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Super Monkey Ball: Touch & Roll

EMAIL PRINT ds

8.5 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 40 critic reviews
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Based on 6 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Sega

Developer: Sega

Genre(s): Action, Party

Players: 4

ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)

Release Date: February 21, 2006

Summary

Touch & Roll combines the Monkey Ball series' legendary addictiveness with perhaps the perfect platform in the form of the Nintendo DS and its touch-screen technology. Ten crazy worlds with 10 levels each offer 100 puzzle trays designed to frustrate and delight - 50 of which are all new and DS exclusive. Use the DS stylus and touch screen to guide AiAi, MeeMee, GonGon and Baby through this slice of monkey madness. Four classic party games playable in both single and multiplayer modes - Monkey Race, Monkey Fight, Monkey Mini Golf and Monkey Bowling. Two all-new DS exclusive party games - Monkey Hockey and Monkey Wars. Wireless multiplayer via ad-hoc Wi-Fi connectivity. [Sega]

Cheat Codes & Hints: GameSpot Hints & Cheats

Also On The Web: Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Next Level Gaming

It’s a great pick-up-and-play title, and it’s got a Tetris-quality addiction factor.

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Worth Playing

It is perfect for short sessions of play, possesses serviceable multiplayer functionality, and its sufficient production values make for one of the most unexpectedly fun times on the system.

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3DAvenue

The developers have done an excellent job bringing the game to a system with less power and fans of the series will obviously pick this one up, but it’s also an excellent introduction to the crazy world of the super monkeys for new comers.

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Gamer's Hell

Patience is a virtue, though, and player perseverance should eventually reap its reward, and, as stated earlier, any mounting frustrations are soon forgotten because Touch & Roll is simply impossible to dislike.

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Play.tm

If you want a gripping adventure about the perils of a young monkey trapped in a quarantine bubble then this is probably not the game for you.

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Game Chronicles

If you love quirky, concept games like "Katamari Damacy," you will love this game.

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GameBrink

But what you really get is an all-encompassing Monkey Ball experience that rivals what is offered on consoles. Though a few modes are missing, a few more have been added to supplement them. [JPN Import]

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Game Informer

With 50 new levels, 50 favorites from the past, some cool new minigames like the FPS Monkey War and a version of air hockey, plus single-cart multiplayer, this is yet another nice addition to the DS library. [Apr 2006, p.134]

Console Gameworld

An otherwise solid title plagued by ghastly controls, Super Monkey Ball: Touch and Roll is frustrating at best, its saving grace being a slew of incredibly fun minigames.

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Gaming Horizon

Much like the elusive banana itself, Touch & Roll is a double-edged sword: equipping the player with a delicious, colorful core, but then burdening them with a slippery peel that they’re not quite sure what to do with.

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Games Radar (in-house)

It takes all of 10 seconds to understand but countless hours to perfect. Is there a better recipe for a portable game?

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Yahoo! Games

Has everything you could hope for in a DS Monkey Ball: lots of stages, great mini-games, and nice presentation. The less-than-perfect control and the over-saturation of new Monkey Ball iterations, however, make it less attractive to the gaming masses.

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GameZone

A bit disappointing. A portable version of Monkey Ball this is, but perfect it is not, and that's too bad.

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Digital Entertainment News

At the core of this mess is a title that was once one of the best games on the GameCube, but it has since grown stale with age, has lost the perfect controls that helped to define it, and traded in elements of the presentation that worked for others that only make the game worse.

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Game Over Online

Touch ‘n Roll suffers from trying to shoe-horn in features just to make use of them.

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GameSpot

The game may feel a little too familiar as many of the stages are lifted right out of previous games, and the touch-screen control can be a little awkward to adjust to, so you'll likely find yourself falling back on the D pad to control your monkey.

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N-Insanity

Super Monkey Ball Touch & Roll isn't really a bad game. It's just that there are other versions of the franchise that are much better.

IGN

But the touch screen control just doesn’t work all that well in a game design that was established with an analog interface, and even after mastering the compromising touch controls, there’s the reality check that this original Monkey Ball game just isn’t all that special on the Nintendo DS.

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Nintendo Power

Rather than shoehorn the current Monkey Ball experience onto the DS, it would have been nice if the developers had tried to reinvent it in a way that truly took advantage of the handheld's capabilities. [Mar 2006, p.88]

Cheat Code Central

Even the touch controls are more of a hindrance than a novelty.

