Super Monkey Ball official for GameCube launch

TOKYO - At the New Generation World Hobby Fair this past weekend, Amusement Vision officially announced that Super Monkey Ball will be released as a Japanese launch title for the Nintendo GameCube. Unlike at E3, the GameCube version of the game was not playable at the Sega booth, but we've managed to learn some interesting details regarding the title.

The primary gameplay mode is essentially the same as the arcade mode, where you choose from four monkeys--Aiai, Meemee, Baby, and a yet-to-be-named character--each with different attributes for speed, weight, and so on. Players can then select the difficulty level: beginner, intermediate, or expert. These various difficultly levels consist of 10, 30, and 50 courses, respectively. One of the original features in the GameCube version is the party game mode. Here, you can select from three different party games that can be played with up to four players simultaneously. The monkey race mode allows up to four players to compete in a race to roll the ball to the goal the fastest. The monkey fight mode is reminiscent of one of Mario Party's minigames, where players are on a platform with no walls and must push their opponents off. The last remaining monkey is declared the winner. Finally, the monkey target mode is where players shoot the ball at a distant target and whoever is the closest is the winner.

Super Monkey Ball is scheduled to debut this September 14 in Japan. Nintendo has not announced whether the game will launch with the North American GameCube, but that scenario seems very likely. In the meantime, check out our new media below, which highlights the party game mode.