I came within one mission of completing Ape Escape before I quit (likely because I got a PS2 and new games, although it might also have been because the disc broke?).
Ratchet & Clank 3 is still the first game with a story campaign that I finished. Prior to that, I either never finished the storylines or the games were open ended and I just forgeted around in them.
I never actually played the original AE, but I finished both 2 and 3 and that one other one that was like a tournament style thing
I remember the "final" boss of the 2nd game was like the first boss fight I had where I struggled a lot on, I kinda wanna do it again just to see how much I've improved compared to my 7-8 year old self.
also yeah RaC 3 was one of my fav games too, I've completed basically every game in the series, but 3 was definitely my favorite out of all of them.
I don't even remember what newgame+ I was on with my main save for that game but it was definitely in the double digits.
ape escape 4 or bust
this was actually posted back in january:

the text apperently translates to “2016 Year of the Monkey. Today, SCE will begin working!”
hype???????