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Rex209 is a character that makes a cameo appearance in Nitrome Must Die, and appears mostly throughout Test Subject Complete.

Spoiler
Rex209 first appears in the ending of Test Subject Green.


Rex209 is a suit created by the Professor as a prototype, but was stolen by Doctor Nastidious - the forerunner of the vast mech suits the doctor would later create for attempted world domination in Test Subject Complete.

Rex209 plays a major role in Test Subject Complete's story, guiding Blue in decisions to make along with doing much of the investigating in Dr. Nastidious's base. Along with this, it is the first Nitrome character to speak in English outside of text.

Appearance[]

The Rex209 seems to use parts from the proto-suit, as they have several similarities. The Rex209 consists of two legs that each have four back toes. On the side of this is a proton gun that shoots blue bullets. On the top is a glass cockpit, along with a metal piece on the right side of the suit. The cockpit, along with the glass shell, seems to be smaller than Blue's previous suit. The entire chassis of Rex209 is mainly grey coloured, except for a green light on the right metal piece and the blue ammunition in its proton gun.

Game information[]

Test Subject series[]

History[]

Test Subject Green[]

The suit was made by the Professor, but was later stolen by Doctor Nastidious. It is known to have been in development for a long time, as Doctor Nastidous is excited about testing it on Blue once he completes test thirty of Test Subject Green.

Test Subject Complete[]

In Test Subject Complete, Rex209 replaces the proto-suit for Blue. Rex209 guides Blue through the tests that the doctor set out for it. Before every experiment, Rex209 would communicate with Blue via a screen on the inside of the Rex209 mech suit. Eventually, Rex209 helps Blue escape the test chamber of Doctor Nastidious.

Penguin 1

This navigational box contains a spoiler. Click [show] to open the box.

Later in the game, Rex209 guides Blue to the professor. However, the professor was found to be dead, which greatly saddened Blue. While Blue was remembering the experiences it had with the professor, Blue and Rex209 were captured again by the doctor, who placed them in a glass jar.
Test_Subject_Complete_The_Dead_Scientist

Test Subject Complete The Dead Scientist

The dead scientist scene

Rex209 and Blue manage to escape the jar. However, waiting for them upon their escape was The Machine, who is intent on destroying Blue and Rex209. The two manage to escape The Machine as well.

Meanwhile, Rex209 tells Blue that it has made a remarkable discovery - hidden deep in its hard drive is an encrypted file labelled "Serum BLUE1207". The file states that Blue was not made to fight. Rather, Blue is the essence of life itself - Blue was made to heal. With this discovery in mind, Blue and Rex209 head back to the dead scientist's body. Rex209 then shuts down, telling Blue to save the scientist, which it ends up doing.

Test_Subject_Complete_-_The_Revived_Scientist

Test Subject Complete - The Revived Scientist

the revived scientist scene

However, before Rex209 shut down, it transmitted all of its information to a mech suit in one of Doctor Nastidious' storage rooms. The revived professor later finds this mech suit, which tells him all about the situation and how to escape. Rex209 was never seen again in the game.

In-game[]

Test Subject Green[]

The Rex209 is mentioned in the descriptions of level twenty-eight, twenty-nine, and thirty of Test Subject Green.

Spoiler
However, it doesn't make an appearance until the ending of the game.
Test Subject Complete[]
Rex210

Top: Rex209 standing
Bottom: Rex209 walking

Rex209 appears as the replacement proto-suit for Blue in levels one to twenty-five of Test Subject Complete. Rex209 has several more features than the proto-suit when it comes to motion and shooting. These features are the key to completing the tests Doctor Nastidious made, and, eventually, for escaping Doctor Nastidious' base.

Spoiler
However, in levels twenty-nine and thirty of the game, Rex209 is replaced by a full-sized mech suit, and does not appear.


Motion
Rex209 can perform all of the normal motions of the proto-suit, except for one added feature: it can walk on the bottom of platforms. It can do this by jumping into the bottom of a platform, then flipping upside-down so that it can walk normally.

Along with this, Rex209 has a special feature that allows it to be moved backwards when shooting and not moving at all. Other than this, it seems as though the Rex209 can jump and walk at the same pace as the proto-suit.

Armament
Rex209 fires slim blue bullets. These bullets move faster than the bullets of the proto-suit, and also can be fired faster in succession. These bullets do not seem to be any stronger than Blue's regular bullets from its proto-suit, however, it should be noted that all the enemies Blue kills with its Rex209 bullets, except for the rhino orange enzyme, are all enemies that take a single bullet to kill.

