It’s been a peculiar year for the Nintendo Switch. The system has gotten a new exclusive every month this year, but few heavy hitters. Remakes and ports have padded out 2024, while smaller experiments like Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition have filled the cracks in between. There’s few games this year that would rank on my list of all-time favorite Switch exclusives — except for one.
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble is that good, and if you don’t believe me, you can try it for yourself right now. Sega’s platformer is currently on sale during Nintendo’s summer Play Together sale, which cuts the price of several multiplayer games. Despite just launching in June, you can now get Banana Rumble for $37, which is a 25% discount.
Why is that such a great deal? Banana Rumble is something of a return to form for the Super Monkey Ball series. While the ball-rolling platformer was a hit in the Nintendo GameCube era, Sega wasn’t quite able to keep that momentum up in the decades following. Underwhelming installments like Banana Blitz stacked up over the years, as a steady stream of misses hurt the series’ reputation. Sega slowed its roll after 2014, only releasing a pair of middling rereleases. It felt like the series was on life support.
Thankfully, that’s no longer the case. The Switch exclusive Banana Rumble reignites the spark by doubling down on everything that made the GameCube entries great. It offers a suite of strong platforming levels filled with shortcuts. There’s once again an emphasis on speedy play and clever thinking to crack tricky stages like a puzzle. More crucial is the introduction of the spin dash, an ode to Sonic the Hedgehog that completely changes the game. With this feature, players can zip forward with a boost of speed. That entirely cracks speed strategies wide open, letting players launch off of ramps to skip chunks of levels. It’s immensely satisfying.
On top of that, Banana Rumble also functions as a fairly fun multiplayer game. Modes like Goal Rush make good use of the rolling concept to create tense competitive modes. Not all of them are winners. In fact, the multiplayer modes feel more like extras next to the polished 200 solo levels. Still, they add more value to the package, as does its level challenges, unlockable cosmetics, and more. It’s a robust Monkey Ball experience that’s a steal for under $40.
That’s not the only highlight of Nintendo’s latest sale. Nintendo Switch Sports is an underrated throwback to Wii Sports and it’s currently available for $28. Monster Hunter Rise‘s Deluxe Edition is only $16, while former Xbox exclusive Grounded is down to $24. And if you want to mourn the death of the Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games series, you can get the 2020 edition for $24. There’s plenty more deals where that came from too.
If you’ve been curious about Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble, now’s the time to give it a try. It restores the thrill of the GameCube installments, giving the Switch it’s best exclusive of the year. Play it before the holiday season rolls around, when you’ll be drowning in new Zelda and Mario Party games.
