“If this weren’t a video game, I’d be on my way to prison!”
Gex, as a character, was the perfect intersection of so many things. Syndicated reruns dating back to the 50’s era being shown on TV, the tail end of the platformer era of games, the last gasp of talking animal mascots with attitude in games. It’s probably for that reason that Gex holds a special place in the hearts of people that enjoyed those games when they came out, despite the fact that almost everything about them is dated as hell, now.
Well, I regret to inform you that it seems that at some point, our hero engaged in premarital Gex.
Yeah, I can see that happening.
Recently, a demo for a previously unheard of Gex sequel titled Gex Jr. for the PS1 surfaced. It’s extremely unfinished, and just one level. And it’s also incredibly simple, hinting that it may have been aimed at young children before being scrapped. You can, after all, press △ to to fart, apparently.
And he seems to quip about pop culture just like dear old Dad. Star Wars, Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, all referenced within the span of 30 seconds. Did I forget to mention that this incredibly short, looping demo dates back to January, 2001 A Space Odyssey? Because, if nothing else screams 2001 (and it doesn’t), that Who Wants To Be A Millionaire reference really does. 2001 children loved references to Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, right? Just like they loved DJ Quack Quack.
As for why it seems Gex Jr. never got past this stage in development? Well, there’s probably a couple of reasons. First and foremost, the PS2 was already out. While the PS1 continued to get games published for it into the mid-2000’s (no joke), most major developers moved to the more powerful consoles of that generation. There’s also the fact that, as stated in that first paragraph, a lot of what made Gex work was on its way out by that point. Especially the humor; the slow but steady adoption of modern HDTV had begun in the 90’s, and by the mid 2000’s, saw most stations begin to discard the majority of then-ancient television shows which didn’t conform to the risen standard of visual fidelity. Meaning reruns of stuff like Gilligan’s Island stopped running on any random station that just had time to fill during some crappy time slot.
Also, Square Enix acquired Crystal Dynamics in 2009 when they bought Eidos. On the one hand, you really wonder why nothing’s been done with the character, especially considering the recent Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon remakes, not to mention the things THQ Nordic has done with their back catalog. On the other hand, oh boy would it be a nightmare to make, regardless of what they made.
Source: Kotaku
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