software.wikisort.org - Video_game

Super Monkey Ball 2[lower-alpha 1] is a platform party video game developed by Amusement Vision and published by Sega in 2002 for the GameCube. It is the second installment in the Super Monkey Ball series, and the first installment to have a storyline and to be exclusively released on a home console.

This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2009)

Super Monkey Ball 2
North American cover art
Developer(s)	Amusement Vision
Publisher(s)	Sega
Director(s)	Toshihiro Nagoshi
Producer(s)	Toshihiro Nagoshi
Designer(s)	Junichi Yamada (Level) Daisuke Sato (Stage)
Artist(s)	Mika Kojima
Composer(s)	Hidenori Shoji Haruyoshi Tomita Ryuji Iuchi
Series	Super Monkey Ball
Platform(s)	GameCube
Release	NA: August 25, 2002 JP: November 21, 2002 PAL: March 10, 2003 AU: September 3, 2004
Genre(s)	Platforming, party
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Gameplay

The primary objective of the game mode is to navigate a monkey trapped inside a ball from one end of a stage to the other. Players control the slant of the stage by moving the control stick, thus making the ball roll and can fail a level by falling off or by running out of time.[1]

The stages contain platforms such as slopes, half-pipes, moving platforms, etc. The game introduces new gimmicks such as teleportation doors, switches which control the speed of a stage, massive obstacles, and more.

Story Mode

Story Mode is single-player only and introduces Dr. Bad-Boon, an evil scientist who steals all of the bananas from Monkey Island. The four protagonists, AiAi, MeeMee, GonGon, and Baby give chase and must navigate booby-trapped stages to reclaim the bananas. The story takes place over 100 levels split between 10 worlds with animated cutscenes that play in between each.[1] The player is given an infinite number of lives and can complete each world's ten stages in any order.[2]

Challenge Mode

Challenge mode allows up to four players and plays like the main mode of the original Super Monkey Ball. There are three difficulty levels: Beginner, Advanced, and Expert, consisting of 10, 30, and 50 floors each. Players navigate each set in order with a limited number of lives and continues.[2] Beginner Extra, Advanced Extra and Expert Extra floors are unlocked when each respective difficulty level is completed without a single continue. There are ten extra stages in each difficulty.[3] A hidden set of 10 Master floors can be unlocked through playing the Expert Extra floors without using a continue. At this point, the player will be able to select this difficulty as if it were a normal mode. If a player completes all 10 Master-stages without using a continue, they will go to the Master Extra stages.[4]

Party games

Twelve party games are accessible from a separate menu and feature 1-4 player co-op and competitive multiplayer modes. Six games return from the original game with updates, including Monkey Race, Monkey Fight, Monkey Target, Monkey Billiards, Monkey Bowling, and Monkey Golf. The remaining six games are new and must be unlocked with 2500 Play Points apiece. These include Monkey Tennis, Monkey Baseball, Monkey Soccer, Monkey Boat Race, Monkey Shot and Monkey Dogfight.[2][5] ^{[citation needed]}

Reception

The game won the E3 2002 Game Critics Awards for Best Puzzle/Trivia/Parlor Game.[14]

Super Monkey Ball 2 was released to generally favorable reviews from critics. Metacritic gave the video game a Metascore of 87, based on 34 reviews.[15] IGN praised the game for its core gameplay concepts, giving it a 9/10,[16] stating that it was "just as simple as the original, and also just as addictive... But where it's an entertaining single-player experience, it's a superb multiplayer one. All of the revamped mini-games are fantastic... this is one of the best multiplayer games for GCN, without a doubt and hands down."[5] Famitsu magazine scored the GameCube version of the game a 31 out of 40.[17] GameSpot named it the best GameCube game of August 2002,[18] and later declared it 2002's "Best Party Game on GameCube". It was nominated for GameSpot's annual "Best Sound on GameCube" and "Game of the Year on GameCube" awards, which went to Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem and Metroid Prime, respectively.[19]

By July 2006, Super Monkey Ball 2 had sold 760,000 copies and earned $22 million in the United States. Next Generation ranked it as the 80th highest-selling game launched for the PlayStation 2, Xbox or GameCube between January 2000 and July 2006 in that country. Combined sales of games in the Super Monkey Ball series released between those dates reached 1.1 million units in the United States by July 2006.[20] The game sold well enough to warrant a GameCube Player's Choice budget re-release game.[21]

Legacy and impact

A 2002 study recognized Super Monkey Ball 2 as one of several video games associated with improved performance in laparoscopic surgery.[22] An extended study, performed over three years with 300 participants, found that surgeons who played Super Monkey Ball 2 and other video games for at least six minutes prior to operating performed better in a virtual surgery simulation than surgeons that did not play. Results include a significant drop in errors and an increase in speed and overall score. In response to these findings, Dr. James Rosser created a gaming area in the physician's lounge at Florida Hospital Celebration Health,[23] saying "I want all the surgeons to warm-up and make sure they give Super Monkey Ball a chance."[24]

Super Monkey Ball 2's stages were remade as a part of Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania.

Notes

References

---