90s platforming series Gex is coming to modern consoles
by Danny Craig Β· 7/13/23, 6:00 PM
Square Enix
The cult-classic trilogy has laid dormant since 1999 aside from a small handful of ports, however, Limited Run Games has announced that it bringing the games to the latest platforms.
The details:
- On July 12, Limited Run's LRG3 show revealed several upcoming releases, the most notable of which was arguably the return of the anthropomorphic spy lizard, Gex. Although no release date was given, all three PlayStation-era titles will be re-released on Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Steam. You can watch the James Bond-inspired trailer here.
- Gex first appeared in 1995 on the failed 3DO before being ported to PlayStation, where it spawned two sequels in 1998 and 1999. While the game itself received positive reviews, much of the attention was focused on the writing and voice-over work, with comedian Dana Gould starring as the titular character in the American release, who would make wise-cracking remarks throughout gameplay with heavy references to pop culture at the time of release.
- The titles will be brought to the latest-generation platforms via the Carbon Engine, a tool developed by Limited Run to port older games to modern hardware via emulation and "science" while ensuring excellent visual quality. It's also possible that the ports will include some extra features, as the publisher is including save states, in-game maps, and an array of quality-of-life fixes in the upcoming Jurassic Park Classic Collection release.
- Despite the games' growing fanbase, thanks in part to popular YouTubers Scott the Woz and VideogameDunkey mentioning the series in numerous videos, it appears that rights holder Square Enix has no plans to create a sequel, as an attempt to create a fourth entry for the PlayStation 2 and GameCube was canceled due to "lack of interest" from Eidos Interactive. Trademarks for the series were filed in 2021, but it is believed that this is related to the release of the Gex Trilogy. The remastered collection could also be used to gauge interest for a future release.
More retro gaming news:
- According to a study conducted by the Video Game History Foundation and the Software Preservation Network, 87% of classic video games have been "lost," which means that the only way to play them is to obtain increasingly scarce physical copies or to pirate them online. Despite the increasing number of remastered releases of old franchises, the number of lost games is expected to rise as more platforms transition to digital distribution.
- A 272-page PDF containing classified documents from Sega during the Saturn's lifecycle has surfaced online. The documents include information on manufacturing costs, marketing strategies, retail margins, internal emails, and even plans for future console releases such as Shenmue and VectorMan.