Guess who’s back. (That is not a question! Those who saw our Dreamcast shirts from last year will get this.)

Anyway, we took some time off to post and manage our epic eBay auction with Play for Japan to benefit the Red Cross. We’re still auctioning items off, and have raised more than $20,000 to help with relief efforts in Japan. We hope you’ll see something you love and bid on it!

We are now back with some more cool Free Stuff Friday items! We also filmed this week’s video with a new camera (thanks to our new friends at Kodak!) so tell us what you think about how it looks.

On the Block

1. Super Monkey Ball Keychain Pack

You get a banana holder, a sheet of Super Monkey Ball 3D magnets, a copy of Super Monkey Ball 3DS (for the Nintendo 3DS), and a Super Monkey Ball keychain from Julian (ClumsyOrchid’s) personal collection.

Congrats to our winner, @DEEMZR!

2. Super Monkey Ball Washcloth Pack

You get a banana holder, a sheet of Super Monkey Ball 3D magnets, a copy of Super Monkey Ball 3DS (for the Nintendo 3DS), and a Super Monkey Ball washcloth.

Congrats to our winner, @scaracappa!

3. Super Monkey Ball Baby Plush Pack

You get a banana holder, a sheet of Super Monkey Ball 3D magnets, a copy of Super Monkey Ball 3DS (for the Nintendo 3DS), and a plush of Baby.

Congrats to our winner, @YakuzaBento!

4. Super Monkey Ball AiAi Plush Pack

You get a banana holder, a sheet of Super Monkey Ball 3D magnets, a copy of Super Monkey Ball 3DS (for the Nintendo 3DS), and a plush of AiAi.

Congrats to our winner, @magmar126!

5. Super Monkey Ball Signed 10th Anniversary Artwork pack

You get a banana holder, a sheet of Super Monkey Ball 3D magnets, a copy of Super Monkey Ball 3DS (for the Nintendo 3DS), and a piece of 10th Anniversary artwork signed by Nagoshi-san.

Congrats to our winner, @MetalMand!

How it Works

1. You must be following us on Twitter to be eligible. (If you don’t have a Twitter account, you can create one by going to http://www.twitter.com and click the green “get started — join!” button in the center of the page.)

2. At random times on Friday, we will announce the prize we are giving away, a word or phrase, and what number of response you need to be to win. Send us a direct message (DM) via Twitter and be that number to win the prize. (@ replies do not count as entries!)

Example:

We tweet “GIVEAWAY: Sonic T-shirt, size L. Be the 15th person to DM “Sonic Adventure” to win!”

You see this, and want to win it, so you send us a direct message that says “Sonic Adventure”. If you are the 15th person to do so, you are the winner!

Quotation marks do not matter, capitalization does not matter, but spelling does matter!

3. All followers are eligible to win all prizes, unless a restriction is noted. Restrictions are usually due to the prize being region-locked. For example, US games that won’t work on UK gaming systems. There may also be age restrictions due to the rating of the game.

4. We will announce the winner on our Twitter feed once eligibility is confirmed.

Make Sure We’re Following You on Twitter

If you are currently following us on Twitter, please be sure that we are following you as well. You can do this by making sure that SEGA is in your “followers” list, or by going to DoesFollow and typing SEGA in the first blank, your Twitter username in the second, and pressing the “check” button. You can reverse this to be sure that you are following us. If you are following us, but we’re not following you, please send a message to @SEGA and we will follow you. This is important, because only people we follow can send us direct messages (DMs), and DMs are the only way to enter the giveaways.

Important Note: Twitter limits us to following 1,000 new people per day. This is a limit imposed by Twitter and is not something we can control, change, or get around. We do our best to follow everyone back in time for the giveaway, but this is becoming increasingly difficult as our Free Stuff Fridays become more popular. Because we must be following you in order for you to send us a direct message, if we cannot follow you due to this limit, you will be unable to enter the giveaway. We do our contests by direct message to avoid having everyone spam their followers with giveaway entries. Please be patient, and we will follow you as soon as we’re able.

How to Send Direct Messages on Twitter

There are a few ways to send us a Direct Message on Twitter. The easiest way is to go to our Twitter page and select “message” under the “Actions” heading in the side bar. If you do not see “message”, this means that we are not following you. Please send a message to @sega to let us know, and we will follow you. When you click “message” you will be taken to a window where you can type a message and press send.

