| smbhax [sys=PC; cat=Platformer; reg=NA] |
| | | Been on a weird Sega kick and started thinking about Monkey Ball. Had the GC ones back in the day. Reviews of HD re-releases say they ruined the controls and physics; but I never played the GC ones THAT much, so I wouldn't mind a change, necessarily. Was thinking I'd just get the PS2 SMB Deluxe, but that one only runs at 30 fps (and no 60 fps patch in PCSX2). ; P
So I got this. Made some tweaks:
- Got the Classic Soundtrack DLC (sigh), it's way peppier! Okay just take all my money Sega. Also are they going to bring that new one to Steam or did they take all Nintendo's money (probably, can't blame them I suppose but I will).
- Turned camera controls off in the Options, as advised here: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/323654-super-monkey-ball-banana-mania/79688550 . Does make the controls slightly snappier, you can tell if you just sort of feather the stick quickly and watch the horizon bounce.
- Switch control to d-pad. Don't see why the game doesn't let you roll using the d-pad instead of left analog; in Options it'll let you bind individual directions to different inputs...but NOT d-pad. WHA. So I just told Steam Input to treat the d-pad as the left analog. Easy. ^ _^ Snappy control and way easier on my dang ol' wristing with the DS4.
All set to fall off a lot now! |
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| | | | Rare Steam game that installs to a cryptically named version of its title, rather than the full title: in the steamapps/common folder, it's in "smbbm." |
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| | | | "Camera control" wasn't in the PS2 version as far as I noticed. |
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| smbhax 14:10:01 02/23/24 [title updated] |
| | | | The title is slightly contentious; my head and a few other web sites want to stick a colon in there just to calm things down, but the officialest sites just roll the whole thing right out with no punctuation except capital letters, like they want it all to overload your brain. |
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| | | | Once installed from Steam, you can run the .exe directly--no need for one of those funky Steam web shortcuts. |
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The speed runner whose apparent digital control of SMB inspired me to give the game a shot is https://www.youtube.com/@SnowballSMB (no relation ^ _ ^).
Original soundtrack DLC, Camera Controls OFF, DS4 d-pad mapped to left analog in Steam Input = DELICIOUS MONKEY BALL GRAVY =dd
Didn't make me even slightly motion sick; I had somehow had the idea that it would. (I get nauseous trying to read in a car, for instance.)
It's like the umpteenth recompilation of SMB 1 & 2 and there's an absurd amount of things to do! Remembering many of the party games aren't very fun single-player (Monkey Tennis controls highly disappointing! Monkey Golf putt-putt course pretty fun. River paddling thing way too easy vs CPU (maybe later rivers harder?).). Paid the in-game coin to unlock Dark Banana Mode (just one of at least THREE extra modes to unlock) and WOW first stage requires making like 6 physics exploit alternating bounces in sequence, yeah I'll be ready for that in about 200 hours of play, mmmaybe. ; D
Not sure I quite figured out Photo Mode; pauses the action and lets you move the camera around, but you don't actually save a screenshot, as far as I can tell. I guess they just figure people will use their PC to take the actual shot? Or I failed to find the shutter activation function.
Having fun customizing my monkeys (you can unlock Sonic--and the bananas you can gather for uh money I guess--become rings--but not customize him--and I don't think he makes vocalizations, either? : PP) ping-ponging through the beginning of incomprehensible story Story Mode levels. ^ _^ Will I keep with it once I get to the point where they're brain-meltingly hard??
(Had 1 & 2 on GameCube; 1 didn't support 480p output on my D-video cable, which I found highly disappointing at the time, didn't play it much; 2 DID support 480p, but I made some just maybe slightly labored excuses to myself in 2003 like "less arcade-y feeling as you can save every ten stages and can restart a stage an infinite number of times (seemingly)," "I've heard it said that the stage design is less inspired than in the first game, and there seems to be something to this assertion," and "maybe the single-player doesn't feel quite as true to its arcade action roots as the first game"...and didn't play it much. ; |)
So I don't know but at the moment this FEELS more instantly gripping and compulsive than...well pretty much any other Sega game I've been trying. = o And way more than TrackMania, which is maybe what it reminds me of most, gameplay-wise.
Hah I kept saying "Dreamcast" instead of GameCube. I guess the first SMB DID feel like it should'a been a DC game, to me. = P
OH argh and I'm pretty sure I kept saying "Ryu Ga GotAku" instead of "Ryu Ga GotOku," oogh. I liked their old "Amusement Vision" studio name way better. ^ _^ |
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| | | | There's also a regular Golf mini-game, aside from the mini-golf minigame, and...the regular golfing isn't very good: awkward camera, somewhat crude control/ui, unappealing courses--well, maybe it isn't fair, but it doesn't really slice it as a standalone golf game--stick to Neo Turf Masters for that! |
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0:00 - start
1:19 - Story Mode (from 2-7)
1:09:01 - clearing Launchers 'p'
1:25:20 - Monkey Fight
1:26:16 - Monkey Target
1:31:27 - Monkey Billiards
1:39:14 - Monkey Bowling
1:40:59 - Monkey Golf - Normal Golf
2:08:15 - Monkey Soccer
2:08:54 - Monkey Baseball
2:15:54 - wrap!
I've ordered the PS2 version from eBay. = D Super Monkey Ball Deluxe! I can play that in emulator to spam save states so I won't have to replay the first 2/3rds of a stage all the time like in 4-9, for instance. ^ _^ AND in the PS2 version the balls around the monkeys aren't coated in bright colors (Pokemon seizure red & blue on the default ball; heck the game also makes the DualSense light bar alternate red & blue, even though it doesn't actually support it and you have to enable Steam Input to get the controller to work at all in the game!) that strobe at you as the monkeys roll! (Why did they do that here??) And the PS2 backgrounds are sharp rather than blurry like they are here.
When I googled for how to clear 4-6 Launchers, people were saying this PC version has altered physics that make that stage particularly hard--your ball flies off farther? I'm not too sure about that--you fly pretty far in the PS2 version, too. They definitely added guide brackets onto two of the four launchers here, but those don't really help (and apparently you can clip into the top of the brackets, the internet says); basically you just gotta try to steer your weird marker toward the top of the tower in the minimap view as you fly way up in space--gotta do that in the PS2 version, too. It's awkward. Square zooms the minimap view, which helps slightly (X in the PS2 version, I think).
The PS2 version's framerate DOES appear to be a little shaky. ; )
(The poorly formatted How to Play diagram that Banana Mania keeps showing you says the right stick controls the camera, but it doesn't. Doesn't in the PS2 version either so I dunno what they were thinking here.)
Not too big on most of the minigames. "Normal Golf" was better than I'd thought at first, but gets kinda ugly. Monkey Billiards is eh well it's playable. Got that awkwardness though.
I'm glad playing this session reminded me of Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness, I'm gonna get that game. From what I remember of it--see entry 380--it's pretty chill. : ) |
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| | | | I seem to have "fixed" the 30 fps of PS2 Super Monkey Ball Deluxe with a "cheat" (code/patch) for PCSX2, so--yeah-hoo! (See entry 1947.) |
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