Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy

Last updated

Jak and Daxter:
The Precursor Legacy
Jak and Daxter - The Precursor Legacy Coverart.png
North American cover art
Developer(s) Naughty Dog
Publisher(s) Sony Computer Entertainment
Director(s) Jason Rubin
Designer(s) Evan Wells
Programmer(s)
Artist(s) Erick Pangilinan
Josh Scherr
Writer(s) Daniel Arey
Composer(s) Josh Mancell
Series Jak and Daxter
Platform(s) PlayStation 2
Release
Genre(s) Platform
Mode(s) Single-player

Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy is a 2001 platform video game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the Sony PlayStation 2 on December 4, 2001, as the first game of the Jak and Daxter series. The game follows the protagonists, a young teenager named Jak, as he tries to help his friend Daxter after he is transformed into an "ottsel", a fictional hybrid of an otter and a weasel. With the help of Samos the Sage, a master of the mysterious energy called 'Eco' created by an ancient race known as the Precursors, the pair learn that they must save their world from the rogue sages Gol and Maia Acheron, who plan to flood the world with "Dark Eco", a mysterious substance which corrupts all it touches.

Contents

The game offers a large range of missions, collectibles and objectives often in the form of minigames which provide a variety of gameplay experiences, as well as puzzles and platforming stages which are completed by the player to proceed the story. The title is often credited as being one of the first games with 'no' loading screens, with players able to traverse from the starting location to the final battle, and all interconnected levels in-between, without breaking away from gameplay.

Development began in January 1999, following the fourth installment of Naughty Dog's Crash Bandicoot franchise for the PlayStation. Jak and Daxter received critical acclaim upon release, with most critics praising the game's variety. Many critics agreed that the game had some of the best-looking graphics at the time of its release. By 2002, the game had sold a total of over one million copies worldwide, and by 2007, it had sold two million in the United States alone. In 2012, it was one of the remastered ports in the Jak and Daxter Collection for the PlayStation 3, and for the PlayStation Vita in 2013. It was released as a "PS2 Classic" port for the PlayStation 4 on 22 August 2017. In 2022, a PC port was released by fans.

Gameplay

Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy is a 3D platformer in which the objective is to gather items to progress through the levels. The player controls Jak, who has access to abilities such as double jumping, a rapid spinning kick, and glide punching. Injuries are accounted for by way of a life meter, which decreases whenever Jak is hit by enemies, falls from long distances, or makes contact with hazardous surfaces.

The Precursor Legacy offers several collectibles for the player to gather. The main objects are power cells, which are used to energize machinery to reach new levels. Power cells can be earned in many ways, such as fighting enemies, performing tasks for other characters, completing platforming challenges, and paying for them via Precursor orbs. Precursor orbs are egg-shaped collectables found scattered throughout the world, some in plain sight, and some hidden. Another collectible, scout flies, appear on every level. Collecting all seven scout flies in a level rewards the player with a power cell.

A large part of the gameplay revolves around eco, a type of colored mysterious energy that comes in six different forms. [3] The player is able to utilize eco powers by either collecting small amounts of glowing eco particles or fully charging through eco vents. Green eco, the most common of the six types of eco, restores health. [4] Blue eco increases Jak's speed; breaks nearby boxes (except strong boxes); attracts Precursor orbs, scout flies, and small clusters of blue and green eco towards him; and activates certain machinery. [5] Red eco increases attack power, [6] while yellow eco allows the player to shoot ranged bursts of energy through Jak's hands. Dark eco also exists in the game, but as an obstacle that damages Jak, rather than an item that is collected. Light eco is also used exclusively in the game's final boss battle.

The game contains three bosses whose defeat earns the player power cells or allows the player some method of progressing further in the game. However, not all bosses are mandatory. The first boss, the dark eco plant, is only defeated in order to gain a power cell and to remove hazardous spiked tentacles from the jungle area. The second boss, a cyborg Lurker named Klaww, must be defeated in order to enter the Mountain Pass. To do so, players must collect enough power cells to utilize a levitation device and unblock a path, allowing access to him. Once he is defeated, the areas beyond his lair are accessible. The final boss is an ancient giant robot, which has been restored to working order by the game's villains, Gol and Maia. Defeating the robot is the final task in the game; once it has been defeated, the end cutscene plays.

