Ape Escape is my Favorite Thing

Release Date: 1999

Developer: SCE Japan Studio

Genre: Platform

Ape Escape  is the first game that required the dual-analog controller for the Playstation. The premise of the game is that you run around as the human character, Spike, and try to collect all of the apes so that they cannot reshape history. The game uses a series of sneaking and gadgets to help collect the different monkeys that are located in the level. Each ape has light on his helmet that acknowledges how aware of you they are. 

One of the details that make Ape Escape one of my favorite games is how bright and colorful the graphics are. Some games have a bad habit of making bright games too childish, but Ape Escape is able to avoid that conflict. Since this game came out about five years after the Playstation's release, it utilizes it to the best of its abilities. 

Each level requires a specific amount of monkeys that need captured. There are always more monkeys in a level than you need to capture to complete the level. This is helpful so that if you are stuck on trying to capture a certain monkey, then you can look for another one. If fact, some cannot be captured until you receive a certain gadget later on in the game. This adds to the replayablitiy of the game. 

The gadgets also add some uniqueness to the game. They range from a remote-controlled car, a magic punch, and a sky flyer. After you receive each gadget, there is a practice level that you must complete to learn how to use the gadget. Ape Escape also has minigames that can be played. These are helpful for people who just want to get away from the main story of the game and wind down. After you have played the whole game and defeated the main boss, Specter, you must play the game again in order to capture all the monkeys. Even after you beat the game twice, you still must get a gold medal in all of the levels, plus beat each minigame. With all this, Ape Escape, can last a person a very long time, especially for those people who love to 100% games. 

Overall, I would recommend Ape Escape to anyone looking for something different. It is an innovative game that you can just relax to. It is a good way to get away from those mature rated games that seem to be all over the gaming community in this day in age. 

History of Pokemon (Generation 2)

 

 Last time when we left off, Pokemon was on its way to becoming Nintendo's second best selling franchise. It seems that the creators always knew that there were going to be more Pokemon games and that they were going to be a hit. This was relevant during the first episode of the anime where Ho-Oh was seen, but was not able to be identified by Ash Ketchum's Pokedex. Later on in the series during the episode "Attack of the Prehistoric Pokemon" the main characters find a Pokemon egg. This egg eventually hatches into Togepi in the episode "Who Gets to Keep Togepi." 

Pokemon Gold and Silver

A new generation started to become real when MParill, Snubbull, and Donphan were introduced during Pokemon: The First Movie. Lugia, Slowking, and Elekid were then introduced in the second Pokemon movie, Pokemon The Movie 2000: The Power of One on July 17, 1999 in Japan. Finally, on November 21, 1999 Pokemon Gold and Silver were released for the Game Boy Color. In this game they introduced a new region, Johto, and 100 new Pokemon were introduced. These games introduced many new features, the most prominent and important being the idea that Pokemon can have different genders and can breed. A time system was also introduced where new different events can happen during the day and night. You could also catch certain Pokemon only a certain time of day. The friendship system was also introduced. Different events would happen based on how happy your Pokemon was and certain Pokemon evolved only when their happiness was at a certain level. This was also the first game to introduce shiny Pokemon. The most notable of these being the red Gyarados found in the Lake of Rage. Along with the Johto gym leaders players could also face all of their favorite gym leaders from Kanto. The game was released in North America on October 11, 2000. 

The anime also brought our favorite characters to Johto. After the Orange Archipelago series, Tracey leaves Ash and Misty and they are joined again by Brock who is finished with Valencia Island. During the Johto Journeys, Pokemon the Movie 3: Spell of the Unown is released on July 8, 2000 in Japan and April 6, 2001 in North America. This movie featured the legendary Pokemon, Entei. Two more movies were made during this generation. They are Pokemon 4ever: Celebi: Voice of the Forest and Pokemon Heroes: Latios and Latias. 

On December 10, 1999, the first trading cards with the new generation of Pokemon was revealed in Japan. On September 21, 2000 a sequel to Pokemon Puzzle League called Pokemon Puzzle Challenge was released on the Game Boy Color. Fans got their first look at the generation 2 Pokemon in 3D for the first time with Pokemon Stadium 2 was released on December 14, 2000. 

The two main characters from Pokemon Crystal

Just like in generation 1, a third game was made called Pokemon Crystal. This game had many changes from the original games. Suicine was featured on the cover and was a part of the main plot of the game. This was the first game to include animations for every single Pokemon and allow you to choose which gender you would like to play as.