Bonus Stage
A bonus stage is a special type of stage which typically contains a large amount of bananas that the player can collect within the time limit. The player gets only one attempt at each bonus stage per playthrough, and completing the bonus stage is not required to progress. Furthermore, falling out or running out of time on a bonus stage will not result in a lost life, so bonus stages exist purely as an opportunity for the player to gain points and possibly 1-ups, and not as an obstacle or challenge for the player to clear.
Bonus stages can typically be cleared by one of 2 methods: collecting all the bananas on the stage, or going through a goal as normal. Different games favour different methods of bonus stage completion.
History of bonus stages
Bonus stages vary in nature quite significantly between games, and there are trends within games of how bonus stages tend to be.
In Super Monkey Ball
In Super Monkey Ball, bonus stages tend to be of the first variety, where there is a large number of bananas and no goal. The bonus stage can be cleared by collecting all of the bananas, and it is typically fairly easy to collect at least a few bananas. The one exception to this is Bonus Hunting, which holds the same amount of bananas as usual, but also gives the player an excruciatingly difficult time collecting them all. This is the only bonus stage in Super Monkey Ball to have a goal as a result, and is an example of a bonus stage of the second variety. Super Monkey Ball Jr. uses a similar design philosophy for its bonus stages as this game.
In Super Monkey Ball 2
In Super Monkey Ball 2, all bonus stages are of the second variety, in which it is difficult if not impossible to collect all of the bananas, and there is a goal the player can pass through for points and a clear of the stage. Furthermore, some bonus stages in this game actually provide very little opportunity for the player to collect a significant number of bananas. For example, in Rampage, the bananas are spread out on top of ramps, significantly limiting the rate at which they can be collected, and as such making it unlikely for the player to collect more than a few bananas, and effectively impossible to collect them all. The most notorious example of this is Fighters, where many players struggle to get even a single banana, as while there are plenty of bananas in the level, they fly out randomly from the fighters in a diffuse manner, and spend very little time on the stage.
In Super Monkey Ball Deluxe
The new bonus stages in Super Monkey Ball Deluxe are based on the design of bonus stages from Super Monkey Ball 2, containing bananas that are difficult to collect all of, and containing a goal for clearing the level. The only exception to this is Paraboloid, which introduces a third variety of bonus stage, unwinnable bonus stages. There is no goal in this bonus stage, and yet it is virtually impossible to collect all the bananas (in fact, the highest recorded number of bananas collected on this stage is 70, achieved by Hexcus[1]).
In Super Monkey Ball: Touch & Roll
Super Monkey Ball: Touch & Roll contains a mixture of recycled levels from the first two Super Monkey Ball games, and new bonus stages. However, goals are removed from all of the bonus stages from Super Monkey Ball 2. As such, all bonus stages are either of the first or third variety of bonus stage.
In Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz and onward
In Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz, all bonus stages are of the first variety. Furthermore, this is the first game in the series to standardize the number of bananas in all bonus stages, with all of them containing exactly 50 bananas. This results in these bonus stages generally being the most lucrative in the series so far, especially considering that only 20 bananas are required for a 1-up in this game.
Future Super Monkey Ball games would follow the design philosophy of the bonus stages in Banana Blitz.
List of bonus stages
Trivia
- Super Monkey Ball Adventure is the only game to not have any bonus stages.
- In speedruns, players fall off the bonus stage immediately to save time.
- Starting in Banana Blitz, the outcome of bonus stages affects the perfect streak point bonus.
- The bonus stage music from Super Monkey Ball 2 was remixed for Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania, and is used even on bonus stages from the original Super Monkey Ball.
- The bonus stage music from Super Monkey Ball: Touch & Roll was remixed for Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz, 3D and Banana Splitz, as well as Sonic All-Stars Racing Transformed, albeit abridged.
- The bonus stage music from Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz is reused in Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing.
- The bonus stage music from Super Monkey Ball 3D is reused in Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD, which is fitting as both Super Monkey Ball 3D and the original Banana Blitz use a remix of Touch & Roll's bonus stage theme.