Low Eco

The yellow eco used at final boss is the last hurdle for Low Eco to become No Eco.

Low eco is a speedrun category in Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy that restricts the player to using the lowest possible amount of eco needed to completed the game.

The Low Eco category is known for its utilization of difficult and unorthodox strategies and techniques that aren't found in any other category. It scrutinizes the runner's true knowledge of the game and puts their abilities to the test.

Rules

The currently listed rules for Low Eco are as follows:

Beat the game as fast as possible while collecting as few eco pickups as possible.

Currently, the only eco required to beat the game are the 8 on final boss (3 blue for launchers and 5 yellow. Green eco on the second phase must be avoided).

If eco is accidentally collected, you may load a save file to a previous state in the game, or immediately die to return to a previous checkpoint. Otherwise, you must reset.

No restrictions with the exception of Lava Tube Skip, which is banned.

Lava Tube Skip is banned in Low Eco. If it wasn't, Low Eco would be a slower and more boring version of Any%. The point of the category is to see how a runner manages to complete various tasks without the use of eco.

Some people question why Fire Canyon Skip isn't banned in Low Eco. With Lava Tube Skip banned, the runner needs to meet the 72 power cell requirement in Lava Tube. To achieve this, they will have to collect some power cells in Hub 1 levels. It would not make sense, and would be much slower, to skip Hub 1 with Fire Canyon Skip only to have to return to collect power cells.

Notable Strategies & Techniques

• Geyser Rock - Open The Precursor Door, No Eco
• Forbidden Jungle - Secret Door Cell, No Eco
• Forbidden Jungle - Temple Scoutfly, No Eco
• Sentinel Beach - Unblock The Eco Harvester, No Eco
• Lost Precursor City - Button Clip / SixHop
• Lost Precursor City - First Slide on Foot
• Lost Precursor City - Exiting LPC Up the Slide
• Boggy Swamp - Ambush, No Eco
• Boggy Swamp - Flut Flut Out of Bounds #1
• Boggy Swamp - Flut Flut Out of Bounds #2
• Boggy Swamp - Flut Flut Out of Bounds #3
• Mountain Pass - Avoiding Eco Using the Zoomer
• Snowy Mountain - Stop The 3 Lurker Glacier Troops, No Eco
• Volcanic Crater - Find the Hidden Power Cell, No Eco
• Lava Tube - Oranges Skip
• Gol and Maia's Citadel - Skip the Blue Eco Platform at Final Boss
• Gol and Maia's Citadel - Trigger Final Boss Handicap

Category Variants

True Low Eco

The current rules for Low Eco say that the player is allowed to collect 8 necessary pieces of eco during the final boss fight. 5 yellow eco pieces to deal damage to the boss and 3 blue eco pieces to use the jump pad.

This, however, is not the true minimum amount of eco required to complete the game. By performing rocket uppercuts during the dark eco bomb segments, it is possible for Jak to get high enough so that when the bomb explodes, the fight does not end. This removes the requirement of the 3 blue eco pieces and brings the true required eco count down to 5.

Low Eco Max%

Max% refers to completing as much of the game as possible while still adhering to the original category rules. In this case, Low Eco Max% refers to completing as much of the game while still adhering to the Low Eco leaderboard rules. Below is a chart of all the missions and tasks in Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy that can be completed without the use of eco.

