Gex is back. But not how his fans probably were hoping for. Instead of a new game or remake, fans can check out a demo for Gex Jr. a never-before-seen PS1 spin-off of the original Gex franchise. This new demo has surfaced online over 20 years after it was seemingly abandoned.
The new unfinished demo for Gex Jr. comes courtesy justz00t and has been uploaded to the fantastic Hidden Palace website. The demo appeared with no real warning, just showing up yesterday, surprising many and confusing most.
Thanks to justz00t, you can watch a short video of the demo in action below:
In the short demo, we see Gex Jr. quipping away like his dad (?) with references to Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and Darth Vader being Luke’s dad, things that were already dated in 2001. (The demo has a Jan. 2001 build date.)
The demo seems to be set in a movie theater-like level and has Gex Jr. collecting cans of soda. Each time he collects one he makes a gulping noise that is now seared into my brain and will never be forgotten. I never want to hear Gex Jr. gulp again.
The simple level design and objectives, coupled with the game’s name and overall look seem to imply this game was going to be aimed at kids or younger players.
You might, like me, have a lot of questions now. For example, here’s one: Does Gex Jr. imply Gex has a son? Does that also mean Gex fucks? And, unrelated to all that, was Gex. Jr a game developed for kids? Did someone really think the world needed a kid-friendly Gex spin-off? And also: Who was that person?
Sadly, we don’t really have any answers. The demo for Gex Jr. is just this one, simple level that repeats every time you beat it. As mentioned before, outside of the people who worked on this game, it seems nobody previously was aware of this odd attempt at a Gex spin-off. So info about is basically non-existent.
Perhaps in the future answers will, like the demo itself, surface somewhere online. But for now, I’m stuck thinking about Gex Jr. gulping and the idea that Gex has a son. Weird day for me.
If you want some more unreleased demos, prototypes, and other odd bits of gaming history, check out some of the other stuff on the Hidden Palace website. Its community has uploaded and archived a lot of great stuff, including over 700 PS2 demos and prototypes.
