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https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Gex_the_Gecko_1554.jpg
The original Gecko Mascot.

Gex was a platformer franchise from Crystal Dynamics, featuring a gecko (voiced by comedian Dana Gould) who entered TV and movie themed worlds. The first entry, the simply titled Gex, was a 2D platformer for the 3DO, and later the PlayStation 1, Sega Saturn and PC. The next installment switched to 3D platforming, with Gex: Enter the Gecko. It was released for the PS1, N64 and PC. The N64 port is noted for cutting out several levels due to space constraints and lacking cutscenes the game previously had (though to be fair, it featured one level that the PS1 version lacked). The final entry, Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko, was again released on the PS1 and N64 (which did not have any of the FMVs).

Despite being fairly successful and its developer continuing most of its other franchises from the era into the next (and expectations that it would make the leap), the franchise ended with the release of the last game in 1999 and has not resurfaced except a cameo in 2001's Mad Dash Racing.

The first game is available for PC on GOG

On July 12, 2023, Limited Run Games announced that the trilogy will be remastered using the Carbon Engine for all modern systems and PC.


Examples throughout the series:

  • Abandoned Mascot: Gex was the mascot of Crystal Dynamics until 2003, when the studio began developing the Tomb Raider series.
  • All There in the Manual: There's a LOT in the manual of the first game that isn't in the short intro before it.
  • Animesque: The Anime channel in Deep Cover Gecko, which features Mechas and brawling schoolgirls as enemies. Gex also gets his own costume.
  • Anvil on Head: A stage hazard for the Toon TV stages in Gex: Enter The Gecko and the New Toon Land stage in the original Gex. Hazards include anvils, safes, weights, fat ladies, and kitchen sinks. Also lampshaded by Gex:
    Gex: "What is it with cartoons and anvils?"
  • Auto-Scrolling Level: The "Congo Chaos" level. Stepping on a switch early in the level activates the autoscrolling. It stops at the end of the level (and you can backtrack if you want to).
  • Bad Boss: Rez. Just read the signs he keeps around his lair that say things like "30 DAYS IN THE COOLER FOR TALKING".
  • Big Bad: Rez is the leading threat for all three games.
  • Big Boo's Haunt: The Cemetery world (Gex) and Scream TV (Gex: Enter the Gecko)
  • Big Fancy House: Gex's mansion, the biggest house on Maui filled with the biggest TV set and enough food for decades, allows Gex to seal himself away from the outside world so that he can do nothing but watch TV all day.
  • Bonus Level: A staple of the series, with each game having a different method to unlock them and a different reward once you finish them, which range from unlocking a bonus world in the first game to unlocking cheats in the third world.
  • The Cameo: Nikki from Pandemonium! (1996) (more specifically, the version from the sequel) appears in the ending waiting for Gex in bed.
  • Catchphrase: "It's tail time!"
  • Christmas Town: Christmas Broadcasting is the first level in Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko, a Christmas-themed Slippy-Slidey Ice World. The level takes place in the North Pole based on shows and films that are traditionally shown during Christmas or otherwise based around it (hence its name), such as those made by Rankin/Bass.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Gex can be thought of as one, seeing as how his references are usually irrelevant to the situation at hand. One of his quotes even involve random barking.
  • Collection Sidequest: One in each game. It's a platformer released in the nineties so this is a given.
  • Company Cross References: One bonus level in the third game has Gex dressed as the protagonist of fellow Crystal Dynamics title Akuji the Heartless.
  • Conveyor Belt of Doom: Appears in Rez's stages in the original game and Enter The Gecko.
  • Crosshair Aware: Done beautifully on Gex: Enter the Gecko with the final boss, Rez. After a while, the perspective switches to Rez's eyes (while you still control Gex) with Rez firing rockets after he locks on to you.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Gex has his moments.
  • Dimension Lord: Rez is lord of the Media Dimension.
