Ape Escape: Secrets and Hints

Hey Guys!

As promised, here is our new article on "Secrets and Hints" from the Original Ape Escape.

Part One


So, like any video games, each game has their own secrets, and difficulties. With this page, we are able to help anyone with any Ape Escape game, and list some extremely secret information about various games.


We first start off with the original Ape Escape. There are many secrets in this game, however over time, most have been discovered. Here is one that has been discovered, but you may not know about yet.


In the original, each level has a "secret area" which players cannot access during the first time playing. To unlock the area's takes a lot of work and a lot of time. You would only do this IF you were a hardcore Ape Escape Fan. Here are some instructions as to how to access the secret area's.


1. Make sure you have a Japanese copy of Ape Escape (original, not PSN) and an original Playstation. Also cough up your cash and get yourself a "PocketStation".

2. 100% complete the original game.

3. Once you have done that, proceed to "complete" the original Ape Escape PocketStation game.

4. Once complete, plug your PocketStation back into your PlayStation and start roaming levels on the original game without a sense of purpose. Eventually* you will discover a green mailbox.

The green mailbox spawning in Level Three.

5. Once you have found it, hit it like you do every other time. You will be prompted with a message of congratulations, then whisked away. Then the save/load game screen appears. SAVE THE GAME!! You will be re-directed back to the "Time Station". From there all levels are accessible, and all levels (Except Level 4 for some strange reason, the Stadium Attacks and Specter Battle) will be marked with "Clear" instead of what should be "All Clear".

6. Click on any level and you shall enter with "Casi" stating you have 4 more monkeys to catch. You will arrive to the level like normal.

7. Roam the level looking for something new. A new "portal" should have appeared. Walk through it, and you will arrive in a new section of the level. Four monkeys will be there waiting for you. Capture each one and you will have completed the level. Note: that the four monkeys are basic yellow monkeys and have no information present when using the Monkey Radar. They are simply named "01", "02" etc. They strangely don't appear in the "Monkey Book" when captured, and each level contains the same four monkeys in different locations throughout each level.

Kakeru traveling through the "Portal" to the secret area.
Location is "Raining Lake (level two)" however in this section,
it has stopped raining and its now nighttime.

8. Enjoy your new Ape Escape game play. Have Fun!

*You will have to look for AGES to find the mailbox. It seems that every time you enter a level, it can re-spawn ANYWHERE in ANY LEVEL. Then if the mailbox wasn't there and you decide to exit the level, the mailbox once again re-spawns ANYWHERE in ANY LEVEL! The trick? To hopefully arrive in the level and HOPE that the mailbox spawns in the level you selected. It takes a while.

You may be thinking "this hasn't been discovered, it's the first time anyone has heard of it". Well, its not. In late 2007, a YouTuber uploaded a video of him playing the secret levels and people accused him of it "being fake". However it isn't fake, and he just revealed the BIGGEST unlockable of the original Ape Escape. Sadly, he has deleted the video.

This idea mainly came to help promote sales of the "PocketStation" at the time, and "the unlockables" that were displayed on the original Japanese website (now retired) was about the information above. But due to very poor sales of the PocketStation, barely anyone had a their own PocketStation and it became just a forgotten unlockable over the years. Only fragments of the original pictures from the official site explaining the bonus unlockable's (above) exist on the net today, and we have spent AGES looking for them.

We have only found two, and we hope more of the pics surface in the years to come. We also hope that one day, the video will be re-uploaded to YouTube so we can all watch it for hours on repeat.
If you have the cash, experience, and the time, make sure you try and unlock these secret area's, and tell us immediately when you do!

The idea was originally going to be included in AE2, but it must have been forgotten. The idea was used in AE3, except this time, you unlocked bonus monkeys with their own secret area. The most popular is the one located in Specter's lair. It contains the "Ratchet" monkey, and a whole system full of goodies (and baddies).

A more known secret for Ape Escape is the ability to capture ape's through walls. You may find yourself with a monkey in front of you, but a wall or obstacle in front of it. Instead of waiting for a new gadget (RC Car etc.), wait for the monkey to come close to the edge, and use your time net. It will be able to catch the monkey and all is well. It's a really good time saver.

More hints and secrets soon! Stay Tuned :)