For better or worse, society must soon reckon with Gex once more. As we reported with no small amount of trepidation in 2023, Limited Run [[link]] Games is releasing Gex Trilogy, a remaster collection of all three adventures of the anthropoid lizard that Crystal Dynamics first inflicted on the human consciousness in 1995. And yesterday, Limited Run revealed the Gex Trilogy Tail Time Edition, a $200 fever dream of Gex idolatry including not one, but two separate physical instantiations of Gex that [[link]] you can place in your real, human home.
If you didn't spend a lot of time staring at videogame rental store selections in the late 90s and early 2000s, you might not be familiar with Gex. The gist is that he's a lizard, but also a guy, and kind of a secret agent, except he can go into a sort of TV dimension and dress up as Sherlock Holmes or whatever.
His first game was a side-scroller, but the sequels entered Gex into the honored pantheon of 3D character platformer protagonists—except maybe not quite as honored as his peers, considering how long it's taken for a remaster. Voiced by Dana Gould, Gex was a product of a simpler time when you could spin three games out of a comedian pretending to be a reptile pretending to be pop culture characters.
If Gex's long absence seemed an injustice to you, you can now make up for it with $200 of prime Gex memorabilia like trading cards, a pin, a 7-inch Gex statue, and a 3-foot-tall inflatable Gex doll. Do these works not please you?
My favorite inclusion in the bunch is the collector's edition's exclusive box art, illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano, whose gorgeously surreal art style helped define the visual identity of Final Fantasy through concept designs and commissioned illustrations. And now he's done a Gex. He's got a sword. It's incredible.
If that's not enough to tempt you, here's the full rundown of everything that's included in the Gex Trilogy Tail Time Edition:
- Gex Trilogy game
- Tail Time Edition box featuring art by Yoshitaka Amano
- An additional PS1-style retro game case
- Full soundtrack of each game
- Steelbook featuring art by Marcos Lopez
- 12" x 16" Double-Sided Poster featuring art by Alex TJ Campbell
- 36" Inflatable Gex Doll
- 7" Gex Statue
- Remote pin
- Gex trading cards (I don't know what kind of exchange rate you can expect for these)
- A Steam code for the trilogy remaster, if you're buying the PC version
There's also a $75 classic edition with just the game, retro box, steelbook, and a "soundtrack selection," but that doesn't even include one physical Gex. To me, that's an insult, but your standards may differ. Amano's Gex masterwork is additionally available as a $50 poster or $30 1000-piece puzzle, if you just want to appreciate it on its own.
Gex Trilogy will launch on Steam on June 16, but the preorders [[link]] of its various physical collections and accoutrement have estimated shipping dates ranging from October to next March. But hey, we've waited this long. What's another year for two Gexes?