Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble is as fun to watch as it is to play

I couldn’t tell you what the last Super Monkey Ball game I played was, but I can still talk your ear off about the series. That’s thanks to the speedrunning community that has formed around the franchise, making it into the most exciting game to watch when it’s played at a high level. After spending close to a decade watching old games turned inside and out, I’m ready to finally dig into a new entry for myself.

Thankfully, I’m getting that chance on June 25 when Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble launches on Nintendo Switch. The latest entry in Sega’s precise platforming series comes loaded with content, from an adventure mode with 200 stages to multiple 16-player multiplayer modes. That’s all exciting, but my attention was on one question when I sat down to demo all of that last week: How fun will it be to watch players master it?

The answer? Very, very fun.

Gotta go fast

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble is a fairly robust package compared to some previous entries. Its story mode is packed with true cutscenes, and there are a wealth of creative multiplayer modes, lots of monkey customization options, a shop, alternate characters with their own stats, daily missions, and even a leveling system. You can see how seriously developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio (the same developer behind Like a Dragon) is taking this installment when you pop open the settings menu. There, players can adjust the most minute of details, down to setting dead zones for their joysticks. This isn’t a nostalgic cash grab; it’s as serious as can be.

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Before gong hands-on myself, I’d get the exact experience I wanted: the chance to see someone else play it. In my session, a fellow press member started things off by playing through a handful of adventure mode levels. The story-driven mode is