Super Monkey Ball Jr.

"Caution: May cause extreme infuriation and breakage of GBA"

Have you every played the original Super MonkeyBall for Game Cube? It rocks, doesn't it? Yes it does. So, when I received MonkeyBall Jr. as a present, my expectations were raised MUCH too high! However, I have very limited patience and am quite hot-tempered when it comes to games, so, here we go!

Graphics: 9/10

Very nice! Well, at least for a GBA game ^_^ The faces of the monkeys are a little blocky, but you don't see them much anyway. Otherwise, the graphics in this game look very nice, very 3-Dish. The graphics definitely show what a GBA can do.

Sound: 5/10

Ugh, same music as the original, and I wasn't a big fan of that either. It is very repetitive. There are about 6 different worlds for levels and levels within the worlds all have the same annoying repeating music. Also, the squeaking of the monkeys can get very irksome. Overall, they could've done a better job on the sound and it sounds identical to the Game Cube game's sound.

Control: 3/10

The control is very bad, the monkey doesn't go where you want it to go and gives the impression of the level being "slippery". The bananas don't register to your total either unless you hit them right in the center. Also, guess what? NO WALLS! This makes it very hard to stay on the course, especially with "slippery" floors! I am very good at the game on the Game Cube, but I can't get past Level 7 BEGINNER on the GBA!

Game play: 2/10

Please don't be bad at my low rating for game play, but this is what it deserves. This game is sometimes near impossibly hard and FRUSTRATING! It is okay at first to fall off the levels a billion times, but the next billion really crosses the line from 'Okay' to 'ARGH!'. Unless you are VERY good at this game with very steady fingers, you will find this game hard, VERY hard. When they say the hardness of the levels are expert, they REALLY mean it. It is JUST not fun to keep falling off levels rated beginner or at beginning of advanced.

Camera: 2/10

I merely included this subcategory because the camera STINKS! It's okay when you are rolling forward, but when you try to turn around, the camera rolls into the monkey's face, which makes it very hard to roll across thin surfaces x__x HeLLOOO? Please tweak this, Nintendo/Sega people.

Replay Value: 8/10 and fading...

This is from my point of view. I however am a very stubborn and determined person when it comes to gaming and will try to conquer a level. But, after awhile, these sparks of interest will begin to fade.

Overall: 5/10

Overall, this game could be better. It needs major tweaking before I add it to my list of favorites. Definitely, it's game play has brought it's overall rating a lot. It's graphics, originality, and possible replay value saved it from the rating of a 4 or 3.

Rent or Buy?

Wait, you can rent GBA games, yes? Well, unless you have oodles of patience, then just rent this game. As said in another review, this game is NOT for the hot-tempered. Save yourself extreme frustrations for games that are more worth it. If you NEED a MonkeyBall game, I strongly recommend the Game Cube version of this, it's 110% better.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 12/07/04