Put a monkey in a ball (not a real one, monkey obviously, the ball should be fine) and make a video game where said monkey, called AiAI rolls around collecting bananas around fiendishly difficult courses and you have the premise for one of the best-loved puzzle games in gaming history.

Super Monkey Ball is ace, always has been, and probably always will be, and now with the latest version, Sega’s Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble on the Nintendo Switch, AiAi is rolling out (pun, very much intended) to a brand new audience.

But what could make it even better? What one thing could possibly create the greatest Super Monkey Ball experience in our lifetime? Well playing the game with an actual monkey ball of course.

Friends, cast away your Joycons. Joystick drift is a thing of the past. Well, it is as far as Dr Tom Tilley is concerned.

You see Dr. Tom is a computer scientist and he has put all that intelligence and education into making a controller for Super Monkey Ball that features a model of AiAI in a ball and made a massive trackball out of it so he can steer AiAi around the courses by rotating the it with his hands.

Everybody’s adding AI to things these days so I thought I’d add AiAi to my DIY soccer/football controller.#SuperMonkeyBall #sega https://t.co/nk2pcta3OG pic.twitter.com/XBohHHNIOC

— Dr Tom Tilley (@DrTomTilley) June 26, 2024

Using some cardboard (scientific cardboard obviously) and a 3D printer to print the monkey he shows in his post on X how he’s put it all together and how it all works. The man is a genius. A bona-fide genius and he has my vote.

His post said, “Everybody’s adding AI to things these days so I thought I’d add AiAi to my DIY soccer/football controller.”

This is also funny. He is a genius and a funny one at that. Please make us a Monkey Ball controller Dr Tom. We are pretty much begging you.

Check out the video above to see why hardware modders will one day rule the earth.

The post This guy is playing Super Monkey Ball with an actual super monkey ball. Why can’t he become the next President? appeared first on ReadWrite.