Super Monkey Ball Jr. (GBA) | Pixel Pursuit
This is a review of Super Monkey Ball Jr. which was developed by Realism, published by Sega and THQ and released in 2002 for the Game Boy Advance. This is the first handheld game in the entire franchise and is based on the levels and gameplay seen in the first Super Monkey Ball, however, being on much less powerful hardware and not having analogue sticks seems like a recipe for disaster... So how does it hold up?
Super Monkey Ball | Pixel Pursuit:
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Super Monkey Ball Deluxe | Pixel Pursuit:
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Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD | Pixel Pursuit:
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Пікірлер: 92
This game is 1,9 megabytes. That is insane
@MattDustyParker
2 жыл бұрын
Got any comparisons for context sake?
@Zchapspace1
2 жыл бұрын
@@MattDustyParker The easiest way to think of megabytes is in terms of music or Word documents: A single 3-minute MP3 is usually about 3 megabytes; A 2-page Word document (just text) is about 20 KB, so 1 MB would hold about 50 of them.
@retrorewind6042
2 жыл бұрын
@@Zchapspace1 he probably meant another gba game, not random pieces of media
@TazAlonzo
Жыл бұрын
@@MattDustyParker This game is essentially a remake of Super monkey ball 1, and that game is 241 MB
2:17 The GBA wasn't region locked so a US cart should work on a European GBA
@PixelPursuit
4 жыл бұрын
Until making this video, I actually had no idea the GBA was region free! But yeah it turns out the copy of the game I originally had was a fake and obviously a bad one too considering it didn't work!
Super Monkey Ball On GBA sounds like something that would be pretty difficult and hard to do, i’m surprised they kept the same game style instead of doing top down like the spyro GBA Games.
@PixelPursuit
4 жыл бұрын
Yeah, it's amazing they managed to pull it off this well given the hardware limitations. Going top down would have been a far easier way of going about it but I guess they wanted it to be as close to the console versions as possible and to be honest it worked, so the risk paid off!
@troysome4093
2 жыл бұрын
its way too hard i keep game overing
I think the box you had was from a fake. I can't find any images of that box from scans / boxes online from various regions. edit: never mind, you mention this in another video haha
@PixelPursuit
3 жыл бұрын
Hahaha! I'll never hear the end of this fake box situation! :D But yeah, it's a fake and I'm pretty sure the original cartridge I got was a fake too seeing as it didn't work. They put a pretty decent amount of effort into the fake case though, it's actually pretty deceiving! I wonder who made it and why...
Also, also, also. If you are wondering why banana blitz hd feels so watered down, considering it is on (at the time i am typing this) current hardware in form of the switch, ps4, xbox one and pc......... It’s right in the title! “HD”. Yeah. It is a “HD” port of a nintendo wii game simply titled “super monkey ball banana blitz”. Ok. (Sorry if that sounded a bit harsh?)
@PixelPursuit
4 жыл бұрын
Haha, yeah I know that. I guess I just think that they shouldn't have remade that one or alternatively they should have remade it but added more content to it. The lack of multiplayer options, the rubbish quality of the minigames (and quantity of them), the fact you can't play the game without the boss battles and loads of other stuff makes it feel like such a shell of what the games used to be. Even the online leaderboards aren't very good! How do you mess up a leaderboard! I know they were working under a tight budget and probably under huge time constraints too, so I'm not annoyed at the developer, I'm annoyed at Sega for giving the developers those restraints. I hope the next game in the series is made with more time and a bigger budget so we can see something more along the lines of the quality seen in the first two games. :)
@Maxxieuguu
4 жыл бұрын
Pixel Pursuit i agree
Great review man! My only complaint is that you don't really fluctuate your voice much to make things exiting, other than that amazing production quality! I know you will grow tons in the future.