  • The Dragon: Mooshoo Pork was this to Rez judging by his pictures in Rez's Inner Sanctum.
  • Egopolis: Rezopolis is a domain controlled by Rez.
  • Evil Laugh: Rez has a very iconic one that he belts out in all three games.
  • Excuse Plot: The original game has Gex getting sucked into a TV and has the villain, Rez the Media Dimension overlord, wanting to use him as his mascot to take over the world. Needless to say, Gex will have none of it and has to save the day. Amusingly, the manual has a much more elaborate backstory for Gex, meant as a parody of how older video games had more backstory in the original manual than in the actual games.
  • Far East: Kung Fuville and Kung Fu Theatre.
  • Forgot to Pay the Bill: Invoked occasionally whenever Gex rides on flying furniture in Enter the Gecko. "Who forgot to pay the gravity bill?"
  • Freudian Excuse: Gex's mother sold the TV to gypsies because Gex has been watching too much TV. He was so upset he ran away.
  • Getting Crap Past the Radar: In Enter the Gecko, Gex sometimes occasionally shouts "Damn this pesky gravity to hell!" rather emphatically, among the other various innuendos, which is a bit surprising for an E-rated game. The radar eventually caught up as the third game is rated T.
    • And a semi-subtle drug reference in Enter The Gecko:
      Gex: Ah, to see the world as Keith Richards does...
  • Goomba Stomp: Only works when Gex is preparing a Spring Jump. Otherwise you get hurt.
  • Gotta Catch Them All: The collectible remotes in each game are necessary to unlock new levels.
  • Flame Spewer Obstacle:
    • Gex: Enter The Gecko: In Pre-History Channel, there are flames coming out of the walls.
    • Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko: Tut TV has rotating flame traps that shoot out flames.
  • Hockey Mask and Chainsaw: Cemetery stages in the first game feature burly enemies of this type, who for added benefit also wear red and green striped t-shirts.
  • Imaginary Friend: "The Mayor", Gex's invisible friend briefly mentioned in the Gex manual.
  • Incendiary Exponent: Each game as a fire power-up.
  • Interspecies Romance: Gex gets the girl in Gex: Enter The Gecko and Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko. Both women are human, while Gex is a gecko.
  • The Jeeves: Alfred is this to Gex, acting as both his personal butler and his closest ally in Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko.
  • Lovable Lizard: Gex is a wisecracking gecko and the main hero.
  • Mad Scientist: Mooshoo Pork
  • Mascot with Attitude: Gex, of course.
  • Momma's Boy: "How could he use that mouth to kiss her mother?"
  • Multipurpose Tongue: Gex can use it to vomit fire, ice and slime with the right powerups, but he more commonly uses it to grab ledges instead of using his hands.
  • NASA: Gex's father worked there as a researcher. Now, Gex's mother owns it.
  • Non Sequitur: Gex's various quotes are very rarely directly relevant to the situation at hand. Notable because he says them a LOT.
  • Notzilla: One level in Gex: Enter The Gecko has the titular lizard transforming into "Gexzilla".
  • Novelization: Written by Michael Teitelbaumnote  and published by Troll Communications L.L.C. It's mainly based on Deep Cover Gecko, though the events of the other games are detailed as backstory.
  • Oh God, with the Verbing!: One of Gex's impressions is of Jerry Lewis, "flavin" and all.
  • Or Are You Just Happy to See Me?: Used in one of the games: "Is that a lightsaber, or are you just happy to see me?"
  • Part-Time Hero: The plot of all three games starts out the same way - Gex is content with just staying home and watching TV for the rest of his life when he's either forcefully dragged into the Media Dimension against his will or he's told that he's the only person capable of stopping Rez. The manual for Gex: Enter The Gecko even states that he's retired.
