New Monkey Ball trademark discovered, may use Wii Balance Board

by Andrew Yoon { Jun 16th 2009 at 4:40PM }

Isn't it weird when you wake up in the morning, covered in sweat, waking up from a dream where you are trapped in a plastic ball, forced to roll around in hundreds of deadly mazes -- collecting bananas you have no way of eating? This happens to us all the time. It looks like our dream may be becoming a reality, as Sega looks to be creating a Wii Balance Board-centric Monkey Ball game.

The US Patent & Trademark Office has revealed the title of a brand new game in Sega's long-running series, called Super Monkey Ball: Step & Roll. While the listing doesn't confirm use of the Balance Board, it seems like a perfect fit for the franchise. The active nature of the title makes us believe this is indeed Sega's attempt at letting players use their real-life balance to navigate the tricky Monkey Ball worlds. It's such an easy concept to visualize, we're surprised it hasn't already been made yet.

[Via 1UP, Kotaku]

Tags: balance-board, patent, super-monkey-ball

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Storm Eagle @ Jun 16th 2009 4:44PM

Let the immense and overwhelming frustration begin!

uncle jesse @ Jun 16th 2009 4:45PM

This should have been made a long time ago. It's about damn time!

Fernando Rocker @ Jun 16th 2009 4:52PM

Oh my... I hope this is true.

Super Monkey Ball is one of my favorite series ever... the Gamecube games were one of the games that I played the most in the previous generation.

Don't be fooled by the cute exterior... those games are very challenging.

MRLN @ Jun 16th 2009 4:52PM

I anticipate this being even more annoying than the iPod Touch version...

Fernando Rocker @ Jun 16th 2009 4:55PM

I bet that there are going to be both Balance Board levels and regular levels, just like the latest Kororimpa.

Banana Blitz was very good... I liked the visuals a lot, and some boss battles were really fun.

Mischa @ Jun 16th 2009 5:00PM

"...collecting bananas you have no way of eating?" hahahahahahaha...

I actually quite like the monkey ball games, one using the balance board could be awesome.

CH3BURASHKA @ Jun 16th 2009 5:04PM

Makes sense.

Jason Statham (Aka Vegeta) @ Jun 16th 2009 6:06PM

Pretty much. I'm actually kind of surprised a game like this wasn't made earlier when Wii Fit was released.

Rob Accomando @ Jun 16th 2009 5:15PM

Is a helmet required?

shredhead @ Jun 16th 2009 5:51PM

Neat. Super Monkey Ball was one of Sega's better titles after they went third party.

redjack @ Jun 16th 2009 7:05PM

Wait, where's Tmac? He's not panning this for pandering to the masses and using gimmicky peripherals? Am I in a Nintendo thread? This is so weird.

oldgamer @ Jun 17th 2009 12:12AM

Actually, the WiiWare game Equilibrium allows you to do something very similar to this. It's a control the marble type of game that has 54 different levels, and it allows you to use the Wii Balance board if you want as your controller. In some of the levels the balance board actually makes the game easier, and in other levels, the balance board is almost impossible to use correctly.
After playing Equilibrium for quite a while (with both a regular controller and the Balance board), all I can say is that I hope Sega allows you the option of using or not using the board.