Going back to the days of the GameCube, I absolutely remember that one of my family’s favorite games to play, and play together, was Super Monkey Ball. Its mix of cute characters, approachable play, and pretty light general feel made it something even my younger kids and gaming-challenged wife could enjoy. Then, when Sega followed up with Super Monkey Ball 2, they absolutely knocked it out of the park. Not only did it feature terrific single-player content, they added multiplayer events to the mix, including a few I would argue are among my favorites of all time (looking at you Monkey Bowling and Monkey Target). I fell off the series from that point until Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD on Switch, which was OK, but gave me the impression the series had lost a step.

Thankfully Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble doesn’t feel like it has any such issues, delivering crisp and clean performance, a gentle and generally pleasant progression in challenge in its single-player mode, and plenty of multiplayer battle modes to keep you occupied as well. Starting with the single-player campaign, aside from a charging dash the play remains pretty straightforward. You’ll be tilting the stage you’re on to control the roll of your monkey (well, or even some characters from other games as well) as you work to hang on, collect bananas, and complete each stage. At least through most of the game’s first 2 worlds the challenges remain quite mild, though there are some exceptions, and the challenge progression generally feels quite gentle, making it a pretty kid-friendly game even.

What sets the game apart pretty well is that, much like some of the classics in the series my family and I enjoyed, it appears some extra work went into making the most of its local and online multiplayer mode. Among them, I think that the Race and Goal Rush modes are the best mix of challenge and fun, with Race being an absolutely chaotic roll to the finish line as everyone bumps into each other, uses a variety of power-ups to gain an advantage, and simply tries to stay on top of the course which tend to have plenty of their own hazards built in to set you up. Goal Rush is a team event, and its focus ends up being on the challenge to be in control of your ball as there are targets all over the board. Your objective is to go through as many of them as you can to ensure your team’s victory, gaining valuable points immediately, and then hopefully locking up that spot for additional team points in the end. In particular, stealing a spot from another team is quite rewarding, not only getting some critical points but potentially getting some bonus points as well when they check each goal to see who went through it last. Whether playing this against some people locally, or against a bunch of strangers online, it all generally performs well, but it doesn’t quite check every box. Granted, they can certainly be crazy and chaotic, but there’s something to be said for that style in the right title.

While I’ll admit to some disappointment at not seeing modern adaptations to two of my favorite multiplayer modes, I was at least pleased that they’ve managed to include a handful that each have their own style, as well as including both team and individual options. While sometimes indie titles on Switch struggle with their online play performance, I can’t say I ran into any issues the handful of times I tackled it with this. In general matchmaking took a reasonable amount of time, there were plenty of people fighting tooth and nail to win, and for the most part everything felt fair. Add in the satisfying single-player play the series has been known for and this is an excellent family-friendly title with a little something for everyone.