Johnny vs. Vexx 

"I like nipples, but I want to care what the nipples are attached too". A surprisingly good quote for finding a life partner.

"I like nipples but I want to like who they are attached to" - Plato

"If your grandfathers only about 6 years older than you, that's fucking weird" 6:40 That delivery was funnier than it had any right to be

"This game is not a complete dumpster fire." I think that's the most glowing review it's ever gotten, they should put that on the back of the box.

The guy who was the art director for this went onto make his own gamedev company, Interned with him for 2 years. He wanted to do so much more with this game, shame it came out as stunted as it did. I miss the guy.

So, I actually did some customer play testing of this game at Acclaim’s HQ back in the day. They just plopped us in one world for a half hour or so and asked for our thoughts and stuff. I doubt much changed between then and launch, but I had fun as a high schooler getting to playtest video games every few months. Fun fact, someone at Acclaim had the idea for basically Dead by Daylight, almost 20 years prior.

"Poor vexx, he lost his grandpa. Lets talk about surfshark for a moment." Absolute gold.

"I like nipples. But I also want to care for who the nipples are attach to" What a quote Edit:Holy crap is this how it feels to get a lot of likes

This was one of those games you saw at your local GameStop or game crazy that you were interested but never ended up buying!

Ahh, this era of platformers is so nostalgic to me. Devs really were just doing whatever.

It's unfortunate that you reviewed the worst version of the game. Believe me, the Gamecube and Xbox versions are better (especially the Xbox version, which has better sound and texture quality, as well as faster loading times, seamless portal loading for the sundial portals, and more in-game audio clips for enemies and Vexx himself). It's great to see another person review Vexx (and also see the potential with it) and I couldn't help but watch this with my rare promotional Vexx plush too (Germany-exclusive preorder item for the game apparently and I've literally only seen 3 others) since this game is a huge part of my childhood and why I'm into worldbuilding and creating characters. I can share some Vexx information to address some of what you brought up in your video. In terms of the game's story vanishing and the game generally feeling unfinished, Vexx unfortunately had a really nasty development where the team had to cut over half of what was planned due to time constraints, framerate issues, and more, and they had to try and salvage what was left and piece it back together as best as they could before the game shipped. Of the game's 18 levels planned, only 9 fully made it into the game while 2 were downsized into sub-areas and the other 7 either had bits and pieces from them stitched onto the other levels or removed entirely. There was stuff planned to involve more use of the day/night cycle system, but again the majority of it was cut. There were around 144 WraithHeart missions planned, but only 81 of those made it in (and the mission that gave you shit in Timberdale? Yeah they made an easier riddle for that but *forgot to use it by complete accident*). Reia and Darby were going to be far more present in the game, with Reia even having been planned as a boss who was to be fought sometime before the deception cutscene, but again the development issues forced all of that to be cut. Vexx himself was originally going to have been fully voiced but Brain Cox, the voice of Yabu and Darby, took up all the budget. Lead Designer Kynan Pearson has stated on the Vexx Discord Server that he remembers some of the auditions for Vexx's voice were "terrible" and were often quoted/joked about in the office (he also said he might still have them but he'd have to dig through hundreds of unlabeled CDs to find them). In the final game, Vexx's yells/grunts/screams were supplied by Kynan and Audio Lead Jason Cobb, but Kynan isn't sure how much from either of them made it into the final game. The Water Suit shown in the mural was planned to have been in the game, and concept art/unused text in the game files reveal more about it, but it was revealed in a Vexx Speedrun that guest starred Kynan Pearson that the Water Suit was cut and recycled into Vexx's quicker movement speed when diving underwater. The fact that the murals use Valdar (Vexx's species) instead of Astani (Reia's species) is also a holdover from the beta; unused Darby script in the game files have him offhandedly mention Vexx's father, who apparently originally used the War Talons in an earlier draft of the game, and that he and Vexx's mother were killed in their sleep by Yabu and buried in the Hall of Heroes, where Vexx wakes up after the tutorial. According to an old interview, Vexx's parents were removed from the game's story/backstory to make Vexx's background "more open-ended for players." I almost wonder if the mural image showing the caped Valdar warrior was showing Vexx's dad. Vexx also underwent a lot of changes in development; the game originally started out as Clip and Mischief, a two-protagonist adventure that was scrapped when similar games like Jak and Daxter were announced and released, and the game was subsequently reworked into a one-protagonist story. Vexx underwent numerous design changes and was even originally called Jinx, but copyright/trademark issues forced the team to change the character's name to Vexx (funny enough, Vexx's animation files in the game files use Jinx and his near-final model that exists as an animated test object in Turok: Evolution also goes by his previous name). His giant gauntlets were inspired by Gully from the Battle Chasers series (and the cancelled sequel was going to have some JoJo's Bizarre Adventure inspiration thrown in as well, with Vexx summoning spirits with different powers to fight alongside him). Also as a little thing about the box art, Kynan fought to have the PAL box art (which featured Vexx's face peeking through a piece of ripped cloth) be the NTSC box art as well, but lost that fight. Also a little fun fact: A GameBoy Advance version was planned but cancelled early on. According to Kynan, it was not being developed by the main Vexx team but rather a smaller team and would've been a pre-rendered 3D side-scroller (much like the Donkey Kong Country games). It was cancelled without ever having been announced officially due to quality concerns and cartridge costs. If you wanna know more about Vexx's development history, there's a bunch of early footage/trailers floating around on RU-vid that you can give a look, you can check out 3DMarth's channel (he's talked a lot about Vexx's beta/development and how some effects in the game were achieved, plus he's also attempting to recreate the cut worlds using only in-game assets and early footage/images and he also has a video talking about a cut room that can still be accessed via hex editing and the discovery of a cut collectable that was accidentally left in the game but only accessible via hacking), and/or you can come join us on the Vexx Discord Server (which originally started as a speed-running discord but now is a general Vexx hub for the fans where a couple of developers from both Acclaim and Throwback, Vexx's current IP holders, are hanging out as well. You can probably find it if you look up "Vexx Discord" or "Vexx Speedrun Discord" on Google). I can post a link to there if anyone wants to come join us and especially if anyone wants to help us as we're currently trying to get into the game files more to extract the models/the OG Xbox version's audio and whatever's hiding in the November 2002 PS2 prototype's files as well.