Location	Mission	Requires Eco	Purchased	Notes
Geyser Rock	Find the Cell on the Path	No	No
Geyser Rock	Open the Precursor Door	No	No	Scale the rock wall and go over the door.
Geyser Rock	Climb up the Cliff	No	No
Geyser Rock	Free 7 Scout Flies	No	No
Sandover Village	Bring 90 Orbs to the Mayor	No	Yes
Sandover Village	Bring 90 Orbs to Your Uncle	No	Yes
Sandover Village	Herd the Yakows into the Pen	No	No
Sandover Village	Bring 120 Orbs to the Oracle	No	Yes
Sandover Village	Bring 120 Orbs to the Oracle	No	Yes
Sandover Village	Free 7 Scout Flies	No	No
Forbidden Jungle	Connect the Eco Beams	No	Yes
Forbidden Jungle	Get to the Top of the Temple	Yes	No	Blue eco is required to use the launch pad and activate the platforms to reach the top. Bridge Blast could theoretically get Jak to the top without eco.
Forbidden Jungle	Find the Blue Vent Switch	Dependent	No	If Get to the Top of the Temple can be completed without eco, this is possible without eco.
Forbidden Jungle	Defeat the Dark Eco Plant	Dependent	No	If Get to the Top of the Temple can be completed without eco, this is possible without eco.
Forbidden Jungle	Catch 200 Pounds of Fish	No	No
Forbidden Jungle	Follow the Canyon to the Sea	No	No
Forbidden Jungle	Open the Locked Temple Door	No	No	Get out of bounds and go under the door.
Forbidden Jungle	Free 7 Scout Flies	No	No
Sentinel Beach	Unblock the Eco Harvesters	No	No	Roll jumping will unblock the harvesters without collecting the green eco.
Sentinel Beach	Push the Flut Flut Egg Off the Cliff	No	No
Sentinel Beach	Get the Power Cell From the Pelican	No	No
Sentinel Beach	Chase the Seagulls	No	No
Sentinel Beach	Launch up to the Tower	No	No	Climb to the top of the tower.
Sentinel Beach	Explore the Beach	No	No
Sentinel Beach	Climb the Sentinel	No	No
Sentinel Beach	Free 7 Scout Flies	No	No
Misty Island	Catch the Sculptor's Muse	No	No
Misty Island	Climb the Lurker Ship	No	No
Misty Island	Stop the Cannon	No	No
Misty Island	Return to the Dark Eco Pool	No	No
Misty Island	Destroy the Balloon Lurkers	No	No	Using a scoutfly duplication bug and ghost glitch, it is possible to destroy balloon lurkers without collecting their eco.
Misty Island	Use the Zoomer to Reach the Power Cell	No	No
Misty Island	Use Blue Eco to Reach the Power Cell	No	No	Do a boosted uppercut to reach the power cell.
Misty Island	Free 7 Scout Flies	No	No
Fire Canyon	Reach the End of the Fire Canyon	No	No
Fire Canyon	Free 7 Scout Flies	No	No
Rock Village	Bring 90 Orbs to the Gambler	No	Yes
Rock Village	Bring 90 Orbs to the Geologist	No	Yes
Rock Village	Bring 90 Orbs to the Warrior	No	Yes
Rock Village	Bring 120 Orbs to the Oracle	No	Yes
Rock Village	Bring 120 Orbs to the Oracle	No	Yes
Rock Village	Free 7 Scout Flies	No	No
Precursor Basin	Herd the Moles Into Their Holes	No	No
Precursor Basin	Catch the Flying Lurkers	No	No	Activate ghost glitch, enter Basin on foot, then attack the flying lurkers on foot.
Precursor Basin	Beat the Record Time on the Gorge	No	No
Precursor Basin	Get the Power Cell Over The Lake	No	No
Precursor Basin	Cure the Dark Eco Infected Plants	Yes	No	The mission can be skipped by deloading the plants, but Jak is required to touch them with green eco first.
Precursor Basin	Navigate the Purple Precursor Rings	No	No
Precursor Basin	Navigate the Blue Precursor Rings	No	No
Precursor Basin	Free 7 Scout Flies	No	No
Lost Precursor City	Raise the Chamber	No	No
Lost Precursor City	Follow the Colored Pipes	No	No
Lost Precursor City	Reach the Bottom of the City	No	No	Use the dark eco tube skip to avoid having to use blue eco at the end of the climb back up.
Lost Precursor City	Quickly Cross the Dangerous Pool	No	No
Lost Precursor City	Match the Platform Colors	No	No
Lost Precursor City	Climb the Slide Tube	No	No
