Gex is like Erntedankfest in Zoey Handley’s storage

When Restricted Run Video games introduced that Gex would return to trendy gaming platforms, I made a decision to revisit the lizard’s debut journey. I had no thought what I used to be entering into.

For the uninitiated, Gex is a mascot platformer launched by Crystal Dynamics in 1995. It was initially developed for the 3DO console, a wildly costly piece of {hardware} that, adjusted for inflation, value round half a month’s lease in New York Metropolis. Naturally, that is how I first performed Gex. Being in elementary faculty on the time, the one 3DO video games that actually appealed to me have been Gex and Soccer Child. All I keep in mind about Soccer Child is that there’s an enemy that claims “get awf my laaaaaand,” which I discovered humorous.

In the meantime, I at all times internalized Gex as an underrated platformer. I even revisisted it in my late teenagers, the place I additionally keep in mind liking Gex. Because of this, I believed I had a fairly good deal with on this lizard’s first journey.

After all, the web has since morphed Gex right into a weird meme format. Whereas individuals nonetheless revere their Spyros and Crash Bandicoots, Gex would possibly as effectively be the illustration of all of your Bubsys and Superior Possums. You recognize, mascot platformers that solely existed as merchandise of their time. Whereas I understood the jokes, I’ve at all times wished to stay up for Gex. As considered one of eight individuals who ever performed a 3DO, I wanted to inform these whipper-snappers that that is, the truth is, a superb recreation. As a result of I do know it’s a superb recreation. It’s a superb recreation, proper?

Effectively, I stand earlier than you at the moment as somebody who fell down the Gex rabbit gap. I’m not right here to inform you that Gex is an effective recreation. As a result of after getting the complete Gex expertise, I can by no means have a look at this gecko the identical means once more.

A tail as outdated as time

Gex begins with a quick cinematic exhibiting the titular character watching some TV. After he indiscriminately eats a fly that flies in entrance of his face, Gex is sucked proper into the display screen. See, apparently that fly was a… one thing created by the villain Rez. So by consuming it, Gex is sucked into the Media Dimension. In different phrases, Persona 4 is only a Gex ripoff.

There’s extra to the story, however we’ll get to that later. Oh boy will we get to that later.

The following 2D platforming journey duties Gex with amassing remotes throughout 5 TV impressed worlds as Gex spits out a stream of 90s pop-culture references loosely associated to them. These are linked by a world map {that a} younger Tim could have generously likened to Tremendous Mario World, which may have influenced my childhood reminiscences. I’m not right here to psychoanalyze myself after I’ve nonetheless bought the whole thing of Gex in entrance of me, however it’s value noting that it did look spectacular on the time.

I additionally should reiterate that I performed this on a 3DO, and it’d be just a few months till I noticed a PlayStation. All I knew is that I preferred Gex greater than Soccer Child.

Extra bold than organizing a wine and cheese get together with Eric Van Allen

To be fully honest for a second, Gex nonetheless impresses me on a number of fronts. For a mascot platformer, you possibly can inform Crystal Dynamics had some legitimately nice concepts they wished to see realized.

First off, Gex himself encompasses a inventive moveset. You could have your customary bounce and tail-whip assault, in addition to a devoted tongue-whip button to seize and subsequently use objects. Moreover, by urgent down on the D-Pad whereas midair, Gex can carry out a DuckTales-style assault to bounce off enemies. Gex’s signature characteristic, nonetheless, is his skill to climb virtually any wall or roof within the recreation. Simply bounce towards any relevant floor, and Gex will stick proper on.

I like this, because it utilizies the truth that Gex is, you recognize, a gecko. It additionally lets the extent design characteristic hidden areas to uncover and secrets and techniques that reap the benefits of Gex’s talents. For instance, you’ll encounter just a few slim passageways that the lizard can’t slot in. Nonetheless, since Gex clings to a floor when climbing, you possibly can comply with particular wall-climbing paths to get by means of these spacess. I’m not saying it’s genius, however it’s distinctive to Gex.

I additionally genuinely just like the theming right here. Basing ranges round film genres nonetheless feels comparatively novel to today. Moreover, there’s some good graphical selection even inside every world. You’ll see many various enemy varieties, sometimes strutting some spectacular animation.

Plus, I’ll go on file and say that I like Dana Gould’s voice work as Gex. Whereas the jokes themselves are… what they’re… the supply at all times feels on level. And contemplating the standard of online game voice work in 1995, Gex packs a stunning quantity of persona. Keep in mind, when Gex was launched, individuals thought this lizard was genuinely humorous. Electronics Gaming Month-to-month gave Gex Sport of the Month, and that was the journal I trusted most on the time!

