Gex the Gecko: The Forgotten Powerhouse

 


DISCLAIMER: THIS BLOG IS HEAVILY INSPIRED AND BASED ON BANG´S BLOG RESEARCH FOR BUBSY VS GEX  SO, AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE MATERIAL AND LINKS HERE ARE TAKEN FROM THEIR BLOG. THERE WILL BE A NOTE WHEN SOMETHING IS TAKEN DIRECTLY FROM THE BLOG.

Alright, it’s been a while, but it’s time to talk about the second character we’re covering in this blog, GEX the Gecko. Created by Crystal Dynamics and making his debut in 1996 in the game named after him, GEX, this gecko had a pretty short run, with three home console titles, portable ports of the last two games, and among all his merchandising, the standout piece was the novelization of the three games told from his own perspective, which came out in 2000. Even though there’s no real sign he was considered a failure, the gecko was simply pushed out of the spotlight.
Later on there were rumors about a fourth game and even an animated movie, but none of that ever saw the light of day, and we didn’t hear anything else about him until 2025, when a compilation of his console games was released, bringing this character back from obscurity and hopefully giving him a better shot in modern times.
In this blog, just like the last one, we’ll be going through all of his official content, mainly focusing on the original games, their ports, and even Mad Dash Racing as complementary material. We’ll also check out the manuals and yes, even his own novel (did I just say novel?) to dig into his biggest feats in power, speed, endurance, intelligence, achievements, and those particular moments that deserve closer scrutiny, so we can decide whether to count them or not, but at least laying out the arguments that lead us there.




Back in February 2000, a licensed novel authorized by Crystal Dynamics was released, covering all three games (with a focus on the third one) and adding a few extra scenes to bridge between stages, which at first glance might look like just a curiosity.

However, it introduces some differences between what’s shown in the games and what’s narrated by Gex, who tells the story entirely from his own perspective, leaving the question in the air of whether it’s the same character or if it should even be taken into account, with the answer being a clear YES.

Despite those differences, most of the elements line up within the bigger picture, sometimes even complementing what’s presented in the games, so it’s not really a big issue to consider them as the same thing. Even with those changes, it’s easy enough to say that both can potentially be true at the same time, or that they fit into undefined time periods within the continuity of the video games. That way, there’s no need to twist or force what’s already established in the games to make it match what’s presented in the novel.





  • Capable of destroying giant rocks by ramming into them.
  • Can destroy robots.
  • Blows strong enough to send enemies larger than himself (including 3‑foot‑tall Cyclops) flying through the air.
  • With tail attacks, can destroy stone blocks (Up to 0.43 Tons of TNT) [Small Building]...
  • ...and likewise, entire metal blocks (10.8 Tons of TNT) [Large Building].
  • Can demolish radio towers.
  • As Gexzilla, can destroy skyscrapers after striking them repeatedly with his tail.
  • His tail whip is powerful enough to reduce enemies down to subatomic levels (described to reduce them to a million of electrons scattered through the place) (130 Megatons of TNT) [Large City] (See later in High end or Wank) (Scan and calcs taken from the Bang´s Blog)
  • When fighting the Physiclops, struck the base of a mountain and generated such a violent landslide that it buried the beast under tons of rock (17.7 Gigatons of TNT) [Island] (See later in High end or Wank)









TAIL WHIP


Gex´s main attack. Uses his tail to attack enemies in front of him. Gex can crouch to strike low, or spin around himself to pull off a spinning attack with it. He can also harm non physical enemies and even return projectiles. (Scans taken by "The Bang´s Blog)

WALL CLIMBING


 Like any gecko, he can use his feet to stick to walls and move across them in multiple directions. Even while clinging to walls, he can still attack with his tail, use his tongue, and unleash power‑up‑boosted attacks.

TONGUE LASH/TONGE SWING/HURL


  His tongue abilities are all connected to each other. With his ‘Tongue Lash’ he can grab flies or power‑ups, while with his ‘Hurl’ he can spit out the resulting powers. Meanwhile, his ‘Tongue Swing’ lets him latch onto surfaces like ledges and swing from them as if it were a rope. It has a reach of up to 20 feet.

TAIL BOUNCE


He can fold his tail under himself and bounce off it, either to boost the height of his jump or to hit enemies. (Gift taken from The Bang´s Blog)

GELATINOUS TONGUE LASH


 Gex fires a burst of green slime from a distance, which among other things can: incapacitate enemies, disable weapons, and even trap moving cars. When powered up, he can fire even icicles or fireballs.  (Scans and Screenshot taken from the Bang´s Blog)

GIANT FORM


In the world where he fights against Mecharez, he can access a form called 'Gexzilla' that is comparable in size to the buildings of large cities. (Image taken from the Bang´s Blog)

TV IMPRISIONMENT


At the end of Gex 2: Enter the Gecko, it’s revealed that during the final battle against Rez, Gex hit him so hard that he smashed Rez into one of his TVs and ended up trapping him inside it. Rez is a character who usually has the ability to move through televisions, just like he did with Gex in the first game when he dragged him into the Media Dimension for the first time.And this time, for one reason or another, he couldn’t escape of the TV.