  • Pickup Hierarchy: It has a 3-tier collectible system but in a different way. There were 3 tiers of collectibles. Everything starts out tier one. Then it moves up to tier two after you get enough. Hit the threshold at 2 and you progress to three. Hit the threshold at three and voila! Extra remote.
  • Piranha Problem: Piranhas appear as enemies in the first two games.
  • Pop-Cultured Badass: As expected because its a game full of shoutouts and tributes to popular genres along with TV as well as movies, Gex makes quotes from popular lines from Television and films throughout the games and makes remarks referencing various pop-culture stuff.
  • Power-Up: The original game had a large variety. This was toned down in the sequels, but each game still has a fire and ice power up.
  • Pre-Rendered Graphics: All three games feature elaborate cutscenes that show how Gex gets dragged into the plot of that particular game. Each game's ending cutscene is similarly pre-rendered, though they tend to be shorter.
  • Pun-Based Title: A good number of level names across all three titles are puns on famous movies or TV shows.
  • Reference Overdosed: Invoked, due to Gex's addiction to the telly.
  • Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Gex's family became rich after great-uncle Charlie (the original model for Izod) died and left them over $20 billion. The family bought houses, cars, judges, politicians, 51% ownership of NASA, and Australia (since the kids wanted to go there).
  • Shout-Out: Has its own page.
  • The Slacker: Gex, who, upon finding out he was rich, boarded up his house, stocked up on tasty flies, and plans to spend the rest of his life living comfortably, watching TV.
  • Spin Attack: Gex's tail whip, technically.
  • Spring Jump: Gex's trademark vertical mobility option. There are also jump pads in quite a few levels.
  • Suck E. Cheese's: Gex's mother bought NASA and converted Mission Control into a theme restaurant, Space Monkeys, featuring robotic dancing space chimps.
  • Super Not-Drowning Skills: Played straight in the first game, where Gex swims Mario-style, pressing the jump button to float upwards and not needing any oxygen. In Enter The Gecko, he doesn't need oxygen in the N64 version's Titanic level. Averted in Deep Cover Gecko, where Gex has an Oxygen Meter.
  • Take That!: Several in Gex's quips. For example:
    "Commander. They are of a strange species that find Adam Sandler funny."
  • Talkative Loon: Gex. Seriously. He does not shut up and the references he makes are so misplaced it goes straight from shallow parody into pure randomness.
    • The second game has a button specifically to make him say things.
  • Talking Animal: Gex is one, naturally, as are his allies Alfred, Rex, and Cuz.
  • Third Is 3D: Actually, second is.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: Flies. Depending on their color, they do everything from refilling health to giving Gex special power-ups or lives.
  • Trailer Spoof: The announcement trailer for the Gex Trilogy is intentionally designed to be an announcement trailer for a GoldenEye (1997) remaster (it was also saved for last in the Limited Run Games 2023 Showcase), with a James Bond silhouette to boot. Said silhouette flips to Gex tail slapping the trailer text, with him revealing himself and pointing out if the viewers were expecting somebody else (like Bond did for the film's trailer).
  • Trapped in TV Land: The whole premise of the series is Gex traveling through various television channels to face off against Rez.
  • Uncle Pennybags: Uncle Charlie. In his will, he left his entire estate estimated at $20 billion to Gex's family. The family would divide the wealth among themselves, with Gex using his cut of the money to move back to Hawaii, buy the biggest house on Maui, fill it with the world's largest TV set, and seal himself inside, leading to the events of the first game.
  • Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: Rez. Look at this guy!
  • Wall Crawl: Gex, naturally.
  • Wuxia: Kung Fuville (Gex) and Kung Fu Theatre levels (Gex: Enter the Gecko)


Tropes appearing in specific titles:

    open/close all folders 

    The original Gex 
  • Anvil on Head: How you defeat the Flatulator, the boss of the New Toonland level.
  • Auto-Scrolling Level: The "Congo Chaos" level. Stepping on a switch early in the level activates the autoscrolling. It stops at the end of the level (and you can backtrack if you want to).
