not having a manual camera setting mapped to the right stick. Sure, that could feel a lot different, but at least you, the player, wouldn’t be fighting the game for control. I really need to unearth my GameCube and play SMB1 and SMB2 and go back to the era when developers knew how to make physics-based rollers that don’t feel like you’re on the moon.

i love banana rumble, however i strongly agree with almost every single one of your arguments ESPECIALLY the controls.

I share very similar feeling as you regarding Banana Rumble, especially with the Spin Dash and physics. While the spin dash may make skips more accessible, they're really only useable for the stages that allow room to do so. I still think it feels like a band-aid, but its at least not as jeopardizing as the jump mechanic was and makes the game a bit more functional than Blitz HD and Mania. The originals didn't need such a mechanic mainly because of how fine tuned the mechanics were and that you can gain enough speed via momentum to pull off any sort of skip. I find it quite criminal that all of the old mini games such as Monkey Target and Billiards. If they can't fix it don't bring it back I suppose? The season pass dlc is honestly pretty offensive knowing that it has characters that were originally purchasable through in game currency in Banana Mania. Furthermore, I don't know how hard it is to bring back a square gate for movement because it would solve a good amount of my problems with the game.

Was waiting for this one!

these guys came out with the one of the greatest and most epic RPGs of all time this year and still every other thing they produce looks like they made it on a triple digit budget. Never change Sega

precision physics aren't the focus of SMB anymore and that's the main thing I liked about those first two games they weren't afraid to test players and their own mechanics and engine. Maybe I was never really a fan of these games in the first place. I only ever really liked the first one (and kind of liked 2 / Jr) These new games are for a different demographic and that's ok, I agree with you saying it's ok to like these new games

Finished watching the video. I can see where you are coming from, but I couldn't disagree more with most of your points except for that godawful ball-rolling sound effect and shallow mini-games, but the latter isn’t much of a loss to me when I personally never cared for the mini-games in this series, which I know is a crime to say this as a Monkey ball fan. To make it clear, I'm not excusing the poor execution, it is just not a big deal to me personally. For me, Banana Rumble is the one that finally made me love this series again and I wouldn't say this in the slightest if it was just another step in the direction like Banana Mania is. I'm not going to act like Banana Rumble is perfect, but the stuff it nails is more than enough for me to finally trust the current Monkey Ball team to make quality games instead of coping that it will reach there someday. Call me crazy for it, but that is just how I feel about it

@SodaCrab

7 күн бұрын

I'm glad you're enjoying it and you're getting what you wanted out of it!

@alejandroaguilar2012

7 күн бұрын

​@SodaCrab I know this is kinda off topic but what are your thoughts on Sonic x shadow generations?

Thumbnail: Aiai: "Well thats too damn bad!"

Damn, I was hoping this one would be good. I was waiting for your review since I do trust fans who are more confident/critical of their series. Oh well, back to my laptop where I can just emulate the first two games instead

@minimushroom3715

6 күн бұрын

Didn't you hear what Soda Crab said? If he didn't like that game, that's his opinion, and I respect it. However, don't let his opinion be your verdict if you'll like the game or not. Read the comment section here, There are plenty of new users and returning Monkey Ball veterans who enjoy the game. Look into other videos, hear what others are saying, and come to your own conclusion if you think you'll enjoy the game or not.

I'm enjoying it I like it a lot :D The multiplayer is loads of fun and I love the character designs

I dont think ive ever found a youtuber that i more consistently disagree with and yet i still come back to time after time lmao. I think the only opinions i share with you on monkey ball is that the banana blitz-banana blitz hd era sucks. Shows how well thought out and argued your videos are that i still enjoy them despite having entirely different views and perspectives. Well made mr crab, may we find something to agree on in the future

>wait levels DUDE, USE THE DASH!

