Super Monkey Ball to return via PC says Taiwan's rating committee
Monkey Magic
The Taiwan Digital Game Rating Committee have let slip a game before the publisher were ready, and I'm rather excited about this one. Sega's Super Monkey Ball series is apparently returning, and the next game in the series is rated for a PC release, too. While technically an unconfirmed leak, they've a good track record recently - the Spyro Reignited PC port they leaked in May is confirmed for a September release now. As for why you should care about these monkeys and their balls? Watch an SGDQ run of Super Monkey Ball Deluxe below and understand.
As noted by Polygon, this new game doesn't have an English title yet, but Sega recently trademarked "Tabegoro! Super Monkey Ball" in Japan, and the new game is headed to PS4 as well as PC. SMB has been absent from consoles since 2012, but I'm eager to see it return. This series is what happens when Sega's arcade division make a 3D ball-rolling game, and then refine it until it becomes a speedrunners dream. Its creative, quick-fire levels and consistent physics (even when they break, they break in repeatable ways) make hunting for record times wildly compelling.
Sega have experimented with the formula in the past, with attempts to add more story to the game, the Wii version having semi-wonky motion controls and jumping. While the game is at its best just about rolling around with no buttons required, the main games do tend to be accompanied by a swarm of multiplayer mini-games and competitive racing modes. It's probably best to cross your fingers and hope that Sega play it straight here.
While anything could happen with this new game, my personal hope is for something similar to the massive Super Monkey Ball Deluxe above, which featured every level from SMB1, SMB2, some extras and a ton of bonus games. Give me that with online leaderboards and replays and I'm happy.
There's no release date on the new game, and only that Japanese title, but we do at least know that it's coming our way. That's good enough for me.