Blinx: A Timepiece Swept Away
Blinx: The Time Sweeper is a fascinating relic of a different time (pun very much intended, however low-quality it may be). Microsoft published the game in 2002 for the Xbox, when they were just entering the console business. The 3D platformer was still the dominant genre of the time, but it was on its way out in favor of first-person shooters (thanks largely to Microsoft and Halo).
Still, during the Xbox’s first few years, Microsoft tried its hand at the genre. Voodoo Vince is a great game that has forever lived under the radar. Grabbed by the Ghoulies was Banjo-Kazooie creator Rare’s first game for the company. Microsoft was the original publisher and investor of Psychonauts until they pulled out after development delays. Blinx beat them all though, not only releasing before any of them but also in sheer quality.
Microsoft didn’t see it that way. All of their attempts at the genre sold poorly, despite solid reviews, and as Halo: Combat Evolved kicked off a revolution and saved the Xbox, Microsoft saw which way the winds were blowing before anyone else. After publishing Blinx 2: Masters of Time and Space, they left the genre behind forever — until they purchased Double Fine in 2019 and inherited Psychonauts 2, ironically.
Blinx represents more than just Microsoft’s fumbling attempts at unhooking 3D platformer’s bra in the back of dad’s Chevy. It’s also a look at Microsoft’s early attempts at wooing the Japanese market.
The Japanese gaming market is notoriously uninterested in western games. In 2021, for example, as the west enjoyed Deathloop, Hitman 3, It Takes Two, and, yes, the latest Call of Duty, Japanese gamers were playing Monster Hunter Rise, Pokemon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl, and the unheard of in the west Momotaro Dentetsu: Showa, Heisei, Reiwa Mo Teiban!. Not a single game outside of Japan cracked the top 10 in the country last year. By the way, of the three console makers, guess which one isn’t based in Japan.
Microsoft has always struggled in Japan to an almost comical degree. It’s said that the original Xbox sold less than 450,000 units in the country during its lifetime. For perspective, Nintendo’s Gamecube sold 300,000 units in its first three days post-launch. Microsoft knew they were facing an uphill battle in the country, and that’s why they courted Japanese developers, like Bunkasha Publishing, RED Entertainment, Media.Vision, and established their own dev studio in Tokyo.
What does this have to do with Blinx? Well, it was developed by Artoon, the Japanese studio founded by Sonic the Hedgehog designer Naoto Ohshima in 1999. It’s all connected! I told you this was going on and you didn’t believe me! Called me a crazed conspiracy theorist! But I was right all along!
I’ll save my thoughts for the actual game for a video in the future, but I wanted to draw attention to what a fascinating timepiece Blinx is. It represents a different age of not only Microsoft and the Xbox, but of gaming. A time when the 3D platformer was still king. A time when Japan dominated the console scene. A time when furry mascots were deemed the top priority for video game studios. I remember blogs and forums at the time arguing about who PlayStation’s mascot was after they lost Crash Bandicoot, and how they desperately needed to find one after Microsoft released Blinx.
These days, the future is bleak for Blinx. The franchise was abandoned after 2004’s Blinx 2, and developer Artoon closed their doors in 2011 after parent company AQ Interactive filed for bankruptcy. Blinx did resurface on Xbox Game Pass in 2021, but the news met with a tepid reaction*, to say the least. (*Nobody cared but me and, like, three other people) Perhaps that’s a sign that this relic of a bygone time should stay buried in the past. Or perhaps it shows there are so many great 3D platformers today that some classics will inevitably be forgotten.
Or maybe, just maybe, Microsoft and one of their shiny new game studios are waiting for the perfect time to bring this time-traveling cat back to reclaim the genre and Japan in one furry swoop.
If you’re interested in hearing more about 3D platformers, we’re currently doing 3D Platformer Month over on my YouTube channel. Check out five great-looking upcoming 3D platformers.
