7 Reasons Ape Escape Should Get A HD Trilogy Remaster

Ape Escape is perhaps one of the least appreciated early PlayStation exclusives, but anyone who has played any of the main franchise games will be sure to tell you just how fantastic they are. The original trilogy was spread across both the PlayStation 1 and 2, but unfortunately the franchise did not continue to flourish onto the third PlayStation console.

Ape Escape is a 3D platformer which sees the player hunt down hundreds of monkeys that have escaped the zoo with the help of Spencer, a super intelligent monkey who wishes to take over the world. Monkeys can be differentiated by their coloured pants, which determines their personality. Furthermore, every single monkey in the franchise has a unique name, stats and tagline for when you capture them. These are often references to pop culture, one example being Obi Ook Kenobi, who is fighting Darth Apester.

With the massive success of the Crash Bandicoot and Spyro re-masters, it would make sense that Sony look to other classic franchises to give the same treatment. Here are seven reasons why Ape Escape should at least be considered.

First of all, a HD remaster is sure to do well as the original trilogy of games were incredibly popular in North America, Europe and Japan. In fact, the game series was popular enough in Japan to get two separate anime series as well as a manga strip in a monthly comic. There was also an American produced series of animated shorts that were not as well known, but this goes to show that there was clearly a strong fan base for Ape Escape who are likely to welcome a return to the franchise.

With the gameplay not being too reliant on any particular cultural codes and rather simple in nature, it makes the game franchise enjoyable for pretty much anyone who can pick up a controller. While the series does feature standard combat, the real unique gameplay element is actually capturing the monkeys. There is something incredibly thrilling about scouting out individual monkeys and planning out your mode of attack, only for it to turn to complete chaos as they pull a fast one on you. While many other games only present you a few options to complete objectives, Ape Escape really does give the player a great amount of freedom to play however they want in a way not many early PlayStation titles did.

While other Sony titles such as The Last of Us Part II and God of War have done well in Japan, Ape Escape is sure to be a safe gamble for both regions. All it would require is different translations and some tweaks to the cultural references.