"For every age there is a time of trial. The rocks faced such a fire before they were the strength beneath our feet. The plants braved vast winds before their roots could give us life. As a sage of considerable years, I have known only one such great ordeal. Yet the hero it created was a champion of all time."
Daxter: A Midquel centered on the events of Daxter's adventures in Haven prior to saving Jak in Jak II, developed by Ready At Dawn.
Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier: The most recent game in the series, developed by High Impact Studios.
Jak and Daxter Collection (HD): A collection of the first 3 Jak and Daxter games remastered for the PS3.
Tropes related to those specific games can be found on their pages.On a side note, the Ratchet & Clank series seems to have a very friendly rivalry (Soundfamiliar?) with this one. Games in both series will liberally borrow some concepts from the other, and will commonly feature cameos and even sometimes playable appearances of the other heroes.Taking it to the next level, SCEA released Playstation Move Heroes, a three-way crossover betweenJak and Daxter, Ratchet & Clank, and Sly Cooper! Watch the trailer here.There is now a HD, 3D rerelease of all three main games (trailer).General
Arbitrary Gun Power: Justified in most examples, since what you're shooting usually has super-strong armor.
Attack Its Weak Point: If you can't find one in any of the bosses, you're not looking hard enough.
Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: The Precursor Robot from the first game, and the Dark Maker robots and the Terraformer from Jak 3.
Awesome, but Impractical: The Vulcan Fury from Jak 2 has a very fast firing rate, long range and great damage, but has no auto-aim and it chews up ammo very fast. It's upgrades in Jak 3, the Arc Wielder and the Needle Lazer are cool to watch, but the AW is surprisingly weak in damage output for the most part (the exception is against robots when upgraded) and while the Needle Lazer uses very strong homing needles, it and it's counterpart chew up ammo just as fast as the Vulcan Fury. The Peace Maker in Jak 2 delivers the most damage out of all the weapons, has the longest range of fire, a homing ability, and a very fast firing rate—but is marred by it's pathetically limited ammo. Same with the Mass Inverter and Supernova, the Peace Maker's upgrades in Jak 3. Dark Jak is very powerful, but it takes so much Dark Eco to trigger it in Jak 2, and lasts such a short time, that it's usually easier just to shoot people—fortunately, Jak 3 allows you to trigger it any time as long as you have just a little bit of Dark Eco in your meter—but you'll still need a big meter full of it to use Dark Jak's stronger abilities. Light Jak's time slowdown and healing ability is also very useful, but these moves drain the Light Eco meter so quickly that it's best to use them as a last resort outside of their situational uses.
Bag of Holding: Not quite as a gameplay mechanic, but implied in TPL, as Daxter stuffs the Sculptor's Muse in Jak's backpack; she's quite a bit larger than the thing.
Benevolent Architecture: Who exactly puts all those Eco vents and Green Eco crystal formations just where Jak needs them?
Can't say anything about the vents in TPL, but as for the Light and Dark Eco vents in the Haven City ruins in Jak 3, it could have been Mar.
Big Damn Fire Exit: The conspicuously giant warpgate located in the the Terraformer storage part of the Dark Maker ship is the way Jak and Dax survive the subsequent destruction of it.
In Jak II, this is how the duo escape the destruction of the Ammo Dump early in the game.
Border Patrol: The instant death Lurker Shark in TPL, a Krimzon Guard robot in Jak II, and a giant tentacle in Jak 3.
Bragging Rights Reward: Getting enough skull gems to get the Dark Giant power before beating Metal Kor is very rare, and getting all 286 Precursor Orbs in Jak 2 is also a challenge for it's own sake. Also done in Jak X, as beating Hero Mode gets you green turbo online.
Breaking the Fourth Wall: "All right, cut! That's it, where's the director?! I can't work like this!"
GAME RIGHTS?!
"This isn't a game..." Cue our protagonists looking directly at the player in confusion.
Camera Screw: One of the biggest problems with TLF and Jak II.
Cut Scene / Machinima: Hours worth. Usually no more than five minutes apiece.
Damn You, Muscle Memory: Try switching between J&D and Ratchet & Clank without messing up the controls. Also, Jak 3 had the option to have the camera controls inverted or not. Jak 2 did not.
Deflector Shields: Appeared in Jak 3 in the form of one of Jak's Light Eco powers and as the main weapon of the Dark Makers; appeared in Jak X in the form of a Red Eco pickup; appeared in TLF in the form of a Green Eco Beehive Barrier.
