• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Is there a reason an Ape Escape HD Collection doesn't exist?

B

Byronic Hero

Member
256px-ApeEscapeNACover.jpg
Ape_Escape_2_Coverart.png
Ape_Escape_3_Coverart.png


Ape Escape: On the Loose released in 2005 and since then we haven't gotten anything close to another true installment in the franchise. Million Monkeys was scheduled to release in the UK back in 2006, but got cancelled due to Ape Escape 3 coming out the same year. A weird decision, but I respected it because I thought Ape Escape 4 was just around the corner. With the PS3's release looming over the horizon, I thought it was a sure thing. I was wrong.

Years into the PS3's life cycle, I see that they are creating a new Ape Escape game, set to revolutionize the industry just as Sony had done with the original and its Dualshock. Only problem is, it was for the Move. Japan had been getting a steady stream of titles, most of which were mini-game based, but at least the franchise was alive. Similar to how the Rayman franchise was kept afloat by the Rabbids until his grand resurgence in Origins.

Then, a light at the end of the tunnel, Playstation All Stars Battle Royal. A love letter to all the classic Sony franchises, a chance to get all the greats back together for a fun Smash Bros-influenced romp. AWESOME, SPIKE FROM THE ORIGINAL APE ESCAPE IS IN! Wait.....wait.....what? Yes, that's right, this game (which is developed in the US, mind you) that is supposed to celebrate Sony franchises' history took a character model from one of the few games not released in the US. Why? No idea. So at this point, I assumed the worst, Sony doesn't care about AE anymore, at least not in English speaking countries.

Jak and Daxter, Ratchet & Clank, Sly Cooper, Kingdom Hearts, Ico/SotC, God of War, Rayman, even Sonic have had HD collections. One of the very few character platformers that have not been given the HD treatment (aside from maybe Ty and the like) and it doesn't seem like Sony wants to remedy that. Why is that? Is it not popular enough? If so, why make so many other non-platformer titles. Does it not hold up? I recently played the 3rd title and had a blast, so it's not like it hasn't aged well. Are 3D platformers dying? No, if they were then why release Jak, Ratchet & Sly Collections and purposely leave out Ape Escape?

If this generation ends without there being an Ape Escape HD collection I will be severely disappointed.
 
T

Takao

Banned
I'd like an Ape Escape HD Collection for Vita/PS3, but it's a bit weird due to the first one being on PSone. The PS2 games will look okay in HD, but the PSone game? Nuh-uh, and On The Loose is just a port so no go there. My solution would be to just toss in localized versions of the games that weren't localized.
 
N

Napalm_Frank

Member
Takao said:
I'd like an Ape Escape HD Collection for Vita/PS3, but it's a bit weird due to the first one being on PSone. The PS2 games will look okay in HD, but the PSone game? Nuh-uh, and On The Loose is just a port so no go there. My solution would be to just toss in localized versions of the games that weren't localized.
Click to expand...
It's not like that hurt MGS collection.
 
U

Urban Scholar

Member
Maybe I'm in the minority here but after playing 1-3. I think Ape Escape 1 is the best in terms of tightness,control,nuance, gimmicks & etc.

Anyway I wouldn't mind a HD collection to buy if released.
 
M

Mellahan

Concerned about dinosaur erection.
Urban Scholar said:
Maybe I'm in the minority here but after playing 1-3. I think Ape Escape 1 is the best in terms of tightness,control,nuance, gimmicks & etc.

Anyway I wouldn't mind a HD collection to buy if released.
Click to expand...

You have my sword.

AE1 has the best OST, too.
 
D

Drago

Member
I don't fucking know.

All I know is that I WANT IT

I absolutely adored the PSP remake of 1 and have been yearning to get to the rest of the series since. I want this Collection more than any other.
 
D

Drago

Member
Also, why the hell isn't the original game at least on PSN in western territories?

It been up in Japan since 2007.

2007. And here we are 6 years later, still without it. Ugh! :(
 
M

Mellahan

Concerned about dinosaur erection.
Byronic Hero said:
At one point I thought there was an Ape Escape 4 in development, but recently found out that that wasn't the case.
Click to expand...

There's actually a story behind this.

