Ape Escape

Ape Escape is a platform game for the PlayStation, which launched a video game series.

Ape Escape was first released in North America on May 31, 1999, and shortly after in Japan under the name Saru! Get You! (サルゲッチュ), on June 24, 1999. Ape Escape tells the story of a monkey by the name of Specter. This monkey came into ownership of a special hat, called a Peak Point Helmet, which raised his intelligence, but which also revealed that he was an evil monkey, bent on world domination. He, with his superior intelligence, gave the less intelligent monkeys helmets identical to his own to assist him in his plan for world domination by travelling through time, and it's up to a young boy named Spike, with the aid of the Professor who made the helmet, and his granddaughter Natsumi, to chase them through time and capture them all. He must also rescue his friend Jake, who has been hypnotised into being Specter's slave.

Characters

The Japanese names are the same in the United Kingdom and come first. The English names are second.

The Professor (ハカセ Hakase):

Sex — M. Age — 60. Height — 170cm. Weight — 80kg. Since he was a child, the Professor loved tinkering with gadgets. Now he's growing older and he tends to be a little careless, leaving his experiments lying around for anyone to stumble across. He relies on his granddaughter, Natsumi, to make sure he doesn't get himself — or anyone else — into trouble. Though he's worried about Kakeru, he's secretly thrilled that the Time Station works!

Natsumi (ナツミ) / Katie:

Sex — F. Age — 14. Height — 155cm. Weight — ?kg. Natsumi lives with her grandfather and tries to keep him out of trouble. She's very impatient and her grandfather's untidiness annoys her, though not as much as Spike, as he is always getting in her way, but she is still friends with him. She's brilliant with computers and both Spike and the Professor are relying on Natsumi to keep the Time Station working long enough for Spike to make it home safely.

Charu/'''Casi

''': Sex — F. Age — ? Height — ?cm Weight — ?kg. Casi is a computer girl crated by the professor. She appears briefly as your instructor and at the start of every level tells you how many monkeys you need to capture. She also briefly takes over from the Professor and Natalie's Lab when they are kidnapped by Specter. She is not as pushy as Natsumi.

Hiroki (ヒロキ) / Jake:

Sex — M. Age — 10. Height — 138cm. Weight — 34kg. Spike and Jake have always enjoyed a little good-natured rivalry, so it's not surprising that they both want to be the first into the Time Station. But while Spike tries to save the world from the monkeys, Jake is lost in the Time Vortex, where can he be? All will be revealed during the game.

Specter (スペクター):

Sex — M (presumably). Age — 4 (human years). Height — 125cm. Weight — 28kg. Specter used to live at the amusement park, where he'd keep people entertained by performing tricks and getting up to mischief. But this all changed when he found the Peak Point Helmet. He became hyper-intelligent — and evil! Now all he wants is to rule the world and Spike must stop him! He is an albino monkey, and his primary means of attack (when you finally get to face him) are giant robotic bodies, and strange blue energy that he propagates by touching his head.

Gameplay

Ape Escape was the first PlayStation game to fully require the use of both control sticks to play (one needed to purchase a DualShock controller to play this game, as the original PlayStation controller would not work). The right stick is used in many different ways. One of the many ways the right stick is used to attack with the Stun Club, and to capture Monkeys with the Time Net. There are several different ways they use them as well, including driving an RC Car, rowing, spinning in a hula hoop, rotate a portable propeller, etc. You can have four items equipped at once, on the X, Square, Circle and Triangle face buttons. Unlike some platformers, Ape Escape uses the R buttons to jump.

The Time Station

At the very beginning of the game, Kakeru is hurled into a level set in the dinosaur age. After completing this level, where Kakeru learns the basics of the two primary gadgets and catches a handful of monkeys, he is transported to the Time Station, the hub of the game. There are four sections in the station:

The Warp Screen: Players choose the level to play from here by making Spike step on a large button.
Load/Save Screen: Players can save their progress or load a separate game from here. They can also access the Monkey Book, which records all the monkeys that players have captured.
Training Room: Here, players can access previously completed training levels for each specific gadget that they have obtained.
Minigame Room: Players can play minigames they have unlocked by collecting Specter coins here (see Minigames section).

Levels/Plot Summary

Spike travels through various places in time, from the Dinosaur Ages to the Age of the Celestial Empire, in order to cath Specter's legion of apes. He also runs into Jake during his adventures, and must defeat him in bonus levels that basically involve racing to complete an obstacle course before his opponent.

Spike soon comes to the Present Day, where Specter and his monkey army have retreated due to their failed attempts to rewrite history. After defeating him at his factory, where he is trying to create more Peak Point Helmets, and the TV Tower, Specter creates a malevolent theme park, where he challenges Kakeru to find his imprisoned friends, the Professor and Katie. Spike finds Jake along the way and defeats him in a final battle, then races to a large castle, which takes off into space! In a final effort, he traverses through the castle and takes on Spike. Specter in his giant robot. After successfully beating him, the castle floats back down to Earth, where is reunited with his friends and Specter is put in his rightful place: as a performer in the circus show, 'Ape Misbehavin''.

But the battle is not over yet! Specter soon escapes yet again, into a mysterious dimension called the Peak Point Matrix. After rounding up all the remaining monkeys, Spike travels there and engages Specter in a one-on-one final battle. Spike finishes the battle by catching the villain in the Time Net, ending his evil crusade.