You may also select the “direct messages” tab from your Twitter homepage, and select SEGA from the drop-down menu at the top of the page. Again, if you don’t see our name there, it’s probably because we’re not following you. Let us know, and we’ll follow you.

There are also many Twitter clients that you can use instead of using the website. These include TweetDeck, Twitteriffic, Tweetie, and Twhirl. Each of these programs works differently, so you’ll want to figure out how to send a direct message on the program you use. If you want to send us a test message, we’ll let you know if we received it or not.

Aha! Part 4! We’ve arrived at the last in our series of Super Monkey Ball blogs and today we’re featuring a ton of info on … Super Monkey Ball 3D for the Nintendo 3DS! Launching this Sunday, Super Monkey Ball 3D is the latest and greatest version of the series! A brief description of Super Monkey Ball on 3DS is that the game is effectively 3 games in one. The original game is still intact and the mini-games are expanded upon to add more replay value.

Super Monkey Ball Original Mode

Fans of the series will be happy to hear that the original Super Monkey Ball mode is intact and available to pick up right off when you start playing! Right from the start you can pick up and play from the 4 available worlds and jump into the action, new players will want to start with world one to get their bearings, and the hardcore can jump into later levels to get their fix too. Playing all levels unlocks more maps to play on and the challenge picks up as you get higher.

To add to the overall replay value of the mode, hidden within each level are special bananas to find that will start off easy to grab and later become more challenging. Finding more of the special bananas will add to the unlockable characters in the other Monkey Ball modes! There are other special collectibles to find by performing other special actions throughout the game as well, hidden of course, so keep an eye out of what you can do to unlock these along the way!

Monkey Race

As noted, this version of Super Monkey Ball offers two mini-games that are a bit deeper than previous game offerings. With Monkey Race you have a full fledged cart racer, complete with new characters and cars to unlock. The game itself is quite fun and often surprised a lot of the press we’ve shown the game too, especially when played in multiplayer as the heated talk picks up and the game gets serious! Best advice to win? Use the Spin & Dash ability to quickly move about through the level and bypass obstacles along the way. Also, don’t be fooled by the first level, which is as tame as it comes – the game quickly ramps up to offer some obstacles that are often as hard as the opponent’s your playing against. Great fun!

Monkey Fight

Who doesn’t love a good Monkey Fight? In this mode, the game is a bit different than that of previous Monkey Fight mini-games, instead of a 3D top down (ish) offering, the game is played across a 2D environment with a goal of tracking and holding as many Bananas as possible. The characters all play differently, each offering a playstyle and Monkey Fighting style that’s fitting for them. Baby, for example, stays true to his Futuristic roots by locking into a cyborg body and menacing opponents with speed and agility. Doctor, my favorite character, has a double jump that’s leaps and bounds better than the competition (aha! a pun!). As with Monkey Race, characters can be unlocked through a variety of means, both from the Single player game and competing in the mode itself.

The Golden Barrel! I nearly forgot about this special item in the game – by finding and gaining this power up – your Monkey fighter will gain all new strength and abilities! My favorite, Doctor, unleashes an electrical attack in a wide range blasting the bananas out of nearby monkeys. To be the best Monkey, you’ll need to use all your skills to survive! Today we’re happy to unveil the newest trailer for Super Monkey Ball to help illustrate this mode – Monkey Fight!

Continuing in our series on the Super Monkey Ball franchise, today we’re going to drift a bit beyond the norm and then dive in the Wii versions of the title. Having a chance to write about these games has sparked a bit of nostalgia in me, because it’s kind of crazy that it’s been ten years since this game launched. This sentiment is echoed across our Facebook and Twitter as the updates go out. Yes, it’s been ten years – where did the time go? I still remember watching friends play these games in our QA group here at Sega and honestly that feels like a lifetime ago – so much has changed in my life and it’s fun to drift back and recall these games. Heh, enough of that then, let’s pick up where we left off yesterday… I believe I skipped and omitted a few games to get into the iPhone stuff I adore so much!

