An extremely
quirky Sega-designed videogame which is one of the three launch titles for the Japanese launch of the
Nintendo Gamecube in September 2001.
Continuing the great Japanese
tradition of videogames starring monkeys (see also the totally
deranged n'
brilliant '
Ape Escape'), you play a
monkey who has to roll in a giant
ball across tilting and twisty levels, collecting, yes,
bananas. And, uhh, the game is officially sponsored by
Dole, the famous
banana vendor - a natural, if
surreal tie-in.
The game itself plays like
Marble Madness on many
psychedelic drugs, and includes some really neat
multiplayer party modes, somewhat in the vein of
Mario Party or similar. I, for one, have always yearned to play
monkey golf and
monkey bowling, so I guess my life is now complete?
Oh, and as an
aside, see if you can download the
Japanese TV
advert for the game somewhere online. Again, too
surreal to be described easily, it involves a real-life
monkey and some shock-haired Japanese
scientists clowning around - and a weirdly
phallic moment with a banana which i'm sure only
Westerners guffaw in a juvenile manner at. Ohdear.