8:33 My favorite part of Vexx was when he said "It's Vexxin' Time" and Vexxed all over those guys!

"I like nipples, but I wanna care about who the nipples are attached to." -Juan "Johnny" Ortiz, 2022

With every obscure/forgotten, early 2000s, PS2 era, edgy platformer Johnny takes a look at, we inch closer and closer to him finally checking out the Maximo games. Some day.

He's Wolverine, he's short, has claws, pissed at all times, even comes with the yellow spandex.

Interestingly, Nitro Rad also couldn't be fucked with the final boss because of the poor difficulty balancing. Considering two credible reviewers independently found themselves stuck with the same issue, that suggests there really were some problems going on behind the scenes with this one.

I remember this game I thought it was hardcore as a kid especially on the back of the game one of the lines said " To hell with a princess, save the world". Definitely a underrated platformer game it's nice seeing it getting some shine especially since the only video I know talking about it is from Nitro Rad.

Hey Johnney!! It’s Roxy! Thank you so much for coving this game!

"I like nipples but I also want to care about who the nipples are attached to." Use this any time someone says you only like a character for their sex appeal and nothing else, do not let them try and control the narrative that you can't like a character for their sex appeal AND their other qualities.

Can't believe this game is getting some love. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts! This game has always been in the back of my brain.

I have this but never finished it. Felt like there was a good game that needed some more time.

I'd love to see indie devs make more games using xbox/ps2 graphics. They're such a nostalgia hit for me.

IDK, Having your child named Turok just for them to be screaming, at the top of *lung,* "I AM TUROK!" is pretty badass

I remember playing the heck out of a demo of Vexx on an Xbox demo disc (namely, Exhibition Volume 2), and I was completely dazzled by all the cool visual effects the game pulled off (which were dialed back on PlayStation 2 and GameCube), and even though the game leans towards combat as a selling point, the combat moves Vexx can pull off also work as a way of getting around the game's worlds, which shows how much care was put into the control...except for the camera.

I loved this game back when it came out. One of my friends loaned it to me to play before he died. I was close to beating it. Never saw the end but I got close. Saw this pop up today and had to watch it immediately. Thank you Johnny.

Real talk: I legit forgot that this game existed and thought this was another sponsored review. The early 2000s were a blur to me, lol.

For games with inverted horizontal camera control I try to imagine that I'm controlling the "person" behind the camera, where the camera is always pointing at the character. Kind of like strafing controls. PS no I didn't type "starfing," read it again XD

When Johnny pulled Singularity out of that box I swear I heard Gordon Ramsey yelling through the cosmos about how raw the game is...