  • Big Boo's Haunt: The Cemetery world, an open graveyard filled with mist and various movie monsters like Frankenstein's Monster (but in gecko form) and Killer Tomatoes.
  • Bonus Level:
    • There is a "Break the barrels" bonus level.
    • Beating the bonus level of every world will net you the remote for Planet X, an entire world of bonus levels.
  • Book Ends: The game begins and end with Gex lying around on the couch, surfing the tube.
  • Collection Sidequest: Fly coins.
  • Completion Mockery: In the first game, there is a secret world which after clearing and then beating Rez, you are given a series of text congratulating you on beating the game 100%... or at least it sounds congratulatory at first until it starts telling you to go outside and find something else to do with your life.
  • Conspicuous Electric Obstacle: In The Web, there are spark emitters all over. Blue emitters shoot out constant lightning while magenta ones periodically switch off.
  • Cute Ghost Girl: Morphina, the boss of the cemetery level Spin N Puke...until you start damaging her.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: While the sequels are 3D platformers in the vein of Super Mario 64, this game is a 2D sidescroller, plain and simple.
  • Everything's Deader with Zombies: In the cemetery level, you can fight zombie geckos.
  • Fartillery: How the Flatulator propels himself.
  • Fireballs: Gex can spit them out after getting a fire Power-Up.
  • The Maze: "The Project", the penultimate level of Planet X. The maze is absolutely huge, and, combined with how little of a level you see around Gex at any given time, very difficult to navigate. There are also false exits that send you to the end (in one case, through one of the developers, who must be defeated before he kills you) without the remote for the next level.
  • Password Save: Instead of saving data to a memory card, it is required to write down any password presented to keep progress going... for the PS1, Saturn, and PC versions, that is. The 3DO version is the only one that allows for actual data saving onto the system memory.
  • Place Worse Than Death: In the horror movie-themed levels, Gex will compare his surroundings to Detroit.
  • Power-Up: The game includes:
  • Rebel Relaxation: Gex on the cover.

    Gex: Enter The Gecko 
  • Aside Glance: Pulls one off at the end when Rez reveals that he is Gex's father.
  • Badass Boast:
    Gex: "I'm the ultimate weapon, baby. Yeah!"
  • Bear Trap: A stage hazard for the Toon TV stages.
  • Big Boo's Haunt: The Scream TV levels, which are set within a giant haunted mansion overrun by ghosts, living pumpkins, water coolers filled with blood, floating furniture, and zombies. There's even a stretching elevator in one of the levels.
  • Bonus Level: They are unlocked using silver remotes (they even have "BONUS" written in the TV screen) are all collection sidequests which unlock gold remotes. Gold remotes are used to unlock more varied Secret Levels.
  • Briefcase Full of Money: How the government recruits Gex.
  • Circling S's: Happens when you jump straight into a wall (which doesn't do any damage) or get knocked down from an enemy hit.
  • Collection Sidequest: This is how the bonus levels play out in Gex: Enter The Gecko. In the standard levels, it also has you collecting thematic items which change and grant you a 1-UP after getting 30 and 40. Collecting 120 (50 after the second, permanent item change) gets you a silver remote, used to unlock secret levels. The collectibles are:
    • Carrots, cans of spinach, and TNT Plunger Detonators in the Toon TV levels.
    • Skulls, tombstones, and hockey masks in the horror-themed Scream TV levels.
    • Starfish, treasure chests, and necklaces in the Titanic-themed level.
    • 9 Volt batteries, red LED's, and ...some strange atom thingy in the cyber-themed Circuit Central levels.
    • Boxes of noodles, yin-yang symbols, and kabuki masks for the chinatown, Kung Fu Theatre levels.
    • Little rockets, laser guns, and mini astronauts for the Rocket Channel space levels.
    • Drumsticks, cow's skulls, and mini, blue brachiosauruses in the Pre-History channel.
