Ape Escape 4

Ape Escape 4, known in Japan as Saru Get You 4 (サルゲッチュ 4), is a potential upcoming game in the Ape Escape series. It would be the fourth main installment.

Development

In 2006, Sony placed an advertisement in Famitsu magazine with interest in hiring staff for an upcoming title. It contained a picture, with four monkeys, with the first holding up Ape Escape, the second holding up Ape Escape 2, the third holding up Ape Escape 3 and the fourth holding a cover with "?". The use of mainline entries without any spinoffs led many to speculate that a 4th entry was in development.

However, since it was first announced in 2006, this title has not been released. A tweet by PlayStation Japan on Twitter was posted on January 5th, 2016, reading, “2016 Year of the Monkey. Today, SCE will begin working! #Monkey #YearofMonkey” alongside an image of a Pipo Monkey, possibly meaning the idea of a fourth game was abandoned, but was regained and production had immediately begun.

Three years later, in 2020, a year after the franchise's 20th anniversary - for the first time in over 5 years, the official Japanese website for the Ape Escape series was updated. Not much long after, an official Japanese Ape Escape 20th anniversary account was made on Twitter, which began to post several teasers, possibly signifying something new for the franchise in the works.

Gallery

Piposaru.com's April Fool's Day teaser from 2005.

Famitsu Hiring Advertisement for a Fourth Ape Escape Title (2006)

Teaser from the first tweet by @piposaru20th

Banner from the second tweet by @piposaru20th

『サルゲッチュ』20周年ムービープロモーションビデオ

20th Anniversary Promo Video

Trivia

• For a time, there had been no news on the topic since then, which could possibly have meant that the game was stuck in development hell.
  • It is also possible that PlayStation Move: Ape Escape could have been Ape Escape 4 on the PS3.