Naughty Dog's '80s and '90s Games Explained

gamerant.com:

Thanks to Naughty Dog’s recent success, some players might be unaware of just how long the studio has been active in the gaming industry. While a case can be made for franchises like The Last of Us and Uncharted being its crowning achievements, the studio’s history predates both by several decades. Even Naughty Dog’s Crash and Jak and Daxter, are comparatively recent creations in the grand scheme of things.

Founded in the early ‘80s by three childhood friends under the name JAM Software, Naughty Dog would go on to become one of the most critically acclaimed studios in gaming. Things didn’t start out like that, though, as several tough lessons were learned along the way before Sony eventually brought Naughty Dog into its first party family. The games that defined its early history in the ‘80s and ‘90s are so far removed from what the studio is known for today that some of its current fan-base might be shocked to learn about them.

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In 1984 Jason Rubin, Andy Gavin, and Mike Goyet, came together to create JAM Software. While the studio would eventually take on its modern moniker, JAM was originally chosen as an acronym of its founders’ names. When Goyet left the fold early on though, instead of abandoning their dreams, the remaining teenagers retooled their operation into ‘Jason and Andy's Magic.’ Having previously worked on smaller concepts in Gavin’s basement, the pair were keen to bring their first full game to life.

The Apple II’s Math Jam, released in 1985, was the pair’s first complete creation. While the studio would go on to team-up with some big publishers, Math Jam remains its only independently published title. In terms of design concepts, it’s also hard to imagine there being a bigger