Gex (video game)

Gex is a 2D, platformer video game, developed and published by Crystal Dynamics. Gex was released on March 16, 1995 for the 3DO, and later the Sega Saturn, PC, and Sony PlayStation.

Story
Gex and his family lived in Maui, Hawaii. His mother raised him and his three, younger siblings while their father worked for NASA. Gex's hobbies included spending time with his friends, surfing, playing the ukulele, and throwing poi parties.

One day, Gex's mother got a phone call from NASA, explaining that Gex's father and ten volunteers died when their rocket exploded on the launch pad. The gecko family's carefree life was shattered. While his mother and siblings dealt with their grief the usual way, Gex bottled up his emotions and took refuge in front of the television.

After several unsuccessful attempts to get Gex to stop watching TV, and after consulting with a minister and friends at work, she decided it was time for a change. The gecko family was moving to Encino, California.

One week later, a moving van drove into the geckos' new home. The family and movers moved all of the boxes inside. Gex was still having trouble getting over his father's death, but his mother thought she knew exactly what to do.

Later that night, the doorbell rang. a burly, older lizard walked inside carrying a basket of house-warming treats. As he passed out chocolate snacks to Gex's siblings, he mentioned that he had one spot left on his "All-Pro Girl Watching Team". Gex said that he'd love to help him out, but that he had planned watching TV all week. Completely out of ideas, Harv said farewell to Gex's mother and left.

The next morning Gex ran downstairs, expecting to eat breakfast while watching more TV, but froze in his tracks when saw that the TV was gone. He began panicking, when his mom walked into the room and said that she gave the TV to some Gypsies. Gex was outraged, the one thing he enjoyed anymore was gone. Gex walked out of his home, and planned to never return.

Over the next few months, Gex made new friends with some local punk kids, spent his days skateboarding to the mall, hanging out in comic book stores, listening to his Walkman. He slept in a friend's garage and made money by doing odd jobs.

One day as he was skateboarding along with his imaginary friend, "The Mayor", a black limousine pulled up. Gex was about to have his friend insult the driver, when the back window rolled down and he saw his Mom. She told him that his Uncle Charlie had died, and his family had inherited his entire estate. Uncle Charlie was the original model for the Izod clothing company logo. He had invested his salary in company stock, when he died his estimated worth was over twenty billion dollars.

Ecstatic, Gex leaped into the air, told The Mayor he'd been impeached, and hopped into the limo. Over the next few weeks the family went on a spending spree, Gex's Mom bought fifty-one percent ownership in stock, fired everyone, sold the rockets to Third World Countries, and converted Mission Control into a monkey-themed restaurant.

Gex on the other hand wasn't interested in jewelry, cars, or other extravagances. He took his share of the money and decided to fulfill a longtime dream. Gex called his Mom at her new restaurant, "Space Monkeys", and told her that he was going to buy a mansion back in Maui, buy the largest TV in the world, and enough food for decades. His Mom wished him the best of luck, then left to rewire some of her robotic monkeys.

In the next few days, Gex was watching TV munching on a bowl of flies, flipping through the channels to find something new to watch, he had already seen practically every show on TV a million times. Frustrated, he began hitting the remote, when a fly buzzed by his head. Gex flicked out his tongue and swallowed it. Unknown to Gex, the "fly" was actually a metallic transmitter. Suddenly, Gex's remote jammed and the TV went blank. A huge hand shot of the screen and grabbed Gex by his neck, and pulled the young gecko into his own TV. The cold claw belonged to Rez, the overlord of the Media Dimension, who had intended to make Gex his new mascot and conquer the world.

Gex traversed through the worlds of the Media Dimension. The first world he encountered was an enormous dome, surround by four large TVs. Gex then went through the large TVs, collected the remotes, and defeated the various worlds' guardians. Gex also collected pieces to an another remote, which allowed him to travel to a mysterious Planet X.

Once Gex managed to collect all the worlds' remotes, the dome opened and he could travel to Rezopolis, the capital of the Media Dimension. Once inside Gex defeated Rez in a head-to-head battle, using one of Rez's own mechanical bugs. Rez transformed into a ball of energy and escaped through a hole in the dome.

Gex was then teleported back to his home in Maui, his last words in the game were "Hey, cool. I wonder what's on HBO".