I’m wondering if EGM’s writers ever bothered to revisit this recreation, and if they’d the identical spiral into insanity that can element beneath.

Worse than taking part in a water degree with a Roll n’ Rocker

Sadly, Gex suffered from growth hell. That’s a narrative too lengthy to cowl right here, however you possibly can learn the archived phrases of lead programmer Gregg Tavares right here. Enjoying Gex at the moment, the cracks in its growth turn out to be extraordinarily obvious.

Absolutely the killing blow to Gex is its controls. By default, Gex has a reasonably gradual stroll pace, however he can run by holding the shoulder button. The issue right here is that Gex feels floaty by default, and working provides Gex momentum that makes precision platforming means too troublesome. And certain sufficient, Gex requires precision platforming most of the time. This requires loads of awkward rocking of the D-Pad to tug off jumps, or simply consuming hits and hoping that you just’ll discover therapeutic objects later.

Contemplating the sport showers you with restoratives and additional lives, I feel the builders have been truly conscious of this difficulty. By the point I completed the primary world, I had north of 30 lives. By the second world, I hit 99. Even with loads of deaths, my reserves have been comically inflated. It’s a bandage for certain, however not an answer. As a disclaimer, this current playthrough was on the PlayStation model of the sport. Even me, considered one of three individuals who ever had a 3DO of their home, was not about to make use of that model to seize footage.

Moreover, you possibly can sometimes management Gex’s bounce peak by holding the Up button on the D-Pad. This won’t sound like a giant deal, however keep in mind that Gex’s bounce assault requires holding the Down button. This makes some jumps exceedingly awkward to tug off, requiring me to weirdly rock my thumb at precise moments that legitimately type of harm to do. I do not know why they didn’t take a web page from Mario’s ebook and management bounce peak with, you recognize, the bounce button.

Then you definately get into some wildly inconsistent degree design. Certain, the primary horror-themed world feels nice. It’s even bought a banger of a degree theme that oscillates between sounding atmospheric and type of rocking out. It’s actually the YYZ of campy Halloween music. However the degree design begins getting straight up hateful at sure factors, with just about the complete ultimate world current as an train in frustration. Contemplating the ultimate boss theme is a seven-second loop, I strongly bought the sensation that the staff simply ran out of time and vitality with Gex.

You’ll discover different main points right here, after all. The massive sprites relative to the small decision leads to a couple too many leaps of religion, for instance. However truthfully, the standard of Gex’s gameplay just isn’t what shocked me essentially the most about this revisit.

Oh no, the factor that shook me to the core was Gex’s story.

You’re not prepared for the Gex lore

Truthfully, even when I may safely inform you Gex was a masterpiece platformer, I’m unsure anybody would care. The web is aware of Gex as a result of he endlessly spits out terribly unfunny pop-culture references with few precise punchlines. With this in thoughts, I began having sure suspicions about Gex as a personality, which made me surprise if perhaps the instruction handbook housed any backstory that wasn’t conveyed by the roughly two-minutes of in-game cinematics.

Six pages. Six pages of Gex lore have been in right here. They modified all the pieces.

Right here’s the deal. Previous to the occasions in Gex, the titular lizard was apparently well-adjusted. He was the oldest of “three-and-a-half” youngsters and the son of a NASA researcher. Nonetheless, his “carefree upper-middle-class life” abruptly got here to a halt when his dad died in a freak NASA accident. So unable to confront each the tragedy and the infighting that enveloped his household, Gex determined to fully disassociate and lose himself watching TV.

Don’t fear, the story doesn’t cease there. Gex’s now-single mom apparently tried to get her son away from the TV to no success, so fully out of choices, she strikes the complete household from Hawaii to California. But even this doesn’t shake Gex’s TV dependancy. In actual fact, even when Gex’s mother helps introduce him to their next-door neighbor to assist Gex make a contemporary begin, he refuses the chance outright. As a result of he explains, and I quote, “the final time he had gone outdoors, his dad blew up.”

This culminates in Gex’s mom eradicating the TV from the home outright, which triggers a whole breakdown. Gex loses his thoughts, tells his mom he’ll by no means see her once more, after which leaves. Because the instruction handbook says, “the one factor in his life that had which means was gone.”

Gex retains going

So after this level, Gex lives a depressing, meaningless existence of attempting to make ends meet on his personal. Even pressured into the skin world, he misses his “TV buddies”. This adjustments when Gex’s uncle additionally kicks the bucket, however this doesn’t set off one other psychological breakdown. You see, Gex’s uncle was comically wealthy, so his demise now means the household has cash past their wildest goals.

