Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania: Anniversary Launch Edition - PlayStation 4

I was so excited to get this. I was a big fan of SMB 1 & 2 on the GCN and SMB Dx on the PS2. I looked forward to HD graphics (or at least graphics that looked good on a modern TV) and all the party games I remembered. This game delivers all that plus you can track your scores versus others via the internet, there are features for unlocking game music and video, and more.However, my first time playing was very frustrating. The controls and the party games are not exactly true to the originals. The differences may be minor, but certain strategies used in the originals may need to be updated for this version. This was very frustrating at first and I questioned whether the game was properly tested to make sure it worked before release. It turns out, many of the controls have been tweeked to work differently. Once I came to this realization, a little experimentation revealed how to control this version of the game and the fun began. Don't give up because your favorite party game seems "unplayable". Just put in some time to figure out the new controls.This seems like a big flaw--not being able to control the game like the originals--but it may be a good design decision. When Super Mario 3D All-Stars was released, it had all the same controls as the original games (from the same era as the first Super Monkey Ball), and they seemed pretty rough today (especially features like the camera POV, which was a new thing back in the late 1990s / early 2000s--nothing had been updated to follow modern control expectations). This game has updated controls, probably with modern game design in mind, and once you figure them out, this game rocks as hard as the originals. But if you go into the game expecting to use the same controls you mastered 20 years ago, be prepared for a learning curve and for lots of sucking at first.Great game. Just don't assume you'll be as awesome as you remember right off the bat.

Yep 😊