@SodaCrab

7 күн бұрын

nowhere to dash to when you're just waiting for an elevator, unfortunately

@RakastanPorkkanakakkua

7 күн бұрын

@@SodaCrab I saw multiple parts on the video where you could have used the dash to shortcut. Instead of thinking it is a spin-dash, imagine it's like playing pool.

I honestly like Banana Rumble quite a bit for its own merits, but nothing will surpass the originals really. I'm not happy that they're continuing the gross DLC from Banana Mania and including a Battle Pass (yeah it's free but I wish we could just unlock that stuff offline). Definitely respect your critique of Rumble, it's got some big flaws. The framerate issues are a problem.

@SodaCrab

7 күн бұрын

Yeah the DLC is pretty gross, the fact that a character pack in Monkey Ball costs as much as the entire Booster Course pass for Mario Kart 8 is abhorrent. I didn't even know there was a battle pass, that is both hilarious and sad

@emme0731

7 күн бұрын

@@SodaCrab Yeah, especially because all you're really getting is a skin (and from the fact that characters that aren't the main cast aren't able to be customized, I assume the same is for them too...). I visibly jaw dropped when I saw the battle pass. It's pretty easy to get the points on it but I still hate that it's here. Here's to hoping SEGA doesn't pull a Crash Nitro Fueled tactic and make this pass paid down the line.

@MagillanicaLouM

6 күн бұрын

@@emme0731 i gotta agree there, idk why they're making the sega stud paid dlc this go around. Or dlc at all when it was unlockable both previous times, save for the actual consoles. Odd choice for sure

then go to sleep.

I never played Monkey Ball. I was thinking in emulate it (since the remake got lost in the transtion), but I don't have a GC controller, just a Wii Pro Controller. Would it work? Or would be better play an indie inspired game like Paperball?

@SodaCrab

7 күн бұрын

Wii Pro Controller should work just fine! Just about anything with a control stick will do the job. I prefer the Gamecube controller but that's mostly just because it's what I'm used to.

@EduSolsa

7 күн бұрын

@@SodaCrab I heard that the GC controller was better, so wanted to make sure. I was wanting to try the Banana Mania, since is the most convenient, but even the reviews that likethe game say that the control aren't the same. This is what makes Monkey Balls special, so I alweys psuh the game for later. Now i don't even know if it is worthy anymore and will have to rely on emulation to enjoy the game.

@thebigpig2364

6 күн бұрын

I emulate them on my Steam Deck and the controls work great. GameCube has the octagon shape stick so it would be easier to move forward.

Mostly unrelated, but have you tried Paperball? Though I can appreciate you not wanting to become the 'Monkey Ball and Monkey Ball Derivatives' channel

I've never been too big a fan of previous monkey ball games but I did really enjoy my time with Banana Rumble and I think that comes down to the spin dash, You said that it wasn't really useful at all in most of the levels however I think I personally found myself using it in at least 50% of them in a way that wasn't just "go a little faster for no reason" Fair enough that you didn't like it though I feel like a lot of why I liked this one a lot might come down to the fact as I said I'm not a big fan of the other super monkey ball games

I agree with a lot, especially the rant about the Step (and Roll) in the right direction, but heavily disagree with what you said about the Spin Dash, and the gameplay footage suggests you didn't really experiment with it at all or give it a fair shot. You can mix up a lot of things in this game from well placed boosts. The maze levels are far fewer than you suggest (main story only has three) but still fuck them and the invisible levels.

It always baffles me when a company just refuses to listen to feedback and releases game after game with the same issues. Like, the series will sell better if you fix these problems. What's the point of just releasing one controversial game after another? All you do is hurt your own reputation until even the die hard fans stop biting. It's nonsensical from both an artistic standpoint _and_ a business standpoint, nobody wins. All that being said, if it ever goes on sale, I'm still a bit curious.

I wonder if playing the first two games on dolphin with a modern controller will be a faithful experience or if i should think about buying a gamecube controller, does the analog stick affects the gameplay?