An Ape Escape fansite (Ape Club) paraded around as an "official" source of the series. Two years ago, they began making claims that AE4 was in development. Gaming news blogs/sites fell for it and reported it as "official." Thing is, Ape Escape, as a whole, is so obscure that no one really took the time (or effort) to verify these false claims.

Check it: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=49508391&postcount=5

The site even claimed this image was the first promo shot of AE4: http://imgur.com/xnt4E07

In truth, it's a promo shot for AE2001.

Looking back on it now, it's hilarious. The guy was so insistent that he had a source at Sony. He made up plenty of other BS, like you can unlock the AE1 beta by completing petty tasks. He made up sales data, too.

Whoever this curator was, he was a very passionate fan.
 
P

Pegosaurus

Banned
Drago said:
Also, why the hell isn't the original game at least on PSN in western territories?

It been up in Japan since 2007.

2007. And here we are 6 years later, still without it. Ugh! :(
Click to expand...

I went looking for Ape Escape 1 (any of them really) on PSN a few weeks ago and I was surprised it wasn't there. Ape Escape was so fun and I'd love to play it again.

Can we get Sony to make a collection
 
B

Byronic Hero

Member
daffy said:
It was that lackluster at best PS Move game
Click to expand...

Mellahan said:
There's actually a story behind this.

An Ape Escape fansite (Ape Club) paraded around as an "official" source of the series. Two years ago, they began making claims that AE4 was in development. Gaming news blogs/sites fell for it and reported it as "official." Thing is, Ape Escape, as a whole, is so obscure that no one really took the time (or effort) to verify these false claims.

Check it: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=49508391&postcount=5

Looking back on it now, it's hilarious. The guy was so insistent that he had a source at Sony. It was a case of "plugged ears, LA LA LA LA LA." His site made up plenty of other BS too, like you can unlock the AE1 beta by completing petty tasks. Oh, and he made up false sales data too.

Whoever this curator was, he was a very passionate fan.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that was what I was talking about. I remember seeing a logo and everything. It's funny, but in a soul-crushing sort of way.
 
K

kuYuri

Member
Drago said:
Also, why the hell isn't the original game at least on PSN in western territories?

It been up in Japan since 2007.

2007. And here we are 6 years later, still without it. Ugh! :(
Click to expand...

Probably because On the Loose is up on the store. For whatever reason, SCEA prefers to have that version up over the PS1 classic.

Parappa the Rapper for PSP is available digitally, but not the PS1 version is another example.
 
M

Mellahan

Concerned about dinosaur erection.
Ape Club's lies reached Wikipedia, it seems:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ape_Es...Station_All-Stars_.282008_-_present.29.5B5.5D

I can say with 100% certainty that "Famitsu ad" did not exist. I've scouted my fair share of Japanese AE sites and communities; none have verified it.

....

ANYWAY! If an HD collection were to be, I'd LOVE it if AE3 would use the high-def soundtrack from the album that came out last fall. The sound quality is amazing. Soichi Tarada is the man.
 
D

Data West

coaches in the WNBA
Ape Escape HD collection is on my dream list of HD collection games

Def Jam fighting game collection
GTA HD using the PC builds along with the original xbox textures on 3 and Vice
 
C

Camjo-Z

Member
I would pay big bucks for Ape Escape and/or PaRappa HD Collections. But I guess Sony's too busy porting the ones they already have on PS3 to Vita!
 
B

Byronic Hero

Member
Dragonzord said:
Ape Escape HD collection is on my dream list of HD collection games

Def Jam fighting game collection
GTA HD using the PC builds along with the original xbox textures on 3 and Vice
Click to expand...

The Def Jam collection would be really hard to do now that quite a few of the artists aren't affiliated with the label anymore. I think that collection would have as hard a time getting made as Jump Ultimate Stars getting localized.
 
I

IdreamofHIME

Member
You can tell how much Sony loved the franchise by the fact Ubisoft published the 2nd one, lol.

Takao said:
I'd like an Ape Escape HD Collection for Vita/PS3, but it's a bit weird due to the first one being on PSone. The PS2 games will look okay in HD, but the PSone game? Nuh-uh, and On The Loose is just a port so no go there. My solution would be to just toss in localized versions of the games that weren't localized.
Click to expand...

