A leaker has posted an image of a multi-game wonder Shovel Knight, Dark Souls, and Monster Hunter arriving in the toy line, Sega premiering an AiAi figure to go along with the long-awaited rerelease does make some sense.
Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania is the return of the first three entries in Sega's arcade-centric action franchise. While the games came to consoles in the early 2000s after their debut alongside the arcade classics, they've never been available in one package before and they've never released on a wide variety of console and PC hardware at one time. Players can enjoy the full campaigns of Super Monkey Ball, Super Monkey Ball 2, and Super Monkey Ball Deluxe in one package alongside all the monkey-themed mini-games and challenge modes from the original releases.
Gaming message board E3-adjacent Nintendo Direct, as they'd have no reason to leave out that news and haven't hidden amiibo announcements in separate events in the past.
What instead puts the AiAi amiibo firmly in the fake category is its origins. The image was discovered on 4chan, the famous imageboard known for both inventing many of the most famous memes and attracting a less than desirable clientele. Trolling the rest of the internet with completely made-up information is one of 4chan's favorite hobbies, and this intricately detailed image of an AiAi amiibo may just be the latest in a long line of fakeries. Still, as noted in the original findings, the image was shared not to the infamous video gaming board but the far less popular toy-centric corner of the site. No one hoping to get everyone on board with the prank would take that course of action, so perhaps there is some credence to this mockup after all.
Whether AiAi represents Super Monkey Ball in the realm of amiibo or if fans will just have to make do with Banana Mania later this year, the excitement that this image generated shows that there's still plenty of life in Nintendo's line of interactive statues. Sure, the in-game perks have never really fulfilled their initial promise, but the launch of similar lines by other companies and Nintendo's continued for the product far beyond the toys to life craze ended proves one thing. Video game players love collecting, whether it's in-game healing items or tiny tributes to their favorite mascots.
Source: ResetEra
