This game is pretty instrumental to my childhood but it holds up tremendously well. I think it's the playstations mario 64 in the way that the act of controlling the character has so much appeal on its own. It's also a knockout in every category. The level design is great, the 90s anime aesthetic is charming and it has one of the best soundtracks I've ever heard. This might be my favorite 3D platformer. It really strips away the fat that collectathons can usually have and just makes something that's constantly engaging. Just make sure you get to the first final boss before you try replaying levels. It's made to do a casual run first and then you go back and do the completionist run second.

super fun super solid 3d platformer with a lot of fun gimmicks. i ended up going through and catching all of the monkeys to get the true ending, goes to show how much fun i was having with this because i just wanted more ape escape. it also just has a lot of character with it's cheesy voice acting, saturday morning cartoon story, a really charming artstyle, and music that unexpectedly goes so insane. only thing i'd really say was frustrating were some weird platforming things at a couple points and a handful of moments where the camera was a little weird, but honestly overall i didn't really have too many issues with either of these things, i felt like they actually worked really well here which was something i wasn't expecting from a 3d platformer like this. definitely a series i can't wait to play more of