Super Monkey Ball is a rolling and balancing game where you tilt platforms to control the path of a hamster ball containing a monkey. The peculiar premise is matched with accurate challenging gameplay and some great multiplayer modes (like Monkey Target) that could be games in their own right.

Play involves tilting the world to control the speed and trajectory of the ball. The goal of the main game is to reach the goal gate before the timer runs out, and without falling off the floor. You can collect extra points via the bananas on the stage.

In addition to the main reach-the-goal mode, there are a number of party games.

• Monkey Race: Up to four players race around six courses divided into three difficulty levels a little like Mario Kart.
• Monkey Fight: Up to four players simultaneously engage in combat by rolling in any direction with the analogue stick and using the A button to punch opponents.
• Monkey Target: Up to four players take turns rolling their monkey down a ramp, launching it into the sky to land closest to the target.
• Monkey Billiards: Up to two players take turns competing in a game of nine-ball pool.
• Monkey Bowling: Up to four players take turns competing in a game of ten-pin bowling.
• Monkey Golf: Up to four players take turns competing across 18 holes in a game of golf with stroke play scoring, or two players compete using match play scoring.

The game has been released in a large number of iterations on most consoles and gaming platforms. Where these offer tilt controllers, like the Wii, Switch or smartphone, this is used to control the rolling of the ball. Most recently Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania will bring an updated collection of the main games to PlayStation, Xbox and Switch.

Early games use traditional controllers to play while many recent titles utilize modern technology, such as the accelerometers of the Wii and iPhone titles. The gameplay is similar to Atari Games' 1984 arcade video game Marble Madness.