Super Monkey Ball: Step and Roll

Kristan probably won't be pleased to hear, then, that mini-games are back in Step and Roll. We're only being shown a couple of these today, and one of them featured in Banana Blitz - Monkey Racing. The marketing man is playing as AiAi, racing some other monkeys round an oval circuit for five laps. The track is littered with turbo pads and a wide variety of power-ups, which seems to keep the positions of the racers changing fluidly - always important in a karting-style game.

You can use the balance board to control your monkey while racing, just as you would use it for the single-player game. However, only one balance board can be synced up to the Wii at a time, so other players will need to use remotes. The control system appears to be the same as that in Banana Blitz - you tilt the remote to move your monkey. Nunchuks are also required for some mini-games, but not all.

Take Red Light, Green Light, for example. It's based on classic playground game What's the Time Mr Wolf? (For younger readers: in the olden days, before DS, we had to make our own fun. What's the Time Mr Wolf? was just one of many examples of how we failed at this.) A CPU monkey stands at the end of a playing field, facing a tree. The other players start out at the opposite end.

When the monkey's back is turned they creep across the field - either by waggling the Wii remote or jiggling their legs on the balance board. The moment the monkey turns round, they must keep still, and if he catches a player moving they're out. The winner is the first player to make it across the field, or otherwise the last one standing. It looks like there's potential for multiplayer hilarity here, and it's nice to see a Wii mini-game which doesn't just involve tilting the remote or shaking it as fast as you can.

As for the rest of the mini-games, we'll just have to wait and see. SEGA isn't showing us any more today, and the marketing man won't even tell us how many there will be in the finished product. It's difficult to tell whether Step and Roll is being designed with an emphasis on the single-player balance board experience, or with the party aspect of Wii gaming in mind. So which is it, Mr Marketing? "Both, really. I can't go into too much detail, but pretty much both." That's really no detail at all, but thanks anyway.

For the most part, Step and Roll looks pretty similar to previous Super Monkey Ball games. That's no real surprise though (did anyone really expect a radical overhaul? Ultra Orang Utan Shuttlecock, perhaps?) and it's not necessarily a bad thing. When SMB games work, as anyone who played the GameCube titles knows, they're fantastic fun. The previous Wii game might not have been up to scratch but SEGA's clearly taken the criticisms on board, if the removal of the jump mechanic is anything to go by.

The big question is whether being able to control your monkey with the balance board adds much to the experience. Without having had the chance to try this for ourselves it's impossible to say, but the idea certainly makes conceptually. If it's implemented well enough, Super Monkey Ball: Step and Roll could turn out to be a great follow-up to Banana Blitz. Or rather, a great evolution of where it was going, obviously.