Super Monkey Ball 2 - Master

You asked for it, and here it is! This is the final difficulty level in Super Monkey Ball 2: The Master stages. There are only 10 of them here, but they take the difficulty to another level:

1 Centrifugal
2 Swing Bridges
3 Cylinders
4 Passage
5 Notch
6 Intermittent
7 Long Torus
8 Spasmodic
9 Double Twin
10 Clock Face

I used Aiai here, as it's only appropriate that our simian protagonist is the one most experienced in running these mazes. Interestingly, the Master stages are set only in Space Colony and Dr. Bad-Boon's Base. I suppose here, we see the true extent of what Dr. Bad-Boo can throw at Aiai--he was holding back in the Story Mode, I guess. I kind of wished for there to a tour of the ten different worlds. You know, Centrifugal would've had the Jungle Island backdrop, Cylinders would have Under the Ocean, Long Torus with Bubbly Washing Machine, and so forth. But I guess Space Colony is this game's way of saying that these are very hard stages, and Dr. Bad-Boon's Base saying that this is going to be as hard as they come. For the difficulty.

The names here can get pretty obscure, so I'll explain.

"Centrifugal" refers to centrifugal force. It's not a real physical force, but of intertia. You may have been taught in science class that it's the tendency of things to move away from the axis when something is spinning. In reality, it's because everything that moves will prefer to move in a straight line. The spinning turns the object against its will, and it will resist by pushing outwards. But that's not important for this stage. I can clear it and Swing Bridges no problem.

Cylinders will give major problems if I try to take the mornal route. It's way easier for me to just blast on ahead. Note that I cannot do this consistently; I got lucky here.

Notch doesn't sound so bad if you're just looking at the title. But surrounded by frightening and intimidating sounding stages, you can tell it's up there. One thing I noticed is that stages that come immediately after a stage with a green goal will be substantially harder than normal (though the inverse is not always true--Arthropod and 8 Bracelets are examples), and personally, I find Notch to be one of the hardest stages in this batch of ten. Something about an oval cylinder doesn't lend itself too well to a ball rolling to get to the other side. Especially with notches on the oval. And the goal being much higher up than the beginning.

The words "intermittent" and "spasmodic" are actually synonymous. They both mean unsteady, or not constant. The difference is that intermittent things happen at regular intervals, between cycles of on and off (a traffic light would be intermittent). Spasmodic has no real pattern, going on and off as circumstances or thoughts change (a light displaying Morse code would be spasmodic). However, I personally feel the two names should be switched. The platforms in Intermittent are different in length, and thus the monkey's movements are not regular. By contrast, the moving chunks of path in Spasmodic move in predictable patterns, and you should too in order to get to the goal. More on Spasmodic later.

Long Torus was quite the frustrating stage to play until I realized you're supposed to go to the right and stay on top of the torus, dropping down at the end. What's a torus, you ask? That's the geometric term for a doughnut shape. It doesn't necessarily have to be a circle though; this stage's main portion would definitely be a torus. A torus is unique in that you can take one and peel off its outside, and you can get a perfect square or rectangle. No other geometric shape can yield a square or rectangular map.

Spasmodic is the last stage I want to talk about. It looks really simple, doesn't it? It's a straight path to the goal, with three tiny obstacles directly in front of it. Yet, I lost 38 lives to this stage. Go ahead, watch the life counter. It begins at 84, and when I finally reach the goal, it's down to 46. There's a good reason why it's here in Master. Never question why a stage is placed where it is until you actually try it. Pretty much everyone who plays this game agrees Spasmodic belongs in Master.

After conquering Clock Face, we're done! Oh, wait...there's a Master EXTRA? It gets even tougher? Why yes, it does! The very last stages in this game are over there. This is the absolute worst the game will throw at you. Are you prepared?

Category:

Gaming

Tags:

• super
• monkey
• ball
• two
• sega
• amusement
• vision
• challenge
• mode
• master

[BIGBOYZLiveMedia]

how do u get master

[Overhazard]

@BIGBOYZLiveMedia To get more lives, you need to spend points. Look around the main menu until you find it; I don't remember where it is. To get Master, you need to clear Expert and Expert Extra without using a continue.

[chaoskid98]

when it got to number 10 I actually had to pause the video out of sheer WTFness the creator of these levels is a evil mastermind....

[Overhazard]

@chaoskid98 That was the stage I had the least trouble with, as I didn't fall out at all in Clock Face.

[nin10doadict]

I've never actually seen what spasmodic looks like. Every other play I've seen of it rushes it. Apparently, if your timing is just right, you can rush forward when the timer reads about 59.50 and you'll just blaze through it.

[Overhazard]

@nin10doadict I heard of it. I can't get the timing right. Ever. So I just do this.

[Overhazard]

@Sparkz1607 But what about Master Extra? This is't the end yet!

[Miss6Nintendo]

Nowadays Super Monkey Ball isn't as hard as it used to be... :(

[PokemonPuzzleJudge]

I actually do not think Spasmodic belongs in Master, more in Expert.

[BLUEDUDE1397]

waaaaa!!!!!!

[breloomer236]

You, sir, are a god of monkeys that run around in plastic bubbles.

[breloomer236]

@Miss6Nintendo I totally agree. The Swing Bridges mechanic in the second course here is used in World 1 of Banana Blitz, making it incredibly easy. Not sure if it's ever seen again...

[luigiman600]

co za asy

[gamemaster0422]

Well, at least there's nothign else to d-

"Go to The Master Extra Stage!"

*jaw drops* WHAT?!

[seadra147]

i bet all the stages of Master Extra have onlt one spec of land and you have to freefall into onlt one other spec of land...that doesn't even exist.

[bigdawg89BCD]

@Aggron375

i was like... holy shit.

[Aggron375]

wow at 5:20 you went from 83 lives to 46! o.o That one must have took forever to get through

[crud41]

7:16 <---- click me to have nightmares.

[tda576]

If you want to beat Spasmodic, wait half a second and simply hold up. It took me a while to find that out too.

[yebk1]

i have this game too

[Sparkz1607]

=3= Man, this is the last time I stay up until 3:00 in the morning watching super monkey ball videos. I'm gonna have nightmares tonight