Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz HD recently returned the long-dormant series to modern consoles, albeit with a remaster of a Wii launch title rather than a brand new game. In an interview with Crunchyroll, director and producer Masao Shirosaki has said that this was the best option for the “limited time and budget” that they had, but that he’s hoping it will do well enough to ensure a future for the series.
“The Monkey Ball series is a very important IP for our studio,” Shirosaki says. He previously worked testing Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz for the PlayStation Vita, and has seen a lot of support for the series from fans since then. “Of course, I am aware that the most favored titles are the first two games,” he admits. “If there is enough support for Banana Blitz HD, this will open up doors for remaking the first two games or even a whole new title to the series. But for now, I’d be happy if everyone has fun playing Banana Blitz HD.” Super Monkey Ball and Super Monkey Ball 2 remain the pinnacle of the series for many players.
Shirosaki directly says that he hopes that next title he works on will be another Monkey Ball, once they’re done porting Banana Blitz HD to Steam. “As for my next project, I have many ideas in mind but my hope is to create a new Monkey Ball title,” he says. Shirosaki also worked on the Yakuza series, and when asked if those games could ever cross over into Monkey Ball, he says “if there’s an opportunity to create an all-new Monkey Ball title, I wouldn’t mind featuring Kiryu or Majima as guest characters.”
We gave Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz HD a 5/10 in our review, writing that “a glimmer of what made the series great remains, and it’s enough to make us hope that someday we get a new entry that properly returns the series to its roots.”
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