Game: Super Monkey Ball
Song: Jungle
Above: Jungle from Super Monkey Ball
Super Monkey Ball was one of those brilliant games that was impossibly fun, fresh and addicting the first time around but petered out within a matter of weeks. So, even though today I couldn't possibly muster up enthusiasm for another game (unless it were on the 3DS, maybe), the first one still holds a special place in my heart for its lethally cute presentation and head-bobbing, ultra-melodic music.
Most of the appealcame fromthe dead-simple gameplay - navigate your spherical monkey globe through increasingly challenging mazes. But the underlying music, Jungle in this case, fit the environments perfectly and changed regularly to keep the vibe in flux. By the time you got used to the bass line of Jungle, you'd be listening to...
Above: Sky High
Above: Monkey Mall
Above: Storm, which sounds like a precursor to Amusement Vision's F-Zero GX
... plus a few other songs to boot. None of it's particularly outstanding, it merely fits well and makes for great background listening while you attempt maze after devilish maze. A lot likeCel Damage, another early GameCube/Xbox/PS2 title I covered a few weeks back. But yeah,a 3DS version could kill if it really sold the height and depth of the floating mazes and elaborate backgrounds. Get on that, Sega.
Some of the best battle music of all time, by Iwadare
Rainbow Road by Kondo, Oka and Bando
Still Alive by Miskovsky, Birgisson and Yacoub