@SodaCrab

7 күн бұрын

I've played them with both, I prefer the Gamecube controller but I think that's mostly because it's what I'm used to. When I've had to use a Playstation controller or Pro controller, it hasn't felt bad, the only thing I miss is the notches for precision.

@ViniVHSoares1993

7 күн бұрын

@@SodaCrab I see, thank you for answering, your channel is great

@milky-joelu

7 күн бұрын

@@ViniVHSoares1993 to add to this, you *are* able to try and emulate the controller notches in Dolphin itself; I don't have a working GC controller currently, so I did emulated notches in the controller settings with an Xbox One controller, and it played just as I remembered it

@ViniVHSoares1993

13 сағат бұрын

@@milky-joelu I see, i remember finding something like that in the options, i think to calibrate the controls to feel more like GC analog sticks, i'm curious because i played Mario Sunshine and i thought the controls were really slippery

I feel like this game is trying to do its own thing than be like the originals. Which isn't bad in theory but it feels like a problem that with sega and thats their lack of discipline for themselves. Its tiring to see that they commit to avoid risk and not go full in like they use to even during the wii era. Sega flops while nintendo soars.

soda crab my beloved

aw. i've only ever played the 1st monkey ball and the one on gba so i was wondering if i could get back into the series with this

@NigelMelanisticSmith

7 күн бұрын

You can, if you haven't played the originals, then you won't be spoiled by the better controls. Banana Rumble is still a fun game, and if it interests you, I'd say go for it.

@BillehBawb

7 күн бұрын

its a good game and youll probably like it. dont let one person disliking it out of the hundreds of other people who have said they like it discourage you from trying it

@merideri

7 күн бұрын

@@NigelMelanisticSmith i'd say i was totally spoiled by the better controls/physics, unfortunately. i played the original a ton as a kid lol

@NigelMelanisticSmith

7 күн бұрын

@@merideri my bad, I misread and only saw GBA. Up to you then. I'm enjoying the multi-player, and like mentioned in the video, there'll definitely be a price drop at some point to make the decision easier.

@merideri

7 күн бұрын

@@NigelMelanisticSmith ahh, i see. yeah, i think i might just wait for a price drop.

You excited me for a second saying it was $20. The game just seems to lack any spark. The thing that sucks the most is SEGA will hold the series hostage telling us to buy the game or else. Also sega doesn’t get enough flack for dlc practices

Banana rumble but with no rumble

i feel like a "step" in the right direction is something you can really only afford once. if after that one time you are still just not getting it, then why bother?, specially if it's something that has already been done right in the past

I still have a Monkey Ball Happy Meal toy from 2003 that still works with the original batteries

@SodaCrab

7 күн бұрын

That is incredibly based

I respect you opinion, but you can have way more fun on most of the levels you have complaints with if you use the spindash liberally. Especially the last one, where you can skip nearly all of it by blasting off the beginning platform into a segment of the track near the end.

Yes! Monkey Ball guy uploaded again

@SodaCrab

7 күн бұрын

It's me, I'm the monkey

I found the physics to be better than Mania and fun when casually playing and attempting skips, but from the perspective of someone who is getting into smb2 speedrunning, this game is SOOO inconsistent. There is a bug where the camera will occasionally be angled differently at the start when retrying a stage. Precise movements are a headache given the camera problems, stuttering, and floaty controls. I'm still having fun with it though, at least when playing casually. I've played every stage and I'm replaying it with my friends via online multiplayer, and frankly we're having a blast. Still, I wish Sega had literally any interest in going back and referencing the GameCube's physics as the basis for a new game, rather than trying to refine physics that were fundamentally flawed from the start. I yearn for the days where it felt like you're controlling the stage and not the ball.

It also sucks there's no challenge mode or score system or life system... like hello?? It's an arcade series! Monkey Ball 1&2 have near infinite replayability, yet here you just beat the 6-8 hour story mode and that's it. No reason to replay it besides just for the sake of it. I still revisit the first two titles multiple times a year, decades later. Also I know you said you liked the music, but I think it's telling you only used 1&2's OST in the video LOL. Those original games had such a strong vibe with its aesthetics, music and sound design yet Rumble just... doesn't. It feels Animal-Crossing-ified at best, like they tried to make everything as cutesy and childish as possible.

@thebigpig2364

6 күн бұрын

I remember the old story mode was a days-long adventure as a kid because I was so bad at it. Now it’s 1.5 hours at most. I still replay it all the time.

@GregCubed

6 күн бұрын

@@thebigpig2364 SMB2 story mode was a years-long adventure for me, although I got the game when I was like 5 lol. Nowadays I can beat story mode in an afternoon, it’s the challenge mode that keeps me coming back time and time again. Just a shame they chose to shun that core part of the series here, because these relatively solid/good looking levels deserve the chance for the player to form a connection with them

I’m not asking you to become a doomer channel but I loved your monkey ball video and would be interested to see you do more videos about the decline of your favourite franchises and gaming in general, or maybe make some retrospectives looking back at your favourite games if you want to make more positive videos, but a healthy balance of blackpill and whitepill videos can be a good thing.

My guess is Sega's extremely traditional Japanese company and the producers are stuck in the middle trying to please everyone, leaving everyone with a meh experience. I wish they'd lean into an ultra frutiger aero aesthetic, obviously with the original physics but enhanced, and a soundtrack that picks up where they left off. With enough enhancements it could feel new and not retro. But, instead pretty much the opposite of that has happened. Decade old pastel styling, average soundtrack, physics that are basically the same as banana mania, and levels that are just too easy. There are a couple of levels that bring back that experience but its in the single digits.

15:08 Was that the first note of God Shattering Star? LMAO

@SodaCrab

7 күн бұрын

:)

17:13 I think simultaneous multiplayer would be a net good if it was an option, but replacing turn-based is a baffling choice

@SodaCrab

7 күн бұрын

Yeah I think that's what gets me about it. Having both would make it a net good, but having it replace turn-based makes it come down to preference, which doesn't really seem necessary.

I respect your opinion on the physics thing. It was my biggest issue with the last game, and my biggest concern when I saw the trailer for this one. So yeah, thanks for saving me some time and money with this video 😅

You gotta understand that the company who released the first two games is gone now and the company who currently owning the brand is wearing it's rotting corpse. Thanks Sammy.

Why do these modern engines often result in crappy game physics? Unity obviously does a bad job with Monkey Ball and Unreal Engine feels pretty awful with platforming games I've tried.

@what12388

14 сағат бұрын

The problem isn't the engines themselves and more that people once had to write the physics from scratch and that tends to result in making the physics from the ground up to fit the game while a lot of modern developers with lower budgets just don't have the time and use the god awful character controllers in something like Unity because they just simply don't have the time to make something from scratch. Monkey Ball reuses the Banana Blitz framework for all the games so far because the developers are probably completely overworked people that need to get it done in the deadline so they just reuse the physics engine again and use the spin dash as a surprisingly well working alternative. People always blame Unity and Unreal but there are great 3d platformers and physics based games on these platforms. They are tools and you need people who know how to use these tools and the time to polish them and the game industry through constantly firing people for higher profits and tighter deadlines absolutely ruin both.

@geminijinxies7258

9 сағат бұрын

@@what12388 Whatever's case things has to change, because they won't get my money if the games they release don't even feel right. The controls shouldn't be inferior to 20+ years old games.

I've been enjoying my time with it. Its not my favorite. But, I feel like I got my money out of it. The online multi-player has been fun for me.

@SodaCrab

7 күн бұрын

Glad you're enjoying it!

Honestly this game seems perfectly fine to me, maybe not as good as the first two but a totally fine, fun game, but the $50 price tag is ridiculous. I'll get it on sale for $20 and it will probably be worth it then.

