When you think of moments in Pop Culture when a form of media references another, most of these instances are used for comedic or satirical purposes.

Throughout the years, shows such as Looney Toons, Robot Chicken, SNL, Family Guy, Scooby Doo, and even Deadpool have referenced either different shows, characters, or a specific moment within a show to either draw a laugh or correlate it with another moment.

Lately, Deadpool has become the most popular variant referencing pop culture moments. However, in the 90s, a different, scaly individual broke the 4th wall and referenced other moments in pop culture history. 

During the 90s, the GEX franchise was synonymous with pop culture references. Whether as part of a hidden easter egg or a whole level created to reference something else, GEX loved to incorporate different pop cultural elements. Even in the GEX Trilogy remaster, there is a Persona 5 reference in the game’s menu.

At PAX East 2025, we met with Limited Run Games to preview the Gex Trilogy. The GEX Trilogy features the original game, GEX: Enter the Gecko, and GEX 3: Deep Cover Gecko.

The Gex Trilogy is more of a digitally enhanced re-release rather than a remaster or remake. Now, this isn’t to say that this rerelease is a bad thing, but don’t expect it to be like the rerelease of Oblivion. 

The Gex Trilogy keeps the 2-D side-scrolling gameplay of the original game, while the other 2 remain in the 3-D Style. The core platforming mechanics still are what you remember. In the 2D game, you will need to figure out if you can jump on the sidewalls or take the traditional side-scrolling approach.

With the 3D games, they take on the action-adventure approach of the 90s and 2000s with small open worlds that you can explore, enemies to dodge, and objects to collect. Combat does feel more polished, where enemy interactions and combat feel smooth.  

The Gex Trilogy features an easy-to-use menu that allows you to save the game where you were, change gameplay options, alter the screen resolution, and much more.

The game now features a rewind mechanic that will allow you to rewind a few seconds; this rewind feature allows you to rewind before a potentially fatal encounter or undo a platforming failure.

While we were trying out the demo, the rewind mechanic was a good send. The camera still feels like it could be fine-tuned, but it seems like the developer was trying to keep the gameplay as close to the original as possible. 

Whether you are a fan of the original trilogy or someone wants to experience it for the first time, the GEX Trilogy is definitely something you should keep an eye out for. Even with only a bit of time to preview the game, I was teleported back to a time when I loved platforming games.

Yes, it was challenging, but still fun. The rewind mechanic took some of the frustrations out of platforming, but still allowed for the game to be challenging if we wanted it to be.

It will be interesting to see how the game plays when it is fully rereleased and if the camera can be adjusted to help those with depth perception issues. 

The GEX Trilogy is set to be released on June 16, 2025, on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox Series X|S. Based on our time with the game, it is definitely one we plan on reviewing in the near future.

Hopefully, this remastering will be closer to Shantae and the Seven Sirens, or Plumbers Don’t Wear Ties, and not Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland. Will you be picking up the GEX Trilogy when it releases in June?

GEX Trilogy is set to launch on June 16th for Windows PC (via Steam), Xbox Series X|S, Switch, PS4, and PS5.