Double Jump: Unabashedly. You can also use a spin kick to stay airborne even longer.
Easter Egg: Most things that can be unlocked with the Precursor Orbs.
Escort Mission: Made even worse by the people you're escorting being utter morons. Ironically, the Kid, who is a toddler, is the least likely to get caught.
Even more so in Jak II, due to many unremoved bugs, camera being the least offender. For example: often your transformation into Dark Jak will get interrupted by an enemy's shot, transforming you back, and making you vulnerable for about 3 seconds and a good target.
Forced Tutorial: These are usually integrated into the games (escape from prison, win the Arena fight), though the first game has one character literally forcing the heroes to "get some practice" under threat of Baleful Polymorph.
Grimy Water: Other than some locales such as Boggy Swamp in J&D and The Dead City in Jak 2, you'll be fine in the water. Mostly it's the Dark Eco you've gotta watch out for.
Ground Pound: Jak can jump into the air and slam his fist against the ground. Must hurt.
When timed properly, Jak can High Jump directly from a Ground Pound by jumping just as his fists connect. The guy has CRAZY upper body strength.
Guide Dang It: Some of the power cells can fall under this.
Hit Points: You get four in the first game, eight in the second, and end up with sixteen by the end of the third.
Unfortunately, most attacks that enemies make in Jak II take away at least two health blips, technically giving you only four hit points (This may be one of the reasons Jak II was so friggin hard). There are enemies that only do one blip of damage though, but they are easy to kill.
Hot Coffee Minigame: Parodied/lampshaded. Since Jak X came out in 2005, the same year as the infamous "Hot Coffee" GTA scandal, Naughty Dog threw together a joke unlockable. A 30-second video entitled "Hot Coffee" which shows Daxter and Tess flirting... and drinking coffee. Daxter notices the player watching them near the end and indignantly yells "What?!" while Tess smiles coyly.
Interface Spoiler: In the seconds and third games. The empty Light Eco meter next to the Dark one that is unlocked from the start is particularly obvious. Arguably, the weapon selection display is one as well (four categories of weapon, with three individual weapons in each in the latter game).
Also, the 4th to last boss in TLF (that Deep Purple monkey thing), that can use blue eco to slow down time just like you. Chances that you'll not notice this the first time are quite high. And even when you'll get it, the boss will still be very hard to take down.
Jak X is to racing games what Jak II is to platform games.
Nitro Boost: Blue Eco temporarily increased Jak's speed both on foot and while driving the zoomer in the first game. Turbo powerups could be picked up in the zoomer races in Jak 2 and the Wasteland driving missions in Jak 3, and blue eco showed up again in Jak X.
No Cutscene Inventory Inertia: Averted in Jak 3, mostly because you usually get equipment in cutscenes. Played straight in TLF though.
No OSHA Compliance: Gol and Maia's Citadel is full of rickety wooden walkways, floating Precursor gadgets, and bronze platforms, and it's all held over a huge Bottomless Pit. And then there's the Praxis Palace and the Weapons Lab. The Praxis Palace has a huge pit in both of it's machinery rooms, and the Weapons Lab is filled with glowing green toxic goo.
One-Winged Angel: Metal Kor reverting to his real form in Jak II, as well as any time Jak turns into Dark Jak and Light Jak.
Optional Traffic Laws: As long as you don't hit one of them, the Krimzon Guard couldn't care less how many civilians you plow into. And neither does the Freedom League, for that matter.
Super Drowning Skills: For Jak, this was caused by Border Patrol (except in TLF, when it's completely unjustified). For Daxter, this is because he can't swim...despite supposedly being half-otter (and being shown swimming in a cutscene in Jak 3). Also, all enemies die instantly when knocked into deep water, even the ones that came out of the water in the first place.
Suspiciously Similar Song: The Haven City Guard Pursuit theme has a melody oddly similar to Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart.
In Jak 3, after you reach the end the sewer you access within North Town, the pipes you hop across to reach the part of the sewer that leads you into the Metal Head side of the city will be constantly shooting out poisonous gas. Even if you cheat and use invincibility to bypass them, the door leading to that part of the sewer won't open, thus preventing any sequence breaking.
