PLAYBOOKS: FOR THE NINTENDO Wii

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz

Players will use an intuitive remote to guide monkeys through puzzles filled with obstacles.  Kids will need to choose the appropriate monkey for each level, collect bananas, and guide monkeys to the goals before the time runs out in order to be successful.

Game play alone results in modest improvements in real-world executive skills. Please refer to our Playbook Tutorial, general coaching and comprehensive guides to transfer game skills to sustainable real-life behaviors.

QUICK FACTS

Game Type: Platformer, Puzzle
Platform/Console: Nintendo Wii
Number of Players: 1+
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
LWK Recommended Age: 5+
Buy Now From: Amazon.com

 

 

 

 

This Game is Good for Kids Who Need Help With:

• Setting goals (planning)
• Planning activities (planning)
• Solving problems (planning)
• Staying interested (goal-directed persistence)
• Staying motivated (goal-directed persistence)
• Making transitions (flexibility)
• Adapting to new situations (flexibility)
• Taking time to finish work carefully (response inhibition)
• Attentiveness (response inhibition)
• Thinking before acting (response inhibition)
• Staying positive and relaxed during everyday situations (regulation of affect)
• Managing emotions (regulation of affect)
• Judging time needed for completing tasks (time management)

What You Need to Know About the Game:

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz is an action game developed for the Nintendo Wii game system. As a player you will guide one of six monkeys of your choosing (AiAi, MeeMee, Baby, GonGon, Doctor, or YanYan) using the Wii’s intuitive remote control. Players must tilt the controller to direct one of the monkeys to the goal at the end of each level. Banana Blitz is appropriate for kids of any age especially since there is no reading involved.  This coaching guide was developed for the single player story and does not include any information on party games.

Controls, technical information, game basics, and instructions:
Controls, technical information, game basics, a short overview, and instructions for Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz can be found inside the instruction manual that is included with the game CD. The game will also provide a short review on controls before the player starts a level. 

Solutions:
For parents who would like a walkthrough, many great fan-made (and free!) walkthroughs can be found on the Internet. We suggest you look here: http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/wii/game/932708.html or here http://guides.ign.com/guides/824977/page_3.html.

This Game Helps Your Kids With: Planning

This game is good for kids who display difficulty with setting goals, planning activities, and solving problems, because they must:

• Create a strategy for reaching the goal after they examine the top-down map presented to them at the beginning of each level; otherwise, they will cross unexpected obstacles that will make it even more challenging to reach the goal.

• Constantly create new strategies as they fail and start levels over. Sometimes the current plan is inappropriate for that particular section, so the player falls or runs out of time. He/she then needs to create a fresh plan and begin again. Example: “Every time I roll past this monster he pushes me off the side of the path. Maybe if I try jumping over him next time I can get past that spot.” 

• Choose the appropriate character. At times a certain monkey is needed to successfully reach the goal. Some monkeys jump higher, move faster, or are stronger than others, so it’s up to the player to plan ahead and choose the appropriate character for the situation. 

Talking Points: 

• How do you know what to expect from a level before you begin?

• How can creating a strategy based on information from the mini-map help you to finish the level successfully?

• How is creating a strategy based on information from the mini-map like being able to look ahead and conceptualize changes based on current information?

• When in “Super Monkey Ball” do you need to use failure and loss as information for future success?

• How did planning help you to come up with new strategies and solutions after failing?

• How can creating a new strategy after failing help you to think about anticipating future problems based upon current actions?

• What information did you use to choose your characters?

• How did planning help you to choose the best monkey for a particular level?

• How is choosing the appropriate monkey like working smart using the resources you have at hand?

Making It Real: 

• Encourage planning for a family trip. Check weather forecasts with your child in order to think about what type of clothing he/she might want to bring. Have him/her generate a list of clothing, toys, books, and other materials that he/she would like to have with him/her during the family trip. Ask him/her to think about how much money he/she would like to have and perhaps find a way to earn the money prior to going on the trip. Encourage him/her to talk about the materials and things that are most important to take with him/her on the trip.

This Game Helps Your Kids With: Goal-Directed Persistence

This game is good for kids who display difficulty with staying interested and staying motivated, because they must:

• Re-motivate themselves after they fail. It is fairly challenging to advance without dying at least once in a level (especially later on), which means that players need to start over fairly often. Persisting when things get difficult and frustrating is a must. 

Talking Points: 

• What happens if your monkey falls off a platform?

• How did being persistent help you to get past different parts in a level?

How is persisting through “Super Monkey Ball” levels like being able to display a positive attitude towards homework and develop good work habits through practice, repetition, and effort.

Making It Real: 

• Post visible signs of success from a child’s sustained effort. This could include pictures of a child starting off a baseball season and showing him/her swinging and missing a pitch next to a picture of him/her smiling on first base after hitting the ball. Similar visual strategies to show that effort is worthwhile might be seen in improvements on report cards, improved test scores in the same subject, or listening to before and after practice renditions performed on a musical instrument. Talking to the child and getting him/her to describe the steps that he/she took to sustain his/her effort will be important.