@PixelPursuit
4 жыл бұрын
Thanks! I agree, that's something I've struggled with for the longest time now. Even when I think I'm being more animated with my voice when I listen back to it it's still kinda monotone. I should really step it up with that but it's difficult when you're such an introvert haha! :)
@animationcreation6092
4 жыл бұрын
Pixel Pursuit I hear you, I’m a bit of an introvert too. Your videos are very well made though.
@PixelPursuit
4 жыл бұрын
Thanks! I try to keep the production value in my videos as high as I possibly can, so it's good that element of it gets noticed :D
I remember playing this at a hotel. It was amazing.
@PixelPursuit
Жыл бұрын
I actually still really like this even after playing all of the other games! Something about the graphics is oddly charming haha!
This is how I fell in love with the series The only monkey ball game I had until I got the others later on
@PixelPursuit
Жыл бұрын
I always find it interesting when people got into a series through a weird side game like this! To be fair my first Monkey Ball was the PS2 version of Deluxe which isn't the best first impression haha!
It is very worth it to review the ds version.
@PixelPursuit
4 жыл бұрын
I will definitely get to it soon. I'm probably going to review the remaining console ones first and then do the rest of the portable ones afterwards. I'm weirdly looking forward to playing the original Banana Blitz just to see what the motion controls are like!
Also, jr is the only game in the super monkey ball series, you have covered so far, that i have not played. But i do want to give it a go one day, it looks really fun.
@PixelPursuit
4 жыл бұрын
It is actually pretty good, definitely worth a purchase if you're a fan of SMB (which I obviously know you are)! It's pretty cheap to get your hands on too which is an added bonus.
@Maxxieuguu
4 жыл бұрын
Pixel Pursuit ok.👍
@kieranstark7213
3 жыл бұрын
I owned Super Monkey Ball Jr. but unlike Super Monkey Ball 1 & 2 for the GameCube, after I actually played it and to this day, I decided that maybe I won’t even get it as a rental on sale.
Ah yes, my favourite minigame, Key
@PixelPursuit
3 жыл бұрын
Key has got to be the most iconic Super Monkey Ball minigame! Everyone always talks about it! :D
#makesupermonkeyballgreatagain
Also, also. If you are doing adventure next. All i have to say is. Be prepared. Be very prepared.
@PixelPursuit
4 жыл бұрын
I've been mentally preparing myself for Adventure for quite a while now, but even then... I'm probably not prepared enough...
@Maxxieuguu
4 жыл бұрын
Pixel Pursuit alright.
There's a cheat to make the graphics worse and improve performance. left left righ right down down, a on the title screen. It improves performance considerably. Im glad to see someone give a positive review to this game. I've been playing it lately and I'ts really fun and impressive in my opinion.
@PixelPursuit
2 жыл бұрын
I really wish I had known about that at the time I made this video! I never look up cheat codes so I miss out on a lot of stuff like that. Even so, I enjoyed this game a lot even with the low frame rate! :D
I beat this game 100% and it was fantastic. Those master levels were crazy on the GBA D-pad.
@PixelPursuit
3 жыл бұрын
Yeah they really are! I don't think I ever actually did all of the master levels!
@troysome4093
2 жыл бұрын
its way too hard how did you do it
I don't want to sound rude, but are you sure you haven't accidentally bought a non-functional bootleg? GBA bootlegs are sadly very common and the back of your box looks quite a bit different from the pictures I found online.
@PixelPursuit
4 жыл бұрын
I mean it’s a possibility. I did think the box looked pretty poorly printed. I assumed the box was different with it being an American version or something but yeah maybe it’s just a knock off haha. I didn’t pay much for it so it’s fine either way really. Are there any clear identifiers on the cartridge itself that would indicate it’s a bootleg?