Gadgets

Ape Escape has several gadgets, which each have their own, unique function. Kakeru's primary gadgets are the Stun Club and the Time Net, which are often used to subdue apes. Throughout the game, Kakeru will acquire more gadgets that will be useful to him in the next world, and are often needed to get some of the apes in earlier levels. When a new gadget is obtained, players are dropped into a training level, where the basics of controlling the gadget are learned and practised. These levels can be revisited in the Training Room (see above). A complete list of all the gadgets follows:

Time Net — Catches monkeys
Stun Club — Used to hit monkeys and enemies with a regular melee attack
Water Net — Used to catch monkeys swimming in water. It is automatically switched to when Kakeru dives into water, and does not need to be assigned to a button.
Monkey Radar — Locates monkeys in the level. When the signal makes a high-pitched noise and turns red, a monkey is nearby.
Slingshot — Used to hit monkeys, enemies and buttons that are out of range. Kakeru can shoot normal, flash, or guided bullets.
Dash Hoop — Kakeru must spin this around his waist to increase his speed. It can also be used to hit enemies and monkeys, especially those with blue pants.
Sky Flyer — Enables Kakeru to rise up into the air and reach high-up places, or glide across large canyons.
RC Car — Kakeru can direct this through small gaps to subdue monkeys and press buttons in a location out of accessibility. It constantly regenerates if it is accidentally destroyed.
Magic Punch — Only found after defeating Specter, this can be used as a much stronger melee attack, as opposed to the Stun Club, and can break down strong walls or boxes.

Monkeys

Each monkey in Ape Escape has a unique personality, with a name and description, seen as a "Data File". Players can view this on "Monkey Cam", a feature of the Monkey Radar gadget that is used in-game by pressing the L2 button when pointing the radar towards a monkey. After the monkey is caught, its Data File can be read in a log book, called the Monkey Book, accessed from the main hub of the game. These names often hold many humorous jokes and references to popular figures and culture. For example, a monkey named Kubrick is described as one who "enjoys thrillers". Each monkey also has three fields of skill: Speed, Attack and Alertness, all of which are ranked out of five. This combines to a level of difficulty, which is also denoted on the File.

An amusing yet useful feature of the monkeys is that their pants can tell the player the main traits of their personality by use of a color code. For example, a monkey with red pants would be a strong attacker. Players can use this to employ the best strategy to use in order to catch the monkey. The complete code is shown here:

Yellow — Average.
Red — Strong attacker.
Blue — Very fast runner.
White — Expert balance.
Green — Sharp vision; can spot Kakeru from a distance.
Black — Very dangerous, wields a gun.
Light Blue — Gentle.

In accordance with the storyline, each monkey wears a Peak Point Helmet that boosts its intelligence. The flashing light on top of the headgear actually tells the player the current mood of the monkey. A blue light means that it is calm, a yellow light means that it has heard something and is on alert, and red means that it has spotted Kakeru and is taking action.

Bosses

Stadium Attack — Race Jake through the mysterious Dimension X while utiliziing the skills to jump and swim.

Gladiator Attack — Same as the previous race, except you have to master the flying gadget to win this race.

Dali — A monkey hiding inside a huge pod guarded by three tentacles, similar to the single one encountered earlier on in Dexter's Island. Once you've defeated the three tentacles and destroyed the pod you can capture Dali. Appears In: Dexter's Island

Knight — A small knight who guards one of the doors in Specter's Crumbling Castle, when you defeat him the door is opened. Appears in: Crumbling Castle

Giant Knight — This giant knight is a sight to behold, it attacks Spike with its sword and other attacks. Appears In: Crumbling Castle

Specter's Ship — This ship takes Specter everywhere through time, its various armaments include lasers, missiles and the ability to create a heat wave. Appears In: TV Tower

Clown — A clown employed by Specter, he is keeping the Professor hostage in Specter Land. Appears In: Specter Land

Hiroki (RC Car) — Hiroki uses a oversized RC car to take you on. It attacks with missiles and launches mini RC cars. Appears in: Specter Land

Specter's Robot — First of all you attack the head, which acts as a cannon, then in the second part you fight the entire robot. Specter then escapes once the robot is destroyed. Appears in: Specter Land

Specter — When you've captured all of the monkeys you have one last battle with Specter here. Appears in: Peak Point Matrix

Minigames

Throughout the game Kakeru collects Specter coins, large treasures with the antagonist's likeness printed on them. When he collects a certain number of these, he can unlock minigames to play in the Minigame Room. They are:

Ski-Kidz Racing: Players use a unique control scheme to compete in skiing races, either against AI or another player. They are able to choose from main characters of the story to play as. The left and right analog sticks are designated to corresponding skis.
Specter Boxing: Players compete in tournament, training or 2-player modes using a similar control scheme to Ski-Kidz Racing, using both sticks to control the fists of a monkey-boxer.
Galaxy Monkey: An arcade game very similar to the hit arcade game Asteroids, players control a UFO (with a monkey in the cockpit) to destroy enemies. The left analog stick controls movement and the right stick directs and shoots lasers.
PocketStation Minigame: Ape Escape was one of the few games for the Sony PlayStation that was compatible with the PocketStation (available only in Japan). You could access this minigame by inserting a PocketStation into the PlayStation's memory card slot. This only worked in the Japanese version of the game (Saru! Gettchu!), this minigame is very rare and very few people know about it or have actually played it.

Voice actors

Japanese

Kakeru — Fujiko Takimoto
Natsumi — Tomoko Kawakami
Professor — Jouji Yanami
Hiroki — Kazue Ikura
Specter — Chika Sakamoto

External links

1999 computer and video games | Ape Escape games | PlayStation games

Ape Escape | サルゲッチュ

Gourt Home::Gourt :: Ape Escape