YMMV / Ape Escape

• Awesome Music:
  • Some were particularly fond of the Crumbling Castle theme, as well as the music that played during the final section of Specter Land in the first game. The boss stage music was pretty cool, too.
  • There were quite a lot of catchy tunes. From 1, there was also Fossil Field, Molten Lava, The T-Rex's Lair, Thick Jungle, Dark Ruins, Crabby Beach, Inside Dexter's Body, Sushi Temple, Wabi Sabi Wall, Underground Sewers, Specter's Factory, TV Tower, the BGM for your challenges against a Brainwashed and Crazy Jake, the Ski Kidz Racing Theme, and the Galaxy Monkey theme (which is doubly fitting as the BGM that blares during your Final Battle with Specter at Peak Point Matrix, his final outer space stronghold). Even the title screen BGM and normal ending credits are great.
  • From 2, there's Gadget Trainer, Liberty Island, Breezy Village, Vita-Z Factory, Enter The Monkey, Pirate Isle, Code C.H.I.M.P., Moon Base 2, Theme of the Freaky Monkey 5, Freaky Monkey 5 Battle, and (best of all) the imposing theme for your battle with Specter. The title screen, stage intro, stage clear, Monkey Soccer, Kick Off!, Monkeys' Gonna Getchu!, and Monkey Climber are this with a side helping of ear worm.
  • Pumped and Primed had two that stand out. One being the Pipotron Theme, the other being the Grid Core Theme. And yes, the lyrics in the Pipotron Theme are the same as in "Shudder".
• Barely-Changed Dub Name: In a bizarre change from the first two games, the North American localization for 3 retains the Japanese names for most of the monkeys and has fewer cultural references.
  • Averted in the European version, where Sony Computer Entertainment of Europe continued the trend of English names and cultural references - with even a few ("Dale Monkhardt" and "Joe Monkana") that would've fit better in the North American localization.
• Broken Base: The Frederator Cartoon has a rather mixed reception: fans can overall agree it has ugly character designs, but whether the show itself is bad or good varies. Some find it boring and juvenile, while others find it incredibly funny and may even enjoy it more than the anime.
• Contested Sequel: Both 2 or 3 can be particularly divisive. Some view 2 as simply more of the same with mostly the same gadgets and less unique level theming compared to the time-travel theme of the first game and movie theme of the third. Others view 3 as too different, with different core gameplay mechanics and wackier tone and style.
• Designated Love Interest: Helga is this to Spike, which is implied in the ending of Pumped & Primed, and is made official in the anime.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Aki from Ape Escape 3 barely appears in the series after her debut, but is likely the most well liked Mission Control in the series for her warm personality and voluptuous figure.
• Even Better Sequel: Both 2 and 3 have their own distinct elements for an overall better game experience. 2 has smoother movements, improved controls for gadgets, new gadgets, bigger worlds to explore, and a whole slew of unusual unlockables. 3 uses a unique costume morphing mechanic and has it's own off-the-wall tone and movie themed locations.
• Fandom Rivalry: With Banjo-Kazooie in its heyday, in which they are 3D Collectathons involving animals and multi-functional gadgets and transformations.
• First Installment Wins: Even though the sequels have made their share of improvements and have their fans, the first Ape Escape is regarded as one of the all time classic games for the PS1, and is definitely the most recognizable of them all. It also received a remake in 2005 titled On the Loose for the PlayStation Portable.
• Game-Breaker: Invoked. The Magic Punch is the most powerful weapon in the games with it having more range and doing more damage than the Stun Club, essentially replacing it. What keeps it from becoming the Infinity +1 Sword is that you cannot get it until after beating the Final Boss and it's required for 100% Completion.
• Goddamned Bats:
  • Monkeys in green pants will not only sense you approaching much more easily than other monkeys, but when they do, they shoot homing rockets at you.
  • The red-pants monkeys from the first game are far worse than their green-clad counterparts, almost to the point of being Demonic Spiders. In addition to the homing rockets of the green-pants monkeys, they also carry machine guns and throw bombs at you. From the second game onwards, they're not as dangerous due to trading in their arsenals for boxing gloves, but they can still be annoying to deal with.
  • Most of the flying enemies, mainly due their tendency to hang around areas where they can easily knock you off of ledges or into bottomless pits.
  • In the third game, all the monkeys when not stunned have a very high probability of dodging your net to capture them. This can lead to some epic nerd rage.
• It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: Apart from making the leap to the PS2, Ape Escape 2 doesn't change the main formula, with Jimmy unlocking the same base gadgets from the first game with three new gadgets that don't alter gameplay heavily. Ape Escape 3 also doesn't really try to change core gameplay outside of the costume transformation.
• Magnificent Bastard: Pumped & Primed: Grid Core is a malignant Artificial Intelligence with ambitions of dominating both the virtual world and the real world beyond. He does so by deploying the enigmatic Pipotron trio to find a disk that contains the means to take full control of the virtual world, soon acquiring it through the Pipotrons entering the High-Tech Tournament. Moments later, Grid Core praises, then discharges the Pipotrons, and immediately begins analyzing the disk. Meanwhile, he leaves the Pipotrons and the heroes to partake in his "Virus-Tech Tournament", pitting them against powerful enemies such as the Super Pipotrons and the supercharged Dark Jake and Dark Specter. When deprived of options, Grid Core promptly chooses to battle his foes himself, using the full power of the virtual world to his advantage, and complimenting his opponents' power as they fight him. Programmed with Pragmatic Villainy in mind yet joyously relishing every step of his plan, Grid Core proves himself a remarkably cunning and competent antagonist in this otherwise lighthearted franchise.
• Memetic Mutation: "This is the Magic Punch. It's really powerful." This was because The Mysterious Mr. Enter used footage from the first game as a transition in his "Top 11 Things That I'll Never Review" video, and it contained this exact line. Almost all the comments are about how powerful the Magic Punch is.
• Most Wonderful Sound: "GOTCHA!"
• Narm: The voice acting in the first game. The most notable are Spike and Jake, though. While the others barely ever reach above dull, they at least sound fitting for the character. Spike and Jake, however, despite looking like kids, sound like they're fully grown adults. Besides the voice acting, it also has some really bad Hong Kong Dub moments. Spike in particular is prone to long moments of his mouth flapping without saying anything, and there's one point in the opening cutscene where Natalie's mouth is moving but the Professor's voice is the one playing. This error notably persists in the PSP remake, even though the voice acting was re-recorded.
• Narm Charm: Despite the above point for the first game, Specter's baseline performance is a little more threatening than later incarnations despite some notable Hong Kong Dub moments. Likely because the "duller" performance means it's more subdued compared to the almost whiny voice he has in later games.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • Specter's introduction, where the sweet, silent little monkey puts on the Peak Point helmet for the first time, and as he raises he head up we are treated to a slow, dramatic closeup of him grinning evilly at the player. This is pretty much his sole expression for the majority of the game, by the way.
  • Early in the first game you are forced to paddle across a river with an enormous electric fish. The controls make it extremely easy to jump into the water with it when trying to exit your boat.
  • The level Primitive Ocean goes even further, opening on an area with two shark enemies. And this time you have to dive in with them.
  • Dexter's Island mostly takes place inside of the eponymous Dexter, a gigantic dinosaur.
  • The Lost World from 2 has a large open space where three monkeys are standing close together. Once you're in close enough, a T-Rex bursts through the background to attack, chasing you so long as you're in the area.
  • While goofy-looking as ever, Yellow Monkey's gigantified head makes up most of the background of his second boss battle. The dark lighting and his huge, glassy eyes are ominous on their own, but then there's the attacks where he sucks you into his gaping mouth.
• Polished Port: Due to a region mismatch, the European PlayStation Network version of Ape Escape 2 ended up being the 60Hz North American version.
