So this week, I purchased Super Monkey Ball for GameCube. Yes yes yes, I know

Gamecube is an almost defunct product but i’m making the most of that fact by picking up games for cheap now that stores are preparing for the next (cough new cough) generation of gaming.

Review after the jump

As a late comer to the franchise and only playing this once before, Heather told me she wanted to play this game so I bought it for cheap and we spent a few hours bashing away at the insanely fun mini-games included in the package. Its amazing how I could have missed out on this before. The game basically involves one out of four monkeys which are encapsulated in tiny balls which you must roll around levels of increasing difficulty to reach the goal. The levels themselves are a treat on beginner but when you reach the advanced and expert modes they kinda start to repeat themselves a bit but add increased difficulty to them. As you play through the main game you gain points which can be used to unlock mini-games such as Monkey bowling, monkey golf and a version of monkey snooker. All of which are smashing games and are definitely much better in multiplayer mode with other people. They are extremely fun and all of the games have there own tactics and strategies that you will need to learn to master them.

Its just a shame that there is a lack of said mini/party games. It would have been great to have seen double the amount in the game but to be honest, I think that the games included have been worked on perfectly and are truly a very fun experience. It also seems that the forthcoming Wii version of this game seems to build largely on the content currently available as well as enhancing the graphical style and making it look much much prettier.

I award this game 9 points out of 10 – its originality is astounding and does not get boring quickly, the only down-point for me was that the graphics in places looked a bit clunky but that is to be expected for a fairly old game. Also there could have been a few more multiplayer games thrown in for good measure. (Definitely worth £10 though!)