This week's game is Ape Escape M, the J2ME mobile entry in this beloved series that I'm guessing many of you haven't played. While it can't hope to match the gameplay or scope of the main console games, its 2D approach to condensing and simplifying the series' formula is interesting to behold:
After how interesting the Drakengard J2ME game was to cover, I knew I needed to check out more of its ilk! I was initially very surprised to learn that there was an Ape Escape mobile game, but considering the sheer number of weird spin-offs this series had in the mid-2000s, I guess it's not such an outlandish idea. Anyway, Ape Escape M is a very interesting take on the series that tasks you with doing what you usually do, but from a simplified 2D overhead perspective. Since it was meant for old mobile devices, the gameplay only requires a couple of buttons and everything is much slower and easier. There's no platforming at all, everybody looks pretty weird, and the soundtrack sure doesn't have Soichi Terada delivering the best beats you've ever heard in your life. The story is original, taking place between 1 and 2, but it's effectively the same thing as the original and you don't even get to fight Specter.
So, what is there to Ape Escape M? Not a ton, honestly, but it's still interesting! Even with the inherent disadvantages this version faces, I found it really admirable how they did their best to capture the key elements of Ape Escape on a more limited platform. The levels are spacious enough to explore, there's inherent joy to sneaking up on and catching monkeys, and the writing does its best to make you chuckle, especially when it comes to the monkey bios. I'm a big fan of franchises that never hesitate to try weird things and I always have respect for games like this that are tasked with downscaling something to a less capable platform, so even though Ape Escape M isn't a particularly exciting game to play, I think it's a perfect example of the kind of thing I like to study and mess around with on this blog. It's curious and obscure, so that's enough to make it interesting if you ask me!