Jak and Daxter and Jak 2 are now natively playable on PC with OpenGOAL

Jak and Daxter and Jak 2 receive unofficial PC ports thanks to OpenGOAL

Let’s face it. As much as we would love to see it, Sony are unlikely to ever bring the Jak and Daxter series to PC. Thankfully, we don’t need them to do that, as the developers behind OpenGOAL are doing that work for them by creating native PC versions of Naughty Dog’s PS2-era classics.

The aim of OpenGOAL is to reverse-engineer Naughty Dog’s GOAL (Game Oriented Assembly Lisp) programming language. By doing this, the OpenGOAL team can then use the language to decompile Naughty Dog’s main series Jak and Dexter games. This will allow the team to natively port the series to PC, and create modified content for the series.

So far, OpenGOAL can be used to decompile and recompile Jak and Daxter, and Jak 2 for PC. This has made the game playable on Windows PCs, Linux, and Intel-powered Macs. On PC, both games are now playable on PC with support for higher screen resolutions and high framerates than the game’s original PS2 versions. Work on Jak 3 support within OpenGOAL is ongoing.

Note that OpenGOAL does not make the Jak and Daxter series playable on PC through emulation. OpenGOAL decompiles the games and recompiles them for PC, creating native PC versions. Other PlayStation classics, like the Sly Cooper franchise, are also fully playable on PC, but only though emulation.

Is this legal?

Yes, using OpenGOAL to play Jak and Daxter on PC is legal. OpenGOAL requires users to utilise their own game ISO files to create playable PC versions of Jak and Daxter and Jak 2. This means that you need to own a copy of each game to make them playable on PC.

Using OpenGOAL, gamers decompile and recompile their own copies of Jak and Daxter for personal use. This is perfectly legal. It is this legal footing that has allowed PC ports of many classic games to be created in recent years, including Perfect Dark (N64), Super Mario 64, and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

Is Jak 3 and Jak X: Combat Racing coming to PC through OpenGOAL?

Currently, both Jak and Daxter: and Jak 2 are fully playable though OpenGOAL. Improvements for both games will come with future OpenGOAL updates, and Jak 3 support is in the works. Currently, the OpenGOAL team are unsure if they will work on Jak X: Combat Racing. Jak X is a spin-off game, and is not considered a true sequel to Jak 3. This makes the game less interesting to many gamers, though the OpenGOAL team may choose to support it anyway.

Jak and Daxter fans can learn more about the OpenGOAL project here.

You can join the discussion on OpenGOAL making Jak and Daxter and Jak 2 natively playable on PC on the OC3D Forums.