  • Cool Shades: Puts on a pair during the intro en route to the Media Dimension.
  • Department of Redundancy Department: The title of the first Circuit central level: www.dotcom.com
  • Developer's Foresight: In the canyon section at the end of "Out of Toon," A series of expertly-timed jumps can get you on top of a wall that's apparently not meant to reached, save for the fact that there's a TV containing infinite lives.
  • Everything's Deader with Zombies: Justification for the presence of zombies in the Scream TV levels.
  • Everything Trying to Kill You: Zombies, scorpions, hunters, tikimen, ghosts, robots, ninjae, suits of samurai armor, chinese dragons, aliens, demented pumpkins, dinosaurs, bees, mutant pig-cow hybrids, and bear traps okay. But flowers, smiley faces, capacitors, and semiconductors?
  • Friendly Local Chinatown: Averted. Everything is still out to kill you in the chinatown themed Kung Fu Theatre levels. Even ninjae.
  • Gotta Kill Them All: Quite a few red remotes are obtained from killing/destroying X numbers of enemy/destructible Y.
  • Government Agency of Fiction: The people who hire Gex.
  • Gratuitous Ninja: Justification for the presence of ninjae in the Kung Fu Theatre levels, despite being China themed for the most part.
  • Green Hill Zone: The Toon TV levels, set in bright green cartoony landscapes filled with bees, flowers, waterfalls, and carrot gardens. The first Toon TV-themed level, Out of Toon, is also one of the first levels of the game.
  • Hammerspace: In the Toon TV world, the dancing flowers can pull hammers out from behind their backs to attack you. Afterwards, they just hide the hammer behind their backs again, seemingly into thin air.
  • "Have a Nice Day" Smile: Appears as an enemy in the Toon TV world.
  • Hub Level: The Media Dimension is where you begin the game, where you return upon completing any level, and where you enter levels.
  • Improvised Zip Line: In the Kung Fu Theatre levels have wires that Gex can use to get to other areas.
  • Incendiary Exponent: When Gex eats a fire-fly, he is set on fire and leaves a trail of fire when he attacks. He is also invincible.
    Gex: "Is it just me or am I ENGULFED IN FLAMES?!"
    Gex: "I'm flaming! In the... manly way."
  • Kaizo Trap: If you collect a remote and die before landing on the ground (falling off a cliff, run out of air, etc.) the game will act as if you had died, but will still register that you obtained the remote. Not particularly useful, unless you really don't want to go back to the Hub World, but not very frustrating either since the remote collection still counts.
  • Kill It with Fire: In Gex: Enter The Gecko, creating a circle of fire around an enemy while under the effects of the fire-fly grants an instant kill via rising tower of flame. Notably, this is the only way, asides from its ice counterpart, to dispose of the corpses of zombies (which is not necessary or useful in anyway but is still very cool).
  • Kill It with Ice: Functionally identical to the fire-fly, the ice-fly allows Gex to also instakill enemies.
  • Laser Blade: Gex plays with a lightsaber in his idle animation in the Rocket Channel space levels in Gex: Enter The Gecko, complete with sound effects. Sadly, he cannot use it in combat. They are also used by certain enemies in the same level.
  • Last-Second Word Swap: The title of the second non-bonus Rocket Channel level is name "Pain In The Asteroids".
  • Lethal Lava Land: The Pre-History Channel levels have lava in practically every area.
  • Loincloth: Gex dons one in the Pre-History channel levels.
  • Luke, I Am Your Father: Rez tries pulling this at the end, though Gex's real father was killed in a rocket explosion. The novelization tries to reconcile this, revealing that Gex's father became Rez as as a result of the explosion.
  • Mad Scientist: Mooshoo Pork has certain traits of this, as his level appears to be a mad scientist lab.
  • The Men in Black: They recruit him to help get rid of Rez again.
