These new gadgets are pretty fun and all, though they decidedly lack the originality found in the returning gadgets. The third new gadget is the electro magnet by spinning the right analog stick you’ll charge its magnetic field, at which point you can drag certain heavy metallic objects. The water cannon is also a new gadget rotate the right analog stick to shoot streams of water, mainly used to put out fires. In addition, the banarang can also emit a strong banana odor mid-spin to attract hungry, hungry monkeys. The three new gadgets come in the form of the banarang, which can be wound up and thrown with the right analog stick to stun monkeys or destroy enemies. And the sky flyer is a propeller hat that allows Jimmy to shoot up into the air and float gently down to the ground. cars will be made available to you and is controlled with the right analog stick to reach areas that Jimmy can’t. The slingback shooter is an old-school wrist-rocket that can shoot three types of projectiles. The super hoop is a hula-hoop-type gadget that you’ll spin around your waist with the right analog stick and allows you to run at blinding speeds once adequately charged up. You’ll have a water net that aides Jimmy in swimming and also shoots out high-propulsion nets so as to capture monkeys underwater. You’ll have a stun club, which you’ll regularly use to bash monkeys over the head with in order to daze them long enough to capture them with your monkey net. The aforementioned gadgets that you’ll get to play around with during the course of the game are plentiful, though only three are actually new. Natalie, the resident tech-savvy daughter of a brilliant professor who later on in the game comes to your aid, will be on hand to answer any questions you might have and bestow new gadgets that will come in handy in proceeding levels. Luckily, you won’t be alone in your mission. This time around you’ll play as Spike’s equally clumsy cousin, Jimmy, and like the first game your mission will be to chase after monkeys and capture them. In the original Ape Escape you’d play as Spike, a young carefree kid who, after inadvertently releasing hordes of mechanically-enhanced monkeys on the world, took up the responsibility of capturing via a net and lots of spiffed-out technologically-impressive gadgets. And that is why, after four long years we (you, me, and little Timmy down the block) finally get to experience the game that Shigeru Miyamoto, Donkey Kong creator himself, would be proud of. Luckily, Ubi Soft, prepared to put their reputation on the line in the name of simian hijinx had the foresight to localize Ape Escape 2 for the western market. Then, in the middle of 2002 a true sequel to Ape Escape was unleashed in Japan, but Sony Japan, unconvinced the American market was ready for its monkey-themed gameplay antics, again decided to keep the title in the family, so to speak. While Pipo Saru 2001 was also met with much critical acclaim it still never saw the light of day in North America. Amazingly, despite its somewhat underwhelming sales performance a follow-up to the game was made by the name of Pipo Saru 2001, this time around the goal of the game wasn’t to capture monkeys with a net by to use a vacuum device to suck their pants off. Sadly, Ape Escape did not end up being the multi-million unit seller that it should have been, perhaps because the game wasn’t marketed for the American market. Like Robotron 2084 before it, Ape Escape’s control scheme relied heavily on using two control sticks in tandem one for moving your character around and the other for controlling your character’s monkey-catching net and other assorted gadgets. That game was Ape Escape, and its claim to fame dual-stick gameplay. But no monkey-related game released in the last 15 years can come close to the sheer originality and intuitiveness of a little game released by Sony for the PSone in 1999. Congo Bongo, Toki, Escape from Monkey Island, Samba De Amigo, Super Monkey Ball – the list goes on and on. Ever since that fateful day in 1981 when a small then-struggling coin-op start-up company by the name of Nintendo unleashed Donkey Kong, a simple puzzle game featuring an enormous monkey and a “jumping man,” on an unsuspecting American public and single-handedly breathed new life into a nearly-dead videogame industry, simians the world over have enjoyed great success in the interactive digital realm.
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