Released in September 2001 by SEGA and developed by Amusement Vision for arcades and the GameCube, Super Monkey Ball is a simulation of what would happen if a marble with a monkey inside fell into one of those tilting floor toys you had as a child.
Best Expert time: Single-segment 0:07:27.81 by Charles Griffin on 2012-05-06.
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Author's comments:
You can watch the run on YouTube here, if you prefer an embedded version. I would definitely recommend downloading the HQ or IQ version though.
Brief history for this run: I originally planned on running this back in 2009. However, I quickly stopped, because it's an incredibly difficult game to run well and I didn't really enjoy it all. Then late last year, someone submitted a run to SDA; I rejected it because it didn't use Baby there were a lot of strats it didn't use and general slow play. This kind of forced me to do a run myself, since I had deprived SDA from getting one. After taking such a long break from it, though, I found that... I still didn't enjoy running the game whatsoever. Great. Anyway, after 3 1/2 months of on and off attempts I completed this, which is a ~2:45 improvement to the rejected run.
I didn't specifically go for no deaths; I would've been fine with anything less than 3, as long as they weren't costly. Thanks to insane luck, that didn't end up mattering. There are some bad mistakes in this run (most notably E13, E22 and E48), and several strats I left out for the sake of consistency. Hopefully someone will come along and beat it in the future, but this is certainly a good enough run for now.
Level (Time remaining/time elapsed)
E1 (28.30/1.70) - Aw, it's not 28.35. Guess this run is terrible then.
E2 (26.23/3.77) - Relatively fast time here. That can be said for most of the early stages, actually. Glad this was the run that made it.
E5 (27.30/2.70) - The best I've gotten with this strat is 27.31, and that was only once.
E6 (52.35/7.65) - This strat is incredibly annoying, but it saves a ton of time... Good thing it's only the fourth stage in the run.
E7 (38.50/21.50) - I occasionally get over 39, but this is still a really good time for a SS.
E8 (26.30/3.70) - There's a different strat that potentially saves a few frames, but personally this strat is more consistent. I have enough stupid inconsistent stuff to deal with at the beginning of the run already.
E9 (54.03/5.97) - I really can't begin to describe how much I hate this stage. When I first started doing attempts I was relatively fine at it, but as I got closer to the end I started absolutely sucking. Whenever I thought I found a consistent way to pull it off, I went straight back to doing terribly the next set of attempts. So glad I don't have to deal with this stage anymore.
E10 (26.63/3.37) - Nice consistent strat for an incredibly inconsistent stage.
E11 (19.08/10.92) - I slowed down a lot near the end to avoid the bumpers, but I die here way too often so whatever.
E12 (48.21/11.79) - Most of the stage doesn't matter since you have to wait for the final gear anyway. The ending could've been a bit faster.
E13 (55.45/4.55) - ...That was incredibly stupid. About 1.6 seconds lost.
E14 (54.38/5.62) - I actually kind of enjoy running this strat in Practice. Having to completely restart the run if I fail, not so much.
E15 (28.30/1.70) - Yeah.
E16 (27.60/2.40) - Dropping off to the side is a bit faster than going forward.
E17 (22.98/7.02) - If only I was a frame faster. :( Still a really good time for this strat though.
E18 (21.43/8.57) - Not getting off the starting platform cleanly cost .15-.2 seconds.
E19 (55.60/4.40) - I never did like this stage.
E20 (27.65/2.35) - A lot simpler than E5, just roll straight at the wall. I get 27.65 almost every time.
E21 (55.96/4.04) - I swear I used to consistently get 56.0x here.
E22 (50.70/9.30) - Ugh... That horrible backwards bounce near the beginning cost 1.5-2 seconds. Not to mention it looks incredibly ugly. Thanks a lot, Sega.
E23 (26.11/3.89) - Somewhat slow time, but this stage is a pain to do quickly.
E24 (28.53/31.47) - The only stage in the run that doesn't get time bonused. Since I got an odd time, that also means I'm forever stuck with an odd score. :(
E25 (23.10/6.90) - It's possible to get some faster bounces that get around 23.3x, but this is still good.
E26 (24.78/5.22) - You can go for the goal after the first bounce, but I did two for more consistency.
E27 (55.68/4.32) - It seems completely random whether you make it across or not. This time actually went TOO well, and I had to enter the goal from behind... Still was faster than most attempts.
E28 (56.10/3.90) - Pretty simple.
E29 (52.93/7.07) - Now, this stage basically is completely random. Sometimes you'll just roll straight off the conveyor instead of bouncing up, which means death. Went fine this time.
E30 (57.38/2.62) - Sometimes I won't make it over the wall cleanly, but that didn't happen here.
E31 (27.98/2.02) - It's actually a few frames faster to go left, for some reason, but I'm more consistent at going right.
