Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble (June 25)
We’re just weeks away from the first brand new (non-mobile) Super Monkey Ball game for over ten years and Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble looks… pretty good. With tons of cutscenes featuring the adorable new monkey, tons of new stages, and a bunch of multiplayer modes, this is likely to be a hit with families this summer.
Otherwise… it’s Super Monkey Ball as you know it. We’re excited to dig into the single-player levels, but we’re a little sad that the fan-favorite minigames aren’t returning. It also brings back the challenge and we struggled to achieve some of the small “achievements”.
Fun fact, readers – it’s the only Nintendo outstanding we got to play the show. Everything else is coming to Switch and anything else.
While You Wait (TV)
How about WarioWare, which is all about waiting for things to happen?
We think that’s a pretty good summary of what While You Wait is all about. It’s a collection of “mini games” where you have to wait for things to happen. Wait for the bus. Wait for the rain to stop. Wait for traffic to clear. But you don’t have to just sit there and wait. You can complete fun tasks along the way like collecting ducks and running over them. Ah yes, that wonderful, harmless task of getting hit by a car…
According to the developers, the game is coming to PC first, with Switch being the priority after that. Touch control is not planned and movement is felt a little slow, but it kept us laughing during our short 10 minutes with the game.
Yars Rising (2024)
WayForward and Atari teamed up to make an iconic Atari series (Yars) and turn it in a completely different direction. Pepper in hundreds of nods to Atari history — like arcade cabinet-based bonuses and bosses entirely wrapped around an Atari game — and you get Yars Rising.
It’s part Metroidvania, part stealth game, and part hacking game. You can hack terminals to get new abilities for Emi, and one ability we got allowed Emi to shoot enemies. Another saw her use a jetpack-like jump. The game also has WayForward’s classic sense of style and humor; it is extremely strong and colorful.
2024 has already been a banner year for Metroidvanias, and there are many more to come, but will Yars Rising manage to stand out? We’re not too sure this early, but we’ll find out later in 2024 if WayForward has the magic again.
We recently spoke with WayForward and Atari about this new collaboration, so check out this interview for more:
