Monkey Academy (tower)
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The Monkey Academy is a scrapped Support tower in Bloons TD 6. Text for it and its upgrades and Monkey Knowledge have existed in the game's data since launch, but are unused.
It was intended to function similarly to the Monkey Village, except focusing on buffing Military, Magic and Hero towers, additionally generating additional Hero XP at the end of every round. Its first upgrade path focused on Military towers, buffing aspects such as range, "pops" (likely referring to pierce), damage and footprint with additional supportive function in the form of gaining lives for Bloons popped. Its second upgrade path focused on Magic towers, buffing their pierce and attack speed and giving most of them the ability to upgrade up to tier 2 on all paths without locking any. Its third upgrade path focused on Heroes, buffing their XP gain, range, and Activated Ability cooldowns, also being able to allow a second Hero to be placed.
In version 36.0, an unused portrait of a 0-0-1 Monkey Academy was added to the game files. It was removed in version 37.0.
Upgrades
[edit | edit source]Path 1
[edit | edit source]| Military Efficiency | Decreases footprint of Military Monkeys in the radius. |
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| Wider Influence | Gives Academy a larger influence radius. |
| M.A.S.H | Monkey Army Surgical Hospital gives extra lives for Bloons popped. |
| Military Barracks | Military Monkeys in radius get longer range, more pops and can be sold at a favorable rate. |
| Military HQ | Military Monkeys everywhere gain huge range, pops and damage buffs. |
Path 2
[edit | edit source]| Magic Sciences | Magic Monkeys in the radius get extra pierce and attack speed. |
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| Academic Network | Increases Academy radius for all Academies with this upgrade. |
| Wizards Library | Wizards, Druids and Alchemists in the radius can learn up to tier 2 in all three upgrade paths. |
| Magic Arcanum | Academy Graduate ability: Creates a powerful Monkey whose abilities are based on what Magic Monkeys are nearby. |
| Nexus Crucible | Academy Graduates created by ability are permanent! |
Path 3
[edit | edit source]| Private Tuition | Generates more XP per round for your Hero. |
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| Heroic Presence | Heroes get 15% increased range while in the radius of the Academy. |
| Heroic Academy | Your Hero's ability cooldowns are reduced. |
| Power Hero Development (PhD) | Generates lots of extra XP per round for your Hero. |
| Dynamic Duo | Allows you to get a second hero! |
Unused functionality
[edit | edit source]Although the Monkey Academy is not implemented in Bloons TD 6, some features of the game check for towers with the ID MonkeyAcademy to apply special behavior.
- Berserker Brew and above cannot apply brews to towers with this ID.
- Benjamin's Biohack cannot apply to towers with this ID.
Flat Pack Buildings applies to towers with this ID.
Known history
[edit | edit source]
Since initial releases of the game, the Monkey Academy has survived in the files through text descriptions of its upgrades. It is not completely clear why the Monkey Academy went unused, and when asked for comment, Ninja Kiwi stated it was "part of the original design, but [...] not part of our current thinking",[1] with them later confirming they had "moved away from" the tower concept[2] and indicating it was scrapped at least partially due to its gameplay design being hard to balance.[3]
It is still unknown what the base tower was intended to look like, but the portrait for the Private Tuition upgrade surfaced in the files during version 36.0. It is again not clear why it was added.
There also existed two scrapped Monkey Knowledge upgrades specifically for this tower: Elite Tutors, which would have granted 15 more Hero XP every round, and Long Graduate, where the sub-tower spawned by the Academy Graduate ability would have lasted longer.
Notably, two upgrades for the Mermonkey would have similarities to upgrades for the Monkey Academy. Echosense Network has a similar stacking range buff to Academic Network, while The Final Harmonic passively buffs Heroes' ability cooldowns and range, similar to the Heroic Presence and Heroic Academy upgrades. Ninja Kiwi staff member Rohan Sharpe-Anforth would confirm the similarities were intentional through the Ninja Kiwi Discord, stating that some parts were salvaged from the Academy to make the Mermonkey.[4] Additionally, the ability to deploy multiple of the same Hero on one map would be reused in Frontier Legends, albeit via Hero alts recruited at the Saloon.
References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ "What's Up At Ninja Kiwi? - 4th June, 2021". Reddit. Retrieved Tue, 18 Mar 2025.
- ↑ "What's Up At Ninja Kiwi? - 14th April, 2022". Reddit. Retrieved Tue, 20 May 2025.
- ↑ "What's Up At Ninja Kiwi - 10th of October 2025 Blog". Reddit. Retrieved Mon, 24 Nov 2025.
- ↑ "But yea Mermonkey is Academy, as much as we wanted to save from it" – Rohan Ninja Kiwi (Mon, 17 Feb 2025). "Ninja Kiwi Discord". Discord. Retrieved Mon, 30 Jun 2025.