Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble (June 25)
We are only weeks away from the first brand new (non-mobile) one Super Monkey Ball game in over a decade and Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble looks… pretty good. With tons of cutscenes featuring an adorable new monkey, tons of new scenes, and tons of multiplayer modes, it’s likely to be a hit with families over the summer.
Otherwise… this is Super Monkey Ball as you know it. We’re excited to dive into the single-player levels, but a little sad that the fan-favorite minigames aren’t returning. It also brings back the challenge and we tried to get some of the little “achievements”.
Fun fact, readers – this is a Nintendo only exclusive we have to play at the exhibition. Everything else is coming to Switch and something else.
Pending (TBA)
What about WarioWare, which is all about waiting for things to happen?
We think that’s a pretty good summary of what While Waiting is. It’s a collection of “mini-games” where you have to wait for things to happen. To wait for a bus. Wait until it stops raining. Wait for the traffic to clear. But you don’t have to just sit there and wait. Along the way, you can complete fun tasks like collecting ducks and swiping. Ah yes, the lovely, innocuous task of being hit by a car…
The game will be released first on PC, then according to the developers, Switch will be the priority. The touch control is not planned and the movement is felt little slow, but it made us laugh in our short 10 minutes of play.
Yars Rising (2024)
WayForward and Atari teamed up to create the iconic Atari series (Yars) and spin it in a completely different direction. Pepper makes hundreds of nods to Atari history – like power-ups based on arcade cabinets and bosses framed entirely around an Atari game, and you get Yars Rising.
It’s part Metroidvania, part stealth game, and part hacker game. You can hack terminals to get new abilities for Emi, and one ability we got allowed Emi to shoot enemies. Another saw her with a jetpack-like jump. The game also has that classic WayForward sense of style and humor; it is extremely loud and colorful.
2024 has already been a banner year for Metroidvanias, and there’s still plenty to come, but can Yars Rising stand out? We’re not too sure at first, 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: