Monkey Ball Director & Producer Wants to Make More Monkey Ball

A shockingly large number of people have been waiting on baited breath for the return of Monkey Ball, one of Segas strangest yet most beloved puzzle physics game. While the first two games, Super Monkey Ball and Super Monkey Ball 2, are still in hot demand and are frequently played in speedruns, the more modern takes on the game which include the newly-released HD remaster of Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz -- have been less wellreceived.

But in an interview with Crunchyroll(?) of all things, series producer and director Masao Shirosaki (who also worked on the Yakuza series) said that the re-release came more from a desire to do SOMETHING with the Monkey Ball IP, and being restricted by limited time and budget.

When considering how to bring Super Monkey Ball to modern platforms with the limited time and budget we had, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz was the most reasonable option.

13 years ago was before I joined SEGA; Im really grateful for the fans who still support the Monkey Ball series after all these years, and who motivate me to create only the best for them. And of course, I am aware that the most favored titles are the first two games. If there is enough support for Banana Blitz HD, this will open up doors for remaking the first two games or even a whole new title to the series. But for now, Id be happy if everyone has fun playing Banana Blitz HD.

So hes kind of saying that people need to buy the HD version if we hope to get more Monkey Ball: a not uncommon tactic from developers and directors, which has been deployed by everyone from Sony to Sega to Ubisoft, which is every bit as manipulative as it is honest: after all, begging or not, thats pretty much how game development works.

Still, the fact that theres even a chance for more Monkey Ball is sure to delight some very specific people. So good for them.