When you think of Naughty Dog, what games come to mind? Would it be their spin on the post-apocalypse in The Last of Us? Or would it be their cutesy platformer Crash Bandicoot? No matter where you started your gaming journey, you’ve likely heard of this legendary studio. However, they weren’t always pumping out masterpiece after masterpiece.
In fact, their earliest game was a fighting game called Way of the Warrior. It was nothing more than an attempt to capitalize on the success of Mortal Kombat. While it was mostly a clone of a successful franchise, it put Naughty Dog on the map as a serious developer early on. Here’s a brief history of Naughty Dog, all the way from the early days of Jak & Daxter and Crash Bandicoot, to the post-apocalyptic Last of Us!
Once they were acquired by Sony, they traded in their martial arts style game for an adorable little platformer by the name of Crash Bandicoot. Crash was Sony’s mascot at the time and lives on to this day as many gamers’ favorite marsupial. Many gamers at the time were immediately drawn to Crash due to the appealing art style and fun but challenging platforming. Crash went on to have many sequels and spin-offs over the years, but none of them were able to replicate the success of the first few games by Naughty Dog.
Naughty Dog Dominates The PS2 Platform With Jak And Daxter
From there, Naughty Dog created another larger-than-life character, or characters, who were soon to become a huge deal for the Sony brand. Their names were Jak and Daxter. Starting with Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, Naughty Dog took what was great about Crash Bandicoot and made it even better; adding in not only a story (despite how superficial it was), but a semi-open world as well. While Jak himself wasn’t voice-acted, he was especially charming.
The game featured a slew of enemies that come in all forms, which was rather impressive in and of itself at the time. Not to mention, the game reinvented the platforming genre. Platformers following suit could only hope to compare to the stellar mechanics introduced in Jak and Daxter. Daxter himself would have seemed to have influences from Crash Bandicoot based on his orange and animal-like character design. Together, Jak and Daxter made for an iconic duo and many fans miss this golden age of platformers.
Jak II
Move onto the following year, Naughty Dog released Jak II. For the first time, Jak was fully voice-acted. This aspect alone improved the story, giving a more personal and relatable feel to Jak. The game takes place one year after the events of the original, but the voice acting making an appearance became canon when Jak was electrocuted as torture which gave him a mutation of dark eco, a substance that makes him more powerful and vicious.
This is the same dark eco that transformed Daxter into an animal in the first game. With dark eco running through his veins, Jak became an unstoppable force. Jak II also introduced weapons as well as flying vehicles into the series which was an attempt to capture the same success as Grand Theft Auto on the PS2. You may suspect that this combination wouldn’t work in the lore of Jak and Daxter, but it works rather well. Despite being an entirely different type of game, the game itself maintained the stellar platforming mechanics introduced in the original.
Jak 3
Fast forward another year and we get Jak 3. Jak 3 added vehicles into the mix along with death races in the desert during certain sections of the game. These races are no doubt inspired by the early Crash Bandicoot games where some levels consisted of motorcycle races. It dove more into the story, getting even more convoluted to the point where it’s unexplainable; it’s literally stated at the end of Jak 3 that it’s not worth trying to make sense of it all because it simply isn’t going to happen. Talk about meta.
Next came the first spin-off in the series, Jak X: Combat Racing. This game, of course, was influenced by the vehicle races from Jak 3; Naughty Dog thought this aspect by itself warranted its own game. Well, it paid off in the end because it was a rather great racing game. It featured its own story, fitting in with the lore of the series as well as paying homage to some of the earlier games by bringing in various characters that were met throughout the series. There was another spin-off titled Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier but this wasn’t the doing of Naughty Dog and if you ask any Jak and Daxter fan, they’ll deny it ever happened as it just isn’t as good as the previous games.
Naughty Dog Reaches Uncharted Territory
Now we move on to the PS3, where Naughty Dog really came out of their comfort zone. Again, an evolution of their previous games, they came up with the concept for Uncharted. It was the most logical step in the right direction for the studio. It brought the platforming and shooting mechanics from Jak and Daxter and added in some over-the-top action set pieces. These set pieces coupled with some implemented cover-shooting mechanics made for some stellar moments.
While it would be impossible to list every memorable moment in the series, the most notable one is from Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. If you have played the game, you know exactly which one that is; it’s none other than the impeccable train sequence. This segment of the game is what really put Uncharted on the map and made Nathan Drake a force to be reckoned with. Uncharted 2 in general was a huge improvement over the original; Nathan was more fleshed out and a more likable character rather than a Tomb Raider clone.
Let’s jump over to the PS4 generation for a second and talk about Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. The game was the most impressive the game has ever looked graphically; it really showcased what the PS4 is capable of. The game also kept the platforming mechanics from the previous games and improved them in several ways; this includes the introduction of a grappling hook. Seeing a pattern here? With each new entry into a series, Naughty Dog implements more aspects from either the previous entry or an older series altogether. They really wear their history on their sleeve and they’re proud of it, as they should be.
The Last Of Us
Rewind a bit and let’s talk about The Last of Us on the PS3. This is where Naughty Dog really leaped out of their comfort zone as mentioned earlier. They went from platforming and a lighthearted story filled with exploration to a rather serious and uncomfortable tone at times. This dark tone made fans of Naughty Dog a little wary because it seemingly wasn’t as digestible as the previous games from the studio. However, these concerns were alleviated upon its release as players soon discovered that the game was something special. The Last of Us was the first time Naughty Dog put out a masterpiece, which ranked as one the best games of all time on Metacritic. The chemistry between the characters was simply heart-warming and heart-wrenching at the same time.
This was only more evident with the release of The Last of Us Part II. The tone is significantly darker but it’s fitting for the direction of the story. As a continuation of the first game, taking this divisive step forward was the most logical one. The game pushed the PS4 to its limits; the lighting and visual effects were jaw-dropping and they simply outshined every other game on the platform. With the introduction of many new characters, you grow more attached to them than you do in the first game, making many events of the game harder to watch. That’s the appeal of the game, after all.
The Future Of Naughty Dog
No one can tell what Naughty Dog has planned for the future but we can speculate that it might be a new IP based on some rumors floating around the internet. Many fans also wouldn’t mind seeing a part three in The Last of Us series. One thing is for certain, Naughty Dog will continue to deliver exceptional pieces of art time and time again. They just get better with age.