Lost Precursor City	Reach the Center of the Complex	No	No
Lost Precursor City	Free 7 Scout Flies	No	No
Boggy Swamp	Ride the Flut Flut	No	No
Boggy Swamp	Protect Farthy's Snacks	Yes	No	Immediately locks Jak in first person view and gives him yellow eco.
Boggy Swamp	Defeat the Lurker Ambush	No	No	There are a few ways to get into the ambush without using blue eco on the launch pad.
Boggy Swamp	Break the Tethers to the Zeppelin	Yes	No	Can only be broken by a yellow eco shot.
Boggy Swamp	Break the Tethers to the Zeppelin	Yes	No	Can only be broken by a yellow eco shot.
Boggy Swamp	Break the Tethers to the Zeppelin	Yes	No	Can only be broken by a yellow eco shot.
Boggy Swamp	Break the Tethers to the Zeppelin	Yes	No	Can only be broken by a yellow eco shot.
Boggy Swamp	Free 7 Scout Flies	No	No
Mountain Pass	Defeat Klaww	Yes	No	A spin kick during lava walk can hurt Klaww, but Jak will die in the lava right after.
Mountain Pass	Reach the End of Mountain Pass	No	No
Mountain Pass	Find the Hidden Power Cell	No	No	This cell can be acquired without eco by using tree hops, cave hops, or backtracking on foot.
Mountain Pass	Free 7 Scout Flies	No	No
Volcanic Crater	Bring 90 Orbs to the Miners	No	Yes
Volcanic Crater	Bring 90 Orbs to the Miners	No	Yes
Volcanic Crater	Bring 90 Orbs to the Miners	No	Yes
Volcanic Crater	Bring 90 Orbs to the Miners	No	Yes
Volcanic Crater	Bring 120 Orbs to the Oracle	No	Yes
Volcanic Crater	Bring 120 Orbs to the Oracle	No	Yes
Volcanic Crater	Find the Hidden Power Cell	No	No	This cell can be acquired without eco using Flut Flut.
Volcanic Crater	Free 7 Scout Flies	No	No
Spider Cave	Use your Goggles to Shoot the Gnawing Lurkers	Yes	No	These enemies can only be destroyed with yellow eco shots.
Spider Cave	Destroy the Dark Eco Crystals	No	No
Spider Cave	Explore the Dark Cave	No	No
Spider Cave	Climb the Giant Robot	No	No
Spider Cave	Launch to the Poles	No	No
Spider Cave	Navigate the Spider Tunnel	No	No
Spider Cave	Climb the Precursor Platforms	No	No
Spider Cave	Free 7 Scout Flies	No	No
Snowy Mountain	Find the Yellow Vent Switch	No	No
Snowy Mountain	Stop the 3 Lurker Glacier Troops	No	No	When these lurkers are not paying attention to Jak, they can be killed without red eco.
Snowy Mountain	Deactivate the Precursor Blockers	No	No
Snowy Mountain	Open the Frozen Crate	No	No
Snowy Mountain	Get through the Lurker Fort	No	No
Snowy Mountain	Open the Lurker Fort Gate	No	No
Snowy Mountain	Survive the Lurker Infested Cave	No	No
Snowy Mountain	Free 7 Scout Flies	No	No
Lava Tube	Cross the Lava Tube	No	No
Lava Tube	Free 7 Scout Flies	No	No
Gol and Maia's Citadel	Free the Blue Sage	No	No
Gol and Maia's Citadel	Free the Red Sage	No	No
Gol and Maia's Citadel	Free the Yellow Sage	No	No
Gol and Maia's Citadel	Free the Green Sage	No	No
Gol and Maia's Citadel	Free 7 Scout Flies	No	No

9 & 10 Eco

On the leaderboards, there are category variants titled 9 Eco and 10 Eco. These categories were created for runs that became invalidated due to new discoveries that would lower the required eco count even further.

Other Notes

Before it was known that the Mountain Pass race could be completed on the zoomer without using eco, runners found a way to complete the race on foot. They would use the traditional method of first phase skip during the fight with Klaww to reach the center island. When they got there, they would take damage to get down to one health. Then, they would grab the ledge to get lava walk while at one health which would activate ghost glitch. After then approaching the Mountain Pass race, they would complete the race on foot. As long as ghost glitch was active, the race's failure cutscene would not play and Jak was free to walk to the end of the race.