I love Banana Rumble but you are so right with the physics. A lot of the level design is great, but I felt the same way with the final campaign level and almost every level with the boost pads, speed just doesn't feel natural and it's hard to build any momentum. I think where this game truly shines is with its local multiplayer, as I had a blast playing with my brother in real time, something we always wished SMB2 had when we were kids

Idk, I liked it

Nintendos network actually has been better under the hood for years. It just wasn't ever retrofitted for earlier games. Also the "step in the right direction" stuff. You...do realize that developers have to usually make mistakes first before they learn what to fix, right? Amusement vision and Ryu Ga Gatoku is not the same, even if they share similar workers. Most of the people who made this arent likely to have been involved with the old games. In other words. They're stuck in a cycle of trial and error. Whereby they're trying to figure out what works and what doesn't. It's not incompetence. It almost never is. Could this trial and error be kept behind closed doors? Probably. But not in today's game dev climate. Devs are expected to get shit out the door yesterday. And naturally, when a game isn't amazing, the fans tear into the dev team, instead of the toxic corporate culture that created the circumstance in the first place. There is no experimentation or conceptual phase anymore, they cant realistically afford to do so with SEGA as it is, with most companies as they are nowadays. We get questionable products then as the result.

Dawg I hate the way these games look 😭 I could write an essay on it, but I'll spare you all the headache, but MAAAN... The cheap mobile game hyper-cutesy way the characters have been moving towards infuriates me, especially when it makes characters like GonGon look so stupid 😭 SEGA had a secret sauce of style that games of theirs from this era revelled in, that were not just born of the era but deliberate design and stylistich choices. Seeing this, Sonic in general, and the new Jet Set look so dogwater inscenses me everytime -- this is NOT evolution, it is change born from a lack of understanding or care, pure ignorance, or sacrificial mass appeal. GOOOODDDD I HATE IT GRAAAAAAH

I personally think it's great haha

18:40 honestly could not have said this whole speech any better myself. People who coddle and protect the million dollar companies are the reason why we're in such a predicament. Why can't we, the consumer, whose giving them money, THE REASON THEY MAKE SAID GAME, ask, even demand, for the product we want? The idea of "make sure to buy this game so they can know this is what fans want!!1!" is genuinely idiotic. Flat out. Youre telling me they can't just do it first time around when we've been telling them their past games are bad and we want what we expect? I have to give them my hard earned money for a game I KNOW I will not like just for a CHANCE to get them to start making good product? So they can double, triple, quadruple dip on the consumer with each "step in the right direction" game?

I'm not sure if I will buy this one. I think Super Monkey Ball deserves better than low budgets games.... Super monkey ball kinda died after Monkey ball 2 .. So I'm not sure whether I should buy it

@SodaCrab

7 күн бұрын

It's not a terrible video game, I just think if you go into it expecting anything like the quality of the originals, you'll end up disappointed. It's up to you at the end of the day, but I personally don't believe it's worth $50.

Monkey Ball fans are sleeping on by not porting SMBDX to PC. Imagine a Project 06 of DX, with ability to mod support

@SodaCrab

7 күн бұрын

Wait hold on, you're cooking with that idea. How has no one done this yet??

a 20 minute video for a game about monkeys in capsules rolling down an obstacle course is crazy. especially when theres already a video called "Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble Is so Good" like why was this nobody recommended to me. all yap all cap.

Holy nitpick

@joeofthedragon5089

5 күн бұрын

He ain’t wrong

@chantellethecool1

Күн бұрын

He is wrong actually ​@joeofthedragon5089

@joeofthedragon5089

Күн бұрын

@@chantellethecool1 The single player adventure mode is fun but as a Multiplayer/party game it fails on all levels. Still no reason to play this over the first 2 games lol it does nothing better then a game released in 2001

I haven't watched this video yet so don't take this as me actually judging it- But I mean, from what I've seen of the game myself and heard people say, the game is just genuinely good. I'm sure the controls are still flawed to a degree of course, but I think that's a far bigger issue when you're playing Monkey ball 2 levels and feel something isn't right. A game designed around new controls is less likely to be as problematic. Of course, that doesn't mean the controls can't be criticized, but I don't think it's quiiite a fatal flaw? Overall, Rumble is probably the best game in the series in a LOOONG time. It seems to do a lot of things right. So this video gives the immediate impression that the standards here might be kinda... overly harsh? It doesn't have to be so black and white- it's not like every Monkey Ball game that isn't as godlike as 2 has to be considered a disappointment. It comes off less as "critical" and more as "cynical" honestly. I say this not to judge the video itself, but because listening to 20 minutes of it sounds complaining. I'd love to hear a genuine analysis of what the game does right and wrong, but not with the overbearing sigh going down my neck I can't help but expect throughout the whole thing.

@marthenheimer5278

7 күн бұрын

"Neither Dissapointed, nor surprised." Is one of the least black and white titles that could have been chosen.

@delaneyelekes8660

7 күн бұрын

@@marthenheimer5278 I'm gonna be honest, "Neither disappointed, nor surprised" ironically sounds... disappointed? It's like if you eat something you don't enjoy and when the person who made it asks how it tastes, you go "It's... fiiiine?" At the very least though, the description and all of the comments seem to be overall negative. The description LITERALLY says "Expect better from your games. I'm tired of steps in the right direction, just make good games already." So no, the title isn't exactly convincing me this is coming from an open minded, neutral perspective lol

@marthenheimer5278

7 күн бұрын

@delaneyelekes8660 Its not neutral. Crab has made clear that he prefers the original style of monkey ball. That doesn't mean he can't try and use objective aspects of a game to quantify how he feels about it. Just so happens it didnt surprise him or go below his expectations, which are different for everyone. I hope you wind up watching the video, even if it's an overall negative review it's one coming from good faith.

@delaneyelekes8660

7 күн бұрын

@@marthenheimer5278 Idk. The thing is, this is a series that's been plagued by problems for a long time. To see genuine improvement and downplay it because "We shouldn't be getting JUST steps in the right direction" feels less like a critique and more like cynicism. It comes across as "I've been hating Monkey ball for so long that I don't feel like I'm supposed to give it credit when it earns it. It has to be Monkey Ball 2 or else there's no point." Like, are we really gonna act like this is no different from any of the other failures in the franchise?

@chantellethecool1

7 күн бұрын

Exactly all i hear in this video is negatives. Its like hes just ranting

The multiplayer footage looked fine to me? Very bizarre hearing "I'm getting motion sickness" and it just... looks like the rest of the video for the most part? I dunno. FPS cats are weird.

18:06 you are however CHOOSING to buy games that you don't expect to enjoy, SO YOU ARE THROWING YOUR MONEY AT SEGA.

@SodaCrab

7 күн бұрын

My rationale with that is that I, as a consumer, wouldn't want to give them my personal funds. I have patrons that generously donate money to me every month. Since my viewers wanted to see me talk about this game, I bought it using the Patreon money I set aside specifically for making/improving my content. I don't consider this game to be worth my money as a purchase for myself. I understand the confusion though, I can see why you could perceive it as hypocritical that I bought a game that I don't think is worth it.

@thebigpig2364

5 күн бұрын

And if he didn’t buy it you would be saying “YOU HAVEN’T EVEN PLAYED THE GAME”

Wait this is 50 dollars??? I thought this was free to play!