  • Mix-and-Match Critters: Mooshoo Pork, the second boss. The upper part of a pig with the bottom part of a cow. Also has a curly mustache and High-Class Glass.
  • Mood Dissonance: Hearing Gex's wise-cracks and Non Sequiturs make the horror themed levels very silly, even if they aren't meant to be taken seriously in the first place.
  • Only in It for the Money: Gex's motivation in Gex: Enter The Gecko.
  • Oxygen Meter: Used in the Rocket Channel space levels. There are air refueling centers and boxes filled with air bubbles littered across the level.
  • Portrait Painting Peephole: Some of the portraits in the horror themed "Scream TV" world.
  • Savage Piercings: Gex has a Stock Femur Bone attached to his nose in the Pre-History dinosaur themed levels.
  • Secret Level: They are unlocked using gold remotes obtained from Bonus Levels and bosses. They reward the player with secret cutscenes.
  • Sequence Breaking: It is possible to skip a large portion of the "Fine Tooning" Toon TV level by jumping on top of a domino and jump kicking past a gap, as shown here. Normally, you would need to follow the moat river to another section of the level to find a boat which acts as a platform, as shown here.
  • Sequel Number Snarl: The previous game in the series is simply called "Gex", and the next game is Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko... but this game isn't called Gex 2, leading to confusion for those who missed out on the original (e.g. N64 owners.)
  • Shut Up, Hannibal!: Gex does this to Rez when he tries to pull a Luke, I Am Your Father, giving a bemused Aside Glance before grabbing a remote and shutting down the TV Rez is trapped in. The most Gex dignifies Rez's claim with is a joke after Rez is shut down about forgetting their fight and going to play catch in the yard.
  • Space Zone: The Rocket Channel levels.
  • Springs, Springs Everywhere: Giant flowers bounce Gex up in the air.
  • Tennis Boss: The first boss.
  • 13 Is Unlucky: In order to get a Red Remote in the second horror themed level, it is necessary to activate a switch which makes a clock strike thirteen.
  • Top Ten List: Gex goes through one at the end of the game explaining why "It's cool to be me, Gex." as a stinger.
  • Translation Train Wreck: Made fun at in "Samurai Night Fever", where there is an advertisement for a deal on subtitles, 2 for 1.
  • Under the Sea: The majority of the N64 exclusive Titanic level.
  • Vader Breath: Plays in the background of the Rocket Channel levels. Gets faster as your air gets lower.
  • Variable Mix: Certain sections of levels have specific music cues that play when the player get to them.
  • Wholesome Crossdresser:
    Gex: "Last time I was here I was dressed as a woman. Yes!"
  • A Winner Is You: In the N64 version of Enter the Gecko. Because the N64 was incapable of FMV sequences, the ending from the PS1 version was cut and replaced with text that just said, "Congratulations!", followed by the credits over gameplay footage.
  • World of Pun: Almost all of level names are puns:
  • Your Head Asplode: If you hit the Green Grey aliens just right, you can induce this trope.

    Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko 
  • Anachronism Stew: Just in case you were somehow expecting an accurate portrayal of ancient Egypt in the "Holy Moses!", there's a metal hot dog stand at the entrance.
  • An Ass-Kicking Christmas: The "Totally Scrooged" level.
  • Anti-Frustration Feature: Levels where you can fall down and are forced to redo a long segment come with mini- checkpoints to go back to where you fell (The "Cutcheese Island"'s platforming segment and the Fairytales TV's beanstalk).
  • Ascended Extra: Agent Xtra appeared briefly in the opening of Enter the Gecko and in the story in the instruction manuel. In this game, she's kidnapped and contacts you at the end of each level.
  • Bad Santa: Evil Santa acts as a Tennis Boss in the "Totally Scrooged" level.
  • Bears Are Bad News: You fight taxidermied bears in the "Clueless In Seattle" level.
