Sega is bringing Sonic to Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble’s DLC

Sega announced the latest round of Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble DLC characters, and this time, Sonic the Hedgehog leads the charge. Tails, Amy, and Knuckles join the Blue Blur, and you can get them individually or purchase the character pass DLC to get the lot.

Each character costs $4.99 individually, or you can get the Sega character pass for $24.99. That might sound like a raw deal, since it costs five dollars more. However, the character pass includes access to future new characters as well, including Axel and Beat from Jet Set Radio. Those two character, plus a set of Sega-inspired costumes to dress up the Monkey Ball gang in, are set to launch sometime in September 2024 with a free new multiplayer mode.

If you haven’t purchased the game yet, you can also get the digital deluxe edition for $10 more than the base game’s price, which includes the character pass.

Sega still has more planned for Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble’s roadmap. The map’s “late 2024” section teases severa free new multiplayer stages and modes, along with new paid characters. The downside is that this additional round of free characters will, apparently, not be included in the character pass or digital deluxe edition.

Seeing as Sega added Kiryu from the Yakuza games in a previous Monkey Ball, I’m holding out for Majima this time. Rolling around a chaotic stage in a tiny plastic ball with death but a misstep away seems like something he’d enjoy.