reviews of it say stuff like:

"the puzzle arenas grow increasingly more difficult and later stages are downright insane – hence, although everybody can enjoy the experience on some level, only the skilled and dedicated will beat the title."

 and

"so ridiculously complex and unforgiving that we pulled out our hair until we were bald. If that reads like a criticism, it's not. We put high value on challenging games and we will attest that after you successfully master some of the ludicrous stages in Banana Blitz you will walk away with a real, true sense of accomplishment."

and

"The latter half of the game features plenty of levels with 90-second time limits that can easily take you a good half-hour to get past"

since when has 'hardcore' come to not include spending 30 minutes on a 90-second level?  It used to be that 'hardcore' meant difficult to master and beat, not 'full of blood and gore'

is it simply because it has cartoony graphics?  why does a difficult game like SMB:BB get dismissed as a kiddie game and not classified as a hardcore game?

b/c if people admitted that something that has mini games might be hardcore, the seventh gate of hell opens up and we have the cat apocalypse....

similar to this,

 Simply because this game lacks depths in gameplay area. A game being hard/punish doesn't mean it's hardcore.

^but isnt mastering that type of game the art of hardcore?

 not really, it just means you have too much time to spend. Have time to play games =/= hardcore.

 I mean, one can play Wiisport and Carnvial game all week and I wouldn't consider the person a hardcore gamer. It really depends on the type of games the person plays.

Until someone can give us the definition of a hardcore game, there's no need to argue over whether Super Monkey Ball meets the criteria.

well i guess we have to agree to disagree b/c i consider it time not type

On the contrary, if someone can play Carnival games all week for at least 3 months, I would consider him definetly ultra hardcore. I mean playing Call of Duty for 3 months is something, but if you can actually play Carnival games that long you must be a hardcore gamer.

Pretty much what King said. It's a game that doesn't require commitment. You can play it for a week strait, drop it for 4 years, and randomly decide to play it again and you'll pretty much be on the same page with the goal of getting better at said mini-games. Casual to the max lol.

so all those recent 'hardcore' 'aaa' games have depth in gameplay?