With The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and even Star Fox recently proving there is still an appetite for remakes done right, other game publishers are likely looking at their backlogs for inspiration. Sega, no stranger to fantastic franchises, suddenly finds itself once more in an enviable position. It has a bunch of great old games ripe for revival, and several of them seem capable of making a mark again.
One franchise that deserves to make its triumphant return celebrates its 25th anniversary this month. After its arcade launch earlier that year, Super Monkey Ball arrived as a GameCube launch game in November 2001. With proper care, that simple but effective game could thrive in 2026, even though recent entries in the series haven’t made quite the same splash.
Super Monkey Ball’s main event lets players choose one out of four monkeys. The simian is then enclosed in a ball that resembles the capsules we used to collect from toy machines at the supermarket as children. From there, they roll toward goal posts on floating platforms, collecting bananas along the way to improve their score. If they fall off the platform or run out of time before reaching their destination, they lose a life.
In the traditional sense of the term, Super Monkey Ball isn’t a platformer. There’s no sign of Mario, for instance, and jumping isn’t a central mechanic. But there are platforms and pits, so the label fits in a more general sense.
When Super Monkey Ball debuted, it reminded me immediately of an old NES favorite of mine, Marble Madness. But that pioneering older game could be completed in five minutes. There were only a few stages, all of them far too short for my liking. I wanted more of that sort of experience, which Super Monkey Ball delivered. There are dozens of stages. Most of them are smaller than the typical Marble Madness level, but they’re similarly compelling, and their quantity makes up for their brevity.
At the start of Super Monkey Ball, rolling through the goal tape is easy enough. Even by the end of that first set of courses, however, the process grows tense. Then there are 30 more courses of more difficult vintage to tackle, and an even larger and more demanding batch after that.
As they advance, players control not the monkeys themselves but the platforms they occupy. Mastery requires the player to tilt each board, which in turn allows the balls to build up enough speed to launch from small bumps in order to clear gaps, or to negotiate rougher terrain, all without moving so quickly that it becomes impossible to proceed along razor-thin beams that span wide gaps.
A full-fledged remake of that original game could add visual polish. It might also double down on the personality of the starring characters, who make irresistible mascots. AiAi even drove a cart in 2012’s Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, besides starring in various Super Monkey Ball sequels. The included party games and competitive play, which feature attractions such as launching balls toward distant targets, could provide satisfying online play with friends or strangers, especially if they were expanded with additional content.
Sega certainly hasn’t forgotten about Super Monkey Ball. In fact, Super Monkey Ball Triple Pack, a physical-only bundle for Nintendo Switch, will be released on Nov. 10. That compilation is welcome, gathering several recent installments in the series, like Banana Rumble. It also includes Banana Mania, which remastered the stages from the original GameCube releases. But none of those modern installments have managed to have quite the impact that the original one once did, and might again if it were to receive an ambitious remake like Nintendo produced with Ocarina of Time. The main question now is whether Sega has the desire to make it happen.