Super Monkey Ball 3D for Nintendo 3DS has three different game modes, the main one of which asks players to successfully help a monkey in a ball navigate towards an end goal while collecting bananas.

There are three game modes to Super Monkey Ball 3D: Monkey Ball, Monkey Race and Monkey Fight.  We’ll take a closer look at all three of them.

MONKEY BALL

In the main Monkey Ball game mode, players have a choice of using the circle pad or motion sensors to control their monkey in a ball over a narrow, turning, bumping course that’s hovering in 3D space.  Obstacles and tricky terrain could lead the monkey to fall off the edge, which then requires the player to restart the level.  As players try and reach the goal, they also must try and collect bananas, which help them earn extra lives.

Although the first few levels are very simple in order to get you used to the controls, the game ramps up in difficulty, and quickly each level begins to offer quite a challenge.  This will likely frustrate younger players.

MONKEY RACE

Monkey Race is a kart-style racing game, with a number of different circuits and tracks to choose from.  There are three circuits total (Monkey Park, Mt. Tyrano and Skyway) and three tracks within each circuit. In Grand Prix mode, the goal is to have the best cumulative finish in all three races of each circuit. Quick Race lets players choose any of the nine tracks to battle against 8 total racers, and in Time Trial you can also choose any track, but you’re trying to finish in the fastest possible time.

The gameplay in the Monkey Race mode is very much like Mario Kart games, so if your family likes those types of games, then this is something they may like, especially because families with multiple DSes can have to up to four players racing at once.  By no means is this mode as detailed or polished as the Mario Kart series of games, but they are based on the same general concepts of racing, collecting items and using those items to get ahead of your opponents.

Monkey Race is suitable for the broadest range of ages of any of the Super Monkey Ball 3D game modes, and is good for approximately ages 7 and up.

MONKEY FIGHT

Monkey Fight is a viewed-from-the-side fighting game, although the point isn’t necessarily to fight your opponents, it’s to get bananas.  In this game, you will jump around levels, using the A button to punch your opponents as you try and collect the most bananas. There are three different maps that can be chosen from, and they all actually takes a high skill level to master.  Just pushing buttons and trying to move around won’t be enough to have success in this mode, and therefore younger or more inexperienced players may not enjoy Monkey Fight as much as Monkey Race.

ADDITIONAL OBSERVATIONS

As players progress through the game, they can unlock new characters and collectibles, such as racers and carts in Monkey Race.

Super Monkey Ball 3D does support multiplayer gameplay over multiple 3DSes.  Up to four players can enjoy Monkey Race and Monkey Fight at a time, and it’s actually great fun to be able to play these modes together.

The 3D effects enhance the view and depth of each level here in Monkey Ball game mode, but overall the 3D effects in Super Monkey Ball didn’t particularly blow us away.  While both Monkey Race and Monkey Fight make use of the 3D effects, neither of them sees the 3D have a significant impact on gameplay.

Less-experienced players will enjoy Monkey Ball and Monkey Race mode, while Monkey Fight is for more advanced players.  As with previous Super Monkey Ball, it’s a solid collection, and especially if your family has multiple 3DSes, it’s a good title to own.  The difficulty level can ramp up pretty quickly, though, so we only recommend this one for families with tweens and up.