Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD revealed

Update 5.15pm on Tuesday July 16: Sega has released the first Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD trailer. It’s also confirmed a US and European release date of October 29 on Switch, PS4 and Xbox One, and a winter 2019 Steam release.

Original story: Famitsu has released the first details of the next entry in the Super Monkey Ball series — a remaster of 2006 Wii exclusive Banana Blitz.

Featuring “additional functions”, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz will be released in Japan on Switch and PlayStation 4 on October 31, 2019, ahead of a PC release via Steam in December, according to a Google translation of the publication.

Super Monkey Ball first appeared as a Nintendo GameCube launch title. The game has players tilting a series of increasingly difficult 3D mazes, with the goal of guiding their monkey-in-a-ball to the end goal.

The most recent entry in the classic puzzle action series, which is also known for its inventive mini-games, was 2014’s Super Monkey Ball Bounce for mobile devices.

Its last console release was 2012’s Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz for Vita, while you have to go back to 2010’s Step & Roll on Wii for its most recent home console instalment.

Super Monkey Ball was originally directed by Toshihiro Nagoshi, the Sega designer who went on to helm its popular Yakuza series. Famitsu’s article suggests he’s also attached to the upcoming project, which has yet to be announced for Europe or the US.