Ape Escape

Ape Escape is one of those games that is a lot different in the PlayStation market. Goal: Capture monkeys with a freaking net. How awesome is that?

The plot of the first game is simple. The main monkey at the park, Specter, Has put on a monkey hat the professor made which turns him into the big bad. Since then, hes been trying to rule the world and make monkeys the Superior human race. Its up to the professor, Natalie, and Spike/Jimmy/Kei/Yumi to save the world ounce again.


How does it play?
Pretty simple really. You use the left along stick to move the character. R1 and R2 make the character jump while the control pad moves the camera. L1 is to center it while L2 is to make it free. The X, O, Square and triangle are the slots of the gadgets. These will help you along your quest to capture the monkeys. Holding L3 would make the character into a crawling position while R3 and L3 make him play dead. (no im not joking here)

Biggest gripe?
Controlling the vehicles in this game are a total pain in the butt if you ask me. The raft is moving both the along sticks in a circle. The tank and robots are controlled a lot more differently. For example, in Ape Escape 3 when you get to use the robot, the left along stick moves it up and down to strife left and right. The right along stick moves the camera which would guide you. Pressing the IIRC right along stick would make the robot attack. The control setup also applies to the tanks.

So, does anyone else here in the community play this game?

I did a 100% clear when I got the first game as a kid. The true final boss was sorta anti-climatic considering how hard the robot boss at the theme park was.

The first Ape Escape game is one of the best games I've played in my entire life. Definately one of my favourite games. It was ingenious, it was clever, it was fun.
The monkeys were charming, Specter was a complete badass (they ruined him beyond repair in the Frederator shorts), the graphics were amazing back then (the teleportation animation was like witnessing the future) and the music for Specter's Castle... dear god... dusting off my cd of AE and downloading ePSXe like nobody's business. (If you haven't already, you should really try it out, it holds up pretty well)

Arf said:

Specter was a complete badass (they ruined him beyond repair in the Frederator shorts)

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Oh god, I know what you're talking about. I never watched those myself, but I saw the trailer on Youtube, and I don't even get how that cartoon is ANYTHING like Ape Escape, except the character designs are a LITTLE similar. You could call it about anything and it'd be the same. Shame, too, because apparently Doug TenNapel is behind it, and he did Earthworm Jim, which is pretty much the best video game cartoon ever.

On topic, I used to have Ape Escape 2, and I really enjoyed that. It's pretty much the same exact thing, only with more stuff. I'm also going to try to get Ape Escape 3, which has some kind of Metal Gear Solid-themed minigame.