In Jak II, it's actually possible to access and walk around in Sandover Village from the opening cutscene—it was fully programmed in, and can be accessed via a harmless menu glitch. Think they didn't want you to find it? Well, they were kind enough to leave Krimzon Guard crates laying around to tell you otherwise.
Timed Mission: "Very Strict" from 2 onwards. To the point were some of the ring challenges start you off with 9 seconds Makes you wonder why the timers even had a 10-minute marker...
Victory Pose: After getting a Power Cell in the first game. Lampshaded at the beginning of Jak II.
Videogame Cruelty Potential: Starting in Jak II, you can indiscriminately slaughter civilians, knock Krimzon Guard into the water to drown, and even trick their hoverbike riders into slamming into walls or the back of your car, causing them to crash and die.
Don't forget in Jak 3 that you can start huge shootouts with the wastelanders. Get one to start shooting at you, get that one to accidentally hit someone else...
Weak Turret Gun: In Jak X, the only way to destroy a turret gun is to drive into it (of course, you're always in a car, so...). However, you receive no collateral damage for doing so, nor do you slow down.
Bad Future: Subverted in that the future is actually the present in this case. It's more a case of a Good Past.
Blood Sport: The Arena Battles in Jak 3 are officially citizenship tests, but also double as Gladiator Games challenges. Combat Racing in Jak X.
Call a Smeerp a "Rabbit": The characters' Pointy Ears are never commented upon, and they have occasionally been outright referred to as humans. A good chunk of the Fandom still insists on calling them elves.
The subheading for the Japanese release of TLF is actually "Elf to Itachi no Daibouken" (The Elf and Weasel's Big Adventure), so at least in one language, they're officially elves.
Chaos Architecture: Haven City significantly changes between Jak II and 3, to the point where it's ridiculous—while the docks are the same, the water slums have been completely overhauled, the sewers are nothing like the ones in Jak II, and the regular slums have had some slight changes made. All in the span of a year, in the midst of a war, after the palace has collapsed.
Crapsack World: Starting in Jak II, many areas in the wilderness are infested by the Metal Heads, who have destroyed most settlements made by humanity. Haven City is safe from the Metal Heads until the shield walls shut down, but it's choking with pollution, full of crime and poverty, and it's ruled with an iron fist by Baron Praxis. In Jak 3, Haven City takes a turn for the worse, as much of the northern part of town is destroyed when the palace is shot down, and the slums have been wrecked by the Metal Heads, who have created an organic hive in the northern farm area. On top of that, the Krimzon Guard Robots conquered the factories and created a floating base, leaving only the Port and the New Town inhabited. The Wasteland on the other hand is a massive unforgiving desert with some pretty bad sandstorms, but Spargus is not quite that bad, though the inhabitants are all armed with guns and short tempers. By Jak X, things get much better for Haven City, as the slums and industrial areas are once again free, but the newly introduced Kras City is far more sleazy and corrupt than Haven City ever used to be, and the frosty Icelands are even more desolate than the Wasteland.
Cypher Language: The Precursor markings actually mean something, and there are translation guides online.
The Gods Must Be Lazy: Why the hell are the Precursors, the "most powerful beings in the universe," relying on a mortal man (whose amazingness was quite possibly given to him by the Precursors) to solve their problems? Commented on by Daxter in the third game, right before The Reveal.
Green Rocks: Eco. Also available in Red, Yellow, Blue, Dark, and Light.
Our Elves Are Different: The characters have elf-ears but seem to be otherwise no different from humans, and are even referred to as "humans" on more than one occasion.
Pointy Ears: Subverted. The characters' ears aren't used to indicate that they are inhuman or supernatural.
Otters and weasels belong to the same zoological family, and could plausibly crossbreed. Same goes for yaks and cows. Monkaws, uh...you're on your own.
Oh My Gods!: "By the Precursors" seems to be Samos' stand-in for "Oh my God." Mar's name is also used as an oath, with characters exclaiming "Thank Mar you're here!"
Interestingly averted at the end of Jak 3 and Jak X, when Jak famously says "Oh my God." Escpecially considering that in 3 he was standing before his Gods.
Physical Gods / Powers That Be: The Precursors, again. They (supposedly) all died out before even the first game, and they were stated to be an ancient, super-advanced race. However, they are often invoked as if they were gods (see above), and the second game hints at their true nature. The third game finally out-and-out confirms it.
