Super Monkey Ball 2

Super Monkey Ball 2 is the sequel to the popular GameCube platformer and launch title Super Monkey Ball. This time, AiAi and co. face the evil Dr. Bad-Boon as they attempt to retrieve the bananas that he stole.

Sub-Pages#

Prototype Info Prerelease Info Unused LevelsUnused levels ranging from early versions of existing ones, test maps, and levels that never saw the light of day. Debug MenuStage Select, Bitmap Viewer, Sound Player, you named it.

Unused Jingle#

Tennis Theme Unused A

Tennis Theme Unused B

Tennis Theme Unused C Found in the MusyX Samp sound fx file, in the Snd > Mkb directory for Tennis, potentially are for victory or start themes for Tournament Mode. Note: The game uses ADP files instead for themes, none specifically for tournament mode.

Unused ADX Sound Files#

Present in the adx directory are seven unused ADX sound files which can be played in the debug menu. The final game doesn't use ADX sound files anywhere in the normal game.

music48a A three-and-a-half minute track used for a video intended to demonstrate the capabilities of the Sofdec codec. This is also unused in Sonic Mega Collection, which was released at around the same time.

music48b An almost three minute track with an unknown purpose. As it doesn't match the final game's music style, it's possible it's a test track.

music48c An adventurous sounding track that doesn't fit the musical style of the final game. Based on the progression, it could have been for a cutscene.

sel_world An unused copy of the story mode level select theme which sounds identical to the used one.

Three Japanese voice clips. These are leftovers from Aero Dancing F: Todoroki Tsubasa no Hatsu Hikou (a Japanese AeroWings series).

Unused Graphics#

Early Logo#

An early version of the logo can still be found on the disc.

Monkey Dogfight Item Icons#

A couple of unused icons for Monkey Dogfight that look similar to the Monkey Target item icons.

Unused AV Credit Logo#

An unused variant of the AV logo displayed after the credits in-game. The text reads 'Created by' in-game.

Unused Commend Texture#

This texture is found with files relating to the 'commend' scene - where all the monkey participants in a party game stand on a ranking podium in accordance to the position they achieved during the game. The purpose of this texture is unknown - it likely was a placeholder. The text is apparently in English, and is quite difficult to read.

YOU WIN!
YOU SO COOOL.
How can you get such
great splendid
extravagant gigantic
prize!

Monkey Tennis Names#

Hidden in the menu TPLs for Monkey Tennis' menu, the name Kakushi is found. The word roughly translates to "Hidden", implying that Tournament Mode was initially planned to have other opponents outside the 4 main characters. Given this isn't even translated, this was likely scrapped early.

Monkey Baseball Names#

Similar to Tennis, there are multiple Kakushi name textures. Oddly, there's also a Dr. Badboon (internally known as Mad HiHi) texture, suggesting he was once playable as well, or that Kakushi refers to him.

"Fellower" (misspelled Followers) likely refers to CPU ai control for catchers, though since the player/cpu manually sets position and the game mostly autoplays them, it doesn't matter. Given these are all not translated correctly, it was scrapped early

Super Monkey Ball Leftovers#

The Monkey Target item icons from Super Monkey Ball.

The main menu background from Super Monkey Ball.

The emblem displayed on the ranking board when a player reached the Master levels in Super Monkey Ball. In this game, the letters 'MA' are displayed vertically next to the stage number in this case, or 'MX' if the extra stages are reached.

Super Monkey Ball Menu Resources#

The menu text from Super Monkey Ball.

The button used on the main menus of Super Monkey Ball.

Unused Models#

A lot of unused models were left over from both the arcade edition and its predecessor.

NEW_GOAL#

This appears to be a planned design for a new goal. Its resources can be found within the various test levels.

JUN_GOAL_R#

A red warp goal, themed for the Jungle Island stages. No stage in the Jungle Island world has a red warp goal, so this asset is never used.

GameCube Controller#

A 3D GameCube controller with glitchy textures.

