Limited Run Games announce retro revivals for Gex Trilogy, Jurassic Park, Tomba, and more
Plus a "spiritual successor" to the bad CD-i Zelda games
One recent report found that a worrying number of classic games have been lost to time and are unavailable to play on modern systems. But Gex fans, don’t despair! Limited Run Games announced multiple retro re-releases at last night’s showcase, including PC ports for the original survival horror Clock Tower, the platforming Gex Trilogy, and a spiritual successor to the only bad Zelda games in existence.
Fans of the anthropomorphic gecko should be delighted about the upcoming Gex Trilogy, which bundles 1995’s side-scroller Gex alongside the two 3D sequels. The games set themselves apart with a gecko-appropriate moveset and a quippy media-obsessed protagonist that probably annoyed some people. My childhood memories of playing Spyro and Gex have merged together, meaning I have no recollection of how good or terrible those games might have been. Although, Gex is coming back sooner than some other C-list platforming mascots - RPS in peace Blinx, Banjo, Croc - so maybe there’s something worth returning to.
Staying on the platforming train, last night’s showcase also announced a PC port for Tomba (also known as Tombi to Europeans), in collaboration with series creator Tokura Fujiwara and returning composer Fujita Harumi. The pink-haired hero doesn’t have a release window yet, but there’s a pretty fun animated trailer here.
The show’s other highlight was the Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection, packaging the two run and gunning dino spin-offs released in the 90s. The Making Of Karateka - the playable documentary - also showed up again after its debut at this week's ID@Xbox show.
Limited Run are bringing back all of the above with their much-discussed Carbon Engine, which was previously used to revive the very first Shantae game, beat ‘em up River City Girls, and the adorable Trip World DX.
There was one very notable new game announced at the show as well: Arzette: The Jewel Of Faramore. Surprisingly, the game is a spiritual successor to the infamously bad Legend Of Zelda duo released on the CD-i. Limited Run describes Arzette as an “interactive animated adventure,” and the announcement trailer will probably haunt my dreams for the next week - though to be fair, that seems to be the intention.
You can watch the full showcase on YouTube to find out about other unexpected, weird, or unexpectedly weird games, new and old.