Prerelease:Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy

This page details prerelease information and/or media for Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy.

This article is a work in progress. ...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes.

Development Timeline

• January 1999 - Development begins on Naughty Dog's "Project Y"
• March 2000 - Following the release of the PlayStation 2 in Japan, Naughty Dog focuses all their attention on the new title
• May 14, 2001 - The new game is officially announced to be called Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, following a teaser trailer a few days prior
• May 17, 2001 - A playable demo is featured at E3 2001
• September 18, 2001 - A demo build is produced and distributed a few weeks later
• October 30, 2001 - The game's final build is produced
• December 3, 2001 - The game is released in the USA with European and Japanese releases following later in the same month

Character behavior

In footage from the E3 demo, Daxter is shown climbing and lying on Jak's head when Jak is swimming. In the final game he remains on Jak's shoulder and shivers.

(Source: IGN)

Daxter has a giant grin in the game's earliest footage, both in gameplay and in some cutscenes. It was replaced with his normal smile by the time of the E3 demo.

(Source: PlayZone)

Characters had simple circular shadows for a large portion of development before they became fully detailed. In the September 2001 demo, lurkers still have these early shadows.

HUD

Eco meter

The eco meter had significantly different designs throughout development. The most notable difference is how in early footage, including the E3 2001 demo, there was a counter in the corner which increased as more clusters were picked up. It's unclear what the purpose of this counter was for but E3 gameplay footage shows Jak picking up a single cluster of blue eco without any significant change, so it's possible that his powers would have increased the more eco was picked up. This footage also shows that when a single cluster was picked up, the whole meter would be filled instead of a small portion. At later stages of development, the meter maintained the same design but removed the counter, with eco clusters filling the same portions as the final game. It was eventually redesigned in the latest stages into how it looks in the final product. In some footage, most likely from the earliest stages, there is no meter.

(Source: PlayStation Underground)

Early meter (c. E3 2001 demo)	Mid-development meter	Final meter
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Health meter

The health meter consistently remained the same throughout known development all the way up to the September 2001 demo. It was given a last minute redesign in time for the final build.

Mid-development meter	September 2001 demo meter	Final meter

Text

The game had a completely different font in much of its earlier stages before changing to the font used in the final game at an unknown point. At a later stage, by which point the final font was used with a white color, the symbols used to represent the buttons (X, square, circle, triangle) was a simple white circle with the symbol inside.

Prerelease font	Prerelease text with final font	Final game

Pause menu

Some of the earliest known footage shows the pause menu consisting solely of the word "Pause" in orange text, similar to how it appears in the cutscenes of the final game. In one screenshot from a much later stage, the menu looks largely the same as the final game but with a decimal percentage counter within a yellow circle and smaller, different looking text for "options". The percentage counter in the September 2001 demo is very similar looking.

Earlier prerelease design	Later prerelease design	September 2001 design	Final design

(Source: Sony E3 2001 Press Conference)

Missions

Drilling lurkers

Concept art by Mark Koerner depicts a group of lurkers using a drill to collect Dark Eco.

In the final game, there is unused text which may describe the corresponding mission titled "STOP THE DRILLING LURKERS" and in the September 2001 demo, an unused audio file with dialogue by Keira appears to describe this mission and suggests that it would have involved the A-Grav Zoomer:

Sound File	Line
	Great flying! Those drillers were gathering a lot of Dark Eco. We have to keep the lurkers away from as much of it as possible. Good work!

It is unclear how far this mission made it in development or what level it would have appeared in but the most likely candidate is Misty Island due to the water-based Zoomer section involving lurkers.

Objects

Dark Eco boxes

Dark Eco boxes went through at least two redesigns. The original boxes had a red outline with a yellow inner color and a black colored Dark Eco symbol. The second known design had a yellow outline with a black interior and white Dark Eco symbol. The final design has a yellow outline, gold inner color and black Dark Eco symbol.

Early design	Mid-development design	Final design

Audio

Most audio, including dialogue, appears to be largely unchanged throughout development, although this may be due to a lack of footage with in-game audio.

In the E3 demo, collecting precursor orbs produces the same audio as the final game but at a lower frequency. In addition, only one audio sample plays like in the September 2001 demo, while two audio samples play in the final game.

Jak's battle grunts from around the time of the E3 demo are also noticeably different. They strongly resemble his voice used in the Japanese version of the game, provided by Shotaro Morikubo, but it is unclear if Morikubo's voice is used in the prerelease footage, his portrayal is based on the voice used in the footage or the similarities are coincidental.

Music

The game's composer, Josh Mancell, has released the music for a number of levels on his SoundCloud from before the tracks were converted into the game's .MUS files. They contain differences to the music used in the final game.

Sound file	Level	Notes
	Sentinel Beach	The music incorporates an instrument that plays in-game near the sentinels.
	Forbidden Jungle	A completely different track was used in the final game, although this music was used as the basis for the fishing game. A very similar version of this music is still present in the September 2001 demo and in prerelease footage from IGN.
	Misty Island	The music incorporates instruments from an unused variation of the final game's theme.
	Rock Village
	Precursor Basin
	Snowy Mountain	The music incorporates an instrument that plays in-game around the snow boulders.
	Gol and Maia's Citadel
		An extended version of the music that plays in the game's ending cutscene.

(Source: Josh Mancell)

Sandover Village

Footage from an approximately early stage depicts text giving the name of the mayor's house at the entrance. The text is still present but unused in the final game along with other location names such as "KEIRA'S GARAGE" and "FISHERMAN'S HOUSE".

(Source: PlayStation Underground)

Footage which appears to be from one of the earliest stages shows the cliff that holds the Precursor Orb container in the final game instead containing a single cluster of blue eco, while the adjacent cliff that contains two Blue Eco clusters in the final game holds the orb container. Footage likely from soon afterwards shows both cliffs with two Blue Eco clusters and the orb container in the same location as the final game.

First footage	Second footage	Final game

(Source: Playscope, Sony E3 2001 Press Conference)

Sentinel Beach

The "Chase the seagulls" mission would have spanned across the level instead of taking place only on the sentinels. They would have started on the beach near where the pelican steals the power cell and next moved to the cliff near where the power cell is retrieved from the pelican. It is unclear where the next location would have been or how many times they would have needed chasing.

(Source: IGN (1) (2))

During one of the earlier stages, there was a bridge which led from Sandover Village to the beach. Also at the level entrance there was no Blue Eco and less boxes.

Prerelease	Final game

(Source: Sony E3 2001 Press Conference)

The balloons above the eco harvesters had a brown color at one stage.

Prerelease	Final game

The metal boxes containing Precursor Orbs appeared in other locations including next to the pelican's nest and on one of the cliffs. This remained the case throughout much of development.

(Source: IGN (1)(2))

At some stage the Green Eco vents did not give Jak full health - three bars plus 50 eco droplets. Instead they would fill health up to three bars but the droplet count would remain unchanged.

(Source: PlayStation Underground)