I have never played an Ape Escape game until this one. Now I never want to play another.

The controls are such shit that most of the challenge was fighting the controls. From jumping to swinging your net, it was all bad. Pure frustration. I wouldn't have beaten this one if I didn't have the rewind function.

Then they had the audacity of making the controls even worse for vehicles. It was maybe one of the first games to use the dual sticks on the PS controller? Probably revolutionary. But it sucked. They already had bad controls and somehow managed to make it WORSE. Yuck.

You know it. You love it

It's no surprise that Ape Escape is well loved by fans and well hated by Sony who refuses to revive the damn series but will still port every damn game onto newer consoles ( Besides 3 ). With that being said this game is very special to me and my childhood as it's probably my all time favorite PS1 game and will probably remain that way forever. I suddenly got the urge to play through the game for the 12932193821th time and seeing as it got a PS5 port with trophies I thought it was the perfect way to replay this masterpiece. Overall They did a great job with this port!

It still holds up

Look I know some people in recent times have claimed this game to be nostalgic only and doesn’t hold up well but imo it holds up very well. To explain , the controls can be awkward at first having you jump with R1 and constantly having you press L1 to focus the camera in front of you. However, with little time the controls are honestly not bad at all, imo people just refuse to get adjusted. Past that the levels still look great with its upped rendering on PS5 and traversing levels has never looked as great as it does now. The gameplay loop is simple, having you simply capture monkeys across multiple areas with you unlocking more gadgets as you progress. I wish some Gadgets had bigger roles like the Hula Hoop which honestly is a useless gadget past a few areas. However the overall pool of gadgets are very fun and will have you constantly swapping them out in later levels to get through specific situations. Look , you cannot expect a game that literally was a game changer in its genre being the first to use what are now known as Analog sticks to be perfect in every way. While the game has very few faults in certain areas the overall experience is still just as joyful and masterfully crafted now as it was when it was first released. Packed with a great OST you cannot simply ask for a better time if you just use a little time to get used to the controls. And hell I don’t care, I love the stupid voice acting which is 100% nostalgia bias so sue me LOL.

The few faults

I only really have a couple issues with this game so this will be pretty short. To begin, I think the camera works fine overall once you learn how to use L1 effectively to reposition the camera there are a few issues. Mostly in the later levels the camera will start to become a slight issue as it's simply in your face and some segments are a lot tougher due to this. To explain, in the final stage there is a segment where you are on a rollercoaster and will need to precisely jump to dodge roadblocks. However due to the camera being so in your face the time frame is VERY strict making this segment very annoying as you will constantly get hit since you won’t see things until it's too late. Besides this I personally have no issues with the camera overall and still find it fine to use to this day. My last issue is the random slowdown even for a PS5 port during certain segments in the game.

Overall

It's a classic through and through and one I will always recommend people to play and get used to. Ape escape is truly a holy trinity because all 3 games are great and not many series can say they have 2 good sequels. You will have a good time with Ape Escape 1 if you are willing to learn and adapt to a different era of gaming and you will not regret that choice!!!. This remastered port is $10 which is a good price imo or if you have PS Plus premium this game is included in that sub tier !

Pretty wonderful until the home stretch of future stuff becomes fatiguing and highlights the PS1's particular 3D clunkiness (the roller coaster section specifically feels unplayable with this game's zero draw distance), I'd be lying if I said I wasn't just waiting for it to be over at a certain point. And the NA version's voice acting is some of the worst you'll ever hear. That being said, this is still a fun and extremely inventive gameplay loop - with controls that feel sophisticated for their time (maybe aside from the heavy, delayed R1 jump that never really feels good to use), vibey music, and poppy level design. Though as is the case with many PS1 re-releases, the trophy list should be way more in-depth than this. One series that actually needs a remaster/remake - a modern version of this would rip.

It's somewhat disappointing that this series escaped me back when it was coming out because I likely would have really enjoyed when I was younger. Like a lot of PS1 games, it hasn't aged the best but I still had a decent time with it and it certainly has a lot of charm to it. I wasn't aware there were actually Dualshock exclusive games for the PS1 and Ape Escape uses analog controls quite extensively. In some ways, it can be frustrating where you would just rather press a button but it does give the game its own personality. The levels are decent and there's a number of ways to interact with them with the various gadgets you gradually unlock. Admittedly, I wasn't that enthused on my first run through the levels but once I went back with all the gadgets and focused on getting all the apes and spectre coins, I was more into it. That is pretty typical of me since I'm into the collectathon nature of these games. I'll have to give the sequels a go.

Ape Escape is one of the weirdest PS1 games I've played that I can't help but enjoy. Ape Escape is a platforming game with the goal being to capturing the wild monkeys scattered around the twenty levels and stopping the evil Specter from ruling the world

The environments and character designs look nice for the late PS1 era, and the soundtrack is one of the boppiest I've seen in a video game. The voice acting (for the NTSC version) is not bad, but the audio can be pretty loud when playing on an HDTV, as I do

The control scheme is one of the more unconventional I've seen. You have the main buttons to switch whatever weapons you've picked in your inventory, and for catching the apes with your Time Net, you use the right analog stick to swing it. The controls might need some getting used to, but it's serviceable enough. Catching them like 15 stages in overstays is welcome, and I just wanted it to be over. The game can also be frustrating if some things are going the way you've hoped, like catching certain types of monkeys that can be a bitch to catch

Ape Escape is a decent game on its own, and while the control scheme might throw off some players, I can see why it's considered a PS1 Classic to some

I haven't played this since I was around 6 years old. I had so many vivid memories of this silly monkey game. Playing it today, over 20 years later revealed to me that 6 year old me retained the most important part about Ape Escape; the silly monkeys. I love collectathon platforming games and I think that having the collectibles be these little apes wandering around levels is what sets Ape Escape apart. It's instantly charming, and the soundtrack certainly helps with that too. Just a bunch of bops throughout.

