SEGA has kept itself busy as of late by having companies partnered with them to help bolster its titles with HD re-releases. Blind Squirrel Entertainment's Sonic Colors: Ultimate arrives next month, with Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio's Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania coming out the month after. Any SEGA fan is sure to be excited with the titles coming, but the fun doesn't end there, especially for Sonic the Hedgehog's anniversary. Joining AiAi and his friends, Sonic and Tails are playable guest characters in Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania.

Banana Mania is a remaster of the first three console entries of the Super Monkey Ball series. The new release has many returning features, such as the story modes from SMB 2 and SMBDX and plenty of minigames from the latter.

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In a new trailer celebrating Sonic's 30th and AiAi's 20th, SEGA has revealed that Tails and Sonic are playable characters in Banana Mania. The two are shown traversing several different Monkey Ball levels in the see-through ball that's trademark to the series. The announcement post says they'll be locked, but gamers can roll through the game right at launch in order to play as them, unlike Puyo Puyo Tetris 2, where Sonic was DLC.

While the blue hedgehog and his two-tailed sidekick need to be unlocked, the post doesn't specify what requirements need to be met. It seems what it'll take to play as them will need to be something gamers discover for themselves once the game is in their hands. It's also interesting that SEGA chose to have Sonic and Tails in their classic designs rather than their modern iterations, but perhaps it's just that they look the best in the tiny ball.

The inclusion of Tails and Sonic alongside Beat from Jet Set Radio is sure to please Sonic fans as well as SEGA fans. For a game made for Super Monkey Ball's 20th anniversary, it seems to be taking the time to honor other SEGA IPs with loving nods as well.

Super Monkey Ball fans can enjoy the new remake without playing as any extra characters if they choose to do so, but Banana Mania might have more SEGA characters that may interest them a little more.

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania launches on PC, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on October 5th, 2021.

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