Watching behind the scenes supplemental material of the voice of Gex, Dana Gould, discussing that the writing, jokes, tones, and general riffing of the international gecko of mystery is a good reminder that sometimes, the entire reason someone did something is because they thought it was funny. Mind boggling that with such a simple motivation, projects often get endlessly deconstructed down the road by some random freak online thirty years after the fact, being over-analysed, excessively dissected, relentlessly pulled apart, and put under a microscope like there’s some deeper meaning involved.


Sometimes, the “deeper meaning” is a string of dick and fart jokes, people

Dana Gould pointed out doing Gex wasn’t really work, it was effortless. It’s interesting to wonder if the exact same is true for the programmers and devs that helped create the game, but if they are anything like me, their idea of fun is raking yourself over the coals to create something people want to engage in, so maybe that’s the spirit to keep in mind with Gex 1.


Pictured: Gex doing his best impression of the average Redditor’s “research” when deciding to post about an incredibly nuanced topic

There is something to be said of the wacky perversity that went into Gex as a concept, and this write up represents some of that same off the wall energy Gex tends to have latent in it’s DNA. To that point, I’m going to pretend this article is the first ever preview/review of a title that isn’t either, in some kind of mad paradox, as it only represents one third of an overview of what the entire Trilogy remaster has to offer, as it involves a first look into Gex 1, but is also the last time I will write about the game in it’s entirety. Quite a bit of what I will reference in terms of design is specific to the first title, which was the only 2D scroller of the trilogy, so most of my addresses simply don’t apply to the other two games. With Gex 1, they were limited by the technology of their time, but still had the lust to do the funny for the gaming masses. For this reason, Gex 1 does stand as the black sheep of the series, as much of what makes Gex 1 so inherently…”it”, ends up being what is essentially a great template for what’s to come, and not necessarily a ringing endorsement for platformers the gaming world over.


Gex, seen here, clinging on to the wall like his life depended on, which is a sentiment that ends up being maybe all too literal in framing the quality of the title top to bottom

Within that framework, Gex is essentially like some kind of ridiculous take on the pop-cultural as seen through the lens of some self-aware cartoon character, so think Freakazoid or Animaniacs, and playing through the game is not totally dissimilar to appreciating a Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode in gaming form, where most of the fun is more or less about the insane bullshit brought up along the way, and not necessarily the main feature being the “star” of the show. Don’t get me wrong, Gex has all the staples of a common platformer of the day: challenging jumps, novel gameplay mechanics like wall climbing, bonus stages with which to test your might, over the top bosses as skill checks…but one is really showing up for the backdrop of comedy that frames the whole experience, as the core mechanics for Gex 1 are rough around the edges, to say the very least.


Perfect is a great way to describe Gex, if one is looking to make more nuanced their usage of the phrase “hot mess”

Which is where the mileage is going to vary so significantly for so many, as Gex’s humor is definitely “of its time”, and even old school by it’s own standards, as I’m not entirely sure just how many gamers will pick up on random references via a Johnny Carson impression or wild asides about how insane the Geraldo Rivera show was. Ironically, even though I was only 10 around the time when Gex was massively trending, I did end up getting those references, as I watched a lot of standup, SNL, big TV junkie etc, so there is definitely an audience for it, and even though “not everyone will get it, but the right people will…for better or worse” is absolutely the mentality that rings true for enjoyment of the title, that comes with the big, big caveat of keeping in mind the better or worse nature that is guaranteed to be bundled with the sentiment. The newer generation is likely to be completely lost in terms of value propositions relative to the laughs, so a lot just isn’t going to land with most. With that said, I would posit the notion Gex really isn’t targeting the kid demographic, so perhaps that checks out for any older gamers looking for their nostalgia fix, and the dark, often twisted asides that Gex effortlessly spits at a moments notice.


An extraordinary lack of visuals gags or meta-jokes about the nature of video games are absent, surprisingly enough. The game punches sideways, and not up or down in skewering its own media, opting for being slyly flippant and maniacally referential to Hollywood at large, with the nature of video games themselves left mostly off the table in terms of subject material

In terms of gameplay, while I’ve always defended the sequel and its final installment as competent 3D platformers, even for its time, Gex 1 was a rough sell. Even young me knew the game was janky as hell, as even by the time Gex 1 had come out, you had a good decade of amazing platformers setting the standard to look back on, so a lot of the jank Gex possesses is a headscratcher.


