Super Monkey Ball

• Monkey Ball (arcade) (June 23, 2001)
• Super Monkey Ball (GameCube) (September 14, 2001)
• Super Monkey Ball 2 (GameCube) (August 25, 2002)
• Super Monkey Ball Jr. (Game Boy Advance) (November 19, 2002)
• Super Monkey Ball (N-Gage) (October 7, 2003)
• Super Monkey Ball Deluxe (PlayStation 2 and Xbox) (March 15, 2005)
• Super Monkey Ball Touch & Roll (Nintendo DS) (December 1, 2005)
• Super Monkey Ball Adventure (PlayStation 2, GameCube, PlayStation Portable) (June 30, 2006)
• Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz (Wii) (November 19, 2006)
• Super Monkey Ball: Tip 'n Tilt (J2ME) (2007)
• Super Monkey Ball (iOS) (2008)
• Super Monkey Ball: Tip 'n Tilt 2 (J2ME) (2008)
• Super Monkey Ball 2 (iOS) (2009)
• Super Monkey Ball 2: Sakura Edition (iOS, Android, Windows Phone)[1] (2010, rereleased 2018 for android[2])
• Super Monkey Ball: Step & Roll (Wii) (2010)
• Super Monkey Ball: Ticket Blitz (Arcade) (2011)
• Super Monkey Ball 3D (Nintendo 3DS)[3] (2011)
• Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz (PlayStation Vita)[4] (2012)
• Super Monkey Ball Bounce (Android, iOS) (2014)
• Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD (PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One) (October 29, 2019 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, December 10, 2019 for PC)

As opposed to normal games where the player takes control of the character itself, Super Monkey Ball has the player move their character around by tilting the world itself (the exception of this being Super Monkey Ball Adventure). By tilting the board at various angles, players can control the speed and turning of the character. The goal of each level is to reach the goal gate before the timer runs out, and without falling off the floor. Bonus points and extra lives can be increased by collecting bananas on the stage. Early games use traditional controllers to play while many recent titles utilize modern technology, such as the accelerometers of the Wii and iPhone titles. The gameplay is similar to Atari Games' 1984 arcade video game Marble Madness.

From left to right: MeeMee, Baby, AiAi, and GonGon

The playable characters of the whole series are Aiai, Meemee, Baby, Gongon, Yanyan, Doctor, Jam, Jet, C Aiai, W Meemee, A Baby, F Gongon, P Yanyan, R Doctor, N Jam, and B Jet. Aiai is a playable character in Sonic Riders and Sega Superstars Tennis (the latter of which also features Meemee as an unlockable character). Aiai also appears in Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing. In this game, he rides a banana car and his All-Star move has him racing in his ball along with Meemee, Gongon and Baby crashing into the other players. He returns in the sequel, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, along with the addition of Meemee as a playable character. Aiai was also featured in Archie Comics' adaptation of the second game in Sonic Universe #45.

The primary characters are Aiai, Meemee, Baby and Gongon. They are present in many games. Super Monkey Ball Adventure, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz, and Super Monkey Ball 3D incorporated a larger roster of playable characters, usually varying from title to title.

• Gongon was not a playable character in the classic Monkey Ball arcade cabinet. His first appearance was Super Monkey Ball on the GameCube in Japan.[5]

The iOS version in 2008 was one of the first games on the App Store and was the best selling app on launch day.[6] A 2006 study conducted by the Beth Israel Medical Center found that surgeons who played Super Monkey Ball for 20 minutes prior to performing a surgical drill finished slightly faster and made fewer mistakes.[7] In 2009, Edge ranked the first Super Monkey Ball #39 on its list of "The 100 Best Games To Play Today", stating "Seeing its sturdy physics model being used to perform incredible acrobatic feats shows just how finely honed it is."[8] Writing in 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die, Christian Donlan described Super Monkey Ball as "one of Sega's grade-A triumphs."[9] An enhanced engine of the Gamecube games was used in F-Zero GX,[10] which was critically acclaimed[11] and Nintendo considered a step forward for the franchise.[12] The developers of Super Monkey Ball went on to make the Yakuza series.[13]

When commenting on the differences of the franchise between the Gamecube games and the Wii entries with Banana Blitz and Step & Roll in a Tokyo Game Show 2009 interview, Toshihiro Nagoshi stated that they were made easier for kids and families. However, he stated that if they got the chance, they definitely would like to go back and make a game in the style of the old games that particularly the fans overseas want.[14] Due to the older demographic of the PlayStation Vita, the difficulty for Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz was made more on par with the Gamecube entries.[15] The voice behind the game's narration was uncredited. However, on December 7th 2019 YouTuber Nick Robinson published a video which reported that the narrator had been Tokyo-based voice actor Brian Matt. [16] The 2020 battle royale game Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout has been described as "Super Monkey Ball for the Fortnite generation" by Tom Wiggins of Stuff magazine.[17]