LogFAQs > #966395949

Rolled Out!

The first game this run I haven't heard of! Helix ran a really great Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz run last AGDQ so it's great to see them running this Monkey Ball clone, and damn it really is a Monkey Ball clone - every aspect of it seems designed to give pretty much the same experience, just with the serial numbers filed off - and a few new gimmicks as well. I was pretty impressed by the game, for starters - the gravity gimmick in world 2 was super awesome and the portals later on were weird and interesing too. The run, of course, is just really solid. There isn't a whole lot more to say than that. Helix executed it well, although not perfectly (one level took a lot of attempts to get through), and kept the commentary fun throughout. Just a good run of a game that deserves some publicity; it's actually really cool to see that they gave it a primetime spot with all the other heavy hitters instead of relegating it to the late night slots. I think the Monkey Ball crew have really garnered a lot of respect over the years.

I feel like, for runs like this of an unfamiliar game, I end up talking about the game itself more than any aspect of the run. But Monkey Ball - or a clone of it, in this case - is one of those runs where it's a long series of modular levels instead of an adventure with a lot of different stuff to talk about, so there's not much to say except that Helix rolled the ball good. That type of run could overstay its welcome, but this one does not. It's about as long as it should be, and I'd rather it be longer than shorter, which is good.

- All of the game's six playable characters are they/them except for one, and I don't know which one I would have expected to be she/her, but it definitely wasn't this bizarre chess creature that they play throughout the run.

- Lots of cool features in this game. It has a minimap! Do any of the SMB games have a minimap?

- Really cool, chill soundtrack in this one which I wasn't expecting - less frantic than most of the Monkey Ball games. Apparently @Toxtricity had something to do with the music in this game? That's extremely awesome if so! I trust their music tastes a lot.

- The announcer saying START or GET ROLLIN' or whatever instead of GO really throws me off though, especially since they sound so much like the Monkey Ball announcer.

- "I'm gonna lose my mind." "Your marbles?" "Yeah you're right."

- They said they were gonna use the focus meter at some point way later in the run, and if they ever used it I totally missed it so I still have no idea what it did.