Sonic Forces + Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD

Genre: Compilation / Platformer / 3D Platformer / Arcade

Players: 1, 2-4 Competitive Minigames (Local / Local Split-Screen), Online Leaderboards

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Review:

Sonic Forces + Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD, released on Nintendo Switch in 2020, is a physical-only Compilation of the two named games, previously released on Nintendo Switch in 2017 and 2019, respectively.

I have separately reviewed both of these games. Here is what I thought of both of the games in this collection:

Game	Genre	# of Players	Score
Sonic Forces	Platformer / 3D Platformer	1	C-
tl;dr Sonic Forces takes a mix of Sonic’s typical family-friendly 2D and 3D Platformer gameplay and puts players in the role of a new character after Sonic is defeated in the game’s prologue. It’s a concept that’s brimming with potential, but that potential is sadly squandered, with clunky unambitious gameplay and performance on Nintendo Switch that is not conducive to Sonic’s fast-paced gameplay. This is not Sonic’s worst game, but it is far from his best.
Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz HD	3D Platformer / Arcade	1, 2-4 Competitive Minigames (Local / Local Split-Screen), Online Leaderboards	D+
tl;dr Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz HD is a remaster of the Wii entry in the physics-based 3D Platformer series, stripping out its motion controls and 80% of its multiplayer minigames. The core gameplay here is still good, but it’s hard to enjoy it with an absolutely atrocious camera. The minigames that remain here are all terrible, and despite being woefully feature-poor compared to the original, this game still has an outrageous price tag of $40. Extremely disappointing.

In short, these two games are a far cry from the better outings of each of their respective series, with both games underwhelming in their gameplay in one way or another, with Sonic Forces having performance issues on Nintendo Switch, and Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz HD having an atrociously bad camera. I suppose between the two I ended up disliking Sonic Forces less, but that’s only because when I reviewed Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz HD, it was being sold for an insulting price of $40 for a game that’s arguably worse than the 2006 game it was remaking.

In the time since their original release, Super Monkey Ball has dropped down to $30, while Sonic Forces has plummeted to $20, and that’s not even looking at sales for these two games, so of course the next question is, is this bundle a good deal compared to these current prices?

Actually, yes, very much so. While stock isn’t as reliable now, you can generally find this physical-only bundle for $25, meaning that it’s a better price than Super Monkey Ball on its own, and only $5 more than Sonic Forces on its own. In fact, I would argue that if you want either of these two games, you are far better off getting this bundle… though you also need to consider the fact that each of these games is in other bundles you might want to consider instead – Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz HD is in Team Sonic Racing + Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD Bundle with Team Sonic Racing (a far better game than Sonic Forces), while Sonic Forces is in The Ultimate Sonic Bundle, along with Team Sonic Racing and Sonic Mania, both games that are better than Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz HD… although that bundle is so overpriced it’s probably not worth bothering with. Nevertheless, this package is kinda’ like getting the worst of both worlds. However, if you already got those other two games in Sonic Mania + Team Sonic Racing Double Pack, this bundle will allow you to round out your collection without double-dipping.

In the end, Sonic Forces + Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD is a bundle that’s just the worst of your options in almost every situation. It contains two of the worst games in each of the included franchises, and it is the worst of the bundles containing either game. Yet despite this, its price is very good, any anyone interested in either of these games who doesn’t want one of the other Sonic bundles will find this bundle to be a far better deal than getting either game on its own.

tl;dr – Sonic Forces + Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD is a Compilation containing the two named games, each one of the worst games in its respective series. Still, this bundle is a good deal, so if you’re already aiming to get either of these two games, and don’t want one of the other bundles they appear in, this is definitely preferable than getting either game individually.

Grade: C

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