Normal mode
The main game features three difficulty levels—Beginner, Advanced, and Expert, consisting of 10, 30, and 50 floors each—as well as three modes—Normal, Practice, and Competition. Normal mode allows one to four players to take turns progressing through the arcade "Monkey Ball", whereas competition mode involves two to four player simultaneous split screen races across a selection of floors. In practice mode, any floor already played in normal mode can be repeated indefinitely with no penalties for failure. In normal mode, the player experiences a "Game Over" when they have lost all of their lives, but is allowed five opportunities to continue; eventually, unlimited "continues" can be unlocked. Beginner Extra, Advanced Extra and Expert Extra floors are unlocked when each respective difficulty level is completed without losing a single life (or without using a continue in Expert)—and a hidden set of Master floors can be unlocked through playing the Extra floors without using a continue.