Gameplay
Comedian Dana Gould provides the voice of Gex.

The objective in almost every level in Gex is to explore and find the remotes. Remotes are hidden in various places; sometimes they are very easy to find, sometimes they are near impossible. Certain levels require you to find two remotes, to access the next world.

In almost every level, there is a hidden portal to a bonus level. Completing a bonus level perfectly gives you a piece of the Planet X remote. Though there is a bonus level in each level, you only have to beat one in each world.

Rather than a save system, Gex uses a password system to save your progress. To receive a password, the player must find a VHS Tape, hidden in the level. The tapes are usually hidden in either the second or third levels of a world; tapes can also be acquired by defeating a boss.

On the 3DO game system, save was available on the system itself through the internal memory.

TV Worlds
Gex features six different worlds, and uses a generic map style in which each level must be played and completed in the correct order.


 * The Cemetery: Gex hurtles through the Media Dimension, back to the time and place when Abbott and Costello met Frankenstein. Gex is caught in a horror themed world alive with Franken-geckos, mad slashers, crazy tomatoes, and other nightmare creatures.
 * The Cemetery is the first of the worlds encountered, and features five levels.


 * New Toonland: Gex battles cheesy characters from those crack-of-dawn Saturday morning cartoons. Retired heroes and thieves and out-of-work toon slouchers line up to take a swipe at Gex.
 * New Toonland is the second of the worlds encountered, and features five levels.


 * Jungle Isle: Gex stalks through a malaria factory packed with carnivores & cannibals, moving walls, hidden booby-traps, and breakaway bridges.
 * Jungle Isle is the third of the worlds encountered, and features only three levels.


 * Kung Fuville: Gex fights through a martial arts themed world filled with ninjas, samurai geckos, sumo wrestlers.
 * Kung Fuville is the fourth world encountered, and features four levels.


 * Rezopolis: Vast installations of alien hi-tech circuitry fume with electrical force. Energy geysers leap from pulsating waves of liquid snow. This is the twisted reality where network programs are chosen.
 * Rezopolis is the fifth world encountered, and features three levels.


 * Planet X: The infamous secret world, unlocked by collecting pieces of a mysterious remote, throughout all five of the Media Dimension's worlds. Planet X is widely considered to be the most challenging of all the worlds, but completing it brings many rewards; after Rez is defeated, the player is shown much concept art and unused ideas, such as preliminary storyboards, and prototype enemies.
 * Planet X is the final world encountered, and features eight levels.

Moves


A list and explanation of the moves that the character of Gex can perform in the game.


 * Tail Whip: An attack which damages enemies, it can also be used on items like launching skulls to knock them into enemies as weapons, or smack bug power-ups to restore your health meter by one point.
 * Tongue Lash: Snags gold flies, bugs and power-ups in mid air.
 * Hurl: Spit a fire ball, ice ball, or other weapon, depending on the power-up Gex swallowed last.
 * Jump: Aids in avoiding enemies and clearing obstacles.
 * Tail Bounce: Destroy enemies, bust breakable blocks and bounce on to high platforms.
 * Wall Stick: Jump while pressing the Direction Button against a wall's surface or a ceiling and Gex will sticks to the surface. Gex can stick & crawl up the sides & faces of walls & buildings and spin while sticking.

Abilities
Throughout the game there are small spheres, that Gex can swallow to either gain abilities, or heal.


 * Red Firefly/Fire: Gex can spit balls of fire. Kept until injured.
 * Blue Firefly/Ice: Gex can spit beams of ice. Kept until injured.
 * Grasshopper/Jump: Gex can jump much higher than normal. Kept until injured.
 * Yellow Firefly/Lightning: Gex can spit three bolts of electricity. Kept until injured.
 * Centipede/Speed: Gex can run much faster than normal. Expires after one minute.
 * Caterpillar/Whirlwind: Gex is surrounded by a whirlwind that injures enemies, and protects himself. Expires after one minute.

Health
Gex swallows these spheres to improve his health.


 * Amber/Partial Heal: Gex heals one point.
 * Ladybug/Complete Heal: Gex heals all points.
 * Flea/Increase Health: Gex heals all points and is given an extra point.
 * Butterfly/Life: Gex receives one extra life.