You play the role Col. George Taylor (who looks a bit like Pitfall Harry's long lost brother). Your mission is to guide Col. Taylor through a series of screens as he avoids an army of apes and makes his way towards the Forbidden Zone. There are three different kinds of apes in this game, and they all move in a straight line across the screen from right to left. For years Planet of the Apes had been misidentified as another 20th Century Fox prototype called Alligator People. This was because the first Planet of the Apes prototype was found in case labeled Alligator People and since no screenshots of either game existed, there was no reason to doubt the name on the label. However, after much research it was discovered that this game was in fact really John Marvin's lost Planet of the Apes game. It's obvious that Planet of the Apes still had some work to be done, but was finished enough to go through initial play testing. However, before programmer John Marvin could finish it, he left 20th Century Fox to go work for Epyx. Since 20th Century Fox closed down its video game unit three months later, Planet of the Apes was never completed and released.