Scenery Gorn: The ruined areas of Haven City in Jak 3. What's even more unnerving is that there are parts of the ruined city that can be recognized from Jak II, making the point (that this place really has gone to Hell in a handbasket) hit that closer to home.
Steampunk: The Lava Tube and Gol and Maia's Citadel in the first game qualify. Later, the sequels toned down on the Steampunk-Style technology, going for a more Cyberpunk look.
Unusually Uninteresting Sight: The Krimzon Guards don't notice you until you hit one of them, or if you're taking on a mission against them.
Plus, no one seems bothered by the fact that Daxter is a talking rodentmuskrat ottsel who rides on Jak's shoulder.
Used Future: Haven City features grungy industrial areas, rusty floating vehicles, and badly polluted waters, despite being a futuristic city. The surrounding areas aren't much better, either, as the Metal Heads have taken over.
More Dakka: The Morph Gun (especially its Jak 3 upgrades) and the Gunstaff.
And then there's the Vulcan Cannon weapon for planes in The Lost Frontier, which sprays a cloud of bullets in whatever direction you point it. Loaded onto the Gunship, which has five weapon mounts per wing, and you have the most dakka the series has seen so far.
Recursive Ammo / Macross Missile Massacre: The Apocalypse aircraft weapon in The Lost Frontier fires a single missile that splits into three smaller warheads, each of which splits further into three more missiles for a total of nine warheads per single shot. Needless to say, it doesn't take long to clear the airspace around you when using this weapon.
On a smaller scale, the Blast Bots from Jak II and Jak 3.
Swiss Army Gun / Weapon: The Morph Gun has a shotgun, a rifle, a sub-machine gun, a lightning gun, lightning-ball gun, an RPG launcher, a shockwave generator, a Reflecting Laser, a drone launcher, an Anti-Gravity generator, a homing-dart gun and a mini-nuke.
The Gunstaff from TLF can be used in melee and comes with the Scatter Gun (now called Concussor Gun), the Blaster, and the Vulcan Fury. It comes with something like the Peace Maker, but this Troper finds it to be infinitely less useful.
Aristocrats Are Evil: Baron Praxis, Count Veger and Duke Skyheed. Notice that Ashelin (who is not referred to with a title) is not evil. But averted with King Damas who's a goodie through and through.
Meaningful Titles: Played straight with Praxis and Veger, subverted with Skyheed.
Badass Biker: Also Jak, whenever he rides a Zoomer, at least
Badass Boast: Daxter does this a lot. Too bad he's a three-foot-tall rodent mustelid.
Badass Bystander: The entire population of Spargus. Justified since they are all either banished from Haven for some horrible crimes, or else descended from people who were. Plus, it's a requirement: fail to kick ass in the Arena and you either die or get thrown out into the harsh Wasteland... and die.
Future Badass: Of a sort: We see that little Jak was a sweet little toddler. Adult Jak (as of the sequel) however, is a gun-toting, ass-kicking warrior.
As an extension, any Precursor has the potential to be this.
The So-Called Coward: Daxter. Though he's never expressly called a coward, this is the basic perception of him, both by the people in game and the fans.
Took a Level in Badass: Both Jak and Daxter go through this. Jak's is abrupt and noticeable while Daxter's is subtle and usually ignored.
Can't Hold His Liquor: Daxter gets drunk off his ass in Jak II. Possibly justified since 1) he's small, and 2) he chugged a lot of booze in less than a minute. He seems to have learned his lesson, as we don't see him get drunk again. Dax also gets props from this Troper for sobering up pretty quickly (and with no hangover, either!) He gets an Alcohol Hic while intoxicated as well.
Character Development: Most everyone goes through this, with Jak's major personality shift in Jak II being the most obvious change. Daxter matures throughout the course of the series less obviously, but it can be seen when you look carefully.
For example, in earlier games, Daxter was a notoriously bad flirt. In later games, Daxter's flirting is toned down to be more joking than serious, and it's practically nonexistent by Jak X: though he does occasionally call his female friends "baby" when speaking to them, he doesn't outright flirt.
Although it may help given that he now has a girlfriend by that point.
Chekhov's Gunman: The Kid is the heir to the throne of Haven City, but that's not why he's important. It's because he's Jak.
Count Veger was mostly responsible for kicking Jak out of Haven City, but there's nothing really personal between them... except for the fact that Veger knew all along that Jak was Damas's son, and in fact separated the two of them in the first place.
