Nobody knows, but AiAi cries himself to sleep at night; rocking gently back and forth in his protective orb as he dreams of an ordinary simian life. A life of fun, bananas, laughter and going ice-skating with Naomi Watts. Not to mention lobbing faeces. Lots and lots of faeces! Strip back the innumerable layers of cute, and the crayola-coloured happiness of the Super Monkey Ball experience, however, and you'll find that AiAi isn't really the 'made' monkey he appears to be. That wide-eyed grin on the cover? That's not happiness - it's the look of severe constipation caused by a life-long inability to go to the loo. But even then, that's not the main source of AiAi's troubles. No sirree. Want to know what really gives AiAi the heebie-jeebies at night? No, it's not that his oxygen supply is running dangerously thin or that he's just passed wind in such close confines. Neither does he worry that Super Monkey Ball Adventure was a complete pile of steaming turd. It's just that, well, after a good few years showing off his analog-controlled wares to great critical acclaim, poor AiAi's turned into something of a lab guinea pig for Sega of late.

Those who nabbed a copy of Touch & Roll for the DS, or toiled with the irksome d-pad in the GBA iteration, will know that Super Monkey Ball without an analog stick is like having Mario without a moustache, its implementation remaining a design imperative in order to capture that butt-clenchingly tense Monkey Ball Magic™. So it's understandable why all us Monkey Ball purists scoffed at the Wii remote - probably with a 'unique' hand gesture all of their own - when news of Banana Blitz's innovative control scheme broke. But we needn't have worried, as Banana Blitz is among one of the first 'true' Wii titles to hit the shelves - where gyroscopic jiggery-pokery feels far more cogent in proving the Wii's revolutionary capabilities than any other title on the market, benefiting the control mechanics, rather than simply bearing to capture the functionality of the conventional controller. Fire up Banana Blitz for the first time and you really do get a sense of intuition beyond that of a traditional pad, helping to put weight behind Nintendo's claim of the Wii's ability to expand the mass market.

Never played Super Monkey Ball? You haven't lived! For those unversed, the Super Monkey Ball casts you as a chirpy primate, only - get this! - in a cutesy orb that you have to roll across various obstacle-rich labyrinths, or 'trays' as Sega so defiantly put it. Tilting the tray to reach the heavenly goal couldn't be easier; to send your primate pal rolling forward across the tray, simply tilt your Wii remote on its head. It's that simple. Want to come to a halt? Simply pull back. Want to go left? Tilt the Wiimote to the left. Want to go right? Well, you get the idea... Now that sounds worryingly easy, but simmer down, Monkey fans, as it's by no means a dumbing down of the traditional formula. On the contrary, Banana Blitz is every bit as challenging as its predecessors, the controller merely bridging the gap between the casual and the hardcore in terms of the user-interface. It's a match made in heaven and, extraordinarily, you get much more of a feel for the pressure you're applying to your movements than with the conventional analog control, which helps you gauge just how hard you should be hitting platforms. Awesome.

Also new for Banana Blitz comes the much-feared ability to jump, but thankfully it works like a charm, adding something entirely new to the series without infringing the simplicity of the traditional mechanics. With a mere tap of the central A button you can send your ill-fated ape bouncing around the tray, which adds a whole new dynamic to the proceedings. Sure, the ability's mostly used for hoping over dastardly obstacles to reach that ever-elusive banana, or vaulting over worryingly wobbly platforms, but on occasion you have to master the technique for use in many of Banana Blitz's boss battles that are littered throughout the main game. Which is a bit of a shame, since these aren't exactly the strongest aspect of Banana Blitz; whilst the formula is certainly immensely fun - providing that little reward and sense of achievement at the end of each world - you can't help but feel that each boss battle is unabashedly similar. It's usually just a case of hitting the weak spot a few times with a well-timed jump - like the big, fat opera-wailing monster boss, which sees you knocking the microphone from her grasp as she stops to refill her voluminous lungs for a bit. It's not exactly Zelda, but it would have been great if Sega hadn't marked the sweet-spot with a bloomin' MASSIVE arrow that detracts any level of thought required. That said, they're certainly fun, really helping to break up the platforming sections between the worlds.

The main game comprises of ten imaginatively designed worlds, consisting of - you guessed it! - ten stages, two of which are a bit special. One of the two unique stages comprises the aforementioned boss battles, whereas the other is a "pat yourself on the back" timed banana collect-athon to keep you from lobbing the remote at the TV in utter frustration after the painstakingly hard timed platforming stages. Perhaps the predominant flaw contributing to such potty-mouthed frustration is that of a completely static camera. Whilst it's always in place and unobtrusive enough, you can't help but feel that it's stiffer than Alan Rickman in a straight jacket - and that just a *snigger* 'Wii' bit of maneuverability wouldn't have gone a miss. Although soul-breakingly frustrating, Banana Blitz's arcade appeal is insanely infectious and you'll find yourself cursing your way through seemingly impossible stages regardless. And when you do eventually crack them - which, depending on skill level, will take anywhere between four to six hours - you'll feel like a king . That's the Monkey Ball Magic, right there.

Although always one to turn heads with its cutesy visual style, and endearing musical score - Sega have certainly 'aped' (pun inexcusably intended!) their past efforts with Banana Blitz. The way AiAi waves his puny arms manically as he plummets off a ledge at 90mph, the way AiAi vanishes into an array of colour and swish particle effects when he reaches a goal, or the way that each world is lavished beautifully with its own individual theme - it's safe to say Banana Blitz's new pastel-tinged visual style makes for the most alluring Monkey Ball yet. Such can be said of the fantastically hummable musical score, which although it loops, never frustrates.

Part of the usual Monkey Ball magic, however, has always been down to the much-adored quirky mini-games. Although the inclusion of multiplayer mini-games in the 2002 Gamecube original were intended as more of a distraction from the main game, rather than a part of the actual Monkey Ball make-up, with such wide acclaim it's easy to see why Sega have gone mini-game mad with Banana Blitz. With an absolutely whopping fifty - yes, that's fifty! - mini-games in the bag, it'd be easy to dub this the Monkey Ball to end all Monkey Balls. Unfortunately, whilst each of the crazed mini-games makes pronounced use of the Wii-mote, it has to be said that Sega have taken a 'quantity over quality' approach with Banana Blitz. Suffice to say that many of the included mini-games feel like something of missed opportunity, the main bone of contention being that the mini-games are either not as responsive as they ought to be or that they're devoid of any particular challenge whatsoever. Whilst flicking the remote to make AiAi skip, scooping goldfish out of a pond, or gunning down speedy asteroids are certainly a blast (no pun intended!), you can't help but shake the feeling they aren't as absorbing as past Monkey Ball efforts, and you'll probably only play them once. Heck, Sega have even managed to destroy old favourites like ("Nooo!") Monkey Target - which now inexplicably features just one level, has no exciting items, no fate-deciding roulette and no bloomin' ramp!

That's a real kick in the Monkey Balls, but what's on offer here is by no means to be scoffed at. Sega's latest, by and large, remains the first true Wii title on the market. In fact, you'd have to be one of Ubi's raving mad rabbids not to pick this up alongside Zelda when you finally get your grubby mitts on a Wii. That's just the law. With a control scheme that feels so perfectly right, beautiful visuals and a delightfully simple premise, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz is certainly worth both your time and money. Despite the minor camera issues and mildly disappointing mini-games, it's safe to say that AiAi won't be crying himself to sleep tonight. Well, as long as he stays away from the Heinz baked beans, that is...

Reviewed by Ricky Lee Staines for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).