Plot

Setting

The game is set on a fictional planet incorporating fantasy elements, which consists of small and not very technologically advanced settlements, surrounded by varying environments and abandoned ruins. One major hub is Sandover Village, home of the two protagonists: Jak, a mute 15-year-old teenager, and his best friend, Daxter (Max Casella), a loudmouth who is transformed at the beginning of the game into a fictional hybrid of an otter and a weasel, called an "ottsel".

Eco is a type of energy which dominates the world and was created by an ancient race of beings known only as "Precursors", implied by Samos Hagai (Warren Burton) at the beginning to be the masters of the universe and creators of all life on the planet. The two boys live with Samos, the Sage of green eco, and father of Keira (Anna Garduño), who is implied to be Jak's love interest. She builds the flying Zoomer vehicle that Jak and Daxter use multiple times throughout their adventure.

The primary enemies of the game consist of beasts known as "Lurkers" led by the antagonists Gol Acheron, the Dark Sage (Dee Snider), and his sister, Maia (Jennifer Hagood), who have been turned evil by the effects of the dark eco they studied. Their goal is to open a giant silo full of dark eco and use it to shape the universe to their liking. Other characters are the Blue (John Di Crosta), Red (Sherman Howard), and Yellow (Jason Harris) Sages, all of whom are masters of the eco from which they take their name.

Story

Against Samos' warnings, Jak and Daxter make their way to the forbidden Misty Island. There, they see two unknown figures ordering the Lurkers to gather eco and Precursor artifacts. The duo, worried by what they are seeing, prepare to leave, but are soon discovered by a Lurker guard. Jak manages to kill it with an explosive device they found, but the resulting explosion sends Daxter into a pool of dark eco. He emerges transformed into an "ottsel" (a fictional hybrid of an otter and a weasel), but is otherwise unharmed. Returning to their home of Sandover Village, they seek help from Samos. Samos explains that only Gol Acheron, the Dark Sage, can reverse the transformation.

As Gol lives to the north, the boys look for a means of crossing the deadly Fire Canyon. Samos's beautiful daughter Keira, a skilled engineer, offers to let them use her Zoomer (essentially a hoverbike) in exchange for enough power cells to operate it. Jak and Daxter begin their training in a nearby island called Geyser Rock, where they collect a few cells. Then they return to Sandover Village and explore a neighboring jungle, a beach off the village's coast, and Misty Island (which is accessible via speedboat after helping a local fisherman). After collecting enough cells, the heroes make their way through the Fire Canyon to Rock Village, the home of the Blue Sage. To their horror, the village has been attacked by a massive Lurker known as Klaww, and the Blue Sage has vanished. With the path forward blocked by Klaww, the boys look for more cells and explore an abandoned underwater Precursor city, an elevated basin filled with Precursor technology, and a swamp across the village bay. Using the collected cells, Keira clears the path, allowing Jak and Daxter to defeat Klaww, cross the Mountain Pass, and make their way into the ancient Volcanic Crater where the Red Sage dwells.

With the Red Sage missing as well, Samos sends the boys to hunt for enough cells so Keira can upgrade the Zoomer's heat shield. At this time, the truth is revealed: The Blue, Red, and Yellow Sages have been abducted by Gol and his sister Maia (who were also the figures Jak and Daxter saw on Misty Island), who intend to harness their combined power to extract the dark eco in their possession and use it to remake the world. However, Samos warns that if they open the silos containing the vast stores of dark eco deep underground, the dark eco will twist and destroy everything it touches. Jak and Daxter continue to look for more cells, exploring a dark cave filled with Lurker spiders and a mountainous tundra by the volcano's summit.

