The original Jak & Daxter (and its two Naughty Dog-developed sequels) are often brought up as masterful games that blended classical 3D platforming with a more modern action-adventure sensibility. With Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon getting the remaster treatment years ago, many fans wondered if that pair could be refreshed in a similar way. Now we know someone tried to make it happen.
Via LinkedIn, Travis Howe, who was a senior animator at Sanzaru Games, a game studio closed by Meta earlier this year that got to work on the Sly Cooper IP in the early 2010s, revealed “a team was assembled to pitch a remaster of Jak & Daxter” years ago. This wasn’t commissioned by Sony and never became a formal proposal. Instead, Howe says it was a passionate “fan pitch” made with the intent of “gaining their permission” to work on a full-scale project.
The 26-second clip shared by Howe (shown on the platform with permission) is a shot-for-shot recreation of a lively cutscene which has the two protagonists having some banter. It’s a good pick to show off what the tentative art direction and style of animation could look like, and it’s highly reminiscent of the Crash and Spyro remaster efforts, to boot. Some might even call such an approach a “remake”… but that’s a discussion for another day.
Senior character artist Tyler Bronis is also credited by Howe, and he later revealed work on the small fan project happened in 2019, which places it right after the huge release of the Crash and Spyro remasters. Now, both developers seem to be looking to take on a new adventure following Sanzaru’s closure, so it makes sense to show the world some of the stuff they worked on at some point.
In fact, Howe is asking Jak & Daxter fans to “like and share” his post to show there’s tangible interest in such a remaster. With Sony and PlayStation seemingly returning to basics in the coming years with safer projects, this is something many veterans would love to see.
