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I love monkeys. Anyone who knows me reasonably well will know this fact. When I was younger I would apparently badger my mother for a pet monkey and even today, if I were to get a pet dog, I’d try to name it Monkey, or at least Abu (the monkey from Disney’s Aladdin, if you’re not up on famous monkeys). So, Super Monkey Ball, with the cute little guys rolling around in balls, appealed to my monkey loving side, as it did to gamers all over the world. Super Monkey Ball: Touch & Roll on the Nintendo DS, however, will cause all monkeys across the globe to start weeping for their friends, Alai, Gongon, Meemee and Baby.
The key to success for Super Monkey Ball was the precise control afforded by the analogue stick on the GameCube. The gameplay was ridiculously simple, but the level design grew trickier throughout the game, until it got to the point where only those 100 percent in tune with the stick could complete the challenges. Kids and adults alike could play the game, with no barrier other than concentration. Super Monkey Ball: Touch & Roll throws in a barrier of Hoover Damn proportions, in the shape of stylus control. It simply doesn’t work very well, and the alternative d-pad control fairs just as badly, if not worse.
Despite my best efforts to become accustomed to the new control scheme, it simply wasn’t possible. When playing the series on a console your connection to the monkey inside the ball was almost on a Vulcan mind meld level. On the DS it’s like you’re controlling what’s going on via some fake spirit medium who can contact monkeys, but all they get back is that they like bananas and swinging in trees. There’s no real connection at all. Without the precise control the game falls apart at its seams. There are over 100 levels to take on, but you’d have to be bananas to play through them all.
As an aside to the main puzzle mode Sega has included six mini-games. Before we go any further we can discount Monkey War, as it’s almost an embarrassment. It plays like an on-rails FPS and it’s no fun at all. The classic Monkey Fight and Monkey Race from the console games aren’t that great either, with the DS’s controls once again getting in the way too much. The other three games, though, are at least entertaining, perhaps even good. Monkey Bowling comes in standard and challenge varieties and Monkey Hockey is fun for short periods, but Monkey Golf is the real star. Monkey Race, Monkey Fight and Monkey Hockey can even be played with other DS owners with a single game card, but the other three game modes require multiple game cards.
In a game of higher quality an 18-hole mini-golf game would hardly be worth a whole paragraph to itself, but in Touch & Roll’s case, it needs all the help it can get. In keeping with the simple nature of the entire series, mini-golf doesn’t bother with all the complex controls, spin, wind, etc of proper golf games, instead offering a point and shoot golf experience. As well as standard stroke play you can run through the 18 holes in time attack mode, and it’s enjoyable enough to come back to now and again in an attempt to beat your best time. Some more courses would have been a huge bonus, but seeing as this was intended to be a small part of the game, that wasn’t to be.
Compared to the simple, but sleek looking console versions, Touch & Roll looks a little rough, but on the whole it’s a fair handheld representation of the series. The frame rate is nice and smooth and some of the levels are quite complex for a handheld game. There aren’t too many sound effects, but they seem pretty intact from the home console games, and the music is a mix of the usual happy Monkey Ball tunes.
You’d think that Super Monkey Ball would translate well to the Nintendo DS. Monkey Ball is a series built on simplicity and it appeals to all age groups, but the control scheme used in Touch & Roll simply isn’t good enough. Kids won’t be able to put up with the loose controls, and adults who have the patience to persevere will probably have better things to do. Sadly, Super Monkey Ball: Touch & Roll is a big missed opportunity.