Making their way through the lava tunnels leading to Gol and Maia's citadel, the boys run into Keira, who reveals that Samos has also been captured. With the four Sages now under their control, the Acheron siblings begin restoring their excavated automaton so that they can release the dark eco from its silo. After rescuing the Sages from captivity, Jak and Daxter intercept the machine and engage it in battle. However, they only manage to destroy its eco weapons. Realizing that a greater power is needed to defeat Gol and Maia, Samos and the Blue, Red, and Yellow Sages combine the four different types of eco into one, creating light eco. [7] Daxter contemplates using the light eco to return himself to normal, but ultimately allows Jak to use it instead. [8]

Unable to escape the cockpit of their destroyed machine, Gol and Maia plunge into the silo and are presumed dead. With the world saved, the group focuses its attention on unlocking the fabled Precursor Door, which can only open with the energy of 100 power cells. Once the door is opened, it reveals a large, mysterious object enveloped in a blinding light. The object itself is kept a mystery until the second game.

Development

Development on Jak and Daxter began in January 1999 as "Project Y". [9] As the rest of the Naughty Dog team were working on Crash Team Racing , only two programmers were allocated to the project. The rest of the team began work on Jak as well after the release of the PlayStation 2; eventually 35 developers worked on the game. [10] Because of the PS2's status as a new console, Naughty Dog felt they had to create a unique character for it. Before the main development of Jak and Daxter, Naughty Dog confirmed the idea with Sony Computer Entertainment, and after showing them a character they dubbed "Boxman" to demonstrate their animation engine, they came up with Jak and Daxter.

Jason Rubin stated in an interview with Play (US Magazine) that the 40 minutes of animation in the game required 6 full-time animators and 4 support animators. In some cases the animators came from outside of the video game industry from companies such as Disney and Nickelodeon. [11]

The game was in development for almost three years, and throughout this time, numerous changes were made to almost every aspect of the game, while the various engines used in the game were all tweaked to optimize their performance. The engine tweaks allowed Jak and Daxter to have no loading times or fogging and be able to display high-quality textures in a seamless, multi-level world. [12]

Due to each area of the game being 3–6 million polygons, the 3D computer graphics application Maya would stop working even on cutting-edge PCs. To combat this issue, the team had to use references and proxies as Maya and other current tools available were not capable of handling the entire area all at once. [11]

The main characters also went through changes. Originally, there was going to be a third main character that would develop as the game was played in a Tamagotchi style. [13] Instead, Naughty Dog concentrated their efforts on two main characters in order to create the exact characters they wanted. [13] In an interview, Naughty Dog stated: "The character inspiration was more Joe Madureira who did Battle Chasers , the comic book, than anything else…" [14] The game was announced at E3 2001. [15] After the release of The Precursor Legacy, Naughty Dog was prepared to create a sequel as long as the first did well enough to warrant it. After the game did go on to sell admirably, development of Jak II was begun shortly thereafter.

The voice-acting was recorded in the New York City-based Howard Schwartz Recording facility. [16] The game's soundtrack was composed entirely by multi-instrumentalist Josh Mancell. The album was produced by Devo's singer Mark Mothersbaugh [17] and was recorded at Mutato Muzika Studios.[ citation needed ]

A Java game was developed and released in 2001 to promote the game which was restored and made playable by archivists and fans of the Jak and Daxter series. [18]

In 2022, a fan project called OpenGOAL was released which decompiles The Precursor Legacy and then recompiles it for x86-64, making it playable natively on PC. [19]

Reception

Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy received "universal acclaim", according to review aggregator Metacritic. [20] Douglass C. Perry, a member of IGN's staff said, "…Jak and Daxter is a breath of fresh air, a funny, light-hearted, but no less epic action-adventure game all its own…" after reviewing the demo build for twelve hours. [28] GameSpot gave a score of 8.8 out of 10, praising its tight execution and heavy action elements which "ensure that things never become dull," and continued, "Next to Rayman 2 , Jak and Daxter is the best 3D platformer available for the PlayStation 2." [24] Game Informer gave the game a high score of 9.25 out of 10, and also offered praise to its graphics and the absence of load times, saying: "On several occasions, I found myself staring in awe at the little details Naughty Dog so meticulously included." [29] At the 2002 Game Developers Choice Awards, Daxter from Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy won the Original Game Character of the Year award. [15] It was a runner-up for GameSpot's annual "Best Platform Game" award among console games, which went to Conker's Bad Fur Day . [30] During the 5th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Jak and Daxter for the "Console Action/Adventure" and "Game Design" awards. [31]

