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Ape Escape was the best platformer on the PS1

V

Vertti

Member
The best one? Don't know about that but really good anyway.

I replayed it last year and I have to say it's quite a simple and easy game. But the production values are very high: the control scheme, a bit different that is still works very well, the soundtrack is totally awesome and the presentation has actually aged damn nicely.

I also enjoyed the 2nd and 3rd part very much and would hope to see a sequel. I'd really do. And that monkey football minigame in the Ape Escape 2. Me and my brother played it sooo much!
 
A

AzureTranquility95

Banned
Kinsei said:
I prefered the second Tomba.

Tomba!_2_-_The_Evil_Swine_Return_Coverart.png
Click to expand...

It's funny you say this. When I was a kid I preferred Tomba! 2 more, but as I grew older I came to like the original so much more, and I started to see the flaws of Tomba! 2 even more. :/

It's like my situation with the N64 Banjo games, though much more extreme since I'd argue that those games are equal but for different reasons.
 
H

hipgnosis

Member
Yes Ape Escape is phenomenal. It is probably the best 3D platformer on the system. I recently played through it and it still feels fresh. The best platformer would be Klonoa or Tombi! 2 though.
 
A

AzureTranquility95

Banned
Ape Escape 1 will always be my favorite, but I have to say, being in the middle of a replay of it, Ape Escape 3 is damn close to AE1's quality. The english dubbing is also surprisingly good considering Ape Escape was one of Sony's "lesser" series, even prompting them to have the long-delayed localization of Ape Escape 2 handled by Ubisoft of all companies.

What Sony did with the Ape Escape series around AE3's and On The Loose's release reminds me of what Capcom was doing with their Mega Man X games around the same time. Just getting together a decent crew of VAs and marathon-localizing entries in those series that needed it.

I mean FFS you have Steve Blum doing the voice of Yellow Monkey in Ape Escape 3. Also the guy who did the voice of Hunter The Cheetah and Jecth from Final Fantasy X is Red Monkey... need I go on? You'll lose it once you find out who was the english VA for Yumi.

Speaking of which, am I the only one who thinks of Yumi as the true main character of AE3? She has red hair like Spike and Jimmy, and it seemed logical to have a female monkey catcher after having two guys in a row. Seems like Kei was added on to not only increase replay value (a wise move), but just for the sake of it. Of course, a Yumi playthrough is easier since some apes will be frozen in love by Yumi's presence. lol
 
P

Psxphile

Member
Ape Escape 1 = time travel theme
Ape Escape 2 = world tour theme
Ape Escape 3 = media entertainment theme

AE3 is best. And that's before factoring in two playable characters, eight transformations, Shinomura score, Mesal Gear Solid and popcorn waifu.


ZqbEL5S.jpg


Let's face it: there's no Ape Escape 4 because the developers fucking KNEW they could never top it.
 
A

AzureTranquility95

Banned
Psxphile said:
Shinomura score
Click to expand...

Actually AE3's composer is the guy who worked on AE1, Soichi Terada. You can tell as a few songs in AE3 either bare a huge resemblance, and there's even a couple remixes in there, like Specter's theme. I really have to sit down and think about wether AE1 or AE3 is better, but I can say that AE1 is my favorite with AE3 close behind. AE3 is basically AE2 done right, anyway.

Anyway, anyone have any sales info for AE2 and AE3? Been having to use the supposedly unreliable ********, which claims that AE2 sold barley over 100,000 units and AE3 barely over 60,000 units in NA. I could understand AE2 due to the whole ubisoft publishing fiasco, but only 60,000 for AE3? That's gotta be a crime.

I mean even one of the more obscure games like Okage apparently managed to sell around 150,000 units in NA...

Unfortunately the reason for barely any AE games in NA, and maybe even the reason for no HD Collection or AE4 is because of the supposed lack of sales.

Speaking of an HD Collection, I would probaly have an upscaled version of the PSP remake of AE1 (So it's more graphically on-par with the sequels I guess) as well as AE2 and AE3. The only other Ape Escape games that might be worthy of an HD re-release would be Million Monkeys and Pumped & Primed. What is the consensus on Million Monkeys anyway? It must be pretty good for them to base Spike's appearance in PlayStation All-Stars on that game.
 
K

Kresnik258

Member
PeakPointMatrix said:
It's a little sad to see the franchise was driven into the ground with endless PSP shovelware and dealt a decisive death with that Playstation Move mini game thing released a while back. I'm not sure Sony has the confidence to fund a full sequel to this game, but it would be a welcome entry to their portfolio of games.
Click to expand...

I'm saddest that the most promising looking PSP spinoff:

Ape_Escape_-_SaruSaru_Big_Mission_Coverart.png


Is the one that didn't get localized =/

And OT: I loved Ape Escape, but I loved Spyro more, just about.

However, Ape Escape 3 may be my favourite platformer on PS2.
 
B

Benzychenz

Member
I played 1 and 2 as a kid but never got around to 3 for some reason.

But...

I've bought copies of 2 and 3 off eBay and they have arrived!

