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Editorials   New Cube Owners, Vol. 6
- By Lander Clinton

Since Nintendo recently sold in one weekend roughly the same number of GameCubes it sold at launch, I thought I'd do a little something for all the new Cube owners out there.

Everyday until I run out of ideas, forget, or am too busy playing a game, I'll update a GameCube game you must own and why you must own it.

Here goes:

With the emerging ownership of Sega by Sammy, I thought I'd write about two of my favorite GameCube games: Super Monkey Ball and Super Monkey Ball 2. I couldn't decide which to focus on, so I'll delve into both Monkey Balls. Yes, this is all leading to ball humor.

Except for the original arcade games, I've played every iteration of Monkey Ball including a cell phone game, Happy Meal toys, and (shudder) the NGage version. I can honestly say that the McDonald's version isn't as good as the GameCube versions, and the GameCube games even came out first! What was McDonald's trying to pull with that? I'm lovin' it, indeed.

What makes the GameCube versions so great? Besides the aforementioned monkeys and balls, Super Monkey Ball is a game that is easy to grasp, yet difficult to master. You tilt a big 3D maze to make a ball with a monkey in it roll to the goal. That's it- no buttons to press. Anyone can play the first few levels, but soon you find impossibly narrow ledges to cross and mechanized sections of the level that move pieces around. By the end you'll face the daunting tasks of rolling a ball on top of a rotating cyclinder, working your way around the GameCube itself, and perhaps the cruelest, rolling off the level at just the right time and then FALLING a long way to the tiny goal and hoping you hit it.

If you're good you can find secret warp areas that let you jump past some levels, like the falling one.

Both Monkey Balls include many party and mini games, like races, fighting, bowling, crazy bowling, golf, flight, shooting, tennis, and anything else that uses balls. No Monkey Pinball or Skeeball in either game, let's hope they're in the next one.

What really separates the two games are the level structures. Most levels in Super Monkey Ball are small and are based on reality. Most levels in Super Monkey Ball 2 are huge and have fantastical designs. For example, the first Ball will have a narrow ledge, then a floor with holes in it, followed by a ramp. The second Ball will have stop and play switches on an elevator that you must take to the right floor, watch out for the machine that shoots cubes at you, then roll around a giant oblong surface to the warp gate, which will take you to another warp gate, which- you get the idea.

However, while the levels in Ball 2 are much harder, progressing is much easier since you can buy up to 99 lives per continue, and opening up new difficulty settings is based on completing the previous one using only one continue. With Ball 1 you can buy infinite continues, but you still only get 3 lives per continue, making it very hard to open up the Master levels.

If you like platform/puzzle/party games and still aren't sure, buy the first game first to test your ball skills. It's probably cheaper since it came out first, and you'll still have harder levels to look forward to from Monkey Ball 2. Go get them!