Cuz

Cuz
Species	Gecko
Alignment	Good
Affliations	Unnamed father Unnamed mother Gex (cousin) Rex (ancestor)
Enemies	Rez The mobsters in Gangster TV
Appears in	Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko

Cuz, as his name implies, is Gex's cousin. He is a playable character in Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko.

Background

Cuz is an overweight leopard gecko who wears a pink, floral Hawaiian shirt. He was captured by the gangsters of Gangster TV on Rez's orders, and placed in a cage on a ship in the harbor. Gex eventually managed to free his cousin as part of a mission in that level, unlocking him for use in the secret levels.

Involvement

Like Rex, he is playable in both the secret levels and Mission Control (through a secret code in the Gex Vault). Unlike Rex however, as explained above, it is actually mandatory to unlock him due to rescuing him being a mission objective.

Real Name?

The "Jerzee" wanted poster from the prototype.

Although he is referred to as "Cuz" in-game, this may not be his actual name. In the February 8th, 1999 prototype, wanted posters for the characters can be seen around what would've been the hub area for the cut level, Gtown1. Underneath each character's wanted portrait is their name. Gex, Rex, and Alfred's (shortened to "Al" for the poster) names appear as they do in the final game. However, underneath Cuz's portrait is the name "Jerzee." An alteration of this name was referenced in the "Features" section of the Gex 3 page on Eidos Interactive's old website. On this page, Cuz is referred to as "Joyzee." This could either have been Cuz's finalized name before removing it from the final release, or a misspelling of Jerzee by the website writer. Interestingly, in retail version of the game, leftovers of the name appears in the game's files, as a text following text string: "Play as Joy-Z". That naming convention was speculated to be parody on the hip hop artist, Jay-Z. However, it's unknown where this would have appeared.

In either case, both name choices imply two things that were not concretely known about the character: 1) They are obviously from New Jersey (or, at least, their place of origin was intended to be New Jersey). And 2): Cuz is a nickname and not their actual name. Since neither of these names appear in the final game nor in any other media releases of Gex, it can be argued that the names are non-canon. Still, it is an interesting glimpse at the development of this character.

Gallery

Trivia

• Deep Cover Gecko is his first and only appearance in the series.
• He is the only character in the series to be apart of a main level objective (as opposed to being a side objective like Rex in Holiday Broadcasting).
• He is the only member of Gex's family that is seen and playable in-game.
• Upon entering the secret level Cheesy Rider in the prototype version of the game, Cuz appears in place of Gex. However, he was replaced by Gex wearing a lifeguard outfit in the final release. This implies that Cuz was either going to be playable in this level or perhaps was a costume for Gex to wear. Given that Cuz is supposedly from New Jersey and the state is the level's setting, it makes sense that he would've been the playable character for this level. However, it begs the question of how Cuz would've been playable if he was still trapped in Gangster TV (unless this level would've unlocked after freeing him).
• If the Jerzee/Joyzee/Joy-Z name is believed to be canon, then this implies that Cuz prefers to go by his nickname rather than his actual name. Which, given Cuz's supposed name, is understandable.