Kor is one of the first people you meet in Jak II. Guess who turns out to be the Big Bad?
Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: The first game's Big Bads, Gol and Maia Acheron, are implied to still be alive at the game's end, but they never reappear. Brutter from Jak II disappears in Jak 3 onwards (though he made a brief appearance in the Daxter spinoff) and the Crocadog disappears completely.
Also happens to Vin, who appears in one mission in Jak 3 and vanishes from the series (even after Jak promises to "keep in touch"). Veger, also, despite being one of the only villains to not die, doesn't reappear again. Popular fan theory says that he got eaten or killed by Kleiver between Jak 3 and Jak X.
Daddy's Girl: Keira, and she's not happy about it.
The Dandy: Daxter definitely cares more about his looks than you'd expect a Baleful Polymorph to. He's also made laudatory comments on Razer and the Sky Pirates' outfits, and complained about the state of his claws, one time going so far to say that he needed a manicure (of course, that was said in TLF, so...)
Fat Bastard: Krew and Kleiver, though the latter wasn't as ridiculously obese.
Or as much of a bastard.
Faux Action Girl: TLF tried to make Keira into an Action Girl, but it failed miserably by making her single badass moment end with her getting kidnapped!
First Girl Wins / Victorious Childhood Friend: Keira was Jak's first love, though in Jak 3, Ashelin was given the role as love interest. This was fixed in Jak X, possibly due to fan outrage.
Foreshadowing / Ironic Echo: One of the Baron's announcements in Jak II: "I am still in control! And I assure you; There's absolutely no Metal Heads in the city. Anyone who contradicts this fact will be shot." Later on the Baron gets killed by an energy blast, courtesy of Metal Kor.
Glowing Eyes of Doom: Although Light Jak's eyes glow, the "doom" part comes from the fact that he can use the Morph Gun in that mode, not from the Light powers themselves.
In fact, he is weasel, though — otters and weasels (Daxter's constituent beasts) are both from the family Mustelidae, from the Latin word "mustela" meaning "weasel" (which aren't even related to rats, to Daxter's continuing chagrin).
I Call It Vera: Krew likes weapons a little (okay, a lot) too much.
Knife Nut: Minor example in Torn (the Underground symbol on the map is actually his knife). Razer's also pretty handy with that butterfly knife of his.
Knight Templar: Count Veger, a strong supporter of Light Eco research and revealed to be one of the main villains of the overall series. The official strategy guide has a pretty apt description: "Although in some ways this guy means well, he is going about it in all the wrong ways and for all the wrong reasons. Too much of a good thing is bad, and Veger is as bad as they get!"
Large Ham: The Baron. His Propaganda Machine announcements are so hammily insistent on upkeeping the totalarian atmosphere of the second game that they border on self-parody.
The Load: Daxter. Seriously, he does nothing to help Jak in the first game. This started going away with Jak 2, as he helped Jak with some things time and time again, and pretty much gone by Jak 3.
Locked Out of the Loop: Rayn isn't happy when she finds out that Jak killed her father. "You knew? You ALL knew, didn't you?!"'
Luke, I Am Your Father: Sadly, Jak figured it out seconds before Damas died, and didn't get a chance to tell him.
Meaningful Name: "Samos" is an island in Greece known for its fertility; the character is the tree-hugging Sage of Green Eco.
The major city of the Wasteland continent, Spargus, is clearly a play on the famous Sparta. Spargus even has limits on 'citizenship', because only people who survive three different marathon deathmatches are considered citizens.
Continuing the Ancient Greece theme, the two known kings of Haven (Tyrant Praxis, who usurped King Damas) have remarkably similar names to a few Spartan kings [1] and Athenian archons [2].
Every member of Mizo's gang is named after a sharp object: Razer (razor), Cutter and Edje (edgy) are the obvious ones; a shiv is any type of improvised, bladed weapon (common in prisons), and a mizo is a type of Bowie knife. Kleiver (cleaver), though not originally a gang member, also fits in.
Ms. Fanservice: Even amongst Keira, Tess and Maia, Ashelin still stands out as the most fanservicely of the women in this game.
Moment Killer: Daxter did this to Jak and Keira twice. Jak got his revenge eventually.
Momma's Boy: Possibly Sig. "She'd give me a warm glass of yakow milk... and my little Poopsie Bear..."