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Electronic Gaming Monthly

Take the "Touch" portion of the title with a grain of salt, as it's nigh impossible to maneuver your way through the Monkey Ball gauntlet using the stylus controls. [Apr 2006, p.105]

Boomtown

A very amiable game. You really want to it to be better than it is, and with its flashes of brilliance it's easy to get deceived into thinking it's far more playable than initial appearances.

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GameBiz

Sure, the basic gameplay's there, but even for previous SMB fans, this would have to be a try-before-you-buy title.

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Nintendojo

Super Monkey Ball Touch & Roll is a game that had high expectations from its fans, but ultimately lets everybody down.

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GamerFeed

Despite little annoyances and a bothersome soundtrack, the game still delivers quite well in terms of beautiful graphics and fun D-pad-moving gameplay.

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games(TM)

Touch & Roll is a fun package, but the control problems force you to all but disregard the main game and treat it, instead, as a collection of mini-games. [Mar 2006, p.102]

Eurogamer

It lacks so much of what made its forebears great, and at times you look at it and wonder if they thought any of it through.

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Modojo

Sega really stumbled into a brick wall with this game and it'll always be one of those titles that, when I look back on it, will be remembered as a missed opportunity to create something truly special.

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PALGN

Super Monkey Ball Touch and Roll isn't a great game, but if you can work your way around the controls there is plenty to like.

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DarkStation

The quirky roll-a-monkey game debuts on the DS, which should provide hours of clean fun for gamers of all ages, if you can get past the frustrating controls.

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Gaming Target

You'll play Super Monkey Ball: Touch & Roll in spurts, because it's fun for a while. But the game's control problems will eventually cause the charm to wear off. And then the lid will be nailed back on the barrel and the monkeys won't come out to play again.

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Jolt Online Gaming UK

A few minorly successful party games aside – namely Golf and, to a lesser extent, Bowling – Super Monkey Ball just doesn’t work, and is almost true to its title: It’s not super, but it does have monkeys in, and it’s mostly balls.

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Edge Magazine

Getting monkey into position, and camera into position behind him, in time to make your desperate dash for a whirling mechanism has everything to do with the old-school frustrations of instant-death gaming and nothing to do with the effortless application of skill that the first game delivered so appealingly. [Feb 2006, p.91]

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GameSpy

Considering how nice the game looks, it's a shame that the flighty control spoils it.

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Sydney Morning Herald

A sluggish camera is annoying when speed is required but completing the 100 stages is still very satisfying.

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GameCritics

Sadly, I couldn't get past the use of the stylus on what is supposed to be the main event.

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netjak

Perhaps if Sega spent more time refining the control scheme rather than coming up with a title screen design where AiAi encourages you to fondle his heart-shaped butt, they would have produced another classic in this quirky and otherwise fun series.

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RewiredMind

The touch screen – in short – just does not work for Touch & Roll.

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Gamer 2.0

Super Monkey Ball Touch and Roll plays like a chore at its best times, like a death sentence of being eaten alive by chipmunks with dirty hypodermic needles for teeth at its worst.

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GameShark

I am reminded of Super Monkey Ball Jr for the Game Boy Advance as an example of a great handheld maze game. Although it was released many years ago, the difference in actual gameplay experience between the GBA and the DS is night and day.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 8.5 (out of 10) based on 6 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Caz C. gave it a9:
This cute and crazy game is addictive and fun for all ages. The only problem with it is that there are not enough levels to satisfy your addiction with the game once you start. The mini games are great to play with friends and the credits will never be boring again, but you'll have to buy it to find out why!

Lindsey B. gave it an8:
This is the best game fior anyone young or old boy or girl it is so asddictive you wont stop playing you will just keep saying one more try. Although the controlls or farily difficult it just makes the game more difficult until you really learn to know it. With the new 50 levels and the previous 50 this game is a must have for ds players!

Katty gave it an8:
Super Monkey Ball is a very good game that takes time and skill to master. It is extremly addictive and the link games (which are also the mini games) are really fun! I reccommened this game to anyone who has alot of sparew time on their hands!

Joey gave it a7:
You want to hate it. You want to put it down and give up as it's pretty hard and frustrating. But you cant! SERIOUSLY addictive but not in a bad way. You've got to be pretty patient with the main game but the party games aren't so hard. Though the game is kind of difficult it's still a decent game.

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Super Monkey Ball: Touch & Roll

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Summary

What The Critics Said

What Our Users Said

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