| Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy | |
|---|---|
 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.
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, which was also later made available to download on the PlayStation 5 through backwards compatibility.
- ^ "SCEA outlines its PS2 release calendar". GameSpot. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
- ^ IGN Staff (17 November 2001). "Jak and Daxter to Ship Early". IGN. Retrieved 13 June 2023.