Low Eco

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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.

Demonstration Video

Notable Strategies & Techniques

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.

Other Notes