Multicolored Hair: Jak's hair has green roots. Daxter (when he was human) had blond roots that turned orange, then red. Keira's is green with blue roots.
My Nayme Is...: Jak, Erol, Ximon, Kleiver, Razer, Rayn...
The Nicknamer: Jinx (and Daxter, though he's usually derogatory)
One of the Boys: Keira's oldest (and presumably closest) friends are Jak and Daxter, and she likes to tinker with machines.
Only One Name: Everyone. Sometimes it's hard to tell whether someone is referred to on a Last Name Basis or not.
Since most names in this series are uncommon/alternatively spelled real names, it stands to reason that at least Veger is on a Last Name Basis with the rest of the cast.
Averted in the first game, when Samos refers to the great sage of Dark Eco as Gol Acheron. It's assumed that his sister Maia shares this surname.
Overprotective Dad: Samos, though it's perfectly reasonable: he wants his daughter to stay in the garage fixing cars, not out on the track getting shot at.
Parental Abandonment: Most characters never mention their parents (but given that the world is war-torn and they're all adults, that's excusable). One intriguing example is Daxter's parentage: they've never been mentioned or seen, so most fans believe that he's an orphan.
Missing Mom: There are five fathers in the series (Samos, Damas, Krew, Osmo, and Praxis) but mothers are only mentioned three times: Samos' comment about Keira being "just like her mother" and Sig's "my momma used to read me bedtime stories..." bit, and Kleiver's sarcastic "No, I'm conversing with me sweet departed mum."
Four times actually. Krew mentions his mom, to the point where he's almost a Momma's Boy.
Phlebotinum Rebel: Jak, after being involuntarily experimented on during the two years between the first and second games.
Pirate Girl: A... slightly drunk... lady pirate... is included in Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier. No, she only appears once and is just a background character.
Quick Draw: Jak (and Daxter, when Jak's on the Zoomer)
Rebel Leader: Torn. And the Shadow, though he (justifiably) spends a lot of his time not doing anything.
Rebellious Princess: Ashelin takes this to extremes by being a double agent for the Underground, who is working to topple the Baron's rule.
Redheaded Hero: Daxter might count; for the three minutes we see him in human form in TPL, he has red hair. (And his fur is orange with red points...)
The Rival: Errol fills this role for Jak in Jak II and is of the Arch-Enemy variety. Pecker becomes Daxter's rival in the same game, though they're only slightly less violent towards each other.
Sickeningly Sweethearts: Daxter and Tess. The smooching is pretty much non-existent thanks to the species difference, but the rest of the symptoms are there (baby talk, stupid nicknames, cuddling).
So one can only imagine how bad it got once the species difference was taken out of the equation.
Side Kick: If you don't know who fits this Trope, you fail life.
Although Daxter does eventually become The Hero in his own right, especially in Daxter.
Superpowered Evil Side: Dark Jak in the second game. The third adds a Superpowered "Good" Side to contrast. In TLF, Daxter gets a Dark mode too. Considering Precursors that are overexposed to Dark Eco become Dark Makers, this has the potential to be quite an interesting development as the series continues.
Surfer Dude: Ximon in Daxter, also arguably the Sculptor from TPL. One of the Precursors in Jak 3.
Talking Animal: Daxter and the rest of the ottsels, too.
Hell, basically everyone. Ashelin's eyes are jade, Cutter's are lichen, Keira's are sage, Rayn's are amber, Razer's are lime, Sig's are viridian, and Jak and Daxter have cerulean eyes.
The Man Behind the Man: Baron Praxis initially starts off as the Big Bad of Jak II, until it's revealed that the Metal Head Leader, AKA Kor is the one pulling the strings, forcing the Baron to trade large amounts of eco just to keep the Metal Heads out of Haven City.
Token Minority: Sig. The tokenism here has gotten ridiculous as not only is he the only black member of the main cast, he's apparently the only black guy on the entire freaking planet.
True Companions: Exactly how many of the main characters are these depends on who you ask, but the general consensus (judging from the group as shown in Jak X) is that Jak, Daxter, Keira, Samos, Torn, Ashelin, and Sig are the "official" party.
Twitchy Eye: Veger gets one when the Precursors are revealed to be ottsels.
Tyrant Takes The Helm: Both played straight and averted with Praxis, who turns Haven City into an oppressive police state, but is shown towards the end of Jak II to genuinely care for the citizens he's in charge of (perhaps a little too much).