NODISP#

A model that appears in the files of each stage which displays its fallout boundaries, with the main lower fallout boundary in green, and additional fallout boundaries in gray. Never appears in-game in the final version.

NODISP_COLORS#

Six differently textured squares that appear in the files of each stage. The specific textures that appear vary based on the stage, sometimes leaving certain squares without textures.

Roll Floor#

A small rectangular platform.

Super Monkey Ball Leftovers#

The circular platform and hammer from Expert Extra 10.

The goal and platform from the credits level.

Four goal models.

The name entry roulette.

The asteroids from the space background.

The ocean background from Super Monkey Ball.

The Amusement Vision platform from Beginner Extra 3/Advanced Extra 4/Expert Extra 8.

A small square platform that was used in Beginner Extra 2 and Advanced Extra 2/Expert Extra 3.

Backgrounds#

All of the backgrounds from Super Monkey Ball are left over, including the party game ones. The only BG which does not function as intended is Storm (Expert 41-50). The background's model and texture file are corrupted. Although Jungle 1 is technically used for Monkey Golf, Monkey Golf uses a separate set of background files and is somewhat larger compared to Jungle 1's.

bg_lav	bg_lav2

An early variant of the Volcanic Magma background is found in the game's files under the name "bg_lav". The final background is named "bg_lav2". The early one is missing a few objects and is shaped differently. There are also tons of stretched textures in the early variant. Another thing to note about this is that Volcanic Magma was likely one of the first backgrounds made for the game, as it is seen in the earliest pre-release images and is the first theme ID to come after the theme IDs for the first game.

Hidden Developer Messages#

Super Monkey Ball 2 has various hidden developer messages within it.

Beginner Stage 3 / Library 203#

Beginner Stage 3 (named Bumpy) is named after its seemingly random bumps spewed across the stage. Except it turns out that these bumps may not be so random, because they appear to be in Braille. Here is the message translated:

Hi! This is Jamad.
That is right.
Braille Alphabet.
I respect you !!

Test Level Messages#

In several multi-stage test levels, a board with Kanji on it can be found, with Japanese writing in the foreground and a texture map in the background. These messages are signed by Jamad. Jamad is most likely a nickname of Junichi Yamada, the Stage Design Director of Super Monkey Ball 2.

Hope that there's
a texture map here
created from
a buffer.
          by JAMAD

Regional Differences#

Title Screen#

Japan	International

Fewer characters means fewer balls to encase them. Also the 2 and Aiais are slightly different sizes.

Banner#

Japan	International

2 is slightly stretched in Japan.

Alterations#

Japan	International

• In the North American and European versions, when the 5th position in the leaderboard is not filled, the placeholder name "BANANA" is used. In the Japanese version, the katakana for "AIAI" is used instead.

Japan	International

• When selecting a stage for Practice Mode, a percentage value is displayed above the stage preview window which displays the rate of completion for the level in the North American and European versions. For example, if a player completed a stage successfully twice and did not complete it once, the value will read 66%. The value is also shown under the score counter when playing a level in Practice Mode.

The code for this was not removed in the international versions of the game - the percentage is still calculated, but not displayed in the Practice Mode screen. Why it isn't displayed is unknown, but the calculated percentages can be accessed via the debug menu. The percentage is displayed in all regions of Super Monkey Ball Deluxe.

In the North American version of the game, the letters in the "STAGE" and "WORLD" animations animate like they do in SMB1; both fading and moving in from the left. In the Japanese and European versions, they simply fade in. This animation type seems present in all versions of Super Monkey Ball Deluxe.

Japan	International

• The end-game name entry in the Japanese version uses a keyboard, whereas the US version features a rotary letter selector instead.

Europe	North America	Japan

• Some of the game's fonts was changed in the PAL version. This font is used for the title screen, level score results, replay text, and more.
• The text for Stage Score and Clear Score were flipped for the US version. In the Japanese and European versions, 'Stage Score' is on top.