Video games - Ape Escape

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	Video games - 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 Kakeru (Spike), with the aid of the Professor who made the helmet, and his daughter Natsumi (Natalie), to chase them through time and capture them all. He must also rescue his friend Jake (Buzz), who has been hypnotised into being Specter's slave.

Characters

Spike (Kakeru):

Sex - M. Age - 10. Height - 135cm. Weight - 32kg. Spike loves hanging round the Professor's lab to see what the old man might come up with next. When he learned that the Professor had completed the construction of the world's first time machine, Spike couldn't wait to see it!

The Professor:

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

Natalie: (Katie/Natsumi)

Sex - F. Age - 14. Height - 155cm. Weight - ?kg. Natalie 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 Natalie to keep the Time Station working long enough for Spike to make it home safely.

Jake (Buzz):

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:

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!

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, Spike is hurled into a level set in the dinosaur age. After completing this level, where Spike 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.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Ape Escape ]

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Video games - Ape Escape

Characters

Gameplay

The Time Station

Levels/Plot Summary

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