Super Monkey Ball 2 coming to iPhone soon, features multiplayer
App Store launch game finally getting a simian sequel
Sega's Super Monkey Ball was an ideal launch title for the iPhone's App Store, as its ball-rolling gameplay introduced us to the concept and excitement of accelerometer-driven games.
It also hinted at the coming iPhone revolution, as the full priced game soared to financial success, like a monkey rolling down a pipe.
IGN has been chatting with Sega about the game giant's return to the iPhone with Super Monkey Ball 2, which will roll out some 18 months after the original first took that fledgling App Store by storm.
"We looked very, very closely at what was working on the Wii game in terms of motion controls and what we could extrapolate from that," explains Sega's Ethan Einhorn.
"Part of what we were able to pull from that was much better control over the left and right movement of the character. So we have something now where it is just so much easier to control the character and to make the precision movements that you have to."
A host of new features learned from creating the original game will be added to Super Monkey Ball 2, including new and improved controls, 115 levels, five different worlds and downloadable add-on mini games – all headlined by the addition of four-player local wi-fi multiplayer.
"The entire game – all 115 boards – you can play with three more of your friends. The entire game is unlocked for that. If you wanted to play the whole game that way, you'd have two hours of gameplay roughly where the game constantly changes," Einhorn concludes.
Super Monkey Ball 2 for iPhone will weigh in at a substantial 75MB and is apparently in the App Store review system right now. No word on cost yet, other than it being "competitively priced", but watch this space for more news as we get it.