• Porting Disaster:
  • The PSP remake has much better graphics and vastly superior voice acting, but it unfortunately butchers the controls of the original due to lacking a second analog stick, which the game was designed around. It is far from unplayable, but still disappointing.
  • The North American PSN version of Ape Escape 2 is based off the European version. ^note Seems to be a region mismatch, as Europeans got the North American version in exchange. This includes the artificially lowered framerate from 60fps to 50fps in an era where the physics are tied to the framerate.
• Quirky Work: The series is about catching monkeys in brightly flashing helmets in nets, whether it be following them through time, around the world or even into space, or chasing them into parodies of famous TV programs and stories. Even then, the game makes no attempt to hide the fact that it's based in Japan, with Japan-based levels, gadgets, and even characters popping up frequently in all the games.
• Sidetracked by the Gold Saucer: Mesal Gear Solid is a gigantic mini-game with its own story and gameplay. Leaving the main game of 3 for hours of sneaking is common.
• Squick: Yellow Monkey's second boss battle requires you to smack his rotting green teeth out of his gums.
  • His boss battle in 3 has him shoot throwing stars... Out of his nipples. And you have the climb up the lines from as much. Yeaaaah.
• That One Boss:
  • King Gorilliax. Hey, whichever character's driving the Flying Turtle! Stop flying under the jet exhaust!
  • The true final battle with Specter in Ape Escape 2, due to That One Attack where he shoots out blue rings that surround you and close in on you. The only way to avoid them is with very precise jump timing. And don't you dare double jump, because then the next ring he throws out will hit you in mid-air.
• That One Level: The final levels in every game are ridiculously long and have annoying platformer elements. The first games probably is the most notorious and loathed of all though.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Million Monkeys gets this reaction from some fans, for attempting to take a series known for extremely weird silliness and make it Darker and Edgier.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • In 3, Pink Monkey pulls the same trick as Yellow, running off before she can be caught. Whereas Yellow returned in a memorable boss battle, Pink only gets a cutscene where she releases Specter and the others for the Post-End Game Content. Like the others, her fight has no differences, and she is defeated and captured without ceremony.
  • The new Pipotrons in Million Monkeys. Unlike the original Pipotrons from Pumped & Primed, they have no character or origin, they only show up in a few cutscenes, you only fight two of them (aside from Pipotron G in both episodes and Meta, who shapeshifts as Specter in Episode Specter) and they're killed off very quickly. Thankfully the anime fixes this by making them the main villains of the first season, as well as giving them some character.
  • Nazo, the main antagonist of Million Monkeys, as well as the Greater-Scope Villain of Pumped & Primed. Aside from being the creator of the Pipotrons and Grid Core, nothing else is known about him. He's just a dickish scientist who took control over the monkeys and used them to cause war and destruction around the world. He only appears in a few scenes and that's about it. You don't even fight him either. He's killed off in a cutscene by one of his Pipotrons and his Big Bad status is quickly taken by the aliens.
• Underused Game Mechanic:
  • In 3 the monkeys are able to steal and use your Gotcha Gadgets, even capable of capturing you in the Monkey Net and sending you back to the Hub. This could have been a game changer, but if you're careful, it will rarely happens, and will likely only happen to the Net and Stun Club. Even when it does, you can just transform into one of your personas.
  • The transformations themselves are fun and useful, but their specific abilities are mostly used in the level they're introduced in, and the following boss battle.
• Vindicated by History: Aside from the Porting Disaster on the PSN versions, Ape Escape 2. A lot of fans back in the day experienced Hype Backlash, yet as time went on, it became seen as a pretty good example of the collect-a-thon subgenre.
• The Woobie: Specter in the PlayStation Move reboot. Here, he was a monkey raised by a female scientist who was forced to be launched into space against his owner's wishes. He was later rescued by the descendants of other monkeys launched into space and was made their leader. He is shown to be rather bitter and sad about all of it, in contrast to his previous portrayal.

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