@PixelPursuit
4 жыл бұрын
So I’ve just had a look and yeah... Pretty sure my copy is a fake. The box is 100% not real. I’ve checked what the NTSC and PAL ones look like and they don’t match. I’ll address this in the next video I guess haha! :)
@Specter227
4 жыл бұрын
@@PixelPursuitI hope you didn't spend that much on it. I would also check the cartridge in order to be 100% sure, there are a few guides floating online on how to spot bootleg carts. As I said, bootleg GBA games are sadly very common (to the point it can be rather hard to find genuine carts of certain GBA games, Pokemon games are notorious for this), so don't worry about it too much.
@PixelPursuit
4 жыл бұрын
I didn’t spend much on it at all, so no worries there! I’ll take a look at some guides to see if the cartridge is fake too. Interesting how I’ve now got a random fake game box in my collection but I’m going to keep it anyway haha. I wonder if the manual is fake... I didn’t even show that in the video. I know my Pokemon games are real because I got most of them on release :)
Great review, I just picked this up for cheap on eBay
@PixelPursuit
3 жыл бұрын
Thanks! You made a good pick up there, it's a strangely fascinating version of Super Monkey Ball :D
It is worth going over the hassle to review the ds one.
@PixelPursuit
4 жыл бұрын
I will probably take a look at it then. At the moment I don't actually own it, but I'll be sure to find a copy at some point in the future!
@Maxxieuguu
4 жыл бұрын
Pixel Pursuit ok.
@NTSC vs PAL. What? On a GBA? GBA runs at a unique low resolution 59.whatever fps and isnt outputting ntsc or PAL video to it's screen, and the gameboy advance isn't region locked. The gameboy player should be able to take any region game, although the gameboy player disc is region locked and must match the console.
@PixelPursuit
2 жыл бұрын
Yeah it's weird how I didn't know that until fairly recently. I thought that all Nintendo consoles were region locked until the Switch! So yeah it turned out that it was just a fake cartridge I had, which explains why it didn't work.
I beat this game when I was 10 was my favorite game
@PixelPursuit
3 жыл бұрын
That's awesome! I feel like I would have constantly played this if I would have had it as a kid!
Nope, Jr came before Super Monkey Ball 2
@PixelPursuit
2 жыл бұрын
Oops, yeah you’re right! I guess I was only considering the American release date (even though I’m from the UK) 😂 It doesn’t matter too much though, my Monkey Ball series was a bit all over the place to begin with!
I don't understand why the NTSC game wouldn't work on the GBA etc as they are region free.... Must actually be a dead cartridge.
@PixelPursuit
4 жыл бұрын
Yeah it turns out that the original cartridge I got was a knock-off version that obviously isn't very well made considering it doesn't work! Interestingly though even the case seems to be fake, so whoever made this fake version went to a lot of effort to pass it off as real.
Wait,I think your first copy was just broken. The GBA can play games from any region. I have a few ntsc and japanese games myself, and i am Dutch
@PixelPursuit
2 жыл бұрын
I think it’s actually a pirated copy. Even the case for it appears to be fake, hence all of the silly typos. It’s a lot of effort to go to in order to create such a convincing fake though haha!
Wait whatttttt you can hold a and b to change the tilt of the stage... So during all these years I've beaten this game deathless without doing that. no wonder some master stages felt janky....
@PixelPursuit
3 жыл бұрын
How on Earth you managed to do deathless runs of this game without knowing that I have no idea 😂 I legitimately thought that would be impossible in certain levels! I suppose at least you can say you’re a Super Monkey Ball Jr. expert now though!
As a owner of this game I can say it is worth it
@PixelPursuit
3 жыл бұрын
Yeah it definitely is! I don't know if it would be all that great if you weren't already into Super Monkey Ball, but if you are, it's really interesting to see how they ported it to the GBA.
@bnxpcapth2o445
3 жыл бұрын
Who wouldn’t be into super monkey ball as soon as they got it it’s basically the purest form of platform speedrunning
@PixelPursuit
3 жыл бұрын
That’s true! It’s a classic example of a game that’s easy to pick up but hard to master. Those types of games tend to have universal appeal!
i know this is a crazy idea but your boxed copy looks very good condition and your cartridge is WACK, i have a copy and my cartidge has WAY different cover art, granted i have the american version but your american one looks different too, maybe you have a repro?
