Twitter user piercesword revealed that Sega recently snagged a trademark in Japan for the Super Monkey Ball franchise, the tentative title being Tabegoro! Super Monkey Ball. The "tabegoro" in the title means "good for eating," "ripe enough for eating," or "in season" which hints at the overall aesthetic and theme of this possible upcoming new entry.

Interesting enough, piercesword also points out that there's a Japanese arcade game called Monkey Ball and a consumer version is called Super Monkey Ball. There's a chance that this title could be related to the trademarked game, although I hope that it would be a unique entry since the visuals aren't exactly impressive. Not to mention that the level design doesn't really relate to the trademarked title.

You can watch the trailer below and see for yourself how this game looks.

The last console release in the franchise was Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz for PS Vita. There was also a smartphone game called Super Monkey Ball Bounce which came out for Android and iOS in 2014 but was pulled from the store in 2015.

We already know that Sega hasn't quite forgotten about their quirky and addictive mini-game series, as seen by the fact that it was featured in the companion app for Yakuza Zero as a really cute special version.

As of this writing, Sega has not officially confirmed a new Super Monkey Ball in development. Hopefully that will change, as I greatly enjoyed the Gamecube version -- no matter how frustrating some of the levels could get.