 Skilled agent. Adaptative Fighter: His countless hours in front of the TV have given him the knowledge he needs to take on the enemies of the Media Dimension, including Rez’s henchmen. On multiple occasions he’s been seen coming up with quick strategies or fast moves to take down several enemies, or even monsters way bigger and stronger than him. 


OVERCONFIDENCE

 When Gex gains the upper hand, he can sometimes drop his guard just to mock the enemy and revel in his victory, leaving himself exposed to a counterattack.


COLD TEMPERATURES


Can swam under cold water without side effects.

SPACE 


Can breathe in space without air supplies (Only in Gex 1).



REMOTE CONTROLS

The remote controls, devices created by Rez, when used against the portals (or TVs) can open the way and reveal new places in the Media Dimension. They can even be used as weapons by Rez to summon TV Bombs or Power orbs that can deal damage.

BUGS 



Throughout his games, Gex has access to various power‑ups in the form of insects. By swallowing them after grabbing them with his ‘Tongue Lash,’ he can: restore health, increase his HP, gain extra lives, jump higher, spit fire, spit ice (which freezes and paralyzes enemies for a short time), spit electricity, gain super speed, and even become invincible. He can also create fire or ice whirlwinds with the help of his tail.

MAD DASH RACING POWER-UPS



Psycho Chicken: a chicken-shaped guided missile that homes in on foes and explodes.MDR

Blob Bombs:, which are green glowing blobs that can be set down which explode on contact like mines.

Bouncy Fruit: bouncing explosive projectiles shaped like fruit.

Ribbon of Pain: A tron-like trail of energy that trails behind him, stunning anybody who touches it.

Disco Ball: A shield that gives Gex temporary invincibility plus a speed boost.

Freeze All: Freezes all other racers on the track, forcing them to struggle to escape. It can reach the racers at any point of the map, even when they aren´t visible for who activated the power-up.

SUITS 


The more relevant are: 

Vampire costume that lets him glide through the air

Red riding hood that lets him glide

Robot suit that lets him glide In the novel, it makes him a transformer who can shapeshift into a bucket, a forklift, a jet plane or a helicopter with a rotor strong enough to chop up a heavily armoured giant robot.

Sherlock Holmes costume that lets him analyze his surroundings and... shrink.

ANIMALS





In order: Humps, Paunch and Scales are some animals that helps Gex to cross through some maps of the Media Dimension, depending the envoirement, they helped Gex to cross the sand dunes, to jump higher heights and cross through water. (All the animal renders are taken from the Bang´s blog)

TANK


 Armored vehicle used by Gex to fight in the WWII world. The cannon is powerful enough to blow some builds with their shots and destroy other tanks. (Tank render comes from the Bang´s blog)



  • Got the biggest TV and mansion in the world.
  • Stopped Rez to overtake all the TV Channels and make Gex the mascot of his network.
  • Managed to wipe out all of Rez’s henchmen from the Media Dimension, including the most threatening ones such as Morphina, The Flatulator, Sun Snake, Toxic Turtle, The Tiki Brothers, Mooshoo Pork, Mecharez, Rock Hard, and Brain of Oz.
  • Successfully rescued Agent Xtra from Rez´s station.
  • Defeated Rez for good during the third game after beat him in 2 ocassions.




Rez, Gex’s arch‑nemesis and self‑proclaimed father, who survived the NASA space mission accident that supposedly ended his life along with the rest of his crew, now resurfaces as this robo‑gecko with multiple mechanical prosthetics, becoming the Overlord of the Media Dimension. Creator of the remote controls he uses to activate portals and move across the Media Dimension, Rez commands henchmen drawn from all those Z‑class shows Gex consumed throughout his life, all working together to stop Gex from interfering with his plans to conquer the entire dimension, which at same point, he had it completely mapped.

If not for the Gecko’s years of consuming television shows, it would have been impossible to stop Rez, whose influence stretches across the entire dimension, manifesting in bases, cities, planets, and even outposts scattered at stellar distances from one another. In every corner, he commands a legion of henchmen ranging from mundane ninjas to robots, paranormal creatures, and monsters, all operating under the same directive: eliminate anyone who opposes his plans.

And even when everything else fails, Rez proved to be as powerful as the Gecko, if not more, wielding a vast ballistic arsenal that he unleashed against Gex at full capacity. He knew Gex down to the smallest detail, having spied on him for quite some time before the events of Gex 1, where he first brought him into the Media Dimension. Thanks to the combined efforts of Gex, Agent Xtra, and the government agency, the tyrant of the Media Dimension was finally stopped once and for all.


Here, I´m going to elaborate these situations where could get a higher end for Gex and see if they can hold up, or until what extend they can.

