The Ape Escape “Pipo” Monkey costume and Mainichi Issho Toro Costume have now gone live on the EU Store, two weeks earlier than previously announced. They were officially announced for release on February 12th.
They are both priced at £1.59 / €1.00 each.
We’re not sure if this is a mistake or not, but you can login to the EU PS Store and they are currently purchaseable as of now. The God of War mini-pack and Kratos, Groundhog Day & Chinese New Year costumes are all also available. The U.S Store has not yet been updated, so American players will have to wait and see if this rolls out across the pond.
Todays EU PS Store update
This unexpected surprise is bound to please many fans who’ve been wanting these costumes since they were released in Japan last year. The Ape Escape costume was available from selected retail outlets in Japan through pre-order, and the Toro costume has been available to buy in Japan since November 13th 2008. This update sees both the costumes available globally through purchase.
There are some technical issues currently taking place, as booting up the game currently gives a 403 error, which many users are reporting. We’re sure this will resolve itself though, whilst the LittleBigStore finishes updating. Or something.
The good news is that we can officially confirm that the Ape Escape “Pipo” Monkey costume has the best eyes, ever.
[UPDATE]
It seems that Europe has been a bit naught and has released these items ahead of schedule. Community Development manager Sam Protagonist says:
The originally stated dates are still accurate, however it looks like the European store has been a little overzealous, releasing much of the content straight away. Chances are this will be recitified shortly, so if you’ve managed to snag the new stuff early you’ll have a little longer to use it.
On the server front, there are some issues at present that are being investigated. We don’t expect the outage to be very long but there’s no scheduled return time just yet.
Get them early while you can!
The Ape Escape Costume is also in the Japanese Store.
I can see in that screenshot that someone is a little too lazy to take down their Christmas decorations! =P
@Stevenl
lol, I guess I’ve given myself some bad luck there!
Perhaps I’ll leave them up, only another 11 months until Christmas… 
you cant get the ape and the other one it dont let u must be a mistake
Can they tell us when the kratos pack is in maryland yet cause i want the costume really badly
Grab the Ape Escape and Toro costumes while you can! They were released by mistake and will be withdrawn!
those 2 are already down.
will be back in 2 weeks.
bollox. i missed them
Well I don’t wanna hear this stuff about the euro market having to wait for everything (even if it was temporary) anymore…
(^_*)
I missed em too, but they’ll be back soon 
“The good news is that we can officially confirm that the Ape Escape “Pipo” Monkey costume has the best eyes, ever.”
That needed confirmation? I might get that costume just for the eyes!
No matter how many times I say this, no one listens, but I’ll type it again anyway.
Regardless of what the Ape Escape costume was said to be, it was NOT a pre-order bonus. Some sites might have offered it as such, but my understanding was it was a code that was going to be included in all FIRST PRINTING copies of LBP. It was, however, I still have my code, unused.
Why, do you ask? Because the JP PStore simply activated it as a free download for everyone around the same duration as the Space Suit. In fact, it basically WAS an extra Space Suit equivalent.
Perhaps any codes out there still work/worked after it went down, but the fact of the matter is that most people who had them didn’t need them. Anyone could have downloaded the costume after the game’s release, regardless of whether they even had the game or not.
@J.J.
It’s difficult to keep track of little differences, especially in the regions which we don’t live in. I’ll update the DLC Archive accordingly.
Thanks for the info!
ALERT ALERT
They leaked in the Amercian store just now!
go
go
go
go
Of all the times for my dad to be hogging the PS3…
*grumble grumble*
It’s true!!! It is here in america!!! Hurry!! Download at the speed of light before it is taken down!! GO! GO!!! GO!!!!!!
Just got my Toro/Ape Escape costume. Hurry before it’s too late.
this looks bad for us in europe. it obviously was never a mistake in the first place. i cant believe imissed it
Hey they released the Groundhog, Toro, and Pipo costume in US. YAY
Just got all 3 costumes, and yes the Pipo eyes are awesome.
Why bother to pull the costumes? You really are a sad little bunch Sony. What harm would it have done to leave them there. The revenue would still come in. Pathetic
It would have been fair enough if they released it in the US for an hour like they did in the EU and then pull it BUT ITS STILL PURCHASABLE NOW IN THE US AFTER 12 HOURS and I bet it wont be taken down at all. This is so unfair to people in the EU who missed it! I got home from work at 6pm and MISSED IT BY ABOUT 10 MINUTES! F**K YOU SONY AND F**K YOU MM!!! This is so unfair that my last statement is the only fitting one.
OMG, when i saw the first comment saying “THE COSTUMES ARE AVAILABLE IN THE US!!!” I yelled LIES!!! then quickly made my way to my ps3 to download them lol.
WELL SAID STEVE THERE OUT OF ORDER
Sam_Protagonist said that all stores would be synchronised today so that DLC would be at the samestage everywhere but it hasn’t happened! As usual the US gets the good deel and the EU is shafted yet again. Its not even about the bloody costumes its the principle. When you are told something its nice when its actually true. A simple “I dont know” is better than speculation or lies from Sony.
