Super Monkey Ball Player Plays Super Monkey Ball With Monkey In Ball
There are many wacky video game controllers out there, but it’s fair to say that Dr. Tom Tilley has designed an unprecedented way to play Super Monkey Ball. In a viral internet video, Tilley shows off a DIY controller that’s perfect for the game: a physical monkey in a ball that rotates like a trackball to handle the in-game simian.
Tilley showed off some aspects of the build in the video. It shares its basic design with a soccer-ball controller that the hacker built for use with Katamari Damacy. The sensor appears to be an upside-down ball mouse that’s held in place with plastic balls (seemingly from old deodorant sticks) and mounted on a cardboard rack. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the design is Tilley’s 3D-printed model of Super Monkey Ball’s cute mascot AiAI, who looks remarkably on-point.
Reached via email, Tilley explained the inspiration for the controller. “We lived in Thailand for about 10 years and while we were there I played an obscure Japanese arcade game called Armadillo Racing from 1992. The game cabinets have a trackball that you use to steer your armadillo and I thought it would be fun to try and recreate the experience.”