Alright, so just about the conclusion, that I expected. That's a dissapoinment, honestly. I was interested in getting into the B A L L M O N K E Y series, but if the woke twitter skittles club at sega can't do anything right, then I guess not. Guess, I'll just emluate the only two good games then. By the way, didn't they say, they would revive 5 of their IPs and yet, they can't even compete with their own 20 year old entries with 3 consecutive turds for games? Yeah, right. If they couldn't get sonic right for the past 15 years or Monkey Ball right now, then I don't think, they can do anything right. They might as well sell their IPs to someone more suitable.

im pretty sad all the levels look kinda shit, and the multiplayer looks so bad

@SodaCrab

7 күн бұрын

There are some good levels in there but they're far more scarce than in the good old days. It's almost sad seeing glimmers of brilliance in an otherwise pretty dull game, it makes me think of what could've been.

14:22 you used 3 NINTENDO GAMES by NINTENDO because they know how to use their system's hardware to it's fullest, while sega doesn't the game still looks damn good, and maybe you'd get used to the battle mode being 30fps if you played them for more than 2 minutes.

@merideri

7 күн бұрын

the xenoblade games aren't by nintendo. it was made by monotlith soft, no?

@heathed4945

7 күн бұрын

Monolith is a subsidiary or Nintendo nowadays

@SodaCrab

7 күн бұрын

The problem with battle mode isn't the 30fps cap, it's that it can't maintain that 30 and is constantly dropping frames and appearing choppy. 30fps is fine for me in most circumstances, in a lot of games it's hard to even tell the difference

@heathed4945

7 күн бұрын

Similar to Intelligent Systems

@merideri

7 күн бұрын

@@heathed4945 i didn't know that but i think the point still stands the games are primarily made by monolith soft

I personally loved the creative level design, and the game actually has a great compromise for the beginner-friendly difficulty, the per-level goals, having to exploit the physics to create massive shortcuts is really fun. So people, just let this man always be disappointed about literally everything while I enjoy my objectively good game.

@SodaCrab

7 күн бұрын

I disagree, but I'm glad you're enjoying it!

All you do is complain. Banana rumble is a great game. The stage designs are beautiful. You do realise that the physics and controls will never be the same as smb1 and smb2. Instead of being so negative, talk about the positives

@alejandromendoza8897

7 күн бұрын

No

@MagillanicaLouM

6 күн бұрын

I think it's a case of... Idk what to call it for monkey ball, pro fans? vs everyone else that is similar to fighting game discourse i see. As someone that only played SMB2 as a kid on gamecube a few times almost 20 years ago now, compared to folks that have been labbing and speedrunning the shit out of it in that time, i kinda can't wrap my head around, nor really care to try, their complaints because it seems like all there is to complain about is the physics not being the same as their favorite. Now frustration for that is fine on its own, but it's weird to call all these games bad just cause of it. Its not like monkey ball games are released as sloppy technological messes or fundamentally change the core concept of the series. I hop on, roll monkeys through a course, fail a lot, it's a great time, the core of the series remains. As someone that hasn't been grinding SMB2 since, what 2002, it's just kinda lost on me how folks can be this doom and gloom over it but that's just a difference in the path life sets us nerds on I suppose. It is their right to air their frustrations, even if i feel its a bit dramatic, probably for KZread entertainment factor. Anyone can feel a piece media they liked isn't for them anymore for whatever reason. Just a little head scratching looking in from outside.

@damianporter942

4 күн бұрын

but it's a physics-based puzzle/platforming game....

All Monkey Ball fans do is whine about how every new release isn't like the "Good old days" that they grew up with, if the physics being slightly stiffer by 0.1 percent than the GameCube games is enough to ruin an entire game you are completely nostalgia blind elitist and have an allergy to anything different

@thebigpig2364

6 күн бұрын

I’ve lost gallons to her

I honestly like Banana Rumble quite a bit for its own merits, but nothing will surpass the originals really. I'm not happy that they're continuing the gross DLC from Banana Mania and including a Battle Pass (yeah it's free but I wish we could just unlock that stuff offline). Definitely respect your critique of Rumble, it's got some big flaws. The framerate issues are a problem.