Headscratchers / Ape Escape

• All three games refer to the apes as "monkeys," which anyone can see is wrong since they quite obviously have no tails. And they're not hiding them in their pant legs, those things are custom-tailored for the apes, according to the second game. It's especially baffling that this error persists for three installments, while the title (APE Escape) gets it right all along.
  • Well, they are based off the Japanese Macaque, which are also called snow monkeys. They don't have tails either.
  • It's also possible that the localizers knew the difference (especially given that the games are titled Saru! Get You! in Japan) but thought Ape Escape made for a better-sounding title that still conveyed the premise easily enough. In other words, Woolseyism.

• Why is the Metal Gear Solid-inspired minigame called "Mesal Gear Solid"? What does "mesal" mean here?
  • I believe that in the Japanese version it's called Mesaru Gear Solid. It's supposed to be a pun because "Saru" means "monkey". And that's why it's called Mesal Gear Solid in the English version. That's why you see a lot of monkey names that have "Sal" in it (like Sal-3000 or Salulu).
  • To put it another way, it's a portmanteau of "metal" (as Metal Gear in Japanese is "Metaru Gia") and "saru" (for reasons stated above).

• Why are they sending kids to take out the apes instead of, I don't know, calling the cops or the military? In the first game, they at least had the excuse of saying that only Spike could travel back in time since he was the one stuck in the machine. You also can't say these monkeys aren't a serious enough threat when they're regularly equipped with military-grade weaponry and their leader has fucking superpowers.
  • It's a game aimed at kids, think of Shōnen manga, it's the demographic, of course they're gonna be the heroes. Alternatively, maybe adults would be more willing to use lethal force?