THIS could use a remake, not games that are already good. I see potential here.

Oh man I haven’t seen this game since I was a kid. Nice nostalgia for the weekend.

This is one of those games that could have been amazing, if only it had more time to cook. You can feel the passion and hard work put into it, but you can also feel the disappointment the devs must have felt upon being told they had release the game as it was. Acclaim: the Konami of their era.

11:55 Johnny doing the Jack-O pose in reverse:

The plot of Vexx is literally, "Stand back Yabu, I'm Morbin'!" Sorry not sorry

Alongside Orphen Scion of Sorcery and Tekken Tag Tournament one, this was one of the first PS2 games my bros and I have ever gotten. Unfortunately, this was also back before we have PS2 controllers which are required to play through the swimming segments using the analog sticks (we tried PS1 analog, it wouldn't work) so we couldn't get very far, but we have fun going through it. My personal favorite moments are fighting against the sumo and playing mini games against your inner demons (yes that's what those dark clones of Vexx are called). Also fun fact, this game actually had a sequel plan where (spoilers), it takes place after Vexx gets himself trapped in the dark realm and has to fight his way out and during his travels, he acquires new powers in the form of elemental spirits, JoJo/Persona/Orphen Scion of Sorcery style. Part of me wishes someone else would pick up the rights of this game and make either a remake or a sequel with this idea in mind.

All I remember of this game is the final boss is absolutely horseshit

That portal-entering mechanic, even with the obvious loading issue, is shockingly high-tech for a PS2 game in 2003. You didn't see shit like that much outside of like, Prey, which didn't come out for three more years after this.

I remember playing that as a kid on my ps2, never beat that last boss either, gave up on the game when I decided to gather the remaining hearts before trying to beat the boss again, the last heart was on the last stage, the one which you collect 100 orbs to unlock, after many tries I managed to gather 98 orbs, the last two were on a way down to a plataform, I missed the jump, collected only one of the orbs and got stuck on the plataforms below with no way of getting back up, I'd have to die and retry from scratch, straight up quit then and there.

Ah, Vexx. The distant cousin to Gex.

Seems like there is lots of potential with the gauntlets for more expansive combat, but not every title gets that chance unfortunately

8:33 My favorite part was when Vexx said "it's vexxing time" and then vexxed all over the place.

Love these kinds of episodes. You rarely know what you're gonna get and same goes for Johnny, they also feel pretty chill, like back then. Hopefully Johnny talks about Raging Blast 2, I remember seeing it back in the old donators marathon along with other games that he got donated but didn't play. I'm not expecting him to be gentle to this game but it was still be interesting to see (though I'd love to see him tackle Tenkaichi 3 sometime).

I remember buying this game as a kid from gamestop for $3

I've been having a pretty rough day, thanks for lessening the pain John.

Idk how it's possible that you reviewed this now. I hadn't thought about this game for years, then it randomly popped into my head a week ago. Now my favorite RU-vidr reviews it out of NO WHERE. Life is a simulation. Nothing is real.

Nitro Rad, you already revi- Oh, Johnny, let me get my popcorn and soda.

I remember playing this game so much as a kid! Still one of my favorite platformers even if it's showing age. Also yeah, you hit the nail on the head with the game having had a troubled development history. Tons of cut features, tone and story rewrites, cut characters, worlds, mechanics, the whole shebang. There were even plans for a sequal for a short time which would have featured some ideas previously scrapped, including a Jojo style stand spirit power up of all things. Is a flawed game with a troubled history, but still one I really love!

Vex: one of the many prime examples of mid 2000s edginess.

Oh wow, I completely missed this review. I love Vexx. One of my favorite 3D platformers, which I coincidentally also just dug out to play again. I 100%ed it once before and am in the process of doing it again. I guess I got accustomed to some of the bullshit, so to me the game's missions don't feel as punishing as to some other people. I really love the world design in this game. The settings are amazing, and keep inspiring me to this day. It honestly rivals Sunshine for me in terms of favorite 3D platformer from that era.

I almost shat my pants when I saw this on by sub feed, never thought Johnny would cover this obscure platformer, ever. Vexx is a very underrated game IMO despite it's flaws. Now if Johnny can someday cover I-Ninja and Tak And The Power Of Juju, two other platformers I grew up with and really enjoyed back in the day.