Damas doesn't fit this trope: he is clearly the biggest badass in Spargus and, therefore, its king, and he makes it clear that it's either HIS way, or the highway to death by exposure.
A better example might be Kor, who before it was revealed that he was the Metal Head leader and still in human guise, seemed to have made a place among the rebel forces by being old and a Reasonable Authority Figure.
Exposed to the Elements: Jak and company overheat in the intro to Jak 3. His wardrobe is altered to make it more suitable.
Eyepatch of Power: Baron Praxis has a metal plate covering one of his eyes. Sig has what appears to be either a bionic eye or a fancy lens of some kind.
Fashionable Asymmetry: Jak's single shoulder pad and triple-strapped backpack come to mind, as well as his goggles (one lens doesn't even appear to be see-through!).
Goggles Do Nothing: Averted with Jak's goggles. In the first game they come in handy to aim through channeling yellow eco; in the third game he wears them while out in the desert to keep the sand from getting in his eyes. Played straight with Keira's and Daxter's goggles.
Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: The Lurkers are dressed like this, and Daxter becomes this (the half-dressed part, anyways) at the end of Jak 3.
Limited Wardrobe: Everyone has either one or two outfits, period (except Jak, who gets a new outfit every game).
Magic Pants: When Daxter changes into his eight-foot-tall Superpowered Evil Side, his goggles and gloves change size too, and his pants are only shredded from the knees down... and when he goes back to normal, his pants are magically restored!
Possibly justified in that his pants are literally magic.
Shoulders of Doom: Damas and several other Wastelanders have obnoxiously large/spiky shoulder pads.
Errol has a single large mechanical shoulder for his single large mechanical arm in Jak 3.
Sleeves Are for Wimps: Jak had his sleeves removed in the beginning of Jak 3. Torn and Sig have sleeveless shirts in Jak X. Sig might always have that shirt on, but it's difficult to tell underneath all the armor he usually wears.
Ashelin, the only female Krimzon Guard we see, wears a "uniform" like this.
And then there's women NPCs in Haven City that have skirts with cutaway holes in the side, partially revealing their bare legs.
Miscellaneous
Tropes that don't fit or haven't been sorted into the other folders.
Almost Kiss: A Running Gag. Lampshaded by Daxter, the cause of most of them, in Jak X: "Would ya kiss her already?! Sheesh!"
BFG: Jak's Morph Gun, particularly the Peace Maker in Jak 2 and 3 and the Super Nova in Jak 3. Jak's Gunstaff counts, too, considering it's almost as big as he is.
Big Bad: One for each game, but Count Veger is considered the main one by many because he was responsible for nearly everything that went wrong in the heroes' lives.
Continuity Nod: The Power Cells from the first game make a reappearance in Jak 3 as an artifact, and in Jak X.
A more subtle one: on the Propaganda Machines in Jak II, Praxis mentions bulldozing several sections of the city for renovation. Come Jak 3, a large chunk of the city has indeed been demolished and rebuilt from the ground up.
Darker and Edgier: The generally cheerful mood of the first game takes a nosedive a minute into the second, in which Jak is captured by the bad guys and tortured and experimented upon for two years. One of the rare examples where this trope works.
Even Evil Has Standards: There's a scene in Daxter where Veger is arguing with Erol against the Dark Warrior Program, saying straight-up that it's a bad idea.
Facepalm: Jak does this in Jak II while Daxter is harassing the Shadow.
Daxter gets at least one as well.
Family Business: Rayn can't escape her father's criminal dealings.
Idiot Ball: There's a scene in TLF where Daxter sees a machine with brightly colored buttons and decides it's a candy machine.
Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: The Krimzon Guard, minus Ashelin. Good thing she's a good guy. Hell, they aim so bad that moving is more likely to get you hurt.
However, once they become the Freedom League, they suddenly learn how to shoot. One of the rare examples where the good guys are better...
Or the Krimzon Guard training program was just that bad.
Interspecies Romance: Daxter and Tess. Thankfully, they don't actually do anything until Tess gets turned into an ottsel.
Men Are the Expendable Gender: In TLF, we see people of both genders wandering around Aeropa in the beginning. However, once it's revealed that they're Always Chaotic Evil, they all become identical Mooks... and male. In addition, there are no female Krimzon Guards other than Ashelin (who doesn't die), and no other female in the series dies (unless YOU do it, but that doesn't count).
