There's always one surprise game on every console; in 2001, for Nintendo's fledgling GameCube, Super Monkey Ball was the secret ace. Its addictively simple and novel premise - to guide one of four orb-encased monkeys through mazes and courses of increasingly devious design - along with its awesome mini and party games gave it nigh-perpetual replayability and made it the sleeper hit of parties everywhere, as well as the savior of the GameCube's launch lineup. So when THQ announced it was going to produce a handheld version of the premiere primates and their best-selling games, the response would obviously be positive, right? Not necessarily. In fact, the first time I learned of this, I had no idea what to think. How was the GBA going to replicate, or at least do justice to, the power of the GameCube? I mean, SMB might not have been a visual tour-de-force, but it was certainly a slick, clean-looking 3D game. And in thinking back on the history of hackneyed portable ports, while the GBA's been a lot better at handling them, you still get your Gauntlet, Army Men, and Mortal Kombat Advance type ports. That's why it was so refreshing to fire up Super Monkey Ball Jr. in my GBA. As if by magic, the developers have created a 3D engine that really reproduced the style and feel of the game as closely as possible on the GBA. It plays just like the real thing too, from the mini-games to rolling wildly through the end credits collecting bananas. Miraculously, Super Monkey Ball Jr. is a portable port done right, bringing manic arcade action and crazy challenges straight into the palm of your hand. Of course this game proves, yet again, that monkeys make ANYTHING great.

The concept of Monkey Ball is simple, so does the game really need to be explained in detail? You've probably seen it before on your GameCube or in some twisted dream brought about by spoiled ham. Given you have friends, family or intelligent game-playing robots that own the game; you've probably torn out some hair playing it too. But if you really have no clue, you can picture it as that "Atlasphere" contest in that old "American Gladiators" TV show where the people roll around in round metal cages, except the balls here are more like colorful hamster exercise balls as opposed to cages, and the players are cute little monkeys with cute names like "Aiai" as opposed to strange, sweaty, mullet-clad men with generic tough-guy names like "Nitro". Good stuff so far, until you realize that your goal is to roll and maneuver said ape-balls through the sadistically designed floating mazes trying to collect bananas and dodge obstacles, as well as beat the clock to the goal. These floating mazes generally don't have any barriers separating you from your death, and often have pieces of their layout doing things like spinning around, sliding, tilting, bouncing, or otherwise moving to kill you. Add the evil banana placement, the time limit and the aforementioned obstacles, and you've got something that crosses the line from "hard" into "oh crap, no". In Super Monkey Ball Jr., you've got 60-plus of these badass mazes to take on over three increasingly difficult skill settings (and one bonus setting). Luckily for you, the difficulty won't be augmented by the control scheme.

Much like the GameCube and arcade hits, the control scheme on the GameBoy Advance is simple, built around the primary actions of Monkey Ball gameplay. To make it to the end of each maze alive, you actually tilt the levels themselves to get your spherical simian to roll towards the goal. Unlike the GameCube and arcade version however, the GBA version has to be controlled by the much less accurate digital Control Pad. Because this game is designed for some extremely precise movements (like when you need to slowly roll the ball down a steep incline as not to die), developer Realism did create a nice little control scheme that sort of "emulates" analog control. Using the Control Pad with the A button increases the tilt so you can go faster, and using it with the B button makes the tilt much less so you can have more control, at the cost of speed, of course. It sounds a little complex, but don't worry; it's not exactly rocket science and it really does work with a little practice.

All of the gameplay quirks in the Super Monkey Ball series of games came as a result of the cool, "behind-the-monkey" perspective, and Super Monkey Ball, amazingly, keeps that tradition alive by way of an extremely impressive 3D polygon engine. Some lesser developers would have cheated and used a half-assed top-down 2D engine for the game. Other developers would have used the requisite GBA Mode 7 engine to do things here. But Realism, possessors of sweet GBA coding skills, produced a very efficient 3D engine to play in, allowing many of the complex mazes and maze structures, traps and obstacles to have the same "oomph" as they do on the 'Cube and in the arcades. Yeah, the polygons are fairly simple and there's a little touch of draw-in in the distance on some of the crazier maps...and this Game Boy version of Monkey Ball has inherited the same stupid little camera issues as its console brethren; but for clean, textured 3D on the GBA-that powers a game rich with apes in balls, mind you-could you honestly nitpick those little things? I didn't think so. Realism even managed to get the ambiance of the game correct, porting quality versions of the 'Cube version's music, and replicating its menus and interface exactly. Sweating the details in such an excellent game design gets Realism major bonus points from me...good stuff, there.

The Monkey Ball series of games are probably twice as famous for their awesome mini-games than their great single player challenge; naturally, Super Monkey Ball Jr. doesn't skimp on the mini-games, either. Developing studio Realism managed to cram Monkey Fight, Monkey Bowling, and Monkey Golf into the glorious little hunk of silicon, but Monkey Target, a GameNikki favorite, couldn't make it to the party, probably due to size constraints. Given the amount of game in this cart, all is forgiven. Maybe next time, we'll get that awesome mini-game. Anyway, the other three games that are there do fill the gap rather nicely. Monkey Fight is a festival of fisticuffs; with an extending boxing glove fastened to your ball, you attempt to knock the other three players - human or computer - off of the top of the floating arena. You attack the hardwood in Monkey Bowling, a ten frame war with your monkey as the ball. You can control every aspect of your roll, from the position and aim of the roll to the curve placed on it. Monkey Golf is just as it implies - 18 holes of top-notch miniature golf with your favorite orangutans in orbs. Try to get your monkey into the cup in the fewest strokes; it sounds easy, but the courses are designed with some hazards Tiger Woods or (gasp!) even Happy Gilmore might have trouble with. Best of all, Super Monkey Ball Jr. has full support for the GBA Link Cable, so up to four players can get in on this ball brawl in one of the mini-games as well as the multiplayer-only Monkey Duel mode (it opens up when two GBA systems are wired up together); with that, 2 players can tackle the stages in Normal Mode together to see who can get to the goals fastest. While it's always somewhat disappointing that there's no single-cartridge support for multiplayer, the multiplayer here is good enough to the point where it will be worth securing another copy of the game and a friend open to an ass-whupping.

Super Monkey Ball Jr. is one of those special games that inspire true gaming pleasure when it's played, sort of like classic arcade and puzzle games from days long past. The simple joys induced by titles like this one make it worth the admission, not to mention the fact that its got clean graphics, tight and addictive gameplay, almost infinite replayability, and on top of that, frantic multiplayer action that can create parties and destroy friendships - just the way I like it. Whether you've got the GameCube games, or have never seen a monkey trapped in a ball before, you're in for a hell of a great time. With big fun in a small package, Super Monkey Ball Jr. is a game that shouldn’t be missed by anyone. Buy it now, because monkeys make anything great, even on the go!