Gex Jr (game)

"Gex Jr." is the colloquial name given to a canceled game concept by ImageBuilder Software. It was pitched to Eidos Interactive as a follow-up to Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko, and was being developed for the Sony PlayStation. The prototype demo of the game was dumped by Internet user, justz00t, on April 2nd, 2022.

History

Development on the game began in late 2000. Due to ImageBuilder investing the majority of its budget in PC technology, the development team began prototyping the demo on a Net Yaroze PS1 development kit. However, at some point prior to being print to disc, the developers acquired a blue PlayStation debugging unit and switched development onto that system. The prototype was meant to showcase ImageBuilder's talents as a developer to Eidos Interactive.

The intent of the demo was to strike a publishing deal with Eidos for a fully-realized console game. The move was meant as a way for ImageBuilder, a company that made primarily edutainment games, to break into traditional game development. Gex was chosen as the basis for the pitch demo due to the team's familiarity with the property, as well as 3D platforming tools being easily accessible to artists at the time.

3D animation work was done by Aaron Sutherland, and background art was created by another employee named Jason. Thomas Webb voiced Gex for the demo, as he did a pretty good imitation of Dana Gould's voice.

However, his voice would've been replaced by Dana's in the final game. The demo was printed to disc on January 25, 2001, and was sent to Eidos Interactive sometime after. The pitch was rejected by Eidos, but the disc remained in the hands of a former employee for many years. The prototype later wound up in the hands of justz00t, whom obtained the disc along with a collection of other Eidos pre-release discs from an associate of this former employee.

Plot

While a story was never fully developed for the game, there is a plot treatment courtesy of Neal Bauer, former project manager and lead artist at ImageBuilder. The following treatment is an excerpt from an interview with Bauer. It provides an idea of how the game might have opened and what the game's overall tone, theme, and general direction would have been:

"After Gex saved Agent Xtra from Rez [at the end of Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko], his time in the Media Dimension began to take its toll on our snot-colored hero. His snappy one-liners from pop culture television had been replaced with philosophical conundrums, conjuring up scenes of existential dread. Gex just wanted to hang up his green booties and retire like all geckos do, under the tire of a vehicle or as a spokes-lizard shilling government insurance.

Gex returns to a dark, empty home. The only light is that cast from a comically large tube television that's been on and hissing for the entire run of the Gex series. Gex makes a B-line for his bedroom in his final quest to find silence and peace after years of chasing his personal dragons (spinning TV remotes). He walks directly in front of the television, the bright contrast of the screen making a hunched-over silhouette of our once proud (and erect) hero. Passing the TV's zenith (or the Zenith TV, we can't remember), the light becomes too bright and temporarily blinds Gex. Without being able to see, the last few steps he makes aren't seen but heard as a cacophony of cartoon sound-effects from outside the home.

Gex struggles to regain both his balance and composure by grabbing the padded arm of his couch with both hands. Frozen in the light of the television, Gex lets out a well overdue sob and poses a question to the empty void of his room, "when am I ever going to hit rock bottom?".

At that moment, Gex releases his grip on the couch, brushes off his tiny-green knees, and takes a deep breath.

He's done.

He just needs to sleep for a week, a month, or however long it takes to remove the multi-console hell he's been through over the last several years. With that realization, Gex takes one more step towards the bedroom where his foot lands squarely on a comically large RED button pointing upwards from the face of a rogue remote left on the floor.

[Camera zooms in on Gex's eye which now looks like a cross between Edvard Munch's "The Scream" and a self-portrait of Salvadore Dali]

Gex now frantically flails at the arm of the couch in a desperate attempt to stop what's about to happen. However, the pull of the television is just too great for a beaten and overworked lizard. His body twists like a fruit gushers commercial as he's inexorably being pulled in towards his fate, towards his own personal inferno, to the only place Gex will ever know.

Gex is coming home...

[fade to black]

[fade in to white]

[like REALLY white]

Gex's disembodied voice quietly asks the voice, "Is...Is this heaven?". A kindly old man's voice is heard as if it's been carried on the wind, "Heaven? Why, heaven's no! But you're close, by golly!".