SUBATOMIC DESINTEGRATION



As laid out by the researchers of the Bang’s Blog, there really isn’t much more to cover in this aspect. First of all, we have no indication that this could be hax or an additional ability, and whenever his Tail Whip is mentioned, it refers to disintegrating enemies. The calculations presented by Bang’s Blog are also reasonable for the scale at which subatomic disintegration of enemies can occur, and considering that some of them are human and are also disintegrated, it’s easy to see why their calculation places the power tier within the ranges mentioned.

ISLAND LEVEL GEX


It’s an interesting take on Gex’s feat of shaking a mountain to defeat the Physiclops, burying him under the avalanche of rocks generated by it. Addressed by Bang’s Blog, they took a more measured route by using the bare minimum requirements for the event to match the description (taking the minimum measurements for what qualifies as a mountain, and what qualifies as a tremor). While logical, this feat also opens the door to a much greater one. Looking closely at the scene, we see the fight begins in the coliseum, but as it progresses, both Gex and the Physiclops start throwing each other across great distances, which clearly shows the battle moved away from the city or coliseum where it started (a detail worth noting). From Gex’s description of being thrown into a field with trees, it implies significant distances were covered.

Following this, when we dive into the feat of making the mountain rumble, two things must be considered: first, the world is based on Ancient Greece, so it’s reasonable to assume that when we talk about a mountain in Greece, we’re referring to an average Greek mountain (128 km surface area). Second, the novel describes how the Phsyclops was buried instantly. It’s hard to think this was just the bare minimum to qualify as a tremor, so we can reasonably suspect seismic magnitudes were involved to achieve this feat. Even though island‑level is a rather favorable interpretation, it’s backed by a certain logic and, within the debate framework, can be taken as a reasonable upper limit for his power.

MFTL GEX



  As for the spaceship feat, it seems to have some logic as well. If we consider that each world can potentially be large enough to contain galaxies, and Gex specifically describes five worlds, we can say that throughout that journey the Media Dimension was traversed and Gex was able to witness each world as the ship traveled. We even have segments where, for Gex, an action in seconds is considered fast, so by placing whole seconds (2 to 59) under 60 (which would be considered one minute), we can infer the ship was traveling at extremely above the speed of light. 

 However, here lies the big problem: we’re piecing together information from different sources and making assumptions where data is missing, such as the actual distance Gex traveled or the real time the journey took. While there’s a certain logic behind the feat, it’s hard to sustain due to the many gaps in the interstellar travel. Still, at the very least, we can say, there was a potential interstellar travel, and that Gex was able to recognize each world he crossed.



To talk about the cosmology scaling proposed by the Bang´s blog, we have to talk about the most important thing: What´s the Media dimension?

THE MEDIA DIMENSION


What exactly is the Media Dimension? At first glance, and going by the instructions in the manual and several characters, it seems to be a collection of ‘WORLDS’ connected by a single network. However, when analyzed in depth, we see it’s something far more extensive, since these ‘worlds’  can contain celestial bodies, stars and even entire galaxies, and on some occasions the entire dimension is referred to as a ‘Universe.’ From the rocket scene, we also know that all these places are physically connected to one another in a stellar journey.

Therefore, based on visual evidence and the novel, we can consider this place to be as large as a galaxy, a cluster of galaxies, or even a universe, depending on how we choose to interpret it. Now with the definition of what it is, or what it can be, here comes the most important part... 

IS POSSIBLE SCALE TO IT?

One of the main arguments is that the destruction of televisions can scale Gex and Rez to these levels because they supposedly ‘contain worlds.’ However, the reality is quite different. Televisions are described more as portals into the Media Dimension rather than containing them per se. Even in the games, their primary use is as portals, and humans themselves can program televisions to access it. So in no way does destroying televisions imply feats tied to cosmology.

What could make them viable, however, are the remote controls. As explained earlier, the remotes can even be used as weapons, and Gex himself witnessed Rez employing them in battle. Perhaps the hardest part is measuring how powerful they can be, but as far as we know, revealing levels can also mean uncovering zones of the dimension that were previously hidden. If these zones are as large as a galaxy, it would take the energy of a star just to ‘reveal’ them.

Yet another problem arises: according to the novel/manual, these remotes destroy the sets inside televisions that blocks a PORTAL, and we really have no way to measure the magnitude of those sets. Some interpretations might lead to concrete numbers, but that would mean diving into an even deeper exercise of speculation than the initial assumption. Like think the Remote controls could replicate events that could hold the energy of a u

Therefore, even though there are ways to argue for possible scaling to the Media Dimension through the remotes, the evidence available makes such scaling inconclusive at best—at least not without starting to rely on interpretations that stretch the framework. In any case, the most appropriate path would be to focus on the remote controls and define what they can actually do.




Looking more closely, he’s a character who, despite having a relatively small amount of material (and most of it being redundant across the three main games), has an incredible number of feats and accomplishments demonstrated throughout his journey in the Media Dimension facing Rez.

What stands out the most is how he’s been able to adapt to each environment using the knowledge he gained from the television shows he consumed, along with the sheer craziness of his feats and the wide, fascinating range of abilities and powers he displays. It was a pleasure to take a closer look at this, though I regret not being able to find much beyond what the folks at Bang’s Blog had already covered.

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