Super Monkey Ball Adventure

This is the break from the norm I was talking about, and it’s a break for a two reasons that I can think off (if more, fill me in from the comments below!). For starters the Monkey Ball series took a bit of a change in direction with Adventure, making it … well, and Adventure game! Ok, so I guess that’s not a huge surprise, what is interesting is the shift in development to the Traveller’s Tales team away from the Japanese developers. The result was interesting, to say the least and not as well regarded as the other titles. Why mention it? It is a part of the Monkey Ball series, even if it does deviate a bit from the format. Even being an adventure style game, it did contain some of the original modes, including challenge stages and multiplayer games.

Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz

The first Nintendo Wii offering for the Super Monkey Ball series and a launch title at that, Banana Blitz stayed true to the series roots but added a few changes to the gameplay and a host of new characters. Gameplay wise, the game was the first to implement the ‘Jump’ action! This gave the Monkeys a new skill to combat the ever changing environment and tackle new bosses – yes bosses! The challenges of the levels also had a smoother learning curve, which definitely aided in bringing in new people to the series. New characters were also introduced that appear through a new story arc, involving evil Pirate Monkeys – an idea, I’m still quite fond of.

Banana Blitz also launched with the largest collection of mini-games in the series thus far, with a total of 50 different games! Old classics returned with Monkey Target and Monkey Bowling as well as new challenges with Asteroid Crash and Banana Thief. Ok, I just wanted to say Banana Thief because it makes me chuckle. Having 50 games definitely upped the ante a bit for offering some fun among friends with the Monkey Ball series and no title to date has been able to offer as many games in a single title release.

Super Monkey Ball Step & Roll

By now, as either a fan of the series or a reader of the blog, you can see the Super Monkey Ball team likes to develop around new technology. With Step & Roll the new challenge was to work with the Wii Balance Board and craft a Monkey Ball experience to match. Also playing off the fitness angle of the Balance Board, players could burn Monkey Calories (not described was the ratio between normal calories and Monkey Calories – the assumption was that they were close enough to not matter)! Additional fun involved a coop mode where players could help their Monkey companions by blasting away obstacles along the way.

See you tomorrow for our last blog on Super Monkey Ball, focusing on the 3DS version! Woo!

A decade of Super Monkey Ball, day two! All week long we’re taking a look at the past ten years of the Super Monkey Ball franchise, showing off a bit of nostalgia for those who remember the titles of the past and bringing in some new fans who might have missed out. Looking forward to your feedback as always, now let’s get back on track …

Super Monkey Ball Jr – Game Boy Advance (2003)

Continuing in our look across the Monkey Ball series, we’re going to pick up right where we left off yesterday and roll directly into Super Monkey Ball Jr for the Game Boy Advance! Thinking back this title was a favorite of mine, particularly because of the portability and being a fan of the series from day 1. Super Monkey Ball has always been available on the new tech in some form or another and I felt this was a decent outing for the gang. Granted, not top of the top graphics wise, but still entirely playable and familiar. Only drawback was the lack of analog – but I’m selectively forgetting about that…

Super Monkey Ball Deluxe – Xbox / PlayStation2 (2005)

This was the first time the series had appeared outside the Nintendo platforms, well aside from the Arcades – but those don’t count, right? Right? … The Deluxe version was actually something of a compilation from Super Monkey Ball 1 & 2, but built with some additional content that didn’t appear in either version. Featuring over 300 levels of Super Monkey Ball, the game offered the most comprehensive version of the series for the time.

Super Monkey Ball Touch & Roll – Nintendo DS (2006)

Solving the lack of Analog problem from the original handheld JR release (ok, I’ll remember it, fine!), the Nintendo DS version allowed the player to navigate through the world using the touch pad. Though the d-pad was still supported, the true way to play the game has always been with a precarious analog stick. Touch & Roll also modified the look of the original crew of Monkeys a bit, the look became a bit more cartoon-like.

Super Monkey Ball – iPhone & iPad (2009)

Ok, a bit of a jump here, we’ve skipped over Banana Blitz, but I plan to return to the game tomorrow. Instead, we’re going to focus on the iPhone and iPad versions of Super Monkey Ball because, but don’t worry, we’re back on track tomorrow. So, the reason I wanted to delve into iPhone stuff was frankly because the version is so excellent, and as a fan of the series, I just didn’t want to wait and extra day and not talk about them.