[the white begins to fade into muted green, blue, and plaid...that's right, you heard me. PLAID!]

The entirety of Gex's vision is filled with the image of a crisscrossed tartan print. As Gex cranes his head upward, he realized that he'd been looking up close at a vest. Not entirely sure of where he is or how he's got there, Gex assumes he must be getting comforted by an elderly neighbor or a scene-stealing EMT that came out of retirement to "help save the FAMOUS Gex the Gecko". However, as Gex's vision reaches the summit of the vest, his eyes don't land on that of a hambone medical huckster, but the head of a bolo-wearing, banjo-playin', KFC-founder-goatee-wearin' snowman!

"OH DEAR, GOD!!! WHERE AM I?!? WHO ARE YOU?!? WHAT'S GOING ON AROUND HERE!", Gex pondered as he screamed those exact words emphatically.

"Well sir! You're here in the North Pole! My name is Sam, short for Sam the Snowman. And to answer that last question, I'm going to need my banjo..."

Gex scrambles for the tree immediately behind ol' Sam and quickly realizes that these trees are sharper than the ones he remembered. Quicker still, Gex realizes that his breath is visible and that his remote-control-using fingers are starting to lose feeling. The last thing he recalls before falling backward out of the branch he was sliding off of is that there was a box opening up just below him. A box made of pretty colors and a big bow on the top...

LEVEL 1: 'Gex-y the Green-Tailed Gecko'"

Each level would've received some form of treatment similar to this. Whether or not each level would have its own introductory cutscene is unknown, but a treatment would have been devised to give the developers a better idea on how the level should flow. It also unclear if all of this opening treatment would have made it into the final game's intro, or if the majority of it would have been relegated to the game's manual (similar to Gex's backstory being largely relegated to the first game's manual).

Gameplay

This game would've been a 3D platformer in-line with previous games in the series. From the demo, Gex can run, jump, and pickup collectibles. He retains most of his signature moves such as the tail whip and tongue attack. Curiously though, he cannot tail bounce and only has a singular jump. This is either due to this demo being a simple demonstration of Gex's abilities, or this would've been a stipulation exclusive to this level (likely due to Gex's childish stature). There is also a designated fart button that allows Gex to fart on command. Whether this would've been a mechanic or a feature used just for fun in this level is unknown. Gex's knack for making one-liners and jokes would have also returned in this game.

The demo is fairly linear in its structure, as all Gex has to do to finish the level is make it to the end. Once Gex reaches the end, he does a little dance as the camera zooms in and the demo resets. This seems to imply that Gex may have had custom victory animations for completing the level, which would have been a first for the series. Despite being absent in the demo, there would have likely been multiple objectives and remotes to collect in the final game.

Levels

In the demo, the featured level is a place called the Media Museum. It is a movie theater-themed level with bright and colorful décor, floating TV sets, and a popcorn machine. The collectibles for this level are soda cans. This level was meant to be a parody of children's TV shows such as Rugrats, hence why Gex is depicted as a child. Throughout the level, Gex can be heard referencing movies and TV shows such as Blue Clues, Teletubbies, Star Wars, and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?. This is the only level where Gex would've been a kid, as he would have been his regular adult self for the rest of the game.

As for other levels in the game, the amount and variety is undetermined. As hinted in the opening treatment, a holiday-themed level similar to Holiday Broadcasting may have been the game's first level. Digging through the game's internal files, there are mentions of things such as aliens, astronauts, and a house. This seems to imply that an outer space level and a level with or revolving around a house were planned to be in the game.

Gallery

Level

Animations

Idle animation.

Jump animation.

Tail whip animation.

Fart animation.

Tongue attack animation.

Victory pose animation.

Other

Random face

Soda can collectable

See Also

• List of quotes in Gex Jr

Trivia

• The human face seen on one of the TV screens in the demo is that of program manager, Rick Lowe.
• If released, this would've been the only game in the mainline Gex series not made by Crystal Dynamics.
• This is the only Gex game that was never publicly announced or rumored.
• While it's unconfirmed, Rez would've likely returned as the main antagonist.