Respawning
Rex209 serves as a respawn point for Blue. When Blue dies, Rex209 will break apart into many pieces. These pieces will then reassemble at the last spawn area, or, if none exist, at the beginning of the level.

Level selection
The player will enter a first person perspective in Rex209 prior to starting most levels (levels one to twenty-five). In the first person mode, Rex209 will tell the player information about the level he/she is about to enter or the story of Test Subject Complete.

Test Subject Arena 2[]

The Rex209 appears in Test Subject Arena 2, used by two characters: the Professor and Blue.

Spoiler
Upon completing the Rex209 Professor level in single player, the quote "My Rex is impressive, isn't it?" is displayed at the results screen. Rex209 Blue has the quote "Well done, the Professor has a pill treat for you!".

Nitrome Must Die[]

The Rex209 makes an appearance in Nitrome Must Die, appearing in the second half of the fourth boss battle. When Blue's health reaches half, it will be pulled off screen, and brought back on in the Rex209. It will fire rapidly, causing the player to have to get in its line of fire if they wish to damage him. The only time the player can damage him without being shot at is when it is being switched out. This is its only attack.

Quotes[]

In game[]

Level Speaker Quote Event Notes
Menu Rex209 "Test Subject Complete" Menu being accessed
1 Rex209 "Welcome aboard Blue" Blue starting level 1 This is the only level which includes this quote.
All Rex209 "Sleep mode activated" Blue begins to sleep
All Rex209 "Reconstruction in process" Blue is killed
8-17,
19-25
Rex209 "Scanning proximity... clear" Blue rises out of a transporter

Pre-level[]

Main article: Rex209/Quotes

At the start of levels one to twenty-five in Test Subject Complete, Rex209 will communicate with the player via a screen on the inside of its glass cockpit.

Proto mech suits[]

Penguin 1

This navigational box contains a spoiler. Click [show] to open the box.

Rex209room

The level 28 room with the proto mech suits in them.

Proto mech suits were created by Dr. Nastidious as the enlarged versions of the Rex209. These suits have exactly the same look as the Rex209, and function the same way, only that they are immensely bigger than Blue and the original Rex209, as they are the size of the Professor (who is bigger than both Blue and the Rex209).

A small room with several Proto mech suits is seen at the end of level 28, this room appearing as one proto mech suit with its glass open, among several other proto mech suits in the background that to not have their glass open, two out of the three hooked up to some square electrical pillar.

Proto mech suits were presumably created by Dr. Nastidious for world domination, the success of these suits likely tied to him going back to Xeno Industries to get Blue's entire formula. The proto mech suit is used by the professor for the rest of the game.

Quotes[]

Penguin 1

This navigational box contains a spoiler. Click [show] to open the box.

On level 28, the professor jumps into a proto mech suit. For the next two levels, the proto mech suit communicates with the professor.

Day 1

DAYS ACTIVE [1]

HELLO PROFESSOR. GLAD YOU COULD MAKE IT. THE REX209 PROTO MECH SUIT REMOTELY UPLOADED ALL OF IT'S FILES TO ME.

THE SECRET FILE YOU SAVED IN IT'S [sic] HARD DRIVE WAS FOUND. BLUE SAVED YOU SIR. BUT NOW DR NASTIDIOUS KNOWS...

YOU ARE NOT SAFE.

Day 2

DAYS ACTIVE [2]

THIS IS IT PROFESSOR.

IT IS TIME FOR YOU TO STOP DR NASTIDIOUS ONCE AND FOR ALL.


GOOD LUCK

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • The voice for Rex209 is likely the default text-to-speech program on Mac OS X. This same voice also appears in games like Rush and Rainbogeddon[1].
  • Rex209 may have been made from proto-suit parts, seeing as it has many similarities in design with the proto-suit.
  • Rex209's design may have been inspired by ED-209 from the film RoboCop considering they both have the same structure and both have the number "209" at the end of its name. Its large arm cannon resembles the railgun of Metal Gear REX, which the first part of its name may reference.
  • Due to the Professor's unusual height when in Rex209, the Professor has strange properties in Test Subject Arena 2 when crouching, such as:
    • Unlike other characters, the professor's bullets cannot go through a one-block high gap.
    • When crouching, the Professor is a bit taller than a one-block high platform, meaning that the Professor as a chance of being shot by a player who is not crouching.

References[]

  1. Nitrome on Twitter: [1]: @Frostyflytrap probably just the one that comes on every Mac, 3 May 14, retrieved 3 May 2015.
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