Super Monkey Ball on iPhone stands as one of the best games for the platform to this day. It was probably the first real game that I played on the iPhone and was one of the most fun and challenging offerings too. As a commuter, playing games on portable devices is a big part of my life and the iPhone version killed my battery time and time again as I trekked back home. Being that you move the world in Monkey Ball to find your way about the environment, what better way than to use the phone’s accelerometer to do exactly that. The experience is perfect.

How perfect? My father is not at all gifted when it comes to games, though to his credit he does try or feign interest while I try to get him to give it a shot. Monkey Ball was one of the first games that he ‘got’ and instantly was having fun. The best part is that I never had to do anything to show him how – I just handed him the device, sat back, and watched figure it out and mere moments. His face changed from scowling / expecting frustration to pure delight and he couldn’t put it down – perfect, I say!

Spanning three versions, Super Monkey Ball first appeared on the iPhone and again shortly thereafter with a sequel. The two versions were very similar in presentation, however the sequel fixed and added a lot of requested features based on fan feedback from the original. Adding in a way to center the device and adding in a less steep learning curve helped make Monkey Ball 2 on the iphone a much tighter overall experience. Let’s also not forget the iPad version, Sakura Edition, which appeared alongside the iPhone sequel. With improved visuals, HDified for the iPad, the Sakura Edition is another favorite for its smooth controls and excellent gameplay.

I honestly could keep writing these all day, but trying to keep them in bite sized chunks! Tomorrow I’ll be back for part 3 and another look at the Super Monkey Ball series – more to come!

Super Monkey Ball is 10 years old! To celebrate, we’re going to look back at titles and experiences throughout the last decade of Monkey Ball in a series of blogs. There’s a lot to cover off, so sit back and relax and we go back to the original games that helped launched the series in 2001! Where did AiAi, MeeMee, and Gon Gon get their start? What sorts of adventures have they gotten into? Read on and discover how we have arrived most recently at the upcoming Super Monkey Ball 3D!

Monkey Ball – Arcade (2001)

The first Monkey Ball game actually arrived in an arcade format and not on the GameCube as I had thought. Not a regular Arcade visitor, this was not something I had seen before writing this article. Being that this was the first offering of a game containing Monkeys trapped inside balls – the arcade is actually a perfect fit. Both for SEGA’s arcade roots and the fact that you can simply get away with wacky stuff like this in the arcades. For example, to make the presentation that much better, the joystick used to control the game is modeled after an actual banana!

Super Monkey Ball – GameCube (2001)

Probably the most recognizable edition of the Monkey Ball game series, Super Monkey Ball arrived on GameCube as a launch title and delivered the wacky arcade concept of Monkeys in balls to a much wider audience. A seemingly too-weird-to-be-good concept actually turned out to be incredibly good, a genre that’s not been copied over and over again by countless me-too brands trying to cash in on what Monkey Ball has so expertly delivered.

The game was, and still is, based on the simple action of moving the world to move help navigate the cast of characters from the start of the level to the eventual goal. The game was very much based on an arcade state of mind – Get to the goal to advance or fall out of the world and start again. With challenges that got increasingly more difficult, the game was definitely a case of ‘easy to pick up, difficult to master’.

Another fun introduction to the series was the addition of minigames, something that’s been a regular feature ever since. The original game launched with a range of optional modes, including Monkey Bowling, one of my favorite additions to the series. The goal is similar to normal bowling, only the setup is a bit different – using a meter, set your strength, approach, then modify your spin to crash into the bowling pins. Favorite might be a bit generous as this was my go-to game for most of my sessions with friends. Thinking back on it now, I can still hear the “clack, clack!” of the meter as I watched and waited for the perfect angle. So fun!

Super Monkey Ball 2 – GameCube (2002)

Launching almost a year after the original Super Monkey Ball, the sequel provided an opportunity to return to the mystical world of Monkeys in balls and provide a bit of backstory into the Monkey Ball series. Why Monkeys? How did they get into balls? Where do those bananas go when they pick them up?! To summarize briefly, read on from the original Super Monkey Ball 2 instruction booklet:

As we know, most of the world’s monkeys love bananas and rolling around in giant hamster balls; but not Dr. Bad-Boon. It’s his twisted plots that have led you into all these strange, dangerous mazes.