For the remainder of Gex’s household, this inheritance is a brand new lease on life that lets them reside lavishly and outright purchase Australia. Nonetheless, Gex himself decides to make use of his share of the money to maneuver again to Hawaii. His plan? He would purchase an enormous home and “spend the remainder of his life watching all his outdated TV buddies.”

Infinite wealth winds up simply being an enabler for Gex’s escapism.

In order that brings us to the place Gex the sport begins. Rez, the villain contained in the TV, apparently captures Gex as a result of he needs to make him the mascot of the Media Dimension. Rez doesn’t wish to destroy the world. Gex doesn’t want to avoid wasting the world. He simply watches a lot TV to keep away from confronting the trauma of his father’s demise that it actually consumes him.

That is weirder than taking part in Omori in an deserted Toys “R” Us

So, okay, holy shit, the place do I even begin?

I began this journey questioning if Gex was ever meant to be humorous or aspirational. I believed perhaps I’d get just a few strains to make jokes about, however now making enjoyable of Gex feels incorrect. Gex tells the story of a massively depressed one that fairly actually can’t address actuality with out the escapism of media. He feels so torpid that he can’t even hassle to rise up and make himself a meal. Rez traps him just by waving a snack in his face.

Via this lens, the truth that Gex speaks virtually solely by means of TV references turns into borderline terrifying. Even when Gex takes injury, half the time he reacts with a nonchalant quote like “I solely cry at weddings”. He’s so indifferent from the human situation that he doesn’t really feel ache itself. In spite of everything, the refusal of ache is why Gex is right here to start with.

I get you most likely suppose I’m studying too laborious into this. However I don’t suppose it’s unreasonable to attach the symbolism of TV being Gex’s crutch to deal with life and the factor actually attempting to kill him. Even on the finish of the sport, when Gex escapes the Media Dimension, he doesn’t even depart his seat. As a substitute, he says “I’m wondering what’s on HBO” and continues to look at the display screen. There isn’t any self-awareness. No progress. Simply resignation. Gex is a tragedy.

So congratulations Gex, you’ve made it on the listing of the saddest mascots of the ’90s. You possibly can take your spot proper beneath Klonoa’s throne at primary.

Gextraordinary circumstances

I do wish to reiterate that I solely grew up with the primary Gex recreation. Its sequels, which did not debut on a prohibitively costly piece of {hardware}, by no means entered my dwelling. Whereas I clearly didn’t learn the instruction handbook till now, that is the story I had at launch. Gex didn’t should have six pages of tragic backstory with awkward asides sprinkled all through, however that’s what the builders determined to incorporate. Let me know within the feedback if Gex ever confronts the ache of dropping his father within the sequels.

Additionally, simply now scripting this, I have to level out the irony that the plot of Gex, a recreation meant to introduce a Sonic-style mascot, includes him actually attempting to not turn out to be a mascot. However my god, if I spend anymore time considering deeply about Gex I feel my head will explode.

So general, replaying Gex was a surreal expertise. I’m left with loads of admiration for the builders, who clearly wished to make one thing particular in Gex. I additionally really feel like I destroyed this comfortable reminiscence of Gex being an underrated basic by realizing simply how janky the sport feels at the moment. There have been loads of elements I did get pleasure from. At its finest, I may briefly see glimpses of a recreation that might, theoretically, compete with a Sonic or Mario. However the execution wanted a way more deft hand, which clearly wasn’t going to occur with its troubled growth.

In different phrases, when Restricted Run Video games releases Gex Trilogy, I wouldn’t essentially suggest shopping for it for this recreation. Not with out some essential tweaks at any charge, and even then, I’d remind you that you possibly can simply as simply purchase Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Collection. However alternatively, confronting Gex was vital in its personal means. Typically we compartmentalize reminiscences in methods which might be dangerous to us, and holding Gex on a theoretical 7/10 pedestal may have misled somebody down the road. So whereas this replay was not essentially a pleasing expertise, it was an vital one. In contrast to Gex, I used to be in a position to confront my previous.

So thanks, Gex, for being the cautionary story that I by no means knew I wanted. I’m not saying that Gex wants a gritty reboot the place he accepts that he can’t run from his trauma endlessly. But when such a factor did exist, it may very well be even higher than faucet water at Jerry Garcia’s.

Timothy Monbleau

Information Editor – Timothy began writing neighborhood blogs for Destructoid in 2012. He preferred it a lot he determined to put in writing articles for the location professionally. His love for RPGs and the Ys sequence will endure endlessly.

Extra Tales by Timothy Monbleau