  • Big Creepy-Crawlies: You fight giant locusts and a giant spider in the "Holy Moses!" level.
  • Blatant Burglar: An enemy on the "Superzeroes" level.
  • Bonus Level: In addition to the regular levels, there are bonus worlds that can be unlocked by collecting enough Bonus Coins. Beating them unlocks cheats.
  • Build Like an Egyptian: The Tut TV "Holy Moses!" level.
  • Captain Obvious: Alfred is like this sometimes.
  • Christmas Elves: The Mooks of the "Totally Scrooged" level.
  • Circling Stars: A returning trope from Enter the Gecko
  • Dem Bones: Skeletons appear in the Mythology Network channel "Mythstories" level as well as the "Cutcheese Island" level.
  • Egyptian Mythology: Ensemble Dark Horse Anubis is an enemy in "Holy Moses!"
  • Everything Trying to Kill You: Now we have Christmas Elves, taxidermied bears, billard balls, fleas, man-eating lawnchairs, exotic blunderbuss-wielding stereotypically British hunters, mummies, Anubis clones, faces coming out of walls, giant locusts, giant spiders, nasty drill sergeants...and that's barely half-way through the game.
  • Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Rex is a T-Rex.
  • Gangplank Galleon: The Buccaneer Program level "Cutcheese Island". Despite the name, the level does not take place on an island at all.
  • Gatling Good: You can use stationary gatling guns in the Army TV "War is Heck" level.
  • Ghost Pirate: An enemy on the "Cutcheese Island" level.
  • Gotta Catch Them All: Remotes, fly coins, and bonus coins which unlock levels (varies), an extra remote (100), extra health (25), and Bonus Levels respectively (varies).
  • Grave Humor: The tombstones in the "Organ Trail" level are fairly spiteful.
  • Heart Container: Getting 25 Paw coins increases your life.
  • Hub Level: The Gex cave, divided off into various sections that even include their own enemies and Fly Coin count.
  • Improvised Zip Line: In the "Cutcheese Island" level.
  • Incredible Shrinking Man: In "Clueless In Seattle", Gex needs to shrink to do some minigames on a trophy bear head, a kitchen sink, and a billiard board, because... magnifying glass?
  • Incredibly Lame Pun: Oh so much. If not Gex's lines then some of the titles. If not those then we get gems like these:
    Sign in Lake Flaccid: "No Premarital Gex"
  • Instant Ice: Just Add Cold!: Rex starts out in an ice cube. Push him near a fire and he's as good as new.
  • The Jeeves: Alfred obviously. He also functions as this game's hints.
  • Kangaroo Pouch Ride: Gex goes for one in the first Bonus Level: Marsupial Madness.
  • Killer Robot: An enemy type fought in the Anime Channel level: "When Sushi Goes Bad."
  • Last Lousy Point: Like Super Mario 64, Gex can earn a nice shiny collectable if he collects 100 Fly Coins in a level in Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko. There's just one problem - unlike Mario, there's only 100 Fly Coins in each level, making the 100 Fly Coins remote an exercise in patience as the player is forced to comb every last nook and cranny.
  • Live-Action Cutscene: Agent Xtra is portrayed by Marliece Andrada.
  • Mad Bomber: One mission in the Superhero Show level has you defeating the mad bomber.
  • Masked Luchador: Gex dresses as one for the first boss fight versus a wrestler.
  • The Maze: A mild example with the hedge maze in "Clueless In Seattle".
  • Medley: The music to "Totally Scrooged" is a medley of various Christmas songs: "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing", "Jingle Bells", "Angels We Have Heard on High", and "Frosty the Snowman" (played in a minor key to give it a sinister sound).
  • Messy Pig: The reason they appear in the "Mythstories" network.
  • Money to Burn: One mission in the Gangster TV level requires you to burn piles of funny money.
  • Mummy: An enemy in the "Holy Moses!" level. Can turn into a tornado, oddly enough.
