Lizards

A lizard with a glowing tail in the original PS2 release.

Lizards (トカゲ) can be found scattered about the Ancient Lands in Shadow of the Colossus. One can be found at each of the save shrines, while many others can be found in the wild around certain locations. When Wander kills one, he can consume its tail for a permanent increase to his maximum stamina.

Lizards with glowing tails (光る尻尾を持つトカゲ) are not to be confused with the regular, fully black lizards, whose tails only replenish a small portion of Wander's health and do not raise either max health or max stamina. A lizard detection stone can be unlocked by defeating eight colossi in Normal Time Attack or 10 in Hard. Their agility make them difficult targets, but they are good for getting some practice with the bow.

If the the lizard's tail is shot, the lizard can break free from its tail and survive, though this requires an extremely precise shot and more than a bit of luck. However, the lizard will still show up on the Lizard Detection Stone. Only by killing it will the lizard's icon vanish.

Strategies

• Bow- If the lizard is on the wall of a shrine, shoot an arrow close by the lizard to make it fall down; to improve accuracy, the player can hold down to zoom in on the reptile. Alternatively, if one is a good shot with the bow, they can simply shoot the tail and pin the lizard to the ground, albeit it will still endeavor escape, which causes its tail to detach, but the lizard itself is spared.
• Sword- If the lizard is on the ground and comes close to Wander, he can slash at it with the sword to kill it. This is a bit more difficult than using the bow, as they don't tend to stay in place too long and shy away from Wander's presence. If Wander rolls on a lizard, it will become temporarily immobile.
• Agro- Agro can trample over a lizard, rendering it temporarily immobile.

Trivia

• In the PS3 Ico and Shadow of the Colossus Collection, there is a gold trophy called "Endangered Lizards". This can be acquired by killing (not just separating the tails from) all the white-tailed lizards in the Ancient Lands. There is no such trophy in the PS4 remake, although one titled "Five-Lined Skink" (a bronze trophy) is the closest equivalent, requiring that Wander eat his first shining lizard tail.
• Internally, lizards are referred to as "gex", which presumably means gecko. Despite this, in official media they are consistently referred to as "トカゲ" (lizards).
  • Geckos (ヤモリ) were going to be present in the game ICO as stage hazards and puzzle elements that would avoid bright areas, causing Yorda to refuse to traverse dark areas in stages full of them. The protagonist would also be able to pick them up and throw them at walls, which they would stick to. However, they weren't added due to a lack of time.
    • It is possible the programmers and designers assumed that the rendition of the concept in Shadow of the Colossus would still be referred to as geckos, hence the internal name.
• A lizard with a glowing tail can be found in the Mad Max videogame as an easter egg, in an area under a tower found in the desert.

Gallery

A regular lizard.

A lizard with a glowing tail in the PS4 remake.

Sketches of the unused gecko for ICO.

More sketches of the unused gecko for ICO.

Lizard statue that came with the 3rd colossus' statue made by Prime 1 Studio.

Lizard easter egg from the Mad Max videogame.