After its release in late 2001, the game went on to sell over 1 million copies, promoting it to "Greatest Hits" and reducing the price. By July 2006, it had sold 1.7 million copies and earned $49 million in the United States, and had become the best-selling Jak and Daxter game in that country. Next Generation ranked it as the 19th highest-selling game launched for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, or GameCube between January 2000 and July 2006 in the United States. Combined sales of Jak and Daxter games reached 4 million units in the United States by July 2006. [32] As of 2007, Jak and Daxter has sold almost 2 million copies (1.97 million) in the United States alone. [33] Jak and Daxter received a "Gold Prize" in Japan for sales of over 500,000 units. [15] The game is also the 17th best-selling game on the PlayStation 2.

Related Research Articles

<i>Jak and Daxter</i> Video game series

Jak and Daxter is an action-adventure video game franchise created by Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin and owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The series was originally developed by Naughty Dog with a number of installments being outsourced to Ready at Dawn and High Impact Games. The first game, Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, released on December 3, 2001, was one of the earliest titles for the PlayStation 2, and is regarded as a defining franchise for the console.

Naughty Dog, LLC is an American first-party video game developer based in Santa Monica, California. Founded by Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin in 1984, the studio was acquired by Sony Computer Entertainment in 2001. Gavin and Rubin produced a sequence of progressively more successful games, including Rings of Power and Way of the Warrior in the early 1990s. The latter game prompted Universal Interactive Studios to sign the duo to a three-title contract and fund the expansion of the company.

<i>Ratchet & Clank</i> (2002 video game) 2002 video game

Ratchet & Clank is a third-person shooter platform video game developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2 in 2002. It is the first game in the Ratchet & Clank series.

<i>Jak II</i> 2003 video game

Jak II is an action-adventure video game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2 in 2003. It is the second game of the Jak and Daxter series and both a sequel and prequel to Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy. It was followed by Jak 3 the following year in 2004.

<i>Jak 3</i> 2004 platforming video game

Jak 3 is a 2004 action-adventure video game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2. The game is the sequel to Jak II and serves as the conclusion of the trilogy. The story of the previous games continues as the player takes on the dual role of recurring protagonists Jak and Daxter. It adds new weapons, devices and playable areas. The game was followed by Jak X: Combat Racing.

<i>Jak X: Combat Racing</i> 2005 combat racing video game

Jak X: Combat Racing is a 2005 vehicular combat video game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2 console. It is the fourth installment in the Jak and Daxter series. The plot follows protagonist Jak and his allies who, after having been poisoned, must partake in a championship of the fictional sport of "combat racing" in an effort to obtain an antidote.

<i>Daxter</i> (video game) 2006 video game

Daxter is a 2006 platform video game developed by Ready at Dawn and published by Sony Computer Entertainment on the PlayStation Portable on March 14, 2006. A spin-off of the Jak and Daxter series, Daxter takes place during the two-year timeskip occurring during the opening cutscene of Jak II; unlike the other installments of the franchise focusing primarily on Jak, the game focuses on the adventures of his sidekick Daxter while Jak is imprisoned.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andy Gavin</span> American video game programmer

Andrew Scott Gavin is an American video game programmer, entrepreneur, and novelist. Gavin co-founded the video game company Naughty Dog with childhood friend Jason Rubin in 1986, which released games including Crash Bandicoot and Jak and Daxter. Prior to founding Naughty Dog, Gavin worked in LISP at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

Game Oriented Assembly Lisp is a programming language, a dialect of the language Lisp, made for video games developed by Andy Gavin and the Jak and Daxter team at the company Naughty Dog.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">High Impact Games</span> Video game developer

High Impact Games was an American video game developer based in Burbank, California, formed in 2004 by former members of Insomniac Games and Naughty Dog. In 2007, the company released Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters for the PlayStation Portable, with a PlayStation 2 port released the next year, and Secret Agent Clank in 2008, also for the PlayStation Portable. On November 3, 2009, the company released its third game, Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier, for the PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 2. The game was based on the Jak & Daxter series made by Naughty Dog. In 2010, High Impact Games was developing a remake of Crash Team Racing for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii, but the game was canceled by Activision before the prototype initial. In 2011 an environmental artist, who had worked on some games, revealed that High Impact Games was working on a new project for the Wii. This game was revealed to be Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2nd Dimension.

