They ran out of budget to make 3D character models.

Next up on the Summer Games Done Quick 2025 block, I checked out Super Monkey Ball: Touch & Roll for the DS! I've only played one other Monkey Ball game before. But I know they are extremely fun games and I had no doubt that even on the DS, it would be just as fun!

I decide to mix things up a bit and play as Gongon, the big tough monkey of the 4 selectable. After that, it's time to jump in! Starting with the first world, "Wet 'N' Windy"! The first level, Elementary... hold up and you win. Literally. Sine wave was some easy curves to roll around, curvature was the first vertical level, no biggie. Progenitor was a rail kind of ride, easy peasy. And then I was dumped to the first bonus stage to collect some extra lives... or... life... yeah I kind of... fell off and... died... but I wasn't too worried. These levels have been pretty easy. Anaconda was a nice easy slide down! Fluctuant Travelator was quite the wavy worm, but no big issue! Swathe had a horizontal swinging platform and was an easy level. Assimilate is where i had my first death. It had a lot of platforms moving side to side. And I had to be very careful getting from one to the next. But overall it still wasn't that challenging. Spiral Staircase was no lie. It was certainly a spiral staircase. And Gongon is very good at climbing it down! And that's the end of the game! lol jk. For some reason when you finish a world, it just plays the end credits. Which is rather... weird. Thankfully I can just reset the game and go on to the next world. Which this one is "Blistering Sands"! Racket is another hold up and win level. Basin, get momentum and spin around the bowl. Parasite, another slide. With a thin path to the end that I fell off sadly. I noticed that there was potential for me to take a huge shortcut here. So I went for it, fell out a few times, but I actually got the drop perfectly with a life to spare as I beat the level in record time! Web Matrix had a lot of bumps and thin slopes. I died my first go at the level but beat it on the 2nd!

On to the 2nd special stage. A very bumpy special stage. I was actually doing good here. But at the end I choked and missed 1 banana. I still got a good load of extra lives though! Next was Beveled Edges. A bunch of individual platforms here rotating in a see saw way. I don't know if it was possible to fall off from the cracks because I beat the level. I definitely didn't beat Betting Course my first try. Those spinners are evil. Halo was the next level. Definitely my toughest level so far. That ring is not very friendly and I definitely fell off it one time too many. Infinity was next. No it wasn't an infinite level. Just a level shaped like infinity. Millipede had legs. I got past the legs. On to the next world, "Junglistic Journey"! Mini bump, hold up and win. Double Scepter, angled curve platforms, nothing too troubling. Offsetting Incline, For some reason I had trouble getting up the 3rd slope on this level. It's like my hand had a seizure and made me just casually fling right off. Pincer at first was confusing. But then I figured out I had to be patient and slowly go between the shifting spikes. Depressions was the bonus stage in which I collected all the bananas! And oh boy... Starfish is the next level. This level is hell. The spinning walls with a single gap. And it didn't help that the camera on this level was not friendly. It moved as your character did even if you weren't moving it. I found myself having to readjust myself several times and by the time I did, I couldn't get to the goal. Despite me being close. I mean yes I did eventually beat the level. But it was still a tough one. Deviant drop was not nearly as evil. Just needed good speed to bounce to the next platform and get to the goal! Receding curves pretty easy. It helps with the bumpers on the sides of the curves.

Displacement looked hard. But it wasn't really. Just had to move with the small platforms and get to the goal! Labyrinths had these nice holes to fall through... which I did. After falling off again, I was much more careful after I got up the final ramp to go along the straight path and get to the goal. Next world, "Fantascene Falls". Mmmm... I could go for some Fanta right now. Epicenter, not hold up and win. It's... spin around the semi-tube and win! Not the golden brick road, but the wavy brick road. Rollercoaster, this took me a few tries. Whether I was too fast or too slow. I originally had a theory that I couldn't go too fast, but after I was too slow my first try, I fucking booked it... and my theory was correct. Descending rings was next, the rings got thinner, my ability to play did not. Cells was the next bonus stage. I knew I wasn't going to get all the bananas here. Though I did get 40 of them and a good chunk of lives. Scythe was the next level. Not sure what a scythe is. Unless it's a bunch of hexagons connected by ramps which is easily beatable. Serrated was also extremely easy. I mean yeah you have to be careful but it ain't that bad. Oscillating waves, it's wavy, it's easy. Oblivion was a tough one. Each platform being lower than the last. And by the time you get to the last one, it's basically a blind aim so you don't fall off the platform. Which i did... several times. But even in doubt, I managed to clutch and beat the level on my last life! Sadly it was short lived. I game overed at the very end of Whirl. And yes I found out if you game over, you have to start the world all the way over.

I got back to Whirl with much more lives. I still died a lot. But I got past the level. Little mad though because that was the last level in that world. But... I got through it and it was on to "Palarvar Lava"! Deviation was the first level. Almost hold up. Or... not really. It was more go on the ramp and move left and right. Sword was indeed a sword. A sword I fell off but then conquered my next go. Slot, slow moving platforms. Not too bad. Long winding road, a thin, curvy road. No protection bumpers here. I am stunned I beat it my first go. Pit was the bonus stage... and this was a shitty bonus stage. It was like a skateboard ramp with the bananas at the very edges. I hated it. Conveyor was the next level. This one was also troublesome. The path was very thin and there were bumpers going around it. I was definitely bumped off or fell off several times. Eventually after patient I did get on the belt. But it still wasn't easy. I thought I could just go directly straight to the end. Nope. There were bumpers going the other way. I had to take the turn. I miraculously beat this level. Formation, more holes on each layer. Thankfully you can ride the edges and beat the level. Swing was next. It was like those old pirate ship rides at those fairs you see. It's easy to get past the first 2 swinging platforms. Not so much the last. And when I did, I was too fast. My next time, I bounced off the goal platform and kind of clipped into the last swinging platform. When I mess up, I mess up gloriously! And then I just fell off it and game overed.

Well I don't feel like redoing that whole world. I'll wait until the next time I play the game!