Why not just an HD version of the PSP game? That was a remake of the PS1 game, no?
 
S

Sora2k7

Member
I need this
I bought a dual shock just for the first game
I will buy a vita for a new Ape escape

PS : I hate blue monkeys
 
P

PeakPointMatrix

Member
Man, I'd buy the fuck out an AE collection. It's saddening Sony has turned a blind eye to it in the last four years. But they only have themselves to blame; they ran the franchise into the ground with their half-assed minigame collections and move games.

AE1 is the best one for me. the controls and gadgets handle the best and allows a level of mastery to be attained. It's also the hardest one, a really great difficulty curve. Also the best fucking music in the franchise.

AE2 was a disappointment, pretty unremarkable, losing Soichi Terada as composer left the game with horrifically bland music and a mostly drab game.

AE3 is my second favorite, Soichi was back, and while a little too saturated and kiddy at times, it had a lot of charm and fun ideas. The transformations made the game far too easy however.

Pumped and Primed had it's moments, but over half the minigames ranged from unplayable to just plain unfun. The arena battles were the highlight here.

Wish I could have played Million Monkeys.
 
C

Camjo-Z

Member
SwiftSketcher said:
AE1 is the best one for me. the controls and gadgets handle the best and allows a level of mastery to be attained. It's also the hardest one, a really great difficulty curve. Also the best fucking music in the franchise.
Click to expand...


"if this is the galaxy monkey song then swiftsketcher wins at everythi- *clicks* SWIFTSKETCHER WINS AT EVERYTHING"

Also I forgot how bad Pumped & Primed was, I was playing it with my brother a month ago and it was just truly awful. The characters were unbalanced (Natalie's infinite spin attack ftw), a few of the minigames were just really boring (we spent at least 20 minutes trying to hit each other in an underwater game just because the torpedo targeting was so awful) and some of them literally hurt to play (WHO THOUGHT ROTATING THE STICKS NONSTOP TO MAKE A RAFT MOVE WAS A GOOD IDEA)

But yeah, if porting AE1/On The Loose or translating Million Monkeys would be so hard, they could still at least give us AE2/3 and throw in Pumped & Primed to make it 3 games total. Maybe they could add online play to it to make it worth the trouble like they did for Ratchet UYA HD's multiplayer.
 
U

UncleSporky

Member
Ape Escape 1 surprised the hell out of me. The feel of the game, the stakes etc. changed throughout.

At the start it felt like a Spyro or something, colorful, cute, whimsical.

Then shit gets real, the areas get bigger, crazy stuff goes down. Everything feels darker and more serious.

Ending battles were amazing.

I just did not expect the game to build up the way it did!

I actually traded my friend my copy of MGS1 for Ape Escape. For a while I felt pretty bad about that and was kicking myself...actually at this point, I think I got the better end of the deal.
 
B

Byronic Hero

Member
Camjo-Z said:
But yeah, if porting AE1/On The Loose or translating Million Monkeys would be so hard, they could still at least give us AE2/3 and throw in Pumped & Primed to make it 3 games total. Maybe they could add online play to it to make it worth the trouble like they did for Ratchet UYA HD's multiplayer.
Click to expand...
I think the reason UYA's online was able to be implemented in the PS3 version was because it was playable online originally on the PS2. P&P wasn't, was it?
 
P

Prince Vultan

Banned
Would buy.

Would also buy a Wild Arms HD collection. Even if it's just the PS2 Wild Arms games (Though there were at least 4 of those, so too many for one collection?).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Hot take: PS2 had a better selection of platformers than most Nintendo systems
Opinion 2 3 4 5
204
9K
ZoolNL replied
Which classic PS game would you love to see get the reboot treatment?
Opinion 2
50
906
Juja replied
Microsoft’s biggest failure… games for children
2
61
2K
RCX replied
Crash Bandicoot will cameo in Astro Bot despite Microsoft’s Activision acquisition
20
2K
NuclearDiarrhea replied
All Major PlayStation Franchises And Their Current Status
|OT| News Platform
44
3K
dorkimoe replied
Top Bottom