Ape Academy 2 (PSP)

Ape Academy 2 is a mix between mini game collection and trading card game. The latter was introduced by the series’ antagonist Specter in order to gain world domination. The player participates in one of the contests in order to win a special trading card and a big banana supply.

The campaign takes place on several islands and the goal is to defeat a number of enemies and proceed to the boss battle. Each opponent has a card stack (there are overall about 300 card available) with different symbols and modifiers. The played cards determine which of the two participants wins the round (rock-paper-scissors style depending on the cards’ symbol) and which of the 107 mini game follows. Some cards can only be used when the player has a certain amount of bananas.

This is the last chance to avoid the negative consequences of losing the round by winning the mini game: they are mostly only a few seconds short and require a button press with the correct timing. If both the card round and the mini game is won by the same monkey, the loser suffers a subtraction to the life energy and the winner may receive some of the loser’s bananas (depending on the card’s modifier). The match is over when one monkey has no life energy left or all cards are played;.

The game also includes a (physical) visual cover which can be used for local multiplayer on one PSP. Game sharing allows to send a demo mini game to another PSP without the game.