The first Super Monkey Ball caught everyone by surprise when it was ported to the Gamecube from the arcade. This evolution of Marble Madness was simple to learn, hard to master and featured a fun to play campaign mode and mini games. Thanks to the success of that first game, Super Monkey Ball has grown into a profitable franchise for Sega. However, the steady flow of sales has not led to a steady improvement in quality. In fact, I would go as far as saying that none of the Monkey Ball games since the original have surpassed the quality of the first. Some of the entries in the series are flat-out bad.

Prior to my impulsive purchase of Sakura Edition on the iPad, I had been burned twice by Super Monkey Ball sequels. I caved on the iPad version because I was still starved for new iPad-specific games and it was on sale for $5. Is this the game that brings the series back into top form?
Continue reading →