Specter

Specter is an albino Spider-monkey and chimpanzee mix and the main villain of the Ape Escape series. He was said to be the first monkey to ever don a Monkey Helmet. However, the helmet at the time was a prototype that had been untested, resulting in Specter gaining rare, special psychic and telekinetic powers, the ability to talk in human language, and increased intelligence. The device also flawed Specter's mind, causing him to turn evil with a general hatred of humans, freeing his fellow monkeys before giving them their own less powerful helmets.

In the first game, Specter hijacks the professor's lab, having his monkeys tie up him and his daughter Natalie by a computer a few moments before Spike and Jake come in. Instead of attacking, Specter immediately has a monkey start up the machine before he and all 200+ monkeys are dragged into the machine, Spike and Jake included. It is revealed later in a cutscene that Specter is in fact aware of what he is doing, that he was once an entertainer at monkey park, and that due to the prototype helmet, he now has dangerous levels of power and intelligence that he shows off by his throne room, mechanical levitation throne, and Jake, who has been brainwashed "Completely reborn." And is somewhere in the medieval period. Upset with Spike's interference, Specter sends Jake many times to Spike to fight in Dimension X, hoping that Jake will eliminate Spike before he can do any real damage. Upon Jake's failure, and the arrival of Spike in the medieval time period, Specter and Jake teleport back to the future in their Battle Cruiser, starting a global invasion of monkeys, Specter also hijacks a power plant and a renovated factory to make his weapons and new robots. Natalie and the Professor are also kidnapped and taken to Specter's new TV tower base. Spike arrives again and Specter tries to kill him with his Battle Cruiser, though Spike destroys it. Considering a replacement for Jake, Specter lures Spike into his new amusement park "Specter Land" by hiding Natalie and the Professor in the dangerous complex before having Jake try yet again to kill Spike. Once Jake is revived, Specter opens the door to his castle to let Spike in, and once in his throne room, Specter attempts to brainwash the pre-teen, who over comes the mind beams because of his intense will power and anger towards the monkey. Specter immediately retaliates by viciously attacking Spike in his Gorilliac armor before retreating upon defeat. Once all the remaining monkeys are caught, Specter and Spike fight in dimension X where Specter is finally defeated and captured.

In the second game, he finds another helmet after Jimmy accidentally sends some to Monkey Park. He then sends his monkey minions to different parts of the world and puts together "The Freaky Monkey Five" to stop Hikaru. Meanwhile, Specter works on building a weapon called the Lethargy Laser that will make all humans on Earth unwilling to fight against him. However, he is again defeated and captured. He escapes, but is later recaptured.

In the third game, he works alongside Doctor Tomuki and tries to take over the world by using TV to turn all humans that watch it into mindless couch potatoes. However, Natalie is unaffected and she gets help. His partnership with Tomoki ends after he makes fun of Tomuki, though he doesn't care, as he can take care of the rest of his plan by himself. Later, it is revealed he plans to use a giant robot hand to split Earth in half, letting the monkeys rule one side and the humans fight over the other side. His plan is foiled by Satoru and Sayaka, though he, along with the other four members of The Freaky Monkey Five, get rescued by Pink Monkey, who was not captured. However, he and The Freaky Monkey Five (including Pink) are soon recaptured by Satoru and Sayaka.

He appears in Ape Escape: Pumped & Primed, where he has again kidnapped and taken control of Hiroki's mind. He also appears in Saru! Get You! Million Monkeys and Saru! Get You! SaruSaru Big Mission.

Despite having minions do his dirty work for him, he is not a coward and will fight against the main character or characters of the game if he has to. He always fights using various forms of psychic attacks. Despite his general hatred of humans, he does occasionally ponder about his owner. A recurring element of each game is that to fight Specter, the player always to capture every monkey in every level before the final showdown with Specter. Also, in his first fight with the hero, he typically uses a large monkey-themed robot suit, and fights using his own powers and his missile armed mechanical throne in the second fight.

In the anime, he was a monkey named Kuuta (クータ Kūta?) who was owned by Natsumi, before he was transformed into Specter by the Pipotrons. In Episode 26 Season 1, he reverts to Kuuta.

He is generally seen in his mechanical throne that varies from game to game; in the first game it was a slim throne with an arrowhead-shaped backboard that was red with a blue color of the chair's backboard with small, black circles lining the backboard and armrest. In the second game, it is a larger gray and yellow throne with a more industrial design and in the third game, a simple office chair themed hover craft. Specter usually wears either red shorts, brown shoes with a black cape like cloth on his neck, or black pants and boots with a red cape, though in some games, a formal suit with a bow-tie has become his outfit.