Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
You may notice that AiAi and his gang have visited four different places around his world, yet we never even see any of the inhabitants. Well, it’s different this time around: as per AiAi’s own suggestion of visiting Stone Valley, they meet those who dwell there, monkeys that resemble stone statues. Their culture is unfamiliar to the main characters, and what they initially thought was a confrontation is actually a celebration of their arrival.
These same statue-like citizens of Stone Valley can also be seen in the backgrounds of the main stages. Naturally, they are the size of mountains, as are the trees, cacti, and other things there.
You may also notice that in this game, they’ve done away completely with the checkerboard patterns on the floor that characterized the early Super Monkey Ball games. I never really knew why they did that except for artistic reasons, maybe a means to determine your exact position or to ensure the same stage is interchangeable across different environments (like how the Clock Tower Factory stages in its story mode were replaced with the Volcanic Magma theme in the Challenge mode). Now, the solid ground looks like whatever they feel is appropriate for the theme. In this case, it’s a lot of stone, brick, adobe, dried mud, wood, twine, and other fitting materials. You can also see they’re moving away from the world tour theme, as this location is ambiguous in what it’s based on, and not in the same way as Rose Garden; my interpretation is that it’s a mixture of the Southwest U.S. (particularly Arizona and New Mexico), southern areas of the Sahara Desert, and the arid areas of Peru.
I’ve taken Gongon through this one this time. In addition to the ridiculous cactus outfit based on Stone Valley, I’ve also put him in the Dole ball, which puts a Dole sticker on every banana and the Dole logo on the starting point of each stage.
00:29 - 5-01 Seesaw
01:01 - 5-02 Sloped Curve
01:44 - 5-03 Pyramid Maze
02:43 - 5-04 Rocket Launcher
03:05 - 5-05 Push-Bar Road
03:46 - 5-06 Bouncers
04:17 - 5-07 Strikeout
05:15 - 5-08 Manhole
05:59 - 5-09 Balls on Seesaws
06:34 - 5-10 Lateral Waves
5-04, Rocket Launcher, feels like a toned down version of Jump Machine from Super Monkey Ball 2, in that you only need to be propelled once into the goal instead of three times. Jump Machine was nuts.
I forgot about the mechanic introduced in 5-06, Bouncers. They’re red button-like pads that send your character a short distance into the air, not unlike Banana Blitz’s jumping. I can see why they saved it for later on though, as you lose a lot of control when you’re in midair, so after this introductory stage, usage of the bouncer mechanisms gets pretty tricky.
5-07, Strikeout, is likely named for its resemblance to a batting cage in baseball.
To complete 5-08, Manhole, you have to slowly push the giant manhole cover so it falls through the hole. It and the goal will pass through each other, allowing you access to the goal.
5-10, Lateral Waves, is the next in the “undulating peaks and valleys” series of stages, and this one can be tricky because, unlike Bumpy and Egg Pack, it’s steep enough that you will need the Spin Dash to travel along the intended path. I’m sure there is a trick to fly across the gaps to go straight to the goal though.
The OOPart for Stone Valley is a souvenir replica of the stone people in the area, with the gemstone in its mouth. Palette finds the sixth location is in the midst of a city of highrises (in case the weird technology levels between locations wasn’t so obvious). It’s located at their stadium, the Neon Arena, and that’s where the next set of stages will be.
You may notice that AiAi and his gang have visited four different places around his world, yet we never even see any of the inhabitants. Well, it’s different this time around: as per AiAi’s own suggestion of visiting Stone Valley, they meet those who dwell there, monkeys that resemble stone statues. Their culture is unfamiliar to the main characters, and what they initially thought was a confrontation is actually a celebration of their arrival.
These same statue-like citizens of Stone Valley can also be seen in the backgrounds of the main stages. Naturally, they are the size of mountains, as are the trees, cacti, and other things there.
You may also notice that in this game, they’ve done away completely with the checkerboard patterns on the floor that characterized the early Super Monkey Ball games. I never really knew why they did that except for artistic reasons, maybe a means to determine your exact position or to ensure the same stage is interchangeable across different environments (like how the Clock Tower Factory stages in its story mode were replaced with the Volcanic Magma theme in the Challenge mode). Now, the solid ground looks like whatever they feel is appropriate for the theme. In this case, it’s a lot of stone, brick, adobe, dried mud, wood, twine, and other fitting materials. You can also see they’re moving away from the world tour theme, as this location is ambiguous in what it’s based on, and not in the same way as Rose Garden; my interpretation is that it’s a mixture of the Southwest U.S. (particularly Arizona and New Mexico), southern areas of the Sahara Desert, and the arid areas of Peru.
I’ve taken Gongon through this one this time. In addition to the ridiculous cactus outfit based on Stone Valley, I’ve also put him in the Dole ball, which puts a Dole sticker on every banana and the Dole logo on the starting point of each stage.
00:29 - 5-01 Seesaw
01:01 - 5-02 Sloped Curve
01:44 - 5-03 Pyramid Maze
02:43 - 5-04 Rocket Launcher
03:05 - 5-05 Push-Bar Road
03:46 - 5-06 Bouncers
04:17 - 5-07 Strikeout
05:15 - 5-08 Manhole
05:59 - 5-09 Balls on Seesaws
06:34 - 5-10 Lateral Waves
5-04, Rocket Launcher, feels like a toned down version of Jump Machine from Super Monkey Ball 2, in that you only need to be propelled once into the goal instead of three times. Jump Machine was nuts.
I forgot about the mechanic introduced in 5-06, Bouncers. They’re red button-like pads that send your character a short distance into the air, not unlike Banana Blitz’s jumping. I can see why they saved it for later on though, as you lose a lot of control when you’re in midair, so after this introductory stage, usage of the bouncer mechanisms gets pretty tricky.
5-07, Strikeout, is likely named for its resemblance to a batting cage in baseball.
To complete 5-08, Manhole, you have to slowly push the giant manhole cover so it falls through the hole. It and the goal will pass through each other, allowing you access to the goal.
5-10, Lateral Waves, is the next in the “undulating peaks and valleys” series of stages, and this one can be tricky because, unlike Bumpy and Egg Pack, it’s steep enough that you will need the Spin Dash to travel along the intended path. I’m sure there is a trick to fly across the gaps to go straight to the goal though.
The OOPart for Stone Valley is a souvenir replica of the stone people in the area, with the gemstone in its mouth. Palette finds the sixth location is in the midst of a city of highrises (in case the weird technology levels between locations wasn’t so obvious). It’s located at their stadium, the Neon Arena, and that’s where the next set of stages will be.
