Ape Escape 3

Plot

Specter, the Pipo Monkeys' leader, finds a Monkey Helmet, and hires the human scientist Dr. Tomuki (Dr. Tomoki in the U.S. version) to aid him in his evil plans. They establish television stations protected by the Freaky Monkey Five where they plan to broadcast TV shows worldwide. The television shows that are broadcast on every television put every human except the twins, Satoru and Sayaka (Kei and Yumi), their aunt Aki, and Natsumi (Natalie) into a mindless trance. When Natsumi informs Satoru and Sayaka that Kakeru (Spike), Hikaru (Jimmy) and the Professor were all infected by the television show, Satoru and Sayaka go out to catch the monkeys and thwart Specter and Tomuki.

Their mission was to go to every movie set and capture all the monkeys there and destroy the satellite there. Satoru and Sayaka easily capture White Monkey, Blue Monkey, and Yellow Monkey. When they reach the TV Station where Pink Monkey is, Satoru and Sayaka's attempts to capture her fail and she escapes. They manage to capture Red Monkey afterwards.

When they reach Tomuki City, Tomuki challenges them to a battle in his giant Tomo-King robot. Tomuki, after being defeated by Satoru and Sayaka, and being humiliated by Specter, lets them take his rocket to space to defeat his former partner. Once they reach Specter's outer space base of operations: Space Station SARU-3, they capture all the monkeys and deactivate the movie sets on their way to Specter. When they reach Specter, he tells them his plan about how he will use his space station to cut the earth in half and keep half of it for the monkeys (leaving the other half, originally meant for Tomuki, to the humans). Afterwards he gets in his new Gorillac Mech and tries to activate his plan. He is defeated and the two escape from the satellite, leaving Tomuki to give his life to deactivate the Twin Heavens. He survives. After Specter is defeated, Pink Monkey releases him and the rest of the Freaky Monkey Five, leaving them to be caught again in extremely similar missions. To complete the game one hundred percent, all the four hundred and forty-two monkeys have to be caught, all the time trials have to be completed with a gold time, and all the items, CDs, Video Tapes (except 28), Car Skins, Genie Dance tracks, books, etc. have to be bought. The game holds a total of four hundred and thirty-four monkeys if the secret code monkeys are not caught.

Gameplay

Playing as either Satoru or Sayaka, gameplay follows that of the previous games in which the player must catch several monkeys by using various gadgets controlled with right analogue stick. While there are fewer gadgets in this game than previous entries, a new feature in this game is the ability to morph into different forms through a device built by Aki. Some monkeys may also try to steal the player's Stun Club or Time Net and use it against them, and can even force them out of the level by catching them with their own net. Playing as Sayaka has an additional benefit; owing to her pop idol status, certain monkeys will go star-struck upon sight of Sayaka, allowing for an easy capture.

Mesal Gear Solid

A minigame featured in the game is Metal Gear Solid: Snake Escape, a spoof of Metal Gear Solid (the name is a pun on "metal" (メタル, metaru) and "monkey" (猿, saru).) In this game, players control Pipo Snake, a monkey loaded with Solid Snake's battle data, sent on a mission to rescue Snake and destroy a monkey-like Metal Gear. Gameplay is similar to Metal Gear Solid in which players have to use stealth and weapons to sneak around undetected and rescue prisoners. Players are equipped with a Banana Pistol for stunning enemies and Pineapple Grenades for breaking open flimsy walls. Similarly, the original PlayStation 2 editions of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater include a Snake vs. Monkey mode in which Snake has to capture monkeys.