I remember that the back of the game box says "To Hell With Saving the Princess!" or something along the lines of that as a dig against Mario.

Hey Johnny, if you’re still interested in beating the final boss in vexx, I got a good strategy into beating it. For his first phase when he’s sending his minions, just uppercut and do a ground slam until all the enemies are gone and when yabu is hurling fireballs at you just use the jump skip move to avoid them. He’ll do both at the same time, but just be aware of your movement. For the second and most hardest phase, it’s important to be very frosty as he has some senkiro style fast and hard hitting attacks. Stand still holding the squat button and don’t move he’ll hardly attack you, wait until he performs his slam attack to do a high jump then squat again and wait until he does a ground lunge to high jump again then go for the uppercut and perform the ground slam on his abdomen. After this happens, try to do the jump skip move twice or perfectly to avoid his air and ground pound. He also do an additional attack involving throwing fireballs. Just wait until he’s about to throw them to perform the jump skip move. Rinse and repeat. For his last phase, just use the strategy for the first phase with the enemies. When yabu starts making towers, he’ll throw some fire balls at you. Just face the tower and wait to punch the fireball back at the tower until it collapses. When this happens be aware that the ground starts to fall and holes and gaps start forming so be careful. Rinse and repeat once again and then you’ll beat the boss. Tips - some enemies will drop health power ups so take advantage of that during the first and last phase

My aunt got me this on Gamecube back in the day. Pretty unique game (for a Mario clone) with an interesting atmosphere. Always loved it despite the difficulty. It could get veeery challenging.

man that surfshark ad come on and my computer started freaking out. that's good advertisement lmao

Oh man, this game I remember this one very well from my childhood Can't believe I'm seeing Johnny tackle it

Definitely looking forward to the next one; _I_ haven't played Singularity myself, but I remember my cousin playing it and thinking the game's premise and mechanics were interesting, plus Civvie 11 did an entertaining video about it (and also informative, as apparently it was one of Raven Software's last games before they got condemned to the Activision CoD mines), so I can't wait to see what Johnny thinks of it...

For a second I thought it was gex, lol

I vaguely remembered the 1st world in this game from when i was 14. Thought i was crazy and no such game ever happened.

This is one of those games that I recalled enjoying.

Those yellow shards look like Yellow Lums from Rayman 2

Me and my friends literally just started chattin about this game daily as you decided to make this

Good to see someone play it. Egoraptor and his famous ADHD couldn't, though he played every rotten second of Sonic Boom

I remember playing the Demo of Vexx on PS2 (can't remember what game the demo was bundled with I want to say it was a racing game that had it bundled) anyway the demo consists of the first area, beating up the first few enemies and getting your first heart, before the portal to the second area opened and after you walked through it, the demo ended Edit:the demo DID have the day/night system if anyone asks cause I remember standing around and watching the game go from day to night a few times due to the demo being so short

5:53 👏👏👏👏 Bravo Johnny, you made me snort-laugh for a solid couple of minutes with that. Great review, as always!

Idk about you guys, but throughout the whole video I was wondering whether or not Johnny would beat the final boss since this is one of the few games that NitroRad refused to do so because of how hard it was. Well sure as shit, it was too hard for Johnny too lol.

1:45 I love how the note says "it's a note! 😃"

With these games, I'm 98% certain beating the final boss wouldn't have been worth it anyway. Bonus point's if it gives you a bad ending for not doing 100% completion.

This game seems like edgy Mario 64 for preteens to look grown-up

I always enjoy the donator's marathons simply to hear about some weird off the wall games, maybe something I may want to sink my own teeth into one day.

man love your content so much thanks for all the laughs and great videos!! looking forward to future projects Juan!!

Man, the PS2 was such a wild west era of gaming. That platform had such a staggering library with some weird shit. Also opening a bit of a sore memory with that Soul Reaver footage, now you owe use a Legacy of Kain marathon.

what in god's name, i was sure i imagined this game lol. played it for like two hours as a kid and never even heard anyone as much as mention it

I have such fond memories of this game, I played the N64 Banjo games to death and when we got a PS2 this was a fun evolution in parts. The upside down trick was exactly how I beat it too.

Vexx could have been great with at least 6 more months of development, it's a shame. Also I was one of those kids who powered through most of the game except the final boss because his animations are wayyy too fast

Ah Johnny upload while I’m sick right after graduating college? Let’s grab a blanket and some tea and sit in for the day

There reason the game feels so unfinished is because it is. Acclaim studios ran out of money and had to declare bankruptcy in the middle of development. It’s a real shame too; since even with how unfinished it is it’s still one of my favorite childhood games.