@PixelPursuit
3 жыл бұрын
Haha yeah I discovered that my original copy of the game (and the box I have) is a fake. I have no idea why somebody would go to the trouble of making a totally fake box for this game and seemingly put so much effort into it! But yeah, the second copy I got of the game is real and obviously actually works :D
I was thinking of picking this up and I would like to hear someone's opinion on this game.
@PixelPursuit
4 жыл бұрын
If you're a big fan of Super Monkey Ball then you should definitely get it just because it's interesting to play what's fundamentally a demake of the original game. It's also interesting because of it being a rare example of a 3D game on the GBA so if you find that sort of thing interesting it's worth it too! Otherwise though, I would stick to the GameCube games, they're much better than this, but the fact it works (and works pretty well too) is extremely impressive.
i can forgive the graphics but not the slowdown
@PixelPursuit
3 жыл бұрын
I mean, this game is running on hardware that was never intended to have 3D graphics, so I can forgive both the graphics and the slowdown honestly! It's a very technically impressive game for it's time! :)
Lol, he looks nothing like that Avatar he uses.
@PixelPursuit
3 жыл бұрын
Who me? Haha, I don’t know... People have said that it does look like me fairly often!
I like this video
@PixelPursuit
4 жыл бұрын
Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it :)
you should sell the NTSC version
@PixelPursuit
4 жыл бұрын
I don’t think it’s worth very much and another commenter has just pointed out the possibility that it could potentially be a bootleg version so I wouldn’t want to be passing that on to people haha!
@AnvilSP
4 жыл бұрын
@@PixelPursuit Yep, that USA version is absolutely a bootleg, the moulding on the cartridge is way off. The GBA is region free so the game not working was likely due to the poor quality of the cart.
@PixelPursuit
4 жыл бұрын
@@AnvilSP The GBA is region free? I had no idea! I just figured with it being an older Nintendo system that it would be region locked! But yeah, at least I have an official version of the game now that actually works! And I guess it's nice having a weird knock-off box too!
@Acidonia150reborn
4 жыл бұрын
@@PixelPursuit Yeah they is no Region Locking on GBA only Region locked GBA games are GBA video carts and only when used in a gamecube. DS games are all region free when play on a regular DS or any DS/3DS model but games with DSI features or are DSI only are region locked when played on a DSI or 3DS. All 3DS games are region locked luckily most games got sold in every region to begin with though.
You sound twenty years younger than you actually look.
@PixelPursuit
3 жыл бұрын
I suppose I'll take that as a good thing! :P
@Gametoon05
3 жыл бұрын
@@PixelPursuit I don't really know if I'd say it is or not. Maybe it's just how british people sound. In case you're wondering, I'm not a brit, so I don't have much experience with voices other than from different TV shows and movies and such.
@PixelPursuit
3 жыл бұрын
@@Gametoon05 Haha, well I guess that’s fine, so long as you can understand what I’m saying I suppose that’s all that really matters! To be honest British people can speak completely differently depending on what part of the country they’re from. There’s so many different accents here! But yeah! My voice is probably a bit higher pitched than a lot of people’s. So that’s probably what you’re picking up on :P
Your North American copy of the game is a fake, the real one doesn't have bubbles or Aiai on the front and the text should be in the center. Also the gba isn't region locked so the fake one must just not work at all.
@PixelPursuit
4 жыл бұрын
Yeah, I suspected that as soon as I got it but I stupidly made the video anyway just thinking that it would be real because what kind of person makes a fake box. It turns out though that someone did!
I thought the gba was region free
@PixelPursuit
3 жыл бұрын
It is! I didn’t know that at the time though. It turns out that I just got a fake cartridge which explains why it didn’t work. The game box is completely fake as well which explains the grammatical errors. Someone went to a lot of effort with passing it for the real thing though haha!