Cool Bananas from NextGen Gaming: Slot Review - one cool monkey!

Retro gaming is all the rage these days as players yearn for a more simple and fun way to play online slots. Renowned software producer NextGen Gaming heard the call loud and clear so they decided to release this easy to play slot for all players to enjoy. Cool Bananas is a parody of sorts on the old King Kong movies and the big monkey who is climbing the city skyscrapers in this game is cleverly called Mighty Monkey. What sets this cool monkey apart from all the other big fearsome apes out there is that he is very fond of wearing shades, earrings, and of course Hawaiian style t-shirts!

Cool Bananas is a 5 reel slot with 25 paylines that includes Free Games, Double Wins, and Wild Multipliers.

Special Features

The first feature I came across while playing this game is the Wild symbol and it is represented by an image of Mighty Monkey. This symbol replaces all other symbols except the Scatter symbol to help contribute to winning combinations on the reels. Keep your eyes peeled on this symbol as you play the game as it is the highest paying symbol. Land 5 Wilds on an active payline and you’ll be banging your chest with delight with a whopping payout worth 5,000X your total bet!

An image of a peeled banana is the Scatter symbol and if you land 3 or more of these symbols on the reels then you’ll trigger the Free Games bonus game. In this feature, you’ll be awarded a number of Free Games depending on how many Scatters you land. For example, 3 Scatters will give you 24 Free Games, 4 will give you 32 Free Games, and land 5 of these symbols and you’ll bag yourself a nice set of 40 Free Games. A pleasing aspect of Free Games is that all wins come attached with a 2X multiplier and you can retrigger additional Free Games by landing more Scatters. It’s possible to land up to 80 Free Games in total.

Theme, Graphics and Sound

The graphics are bright and colourful and evoke a real retro feel when you play this game. The backdrop of the slot is a bunch of tall buildings with Mighty Monkey on top of a skyscraper holding a blonde lady in his hand. The sky is lit with a multitude of colours like orange, yellow, purple, and pink and you’ll notice some airplanes in the distance heading straight for Mighty Monkey. Symbols are big and full of colour and consist of Mighty Monkey, a Blonde Lady, Shades, Ice Cream, Skyscrapers, and the standard A – 10 icons. The animations are neat as symbols blink and flash when part of a winning combination and I liked how Mighty Monkey moves his arms and dances on the buildings when his symbol is part of a win on the reels.

The slot features a bunch of old-school generic reel sound effects and a small piece of skat style music kicks in when the Mighty Monkey symbol is part of a win. It fits the retro theme of the game very well.

Win lines, Payouts and Jackpots

The game has 25 paylines, an average RTP of 95.05%, and a top maximum payout worth 21,840X your wager.

Below is a summary taken from the PayOut Table from the game. The amount won for each combination depends on the value of the bet when you spin the reels.

Bet Range: 0.01, 0.02, 0.03, 0.04, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, 0.20, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.00, 2.00, 3.00, 4.00, 5.00, 6.00, 7.00, 8.00, 9.00, 10.00..250.00

Based on a bet of 1 line and 1 coin worth 0.01:

• Mighty Monkey Wild Symbol: 10 for 2X, 100 for 3X, 1,000 for 4X, 5,000 for 5X
• Blonde Lady Symbol: 2 for 2X, 25 for 3X, 250 for 4X, 1,000 for 5X
• Skyscraper Symbol: 2 for 2X, 20 for 3X, 100 for 4X, 250 for 5X
• Shades Symbol: 15 for 3X, 50 for 4X, 200 for 5X
• Ice Cream Symbol: 15 for 3X, 50 for 4X, 200 for 5X
• A Symbol: 10 for 3X, 40 for 4X, 150 for 5X
• K Symbol: 10 for 3X, 40 for 4X, 150 for 5X
• Q Symbol: 5 for 3X, 25 for 4X, 125 for 5X
• J Symbol: 5 for 3X, 25 for 4X, 125 for 5X
• 10 Symbol: 5 for 3X, 20 for 4X, 100 for 5X
• 9 Symbol: 5 for 3X, 20 for 4X, 100 for 5X
• Banana Scatter Symbol: 1 for 2X, 5 for 3X, 20 for 4X, 100 for 5X

Our Verdict on Cool Bananas

NextGen Gaming created this mildly entertaining but very unique slot. The theme of the game has been done countless times before but I’ve never seen a big ape sporting shades and a Hawaiian shirt so fair play to NextGen Gaming for originality there! Cool Bananas is a nice throwback to slots of the past as it’s really easy to play and does not contain that many bonus features. The main attraction of the slot is the Free Games bonus game. This is a highly rewarding feature as you can earn double wins and up to 80 Free Games. I was able to trigger it quite frequently while playing. I found this slot to be of High variance so big wins tend to happen rarely and it’s fantastic that you have the opportunity to win up to 21,840X your total bet in the Free Games feature.

Go ape with Mighty Monkey to win a fortune when you play Cool Bananas!