This Game Helps Your Kids With: Flexibility

This game is good for kids who display difficulty with making transitions and adapting to new situations, because they must:

• Always be ready to alter their approach as the worlds and levels constantly change. Example: “I jumped over this monster in another level and it worked, but in this one it didn’t. I must need to try something new.”

• Since certain monkeys do need to be used for some levels, it’s important for the player to be able exchange characters. Using the same one won’t always work! 

Talking Points:

• What could happen if you use the same strategies for every level?

• How did being flexible help you to change strategies in the middle of the game?

• How is trying new strategies in “Super Monkey Ball” like being able to reject a failing course of action?

• What can happen if you use the same monkey for each level?

• How did being flexible help you to choose the best monkey for each level?

• How is being flexible and choosing the best monkey for the job like being creative or adjusting well to changes in plans?

Making It Real:

• Conduct cooking “experiments”. Make a number of varieties of chocolate chip cookies, including those with walnuts, orange rind, or other types of flavored chips. Try substituting ingredients, e.g., low-fat milk for cream in a recipe.

• Develop a game in which you alternate generating possible solutions to hypothetical and fun situations. For example, have your child think about answers to question such as, “What would you do if you could fly?” or “What would you do if you didn’t have school but had to do something else all day?” Encouraging creative thinking and helping your child understand how even an answer that is silly might help generate other thoughts can be helpful.

• Make mistakes. Demonstrate to your child that you are not afraid of making mistakes.  Show him/her how to laugh at yourself and how to laugh at his/her own errors.  Show him/her how you are able to learn from making a mistake. This is very easy. You can make a mistake by going the wrong way to an activity, mixing up ingredients in a recipe, making a hole in the wall while you are trying to put up a picture, or making an error when trying to complete a crossword puzzle or sudoku. Encourage your children to verbalize how they are able to learn from making mistakes.

This Game Helps Your Kids With: Response Inhibition

This game is good for kids who display difficulty with taking time to finish work carefully, attentiveness, and thinking before acting, because:

• It’s very easy to fall off of the path on which your monkey is rolling, so players have to make sure that they move carefully. It’s tempting to rush through levels especially since there is a time limit, but rushing results in failure more often than not. It’s important to take your time and think before moving! 

Talking Points: 

• What happens if you act too quickly, and your monkey rolls off the path?

• How did taking your time and thinking about your actions help you to finish a level without failing?

• How is moving carefully through “Super Monkey Ball” levels like riding a bike safely, paying attention to traffic, and wearing a helmet?

Making It Real: 

• Model self-talk skills in frustrating situations. Engage in a task with a child that may be frustrating to both of you. For example, you might work on putting together a large puzzle or repair a tire on a bicycle. Model self-talk skills, telling yourself to take your time and praising yourself as you take minor steps to accomplish the task. Ask your child to think about frustrating experiences in his/her own environment and what he/she might do to handle them better.

This Game Helps Your Kids With: Self-Regulation of Affect

This game is good for kids who display difficulty with staying positive and relaxed in everyday situations and managing emotions, because:

• It’s difficult to beat a Banana Blitz level without dying first. There are lots of trial-and- error type situations, so it’s very easy to get frustrated.  Sometimes children will react to their aggravation by rushing back to where they left off and, in turn, increasing their chances of failing (see response inhibition). The best way to make progress is to relax and keep trying! 

Talking Points: 

• What happens if you get frustrated and try to rush through a level?

• How did staying relaxed and positive help you to make fewer mistakes (such as falling off the platform)?

• How is staying relaxed and positive, even when you are frustrated with “Super Monkey Ball,” like being able to understand when emotions are getting the upper hand and restraining yourself?

Making It Real: 

• Help children to identify stressful situations ahead of time in order for them to cope with difficult situations. Providing them with scripts to follow in these situations might assist them in managing their emotions. Help them to understand that experiencing frustration and failure is routine in a number of situations. For example, assisting a child who is playing sports that he/she will not get the ball into the basket every time or hit a home run at every at-bat is very important

This Game Helps Your Kids With: Time Management

This game is good for kids who display difficulty with judging time needed for completing tasks, because:

• Levels are timed so players need to collect bananas and make it to the goal within the time limit without falling. 

Talking Points: 

• How do you know how much time you have to finish a level?

• How did managing your time wisely help you to finish a level before the timer reached 0?

• How can doing well despite your time constraints in “Super Monkey Ball” help you to work well under pressure?

Making It Real: 

• Chose a particular chore or task with your child and estimate how long it should take to complete it.  Time him/ her from start to finish, and use this amount of time as a baseline for completing this task. Set increasingly shorter time periods and limits for the child to complete the task. Help the child to determine methods of becoming more efficient in their efforts at completing the task.