1990 Ubi Soft
Platforms: Commodore Amiga, Atari ST and PC
Joe the Monkey is one of many projects that were in development and cancelled by Ubi Soft around this time. Thanks to Hoagie, we learn that the game has you controlling a monkey that must drop things on the head of the lumberjack cutting down your tree.
Generation4 magazine gave a detailed preview where they said the following:
Joe the monkey lives in a huge tree in the middle of a forest with all his friends, leading a peaceful life lying in his hammock and listening to music. Until then, everything was going well – until the arrival of a lumberjack armed with his axe disturbed Joe’s peace.
This lumberjack intends to cut down Joe’s tree and begins his task without delay. To preserve his habitat and that of his friends, Joe has only one option: stop this man with whatever means he has at hand.
Joe must aim carefully to drop anvils, iron, pots, coconuts, and more onto the lumberjack’s head to slow him down. However, the lumberjack, only stunned for a few seconds, quickly comes to his senses and resumes his work with even more determination. If Joe wants to stop him permanently, he must knock him out using the piano attached to the branches. To do this, he must first find his home base and get there as quickly as possible.
His task won’t be easy. His friends, unaware of the danger, will constantly get in his way. If Joe isn’t slipping on a banana peel left behind by one of the tree’s inhabitants, he’ll be jostled by Tarzan swinging from a vine. And there are many other characters, all representing obstacles for Joe: Bébert the woodpecker, René the chimpanzee, Polo the crow, and Benoît the skunk. That said, some of them might occasionally prove useful – it’s up to you to make the most of their abilities.
The production of Joe the Monkey is very solid, with good graphics and highly realistic character animations. The game features seven levels that grow larger and increasingly challenging, requiring more effort to reach the piano. In short, a highly enjoyable arcade game!
Nothing more was heard of the game, apart from a short preview snippet in The One magazine.
It isn’t clear who worked on the game, though Hoagie doesn’t feel it is Michel Ancel, as its not mentioned in his biography. If anyone knows more about the game, please do get in touch.
With thanks to Hoagie / Abandonware France for highlighting and for scans and Archive.org for the additional scan.
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