These are various early designs of both Jak (up top) and Daxter (on the bottom).
Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy
- Early designs of Jak were more animalistic than humanoid, showing Native American traits with some assets of royalty. They instead made him humanoid with elf ears. Also at one point this was almost his final design
. - Early designs of Daxter were fox-like, then made as a monkey, and finally as a otter/weasel hybrid named an Ottsel.
- Crates from the Crash Bandicoot games were meant to be utilized in this game as well but the idea was scrapped for being too childish, A move with Andy Gavin is still scratching his head about.
- The Lurker enemies looked much different such as ones for Land◊, Sea◊, and Air◊.
- One initial concept for the game is that you would have been able to play as Daxter. This was scrapped in the final version, and wasn't accomplished until a part in Jak II: Renegade, sparingly in Jak 3, and all throughout the spin-off Daxter.
- Seen in some early prototype footage from IGN, The Eco gauge was going to function differently, possibly with a power-up system or an increased timer, but this was scrapped from the final version.
- According to the game's bible the game's plot was somewhat different from the final version. Most of the characters had no names in development (especially not the leads), and the ending was different as well.
- Gol was originally named Finn (no relation to the character in the sequel).
- Originally Light Eco had a greater presence appearing earlier in the story, but the idea was scrapped leading it to have only a last-minute appearance to defeat the final boss.
- The final boss would have been a fight between two Precursor Robots, but it became the standard boss fight on top of one of the silos in the final version due to time constraints, Also, the robotic final boss looked more spider-like than the patched-up robot in the final. Also, a later draft of the script shows that you would have chased the robot down with the zoomer before fighting it.
- An early draft of the game's story had an ending where Daxter returned back to normal, but this was scrapped to ensure a sequel. It also would have Keira become a sage of Light Eco, but this was also scrapped (possibly for the same reason).
- The game bible shows early concepts and unused ideas that were never used in the final product:
- The bible has an unused design of a lurker enemy with metal armor and a metal shield, This enemy doesn't appear in the game.
- There were originally 5 villages with 20 levels◊ to go to, instead of the 3 villages +1 and 12 levels in the final.
- Rock Village might have had more actual living areas, but those weren't implemented. The Lost Precursor City was more aptly named "Sunken Ruins" and the Precursor Basin was first envisioned as "Rolling Hills".
- The Red Sage's area was a more elaborate village with a Lava Mine and a Yosemite along with the Snowy Mountain level. The area has only 2 levels in the final game, with the Lava Mines being replaced by Spider Cave and the Yosemite being omitted entirely, replaced with two miners who give you 4 power cells for 90 Precursor Orbs each. What's interesting about this is that the Yosemite level can be found in an early beta, but can only be seen via hacking.
- The fourth village would have been Stilt Village which possibly would be the Yellow Sage's Lab (the only sage who doesn't have a dedicated village or lab), and would link into 3 other levels: Precursor Ruins, Savannah, and Cave Under Falls.
- The fifth village, called Underground Village would have linked to an Underground Forest, a Precursor Foundry (located inside a cave) and Gol and Maia's citadel, which was kept in the final game. Said Citadel held the Dark Sage's lab and like in the final product, lead to the final boss.
- Found in some concept art was a mission (possibly in the scrapped Yosemite level) where you stop lurkers from mining for Dark Eco, but this mission was scrapped from the final game.
- There was a mission (also possibly for the scrapped Yosemite level) where you prevent lurkers from collecting gems, but no such mission exists in the final game.
- Originally, the Lurkers were referred to as Odgers but the name was changed possibly due to the film Shrek.
- There are other aspects that are not present in the final but is brought up through unused dialog and text and even some Concept Art:
- There was going to be a Red Eco collector with capped off Red Eco vents, but in the game only the Blue and Yellow Eco vents are present.
Jak II
- Given the implications at the end of the first game, it's not hard to think that Jak II might have been at least considered for a more lighthearted tone like the first game. Of course, if there were any such plans, they were abandoned in favor of a Darker and Edgier sequel that changed a lot.
- As there is a drastically different Haven City song from the demo, it's very likely that Jak II - while not lighthearted, would have had more Dark-Fantasy elements than Cyberpunk ones in the final build. This can be seen in early concepts of Haven City, showing more Medieval themed setpieces.
- Early designs of Jak still had his base design from the first game but much older and even one with a robotic arm.
- In early builds of the game (Including the E3 one) Haven City looked very different from the final with some areas with different appearances, Layout, and not being there at all.
- Also in the final build of Jak II you can find an early version of Spargus City with a much different layout.
- An early concept for the game was time-based puzzles but the concept was scrapped due to technical limitations. A similar idea would be used in the game Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time.
- In early builds of the game, The Peace Maker gun mod was originally named the BOOM-Stick and would have functioned more like a grenade launcher but this was scrapped for being hard to aim and shoot with. It was changed to functioning like a semi-RPG launcher gun.
- According to one magazine, there was a side mission where Jak would compete with some guys in a Jet-Board competition. This was ultimately scrapped from the final game.
- One early demo build has the eco powers from the first game implemented and fully functional as they were before.
- If the Japanese cover and the production bible is anything to go by, there might've been a time where Dark Jak was considered a "Last-Resort" type of ability, since both mentions that Jak would be reduced to one hit point once the transformation wears off. In the final game, not only is Jak no worse for wear once the Dark Eco gauge is drained, but Dark Jak takes less damage from enemy attacks, and one end-game upgrade gives him complete invulnerability while in that state.
Jak 3
- In the early story draft the Dark Maker ship was a planet constructing ship and the Dark Makers were not part of this draft of the story. Also, The story would have the Precursor's intention to be more domineering by pining the three factions against each other for the struggle for survival. Also, Mar would have made an appearance in the ending.
- According to developer commentary, Seem was originally intended to die during the attack of the Monk Temple by the Dark Makers. The hushed, raspy nature of their voice during the cutscene is a remnant of this, as it was recorded when this was still on the table.
- Originally Dark Daxter was a concept they kicked around for this game but he was unintentionally used for the kinda sequel/spin-off Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier.
Jak X
- In the Jak X commentary, they say that the original plan was to make Rayn "more Rubenesque" to (sort of) match her father. They decided to go for the "standard" Naughty Dog female model for her, instead.
- Also according to the Jak 3 Design Bible Rayn would have appeared earlier in the series, Being the former boss of Jinx and the semi-ex-girlfriend of Daxter, possibly appearing in the spin-off game Daxter.
- One plot point that was scrapped was one of the characters having to die due to lack of antidote, The idea was replaced by Rayn Heel–Face Turn ending where she takes over as the new Haven City crime boss.
- Mizo was originally supposed to be a Split Personality, rather than just G.T. Blitz without his disguise. This was dropped because it was deemed too difficult to convey in the specific, short cutscene.
Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier
- The game actually started development at Naughty Dog, who tried developing it alongside Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. However, a combination of frustrations with new technology, difficulty with the Uncharted project and many employees resigning led to Naughty Dog to abandon the project and then hand it to High Impact Games. As noted above, they regret the end results. One wonder what Naughty Dog's version might have been like as a result.
