I’ve always loved games like Mario 64 and Banjo Kazooie, that let you loose in cool 3d spaces to find some MacGuffin. I was never quite sure what a star or jiggy was or what it had to do with saving the day, but reducing the goal of gameplay to “find the things!” beautifully centered the game on the joy of exploration and traversal. It also - in a quiet, casual, effortless way - was as nonlinear as anything that would later be billed as Open World.

Ape Escape might be the best of these.

The genius of Ape Escape is that it asks, "What if the MacGuffins were the story?" The narrative, for the purpose of gameplay, is beautifully simple ("The apes have escaped. Catch them.”). The monkeys can be anywhere, in any kind of zany environment and requiring any kind of shenanigans to catch. But unlike Mario's stars and Banjo’s jiggies, catching a monkey in Ape Escape always feels like it matters. The monkeys overflow with personality and fight back. They are rebels, reckoning with their newfound sentience, and creating havoc in the process. Placing a net over each one has profound consequences for both the ape and the story. While you are "saving the world", you are by no means clearly the "good guy", but simply playing a role in a larger drama. This perfect synthesis of narrative and player action culminates beautifully in the final battle after catching all 205 monkeys: reducing Specter to helplessness, and finally putting a net over that little bastard. I cannot express how satisfying this was. It was also oddly poignant, especially when preceded by the revelation that Specter missed his trainer, painting a portrait of a tragic hero who, in his last moments, questioned whether he even wanted the freedom he so desperately sought.

And, of course, all this is to barely touch on the gameplay, which is as fun as anything I have ever played. (Spin the right stick to helicopter, or use it to independently remote control a car!) And the inspired locales and art design. (Seeing a mammoth walk out of the fog in the ice age level was one of many moments that took my breath away. And those skyboxes and weather effects!). Ape Escape is peak PS1 hotness, forging into the unknown territory of dual analog 3d gaming with artistry and verve. The series would produce more classics - Ape Escape 3 is also a masterpiece, and Million Monkeys a hidden gem - but Ape Escape 1 remains a unique and thrilling encapsulation of the most exciting era in video games.