Mundane Wish: After having been turned into an ottsel in the beginning of the first game, Daxter gets his chance to turn back into a humanoid in the ending for Jak 3 as the Precursors offer to grant him a wish. He wishes for a comfortable pair of pants.
Oh Crap: In Jak X, when Jak (and the player) realizes that Jak's weapons have been sabotaged. In the middle of the race. One can only imagine Daxter's reaction...
Veger has a moment like this in Jak 3 seconds before his Karmic Transformation, as if the Universe was just waiting for him to put two and two together.
Sequel Hook: "I'm done with adventures." You wish, Jak.
Share the Male Pain: The end of Jak X gives us this little exchange, as the group prepares to face off against Mizo's gang in the race for their lives.
Shout Out: There's a Ratchet & Clank poster on one of the monitors in Haven City. Samos's house in the first game contains one of the piranha plants from Crash Bandicoot.
Early in TLF, during the first mission with the Hellcat, Daxter yells "Do a barrel roll! Try a somersault!" It's hard to believe that was unintentional.
Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Slid from one end all the way to the other in less than five minutes at the start of the second game, migrating slowly back toward the middle as that game (and its sequel, Jak 3) progressed. The world is ultimately not a Sick Sad World, but it's no picnic, either.
Smart Ball: Daxter isn't exactly dumb, but the amount of times he picks this up makes one wonder if he qualifies as a Ditzy Genius. He's broken into high-security areas crawling with Mooks, disarmed bombs, piloted rockets, driven vehicles with no previous experience, and has run a business since he was seventeen, also without experience (or schooling, for that matter).
Stay In The Garage: Samos essentially says this to Keira in Jak X, when he finds out that she wants to be a racer and not just the mechanic. The exact wording was "a woman's place is in the garage fixing cars!" Good thing Ashelin wasn't around to hear that...
Techno Babble: Tess spits out a run-on sentence about one of her BFGs in Jak 3. Cue shot of Jak and Daxter with a "Bwuh?" look on their faces.
Vin also launches into an impressive spiel at one point.
Daxter: Did you understand a word he said?
Team Hand Stack: The team at the end of Jak X stacks hands right before the final race.
Three Act Structure: Jak II, Jak 3, and TLF, though the latter changes the formula slightly in that a boss fight doesn't mark the ends of the first and second acts.
Vader Breath: Obviously all that Dark Eco experimentation couldn't have been good for Gol's lungs.
Visible Silence: At one point in Daxter, Ximon makes a kind of "uuhhhh..." sound, which the subtitles show as "..."
What Could Have Been: 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. WHY?!
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.
What Measure Is a Mook?: Jak and Daxter (yes, Daxter is guilty of this too) can shoot/punch/maim hundreds of Krimzon Guards and Aeropans to death, but they're still considered heroes? The latter class of mooks makes this incredibly uncomfortable, since their only crime is not being strong enough to retain their own minds after Dark Eco experimentation, though supposedly they all went along with it of their own accord. The MST3K Mantra is especially necessary here.
Wire Dilemma: Parodied in a cutscene near the end of Jak II. Daxter crawls into the Piercer Bomb in order to get the Precursor Stone back and, theoretically, disarm it. He says things like "Should I clip the blue wire?" before just deciding to break a few more things to see if anything comes loose. It works. The Lost Frontier also has him disarming missiles by ripping wires and such out.
Word Of God / All There in the Manual: Commentary in Jak 3 refers to Seem as a "she." Also, the official ages (and heights, weights, and eye colors) of many of the main characters were given in Jak X, in their driver profiles.
Writers Cannot Do Math: In Jak X, it's confirmed that Jak and Keira are only one year apart. So, young Jak would have had to be at most one year old when he and young Samos went back in time. However, Baron Praxis was in charge of Haven City for at least two years, so Jak would have to have been at least that old by the time he went back in time. A common fan theory was that Keira was adopted, but that's been debunked since Samos mentioned that she was "just like her mother." The new theory is that Keira's mother was single and married Samos. If she is indeed Samos' biological daughter, as the series seems to treat her, then it falls under this trope.
You Killed My Father: Rare version of the hero killing an ally's father: Rayn is not happy when she finds out Jak killed Krew. She forgives him later, though.
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alternative title(s): Jak And Daxter; Jak And Daxter
.There is now a HD, 3D rerelease of all three main games (trailer
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