Oh wow, I literally started playing this for the first time today! interested to hear your take on it!

1:17 Akklaim. Ben Kenobi: now that's a name I've not heard in a long time.

11:47 That was actually the only thing that I enjoyed back in the day. It felt like solving a puzzle when you tried it upside down yourself. :D

8:00 As far as I know this is an issue exclusive to the PS2 version. The GameCube and Xbox versions have smoother transitions and shorter load times

OMG i love Vexx, i owned it back on the old xbox and i remember not really playing more of the game past the water world, but i only made it there because of one thing and that was the sumo, omg the sumo might be the best boss you can ever fight because it's legit just awesome to land the final hit with an uppercut or time your third hit to really make it feel like you send him flying, sumo is the main reason i go back to playing Vexx because he's the best part, and the second fight against him makes him feel like final boss status because you enter his arena and it's a one on one fight, ones he falls off the stage crumbles and get's smaller but you landing that final hit always feels so awesome every single time, and it's even more so when you land a new type of hit that make you look badass for doing so.

Aw man, that box art would've sold me sold hard back in the day. Sadly, I was probably a little too young for it, and my parents would've said no. But that shit looks like everything I used to love back on the Xbox. I honestly miss the character design aesthetic of those days.

I can not believe Vexx is actually being covered here. One of those games that felt like it had a lot of potential but felt hollow at the same time. You were not kidding about the game difficulty though. I swear it PUNISHES you almost unfairly, especially in the end. But there WAS supposed to a sequel to this. The ending leaves on a cliffhanger showing that Vexx gets trapped in the shadow world and implies his adventure was far from over. Someone also made mention the game was meant to sort of sequel like the Metroid series with Vexx on various adventures. But of course, that obviously didn't come to be. Shame too, Vexx was an interesting concept that only needed a little more polish and refined writing.

13:54 Ah, someone took Matt's words during the Cave Story playthrough to heart.

This game creeps into my mind every 3 years or so. Many times I questioned if it even existed.

Dude I thought this game was a fever dream but I starkly Remember getting a demo disc in the mail for it

Vexx was my Mario 64/Banjo-Kazooie (well, Sonic Adventure 2 Battle was, but it's not a collectathon), a circumstance which has caused me unknown damage. Happy to see it here, I think it's neat. Never got more than a few worlds in despite how much I played it.

4:44 the good news is that although the events of those chronoplast visions didn't make it into the final game because they had the ending of soul reaver therefore removing story bits and cut content those visions did fulfill their purpose in later games.

THIS UNLOCKED A MEMORY

One of the problems that this game has is that they cut so much content out of this game and cut the budget so early, not to mention that that it had a different character design. My neighbor, and may He rest in peace, a lot of freelance video game industry jobs I first heard about this game through him and I got the Xbox version. And a game that he described is a lot different than what we got

A Johnny vid at this time, so soon after the last? This is quite... vexing.

The game of Vexx looks like someone put "Mario 64" and "Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver" into a blender.

Man Johnny, if you like the portal sequence in this, the old spyro games before it do that as well and even better executed. I'd love to see you tackle a spyro game one day

ahhh the best time of the week when john drops a video

This game i saw in a mall. Never played it, but it gives me gray hair thinking about it. Thought it was all a dream

I first saw Nitro Rad reviewing Vexx and I near thought Johnny would ever review it.

I've seen this came in discount bins at Gamestop and the like over the years. I'll have to add it to my collection and try it just to knock it off my list lol.

Vexx's journal entries suffer the same problem as Jimmy's Journals in Kingdom Hearts, while they get you up to speed, but they aren't ENOUGH for the worldbuilding that's badly needed. For instance, what gave the villains means of conquest to begin with? What is the enslaved world like? We'll never get answers to those questions because it just becomes an action game from then on.

Yeah, I liked this game for what it was back then and this review kinda sums it up on the good and bad parts. For some reason, I still remember a trick where you can flip Yabu off before the final battle. This game also sparked me to draw more with my best friend and I'll never forget that during high school.

Vexx. Wow. It's been years since I've played this game. Never really got far but damn it's nostalgic to hear about this game.

Before Shadow The hedgehog got his own solo again, everyone wanted to have there own Edgy Mascot outside of American McGee's Alice to their psychopathic killers!