  • Mythology Gag: One of the secret levels (Braveheartless) references another Crystal Dynamics game: Akuji the Heartless.
  • Never Smile at a Crocodile: You ride a crocodile in one of the Bonus Levels
  • Non-Indicative Name: The "Cutcheese Island" takes place on a galleon stranded in the middle of nowhere.
  • Not Quite Flight: Gex can glide when he wears an outfit equipped with a cape. This includes the vampire costume and the red riding hood costume. He can also get this ability in his Power Suit in the Anime Channel level as well as from a superpower gained from a super power booth.
  • Offscreen Teleportation: Alfred can be found in several convenient places in both the overworld and in the levels to give hints to Gex with no actual explanation as to how he was able to enter, say, a pirate ship or an ancient Egyptian pyramid without any extra help.
  • Our Vampires Are Different: Being a vampire only gives Gex the ability to be albino, have fangs and glide.
  • Pirate Parrot: An enemy in the "Cutcheese Island" level.
  • Portal Endpoint Resemblance: Most level entrances are located in dedicated rooms that resemble the level in question, though the portal itself is always the same model of a gigantic television set.
  • Powered Armor: Gex puts one on in the Anime Channel level. It looks like a stereotypical mecha and allows him to glide. It does not, however, reduce any damage.
  • Roger Rabbit Effect: Agent Xtra is the sole live-action character (played by Marliece Andrada) in a world filled with otherwise cartoony CG characters.
  • Savage Wolves: The wolf enemies in the Fairytales TV level are fairly harmless, but take the most hits out of all the non-boss enemies in the game.
  • Scary Scorpions: Seen in the "Organ Trail" level.
  • Secret Level: "Dial A for Arson", found by hitting the three supercomputers in Mission Control.
  • Skeleton Crew: Skeleton pirates in the "Cutcheese Island" level.
  • Slippy-Slidey Ice World: The "Totally Scrooged" level.
  • Snowball Fight: How the elves attack you in the "Totally Scrooged" level.
  • Spin Attack: Strangely enough used by mummies.
  • Suicide Attack: The walking hand grenades in the "War is Heck" level will attempt to pull one on you.
  • Super-Strength: Gex can transform into a super hero and gain this power to destroy special boxes and cars.
  • Tank Goodness: There is a segment in the "War is Heck" level where you drive a tank through a destructible city.
  • Tennis Boss: Evil Santa and the Mad Bomber There is also an enemy in the "Organ Trail" level who can only be defeated this way.
  • Theme-and-Variations Soundtrack: Nearly every piece of music in the third game is based on one theme, merely arranged in different ways depending on the environment.
  • Toilet Humour: One objective in the "Organ Trail" level is to "visit the world's largest mound of poop", most likely because manure is a stable in Wild Western media and has also been used as fertilizer by farmers that lived in the Old West as well.
  • Unexpected Gameplay Change: The snowboarding section of "Totally Scrooged".
  • Unlimited Wardrobe: Unlike the first two games, Gex wears a different outfit for each level, corresponding to the level's theme.
  • Why Did It Have to Be Scarabs?: Quoted word-for-word in the PAL version whenever Gex comes near a scarab in "Holy Moses!".
  • The Wild West: Parodied in the "Organ Trail" level.
  • World of Pun: Continuing the trend from Enter The Gecko:
    • Again see the Shout-Out section for puns referencing other works.
    • Holiday Broadcasting channel: "Totally Scrooged".
    • Random signs in front of the doors in the "Organ Trail" level say "Itznot Mine"
    • There is a huge dog dish with the name "Fefido" at the top of a beanstalk.
    • The title of one Bonus Level: "War and Pieces"
    • The Superhero Show level "Superzeroes".


Alternative Title(s): Gex Enter The Gecko, Gex 3 Deep Cover Gecko, Gex 64, Gex 3 Deep Pocket Gecko

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