<i>Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier</i> 2009 video game

Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier is a 2009 platform game developed by High Impact Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. The game is the sixth and final game in the Jak and Daxter series. The player assumes the role of Jak, the angst-ridden hero enhanced by his exposure to Light and Dark Eco.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jason Rubin</span> American video game director

Jason Rubin is an American video game director, writer, and comic book creator. He is best known for the Crash Bandicoot and Jak and Daxter series of games which were produced by Naughty Dog, the game development studio he co-founded with partner and childhood friend Andy Gavin in 1986. He was the president of THQ before its closure due to bankruptcy on January 23, 2013. Rubin is the vice president of Metaverse Content at Meta Platforms.

Characters of the <i>Jak and Daxter</i> series Fictional character

This is a list of characters in the Jak and Daxter series, a video game franchise originally developed by Naughty Dog for the PlayStation 2. Currently, six games in the series have been released, with Jak as the primary playable character in all except Daxter for the PlayStation Portable.

<i>PlayStation Move Heroes</i> 2011 video game

PlayStation Move Heroes, known in Japan as Gachinko Heroes, is a 2011 action-adventure video game developed by Nihilistic Software and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 3 video game console utilizing the PlayStation Move. It is a crossover of the Ratchet & Clank, Jak and Daxter, and Sly Cooper franchises to form a total of six main characters.

<i>Jak and Daxter Collection</i> 2012 video game

Jak and Daxter Collection is a 2012 collection of the remastered ports of the first three games in the Jak and Daxter series. The remasters were developed by Mass Media Games, with grounds on the originals by Naughty Dog, and published by Sony Computer Entertainment.

Babak "Bob" Rafei is an Iranian video game art director, character animator and concept artist. He is the CEO of Big Red Button Entertainment, a video game development studio he co-founded with Jeff Lander in 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruce Straley</span> American video game designer

Bruce Straley is an American game director, artist, designer, and studio director. He previously worked for the video game developer Naughty Dog, known for his work on the video games The Last of Us and Uncharted 4: A Thief's End. Straley's first video game work was as an artist at Western Technologies Inc, where he worked on the Menacer six-game cartridge (1992) and X-Men (1993). Following this, he formed a company, Pacific Softscape, where he worked as a designer on Generations Lost (1994). After the company disbanded, Straley was eventually hired at Crystal Dynamics, where he worked as a designer on Gex: Enter the Gecko (1998) and was initially game director for Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko (1999); he left the company partway through development of the latter.

Charles Steve Zembillas is an American character designer, art director, educator, and author. Zembillas designed early concept art for games such as Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, and Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, as well as animated television series such as Wish Kid, Where's Waldo?, James Bond Jr., and Ghostbusters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evan Wells</span> American video game designer

Evan Wells is an American video game designer and programmer and co-president of Naughty Dog. Wells' first video game was at Sega, where he worked on ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron, before moving to Crystal Dynamics in 1995 to work on Gex and Gex: Enter the Gecko. He was employed at Naughty Dog in 1998, working on several Crash Bandicoot and Jak and Daxter titles before becoming co-president of the company alongside Stephen White in 2005; White was replaced the following year by Christophe Balestra, who retired in 2017. The two oversaw the release of the Uncharted series, and The Last of Us. Wells remained the sole president, overseeing the release of The Last of Us Part II, until Neil Druckmann's promotion to co-president in 2020. Wells announced his retirement in 2023.

