Of course Sonic and Tails are in the new Super Monkey Ball remaster

No DLC, it’s baked into the game

While trotting out Beat from Jet Set Radio and putting him in other games is just plain wrong sometimes, seeing Sonic and Tails cameo in something is a lot more natural. After all, we actually get new Sonic games!

Well they’re getting yet another crossover in Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania, as Sega has reconfirmed the Sonic and Tails duo as playable characters to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Sonic franchise.

Just like how Beat had slightly different scoring materials (spray cans), Sonic and Tails will sport rings as pickups. The new 30-second trailer (below) goes by fast, but we get to see some of the environments that are returning from the remastered games in the process. But what about Knuckles?

Sega reminds us, that like Beat, Sonic and Tails aren’t DLC and are unlockable through playing the game:

“Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles ‘Tails’ Prower are rolling into Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania as playable characters, free and unlockable on all platforms through normal gameplay at launch!”

Remember in the 2010-ish hellscape, when anything cool like this would be paid on-disc DLC, with a “$10 extra if you buy it used” unlock key? These characters would totally be that if it was still the 2010s. Oh, and “pay for early unlocks,” aka cheat codes that took 10 seconds to input on a title screen. Man publishers really tried to fleece everyone as obviously as they could back then, right?

“Good thing” loot boxes and gacha came along to make them forget about all that! Thankfully, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania seems to be giving off that old-school vibe before any of this existed, and a remaster of three full games sounds like a pretty decent way to spend some time.