If Naughty Dog and Sony Interactive Entertainment don’t care about the past (because, let’s face it, the studio is busy with The Last of Us these days…), then it’s up to the fans to make the impossible possible…

So OpenGOAL is behind the project. The name may be familiar to Jak (Jak & Daxter) fans, as they decompiled the code for the first Jak & Daxter to create a PC remake, which we may have written about in the past. They have also been working on porting the second part for some time. It’s a project that mimics the original code language, GOAL, to make as native and authentic a port as possible, with the same gameplay, slightly nicer visuals and better performance.

The fans have achieved more than that. Though still experimental, the PC conversion of the first two Jak’s supports a higher framerate, but some QoL (quality of life) features have also been implemented. There’s even support for custom levels in the two ports, but it’s still very rudimentary, so it’s best to wait and see (but don’t be surprised if fully custom hacks can be created later, which could breathe new life into the franchise).

How do I run the port(s)? You can find the link to the launcher in the top right corner of the OpenGOAL website. You’ll also need a PS2 copy of the game (an image file is fine, so you don’t need to scrub the disc). From there you can step by step convert the PS2 code of the game into locally executable (and NOT emulated!) PC code, so it’s not just a matter of buying a PCSX2 emulator and dropping the disc/image file into it, it’s much more than that.

Two videos have been embedded; the second, although uploaded a few months ago, explains in detail how to get OpenGOAL up and running. And it’s worth it, because Naughty Dog and Sony are not going to take a single look at one of the bigger PS2 franchises…

Source: WCCFTech