I want to play through all three though so I need a copy of 1, waiting for a good condition AUS copy to pop up on eBay is wearing me down. I'm getting impatient and want to just play the ones I have sitting in front of me already haha.

Wish Sony would just put it up as a PSOne Classic :\
 
P

Polioliolio

Member
One of my top Playstation games...

You want a competitor to Mario 64? This is one of the closest games to that.
And it really was that much fun.

Ape Escape 2 was brilliant as well, and Ape Escape 3 was great fun too..


I'm astounded by the rest of the shit that came out.. Extremely disappointing what they chose to do with the franchise..


Also, I have this beef with the Ape design..

The Apes used to be hilarious... they used to look like this:

tumblr_mjn29cyQrc1s8u9g1o1_400.gif


Look how cheeky these sons of bitches are..


And look at this smug mother effer from Ape Escape 2:

8_179.jpg



At some point, I believe the next crap spinoff thing that came out after Ape Escape 2, they redesigned the look of the apes..

They're not awful, but now they all look like this:

images


Typical Japanese anime/cute redesign failure.. It didn't stop Ape Escape 3 from being a good time, but those asshole monkeys from 1 and 2 are so much more hilarious.
 
A

AzureTranquility95

Banned
For the most part though, AE3 borrows a'lot of AE2's aesthetics. But it's like I said, AE3 was the AE2 we wanted. The actual AE2 we got was still good but uhhh yeah.
 
L

Lijik

Member
Polioliolio said:
They're not awful, but now they all look like this:

images


Typical Japanese anime/cute redesign failure.. It didn't stop Ape Escape 3 from being a good time, but those asshole monkeys from 1 and 2 are so much more hilarious.
Click to expand...

Thats not a redesign, theyve always had that look in promotional materials in Japan
swxyuTN.jpg
 
P

Polioliolio

Member
Lijik said:
Thats not a redesign, theyve always had that look in promotional materials in Japan
swxyuTN.jpg
Click to expand...



Even in your pic, they have much more of a jaw.
The camera is above all those apes, so you don't see it as much, but the guy in front has a ton of chin that the new apes don't have.

They also had fingers, if you'll notice.
There was a redesign, and it was a simplification all around.

Standing firm on my point.
 
Naked Lunch

Naked Lunch

Member
Ape Escape is the closest anybody got to the quality level of a 3d Mario game - and in some ways its actually better than Mario. An all time great platformer.
 
B

Boogiepop

Member
I played it through (properly, as I had touched it at a friend's house before back in the day at least) recently with some friends. And I'd definitely agree it's a good game, but it's got some definite rough spots that keep it from hitting the level of a Mario 64 or what have you in my eyes. Like, jumping (and especially double jumping) feels somehow just a little... not quite right. In particular, I recall a part in the dinosaur where there were some bones or something to jump over in order to grab a collectable and continue on your way, and it obviously wasn't supposed to be tricky, but I recall everyone doing it (even the guy who's gotten 100% in the game several times) just falling in the stomach juice and continuing on. To a lesser but similar degree, the jump boosting item is kind of awkward to use while in the air thanks to the gimmick control. It's doable, but only the guy who played the crap out of the game could manage. The bosses are also not a great collection (though to be honest, Mario 64 may have been even worse in that regard). That rowboat thing is also just plain terrible. Oh, and the dub was atrocious, but that's kind of PS1 dubs in general to a large degree.

But yeah, not a bad game at all, and pretty fun in general, but I don't know if I'd call it an all time best in the genre due to some definite blemishes here and there. At the very least it's not like Gex or Glover where you pick it up nowadays and wonder how you ever put up with it...
 
A

AzureTranquility95

Banned
Taruranto said:
Eww, no. Tomba 2 was really a step down compared to 1. Ugly 3D, worse levels, annoying side-kick constantly holding your hand.
Click to expand...

Not to mention there was less to see and do in 2 compared to 1. 1 being a little more cryptic made the satisfaction of finding new areas that much better.

Phediuk said:
Using the right analog for swinging the net only detracted from the game. Should have just made it a button press.
Click to expand...

Have I got some news for you... the PSP remake uses buttons instead of the right analog stick, which the PSP doesn't have.

Maybe give that version a try, scrub.
 
R

Rilakkuma

Neo Member
Ape Escape was really fun, wow, haven't thought about it in years. Never played the sequels or even knew they existed before this thread. Now I'm thinking of picking up another copy of the original for my Japanese PS1.
 
N

nitekrawlwer

Member
I don't know if I would say it was the best platformer on PS1. It was certainly my favorite. I really miss when Platformers were big everywhere and not just relegated to Nintendo consoles.
 
E

EntropyX

Banned
The people who did Ape Escape 1 had A LOT of skill. The level design and game mechanics were so good. I consider it one of the best action platformers of all time.

And holy crap at the soundtrack.
 
E

el87

Member
That soundtrack tho!

Before this game when my sticks clicked I thought I was breaking my controller, turns out those were L3/R3 buttons
 
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