Super Monkey Ball Junior (Game Boy Advance)

By JON MINIFIE

(Herald rating: * * * * )

Sure, we're not blasting them off into space anymore but monkeys are still pioneers at least in the wonderful world of video gaming. Look at Donkey Kong for example or Ape Escape both revolutionary games in their own right. And then there's Sega's 2001 Gamecube classic Super Monkey Ball. Few who experienced that title will forget just how much fun and how addictive it was, nor can one forget its quartet of sweet simian stars.

AiAi, MeeMee, Baby and GonGon (the world's cutest primates) are all back in Super Monkey Ball Junior, the Game Boy Advance port of the GameCube version, and not a moment too soon. Not just because the world needs more games with monkeys in them, but because Sega have done such an extraordinary job of recreating this game for NintendoÕs handheld.

Now normally, the concept of a monkey trapped inside a glass ball would provoke hurried calls to the SPCA, but in the madcap world of Super Monkey Ball Junior, it's the catalyst for endless hours of gameplay. Mini-games such as Monkey Golf and Monkey Bowling provide distraction from the main game which has 60 levels and another nine additional levels to unlock as a reward by performing well on the main levels.

$99.95

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