E32 (38.63/21.37) - It's possible to shortcut to the goal near the end, but it's incredibly annoying due to the way the platform is curved.
E33 (25.38/4.62) - Some trouble getting into the goal at the end cost at least half a second...
E34 (26.83/3.17) - ...But then this completely made up for it. E34 almost never goes anywhere near this well for me, I usually don't get such a good bounce off the barrel and end up with a very low 26/high 25.
E35 (55.73/4.27) - I'm surprised that didn't go a lot worse.
E36 (16.75/13.25) - You could cut past the bumpers at a few other points, but they're a lot more difficult and not worth it.
E37 (27.13/2.87) - Really easy strat that almost always gets 27.13. .15 is possible with this strat, but it needs to go really well.
E38 (23.05/6.95) - A bit of trouble at the end, but it didn't cost much time.
E39 (25.66/4.34) - Yup.
E40 (26.98/3.02) - Nice that the last bonus stage is the easiest one to suicide on, I get 26.98 basically every time. You fall faster when not moving so it's important to stop ASAP.
E41 (26.76/3.24) - It's possible to go left, bounce off the side of the bowl, then land in the goal. I skipped it for more consistency.
E42 (58.18/1.82) - I turned a lot earlier than I usually do, so for a moment I didn't think I was going to make it; sure am glad I was wrong.
E45 (15.20/14.80) - Lots of waiting around here...
E46 (21.35/8.65) - Beginning was a bit slow, I usually get mid-high 21s.
E48 (16.16/13.84) - Getting over cleanly at the end cost a decent amount of time, I wanted to hit the side and bounce to the right towards the goal.
E49 (28.36/1.64) - It's possible to go straight into the goal, but slamming into a bumper is a lot easier.
E50 (24.13/5.87) - This strat is pretty difficult, but unless you go way too early it's easy to survive and complete the stage normally if you miss. Really glad I managed to pull it off in my final attempt.
EX1 (21.73/8.27) - You can shortcut to the platforms to the left at the beginning, which would save 3-4 seconds. The ending was a bit slow.
EX2 (25.20/4.80) - Simple.
EX3 (22.71/7.29) - You can enter the goal sooner than this, but since it's so late in the run I wait for it to slow down some.
EX4 (27.30/2.70) - Nice to have such an incredibly easy stage.
EX5 (26.93/3.07) - I always worry about screwing up the timing and missing the goal, but it very rarely actually happens.
EX6 (25.63/4.37) - I don't always get a good bounce that carries me to the goal like this, but if I don't I almost always bounce into the tube (part of the outside isn't solid) and can complete the stage "normally" from there. That costs a few seconds, so good thing I got the good bounce.
EX7 (22.00/8.00) - This stage likes to pop you up into the air if you're going too fast, which is certainly annoying for a speedrun. Getting 22 is nice.
EX8 (25.71/4.29) - Really easy stage that's somehow really annoying to do quickly. It went okay this time.
EX9 (20.26/9.74) - I turned way too late before getting on the planets, which cost about .4, but at this point I'm just glad to have survived.
EX10 (16.16/13.84) - I could've gone at the goal at least .2 faster here, but, nerves. I really didn't want to screw up.
M1 (40.93/19.07) - Slowing down at the end cost me 41. :( I probably would have bounced up into the party ball or something if I didn't though.
M2 (55.36/4.64) - This could've been a bit faster, but it's not really noticeable and I'm under a ridiculous amount of stress at this point.
M3 (52.65/7.35) - ...I have absolutely no clue how I survived on the ramp. Wow. That was waaaay too close. The ending is simplish other than avoiding the pole.
M4 (46.66/13.34) - Getting the hit is incredibly easy, you just need to line up at the right spot and it's really lenient. The main difficulty on this stage comes from randomly popping up in the air while on the roll; I have to slow down a lot to try to avoid it.
M5 (56.48/3.52) - The start of a series of really easy strats.
M6 (58.65/1.35) - No WR strat, sorry. What will I do without those 4 frames?
M7 (44.11/15.89) - Falling into the goal at the beginning at the very end of a SS run... Yeah, no.
M8 (57.11/2.89) - Simpler than it looks, though I hit the pole a bit farther left than I would've liked... Not that it made any difference.
M9 (54.71/5.29) - Okay, a bit on context. First, this was my second speedrun attempt ever to get to Master without dying. Second, in the weeks before this run, I had not died on M9 during an attempt a grand total of once. So yeah... Just try to imagine how much pressure I was under here. Pulling it off was an absolute miracle.
M10 (56.05/3.95) - The final level, meaning the final chance to completely screw up and ruin everything. While it didn't go perfectly, it certainly went well enough for me.
No I don't want to try again for 9999 stop telling me to.