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Note: Unless specified, the following art is by Keith Webb, head Character designer of Super Monkey Ball Adventure and Crash Twinsanity.
Characters Scrapped#
The following characters planned were scrapped.
Ian the Magician: This was poking fun of how in the Super Monkey Ball franchise regular names would be seen as "odd" or "mysterious". It was also named after one of the Senior Programmers, Ian Moir. In the end the name was scrapped, and the character became Duv d'Duv.12
WanWan: Described as a purple fruit bat, it was scrapped due to later mandates on species in dev.3
Whale King: Described as having a ball-like shape. Was scrapped for the same reason as WanWan.
Crab Naysayer: Although the model WAS used in final, the connection to other Naysayer's despite appearance was removed, instead being treated as a regular crab. Keith Webb wasn't aware that it was actually used. 
Young Dr. Bad Boon and his Assistent: From when the game was initially planned as a prequel to SMB2. Since the plot changed, these designs were scrapped.4 
Design Changes#
VinVin: From the right, he initially sported a longer hair tuft and bigger shades. The final uses the far left design. 
Future Aiai: Initially Keith Webb wanted to have his suit white (it was a Bomberman homage). However the character modeler already started work on the model, and he was colored red from the BW plans as a result.
Design to Model Oddities#
Besides Future Aiai, there are some other design oddities due to the rushed schedule.
Naysayers: see here
SiSi: Although in artwork his fur is pure grey and other ports in-game, his fur is more tan in the PSP version.
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SiSi Art |
SiSi in-game |
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Princess DeeDee: Her appearance in art is drastically different than in-game, due to the latter simply editing MeeMee's base model.
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DeeDee Art |
DeeDee in-game |
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Character Bios Differences#
On Twitter, Keith Webb uploaded initial character bios that were done shortly after most character designs were finalized.5 While some simply had placeholder or duplicated text, others had early versions of descriptions and names compared to final.
Names |
Descriptions |
|---|---|
Name: Dada |
Initial: "Dada bought his top hat from a magician in Zootopia. He keeps important things under it, for safe-keeping. The problem is, not everything he puts in comes out again." Final: "Dada bought his top hat from Duv d'Duv in Zootopia. He hides important things under it, for safekeeping. The problem is, not everything he puts in comes out again and some things come out he doesn’t expect." |
Name: Tootoot |
Initial: "Tootoot sleeps soundly, safe under Dada's top hat. In her dreams the top hat is a Super Monkey Ball and Tootoot is Meemee, the prettiest and smartest monkey in the whole world. Final: "Tootoot sleeps soundly, safe under Dada’s top hat. In her dreams Tootoot is Meemee, the prettiest and smartest monkey in the whole world." |
Name: King Junjun |
Initial: "King Junjun has a busy day ahead of him. Breakfast at noon, a croquet game at three, followed by an afternoon nap. Poor King Junjun doesn't know how he's going to fit it all in." Final: "King Junjun has a busy day ahead of him. Breakfast at noon, a game of tennis at three, followed by an afternoon nap. Poor King Junjun doesn't know how he's going to fit it all in." |
Name: Sisi |
Initial: "Sisi the tourist is renowned throughout the lands for his wonderful photography. There may even be a royal wedding that he'll be photographing!" Final: "Sisi the tourist is renowned for his wonderful photography. He always likes to put a monkey in the picture, to give a sense of scale. He’s an official Royal Family Photographer!" |
Name: Mermer |
Initial: "It's not easy being married to one of twin brothers. Gate keeper Mermer has a tough time telling them apart." Final: "Collects driftwood from the sea shore and carves it into beautiful shapes. ‘The beauty is already in the wood,’ she says, ‘I just set it free.’ Look out for her work. She carved Cawcaw’s telescope and Perper’s pipe." |
Initial: Perkee Final: Keikei |
Initial: "Perkee and his brother Keeper work together to make sure the lighthouse always burns bright. Perkee has a secret crush on Mermer, but keeps it to himself, and always will." Final: "Keikei and his brother make sure the lighthouse keeps burning bright. He and Perper toss a coin to decide who will light the flame each day. For some reason it’s always Keikei’s turn. ‘It must be fate,’ thinks Keikei." |
Initial: Keeper Final: Perper |
Initial: "Life on Distant Island is pretty quiet. Keeper passes the time watching the flame and sending secret messages to his wife in the smoke from his pipe." Final: Life on distant island is pretty quiet. Perper passes the time watching the rolling ocean, polishing his double-headed coin and sending secret love messages to his wife Mermer in the smoke from his pipe." |
Initial: Mysterious Traveller Final: Future Aiai |
Initial: "The Mysterious Traveller always makes an appearance at just the right time. Who knows what's going to happen next? The Mysterious Traveller does!" Final: "He always made an appearance at just the right time. And didn’t you think he looked kind of familiar? How did he know what was going to happen next? Because he’s Future AiAi!" |
Notes:
- Perper and Keikei seem to have swapped names in addition to name changes
- Future Aiai's name/description seems to have shifted to the PSP exclusive Mysterious Traveller, instead now spoiling the fact he's Aiai. Oddly, the latter doesn't have a Monkey Trumps card bio, despite art for it here: https://web.archive.org/web/20220522143340/http://webbsta.com/
- The relationship of Mermer, her husband, and Keikei was likely scrapped due to it pushing the age rating
References#
- Twitter response from Keith Webb regarding characters - Twitter, Jul. 15th, 2021↩︎
- Other Twitter response supporting Keith's information - Twitter, Jul. 15th, 2021↩︎
- 2008 Interview with Keith Webb - Sega Forums, Apr. 13th, 2008↩︎
- Twitter link where Keith uploaded some concepts - Twitter, Jul. 17th, 2021↩︎
- Twitter thread from Keith Webb regarding char bios - Twitter, Jun. 4th, 2022↩︎