Now one thing I didn't remember was just how gimmicky this game was. Ape Escape has a very unconventional control scheme that attempts to use the dualshock in a lot of different ways. Mostly, this means using the analog sticks in wacky ways. This only kind of works. Some stuff is really fun with the analogue stick like catching monkeys with your net but other stuff like using the tank, slingshot or rowboat is downright painful.

Ape Escape works best when it's just this vibe that you want to exist in. When it comes to the actual platforming, it's also subpar with lots of weird camera angles and a double jump that only works when it wants to. Because of this, I found the game to get worse at it goes. The later levels are especially a pain in the ass as the game environments get more and more generic.

What's here is honestly really impressive ESPECIALLY for 1999. It's so inventive and charming, I couldn't help but have a grin on my face while playing. This game would be a certified banger then, but today it's pretty average. Which, to be honest is pretty impressive considering my issues with it. Ape Escape is a decent game that I had a good time replaying. I'm absolutely torn between 3 and 3.5 but I think I'll stick with 3.5 and give it that nostalgia bump.

Enjoyment - 7/10
Difficulty - 2/10

A trip down memory lane. Achieved the platinum in five hours.
🏆

Monkey video game.

There are very few pieces of media in general that I've known about as long as Ape Escape without actually interacting with at all. When I was a kid I would get these books from the library that were mostly cheat codes and game guides, but sometimes they had these sort of "editorial" sections where the author would just write the exact kinds of essays you read on sites like this. Like, a review of the latest Gundam game would devolve into a diatribe on why Dragon Ball is objectively better than The Simpsons because the characters age (I'm exaggerating 20+ year old memories but you get the idea). I probably read all the names of these monkeys before I even really knew what a "PlayStation" was.

I really like the aesthetic. The low poly spiky haired super deformed anime scrimblo humans. The direct-to-VHS quality voice acting. The rainbow gradients. The sick breakbeats. A wonderful artifact of its time.

Unfortunately the gameplay is extremely hit or miss. The entire left side of the controller is dedicated to movement and camera controls, right shoulder and trigger are both jump, the face buttons are used to select items, the right stick uses the item. Most of the items offer unique, interesting, and tactile ways to use the right analogue stick; I'm genuinely disappointed that most games default to using the right stick for the camera (not just because of this game to be clear, in general). Aside from the items, the core platforming is too limited and just doesn't feel good. In the game's slower moments, focusing on using the items to solve puzzles or other environmental challenges, this feels a lot like the N64 Zelda games (right down to having a lot of the same types of setting, there's a level here that is just Jabu Jabu's Belly). When the game decides that it wants to be a platformer, you start to feel the limitations of only being able to use one item at a time. Combine those limitations with the weak core movement and constrained, Croc-esque level design, and you get moments that feel not unlike Balan Wonderworld.

I don't think I'll finish this game, I don't think I can. By the time you get to the snow levels the game is bullshit, and it knows it's bullshit because it starts putting endless health deposits at the beginning of the platforming challenges. I got knocked off that falling ice bridge by a spikeball 20 times, and I think that's enough.

It's cute, it has some neat ideas, it's fun when it wants to be, but it's not even close to a must play.

This game is genuinely just such a joy to experience. The 5 is purely an enjoyment thing because if I was to think critically there is a couple problems. Like the fact the game fakes you out like twice for the ending and the fact that to get the actual final ending you have to collect every monkey (which isn't a lot but still I didn't do it). Plus the controls can be really weird and take a minute to get used to. But this game is just so full of charm and joy. A very fun and enjoyable experience where I have almost a child like joy seeing these apes run around and me trying to capture them. With the different environments you head to to keep the feeling fresh. All the silly little gadgets you get to capture them and solve puzzles. I also love the soundtrack of this game, very joyous and very fast paced. The bios of the apes you capture accompanied by the pictures gave me such a good laugh. Overall enjoyable time (let me specify I played on the ps5). This game is just pure fun and I can not be mad about that. Play it if you have ps plus premium on ps5 its on the classics catalog. Definitely worth the one month I paid for it.

A really fun time from start to finish! Ape Escape is a new favorite of mine from the PS1, thanks to it's fun gameplay. This game tasks the player with catching monkeys using various gadgets, all of which are pretty fun to use. The monkeys themselves are also very charming, due to their cute designs and the monkey radar giving them names and personality quirks. The levels are mostly pretty solid, offering good platforming challenges and varied setpieces, some of my favorites being the hot spring level in the snowy mountains, the level where you explore the inside of a turtle, and the game's final level, a giant amusement park! Another highlight of Ape Escape is it's soundtrack, which has a lot of catchy tracks, my favorite being the theme thst plays in the final portion of Monkey Madness. My only criticisms towards this game are its few bosses being pretty easy, and the invulnerability frames given to the player being limited, as thus allows for some enemies and environmental hazards to rack up a lot of damage on the player. Regardless, I find that Ape Escape has held up quite well over the years, and it's a platformer I can easily recommend!

Having never played this game, I was excited to try it when it came to the new PS+ program. I can definitely see why it holds a soft spot in so many people's hearts - it's a charming game, it's pretty fun, and it has great music.

But hoo boy - that control scheme! Apparently this was one of the first games to showcase the dual analog sticks, so it opts to use an analog stick option for so many controls when a button would have been way better. I guess that's understandable given that they were trying to showcase the new controllers, but it made for a less enjoyable playing experience than it could have been.

All in all, though, I'm sure PS1-era me would have been just fine with the controls. :)