Aha! It was Dr. Bad-Boon all along! Hailing from the future, Dr. Bad-Boon is madly in love with MeeMee, but exists in a time where both AiAi and MeeMee are married. To find a way into her heart, he returns to the past to separate the couple and woo MeeMee away from AiAi, failing every time. Enter a new character, Baby, who is also a new character. Arriving at a similar time to Dr. Bad-Boon, but is not evil, instead he is here to warn AiAi and MeeMee – he is also … AiAi and MeeMee’s child from the future!

Super Monkey Ball 2 was easily the most impressively difficult game I had seen in some time. It was also one of the titles that was being tested when I started my job here at SEGA in the Quality Assurance group. I watched as my friends played over and over and over and over trying to master individual levels, paths and secrets. Trying to describe these levels would simply not do them justice, so I searched and came across an excellent trick video from a rather good Monkey Ball player. Too good to pass up and an excellent look at the series from it’s arcade roots and some of the crazy challenges they threw your way:

That’s it for today’s blog, so much to cover throughout the week! I hope you enjoyed this blog and we’ll see you for round two tomorrow!

Today we’re proud to present an all-new trailer from Super Monkey Ball™ 3D. Join AiAi and friends in eye-popping 3D as they take the action to the track and race against each other in the all new Monkey Race mode!

Super Monkey Ball 3D for Nintendo 3DS lets players lose themselves in new vibrant worlds as they twist and turn while aiming to collect every banana in the fastest time possible. The game contains three new gameplay choices including single-player puzzle levels, Monkey Race and Monkey Fight. These modes also give players the chance to compete via wireless connection with up to four players!

Super Monkey Ball 3D is coming exclusively to Nintendo 3DS and launches alongside the new handheld on March 27, 2011. For more information please visit www.sega.com/supermonkeyball3d

Super Monkey Ball 3D is almost here – coming in on March 27th, the newest Monkey Ball title is arriving on the 10th anniversary of the series! Hard to believe it’s been 10 years since we first climbed into the ball and started collecting bananas on GameCube! Since then, Super Monkey Ball has appeared on a wide range of platforms, including the Wii and the iPhone too. Today we are very happy to show off a new trailer in anticipation for the launch on the Nintendo 3DS in two weeks and have some special wallpapers for you to celebrate with as well!

10th Anniversary Wallpapers

In honor of this momentous occasion, we have two special 10th Anniversary Wallpapers available to spruce up those desktops of yours. Enjoy two new wallpapers straight from the Monkey Ball developers!

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Today we’re proud to confirm that Super Monkey Ball™ 3D is launching alongside the Nintendo 3DS™ on March 27, 2011. In celebration of this news, we have new screens from the game! Join AiAi and friends as they monkey around in classic puzzle levels and new gameplay modes.

Super Monkey Ball 3D for Nintendo 3DS lets players lose themselves in new vibrant worlds as they twist and turn while aiming to collect every banana in the fastest time possible. The game contains three new gameplay choices including single-player puzzle levels, Monkey Race and Monkey Fight. These modes also give players the chance to compete via wireless connection with up to four players!

Super Monkey Ball 3D is coming exclusively to Nintendo 3DS and launches alongside the new handheld on March 27, 2011.  For more information please visit www.sega.com/supermonkeyball3d

Excited about Super Monkey Ball 3D? We are and set to craft what is easily the most adorable skin for our Forums:

I’m a sucker for Monkey Ball – such a fun series and a welcome addition to the franchise with the 3D edition on 3DS. Interested in having a discussion with me and others about it? Join our forums and say hi!

Two new wallpapers to put you in the mood for Super Monkey Ball that is! Valentines Day is nearly upon us and with it comes the pressure to find the perfect gift and evening out with that special someone. To help create an environment that helps bring that idea to light, the Super Monkey Ball team has provided some wallpapers so that every day can be spent gazing into the eyes of a trustworthy monkey. Ahh monkeys, is there nothing their wisdom cannot solve?

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Don’t forget to return the favor and pre-order Super Monkey Ball 3DS! Monkey goodness incoming this March!