Seen here: an in-game collectible in the guise of a VCR Tape, which was a primitive form of media from the 20th century that could allow one to watch movies when put into a physical machine that could even rewind said tape for repeated viewings: an amazingly advanced form of technology at that time

The game brings into question just what was “good enough” in terms of testing back then, due to how unforgiving the game can be in terms of enemy placement, platforming sections, and a general sense you’re fighting with the game to get to the end instead of it working with you. The difference between the design choices that make distinct the metaphysics between Mario 1 and The Lost Levels is a great comparison point, with a slightly more specific call out to the difference of what makes the first area from Sonic 1 Green Hill Zone an absolute blast, which is then followed up by the complete headache that is Marble Zone to contend with. Why they went out of their way to create such a tense feeling of stuffy restriction within the games moment to moment, even feeling as if the game is getting off on trolling the player and actively making their life difficult, reminds me of the phrase “it’s not a a bug, but a feature”, leaving rare moments where one feels a sense of genuinely joyful contentment in being exposed to the harsh elements Gex 1 furiously placates.

The bosses in particular do a lot of heavy lifting in reminding the player just how invaluable “Quality of Life” choices are in making any gaming experience one of jovial enrichment vs abject masochism

As an added contingency to my last point, Gex 1 by modern day standards is absolutely brutal, most normal people are absolutely not going to have the basic levels of patience to see this one to the end…if the game had been left untouched. The remastered trilogy knows just how ball-bustingly insane Gex 1 was, and provides not only save states anywhere, but also a rewind feature for use at anytime, so one can instantly attempt the hellish misery that are some of the more terrifying sections Gex takes for granted in the name of it’s “effortless fun”. I will say, however, that having seen firsthand people struggle, people I consider fairly intelligent individuals, absolutely grapple with the simple notion of rewind features in struggling against the brutality of psychotic difficulty spikes, and I still do think the rewind feature is only going to go so far in assuaging people’s anxiety in the realm of bitter resentment in the face of repetitive failure.


“Close enough” is the ideal phrase that springs to mind when contending with the general satisfaction levels Gex offers any random player on a given session

There is a strong argument that Gex helps to frame in my mind, which may be another article entirely, as the idea is one worthy of further investigation, the notion that a games highs should most certainly *at least* match it’s lows. Ideally, the highs would beat the lows, both in terms of quantitative and qualitative standards, and be more of a regularity in terms of the risk/reward involved, and Gex brings into focus just how vital it is to help create a positive gameplay feedback loop for players, so that when they fail, it doesn’t feel like the end of the world, and when the succeed, its genuinely satisfying. This might be a damning indictment, but Gex is quite bad at creating a sense of accomplishment within any sort of progress to be made, and the whole slog through the experience, made bearable for the extreme majority by the saving grace of time manipulation alone as an essential saving grace, makes getting to the end of Gex 1 a true labor….not necessarily of love, mind you, just a warped sense of dutiful pride associated with freak-ass gamers like me that tend to posses a level of psychotic fury in their late night fumblings with virtual insanity.


The zaniness of the aesthetic is only counteracted by the melancholic frustration that binds the player to an endless sense of dizzying woe, as they laugh through the tears of madness the games imbalanced nature constantly relishes in

I wrote an article last year referencing a run through of Let’s Go Eevee! in what I referred to as a “museum tour” of sorts, which is where I kind of retraced my steps on an already finished campaign, cause I needed a hit of the good stuff, but didn’t want all of the ups and downs of actually going through the motions of beating the whole game again. Where that was a museum tour, my replay of Gex 1 with the remastered trilogy felt more akin to some demented equivalent in the video game world as “disaster tourism”, which is where people go on trips to recently negatively impacted countries, cause traveling there is so cheap due to the catastrophe, but the shock and awe of the sights and sounds ticks some sick box of curious schadenfreude wrapped up in consumerist dread. Gex 1 kind of feels the same way, as it’s a hard sell to almost anyone who doesn’t have a warped sense of adventure about them willing to put themselves through a profuse amount of torturous perversions to “get the experience”. Much like the quote I cited earlier, not everyone will “get it”, but the “right people” will…for better or worse….and perhaps, in a moment of sobering clarity, maybe emphasis on “or worse”.



~Pashford