References

  1. "SCEA outlines its PS2 release calendar". GameSpot. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  2. IGN Staff (17 November 2001). "Jak and Daxter to Ship Early". IGN. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  3. "Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy (PlayStation 2)". CNET. 4 December 2001. Archived from the original on 24 October 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  4. "eco". Everything2. 10 October 2005. Archived from the original on 16 June 2018. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  5. Qualls, Eric (20 March 2002). "Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy – PS2 – Five Stars". Gamesfirst.com. Archived from the original on 16 June 2018. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  6. Crowley, Justin (29 January 2002). "Jak and Daxter". GamersMark. Archived from the original on 9 May 2006.
  7. Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy: Gol: Light Eco! It DOES exist! Maia: They must not be allowed to get it!
  8. Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy: Daxter: Light Eco?! That could be the stuff to change me back! Or… it might stop that robot. Hmmm. Stay fuzzy, save the world. Choices. Okay, fine, we'll save the world! But do it quickly before I change my mind!
  9. "The Evolution of Naughty Dog, Part 2: Jak and Daxter". Power Up Gaming. 18 February 2015. Archived from the original on 17 June 2018. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  10. "Postmortem: Naughty Dog's Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy". 10 July 2002. Archived from the original on 15 April 2019. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  11. 1 2 Halverson, Dave (December 2001). "Dynamic Duo - Jason Rubin interview". Play (US Magazine) Issue 1. pp. 17–19. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  12. Arnold K. "Interview with Naughty Dog staff". Archived from the original on 17 June 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2007.
  13. 1 2 K., Arnold (26 December 2001). "Interview with Naughty Dog staff". PSX Extreme. Archived from the original on 19 January 2008. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  14. Guise, Tom (10 December 2001). "Naughty Dog: The Interview". Computer and Video Games. Archived from the original on 4 February 2009.
  15. 1 2 3 "Naughty Dog – 30 Year Timeline". IGN . Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on 13 September 2015. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  16. Naughty Dog (3 December 2001). Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy (PlayStation 2). Sony Computer Entertainment. Level/area: Credits.
  17. Davis, Bailey (8 October 2021). "Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh on Scoring All Your Favorite Video Games". Riot Fest . Archived from the original on 24 May 2022. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  18. Henley, Stacey (8 April 2020). "How archivists and fans saved a long-lost Jak & Daxter Flash game from obscurity". PC Gamer . Archived from the original on 8 April 2020. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  19. Baxter, Daryl (28 December 2022). "Decompilations could be the solution to ports and remakes in the future". TechRadar . Retrieved 6 January 2023.
  20. 1 2 "Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy for PlayStation 2 Reviews". Metacritic . Archived from the original on 24 January 2020. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  21. Rovi Corporation. "Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy". Allgame.com. Archived from the original on 11 December 2014. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  22. プレイステーション2 – ジャック×ダクスター 旧世界の遺産. Weekly Famitsu. No.915 Pt.2. Pg.70. 30 June 2006.
  23. Game Informer (Jak and Daxter review). 2002. p. 76.
  24. 1 2 Shane Satterfield. "GameSpot Jak and Daxter review". GameSpot . Archived from the original on 19 November 2013. Retrieved 8 April 2007.
  25. Barak Tutterrow. "GameSpy Jak and Daxter review". GameSpy . Archived from the original on 5 April 2013. Retrieved 8 April 2007.
  26. David Zdyrko. "IGN Jak and Daxter review". IGN . Archived from the original on 21 September 2007. Retrieved 8 April 2007.
  27. Official U.S. Playstation Magazine Jak and Daxter review. 2002. p. 124.
  28. IGN Staff. "IGN Jak and Daxter preview". IGN. Archived from the original on 16 June 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2007.
  29. Reiner, Andrew. "Zelda, Mario, and Crash All Rolled In To One". Game Informer . Archived from the original on 14 March 2008.
  30. GameSpot VG Staff (23 February 2002). "GameSpot's Best and Worst Video Games of 2001". GameSpot . Archived from the original on 3 August 2002.
  31. "D.I.C.E. Awards By Video Game Details Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy". Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences . Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  32. Campbell, Colin; Keiser, Joe (29 July 2006). "The Top 100 Games of the 21st Century". Next Generation . Archived from the original on 28 October 2007.
  33. "US Platinum Videogame Chart". The MagicBox. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 8 April 2007.