Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble

Play it on: Switch
Buy it from: Amazon | Best Buy
Current goal: Free the monkeys from their toil

I’ve never been a big Super Monkey Ball guy but I keep coming back to Banana Rumble on the Switch. It’s just the right amount of frenzied energy, colorful whimsy, and straightforward challenge that I need to relax at the end of the day without falling asleep. I also love taking a break during the middle of the day to breeze through a few courses. Nothing comes too easy and the tough snags never last too long before it’s onto the next level or world. I love that every course is basically the length of a TikTok and that a new spin-dash move lets me try to cheat the game in weird and silly ways by occasionally trying to pop up and over 90 percent of the tough parts. I haven’t dug much into the multiplayer yet, which I hear is a letdown, but so far this summer it’s one of those right time, right place games that’s giving me exactly what I need. The older I get, the more my aging millennial smooth brain appreciates when a game gives me clear, bite-sized goals and the tools to get there and then leaves me alone to have fun. — Ethan Gach