video game Ratchet & Clank

[Hiatus]

Ratchet & Clank

Picture this, United States 1999, Spyro 2 Gateway to Glimmer was a global hit, cementing his spot as a PlayStation mascot. Ted Price however, had his eyes set on something else. Something that could walk on two hands and use weapons, which Spyro could not do.

 

Pictured: How to Train Your Dragon 2

 

Ted Price worked with his team (we love you all <3) to develop a concept for a new franchise that hopefully will not live in the shadow of a wumpa addicted bandicoot that keeps vandalizing Amazon packages down under in Austria. The concept was trash, so back to the drawing board.

The year was 2000. After another Spyro game that sold half of what Crash Bandicoot Warped did, rumors began of the next step in Naughty Dog's career. They did not develop Crash Bash, instead were focused on a new franchise that is also based on a tropical island and also includes an orange mascot but without everything that made Crash iconic. Ted Price used his southern hospitality to convince Naughty Dog to give him their code so he can use it for his future masterpiece.

 

Pictured: Ted Price

 

Meanwhile, there was a rumor over in Spice World that Crash Bandicoot would have his future in the hands of an indie company known as Traveller's Tales. Crash was going to space! This is where things become…interesting. So, Un*versal Interact*ve (who is trash) forced TT to develop a Crash Bandicoot game within 12 months because they wanted money. TT had to work fast so they cancelled their plans in favor of creating a bootleg Warped, and ordered a bunch of inexperienced, fresh out of college frat bros to develop an open world space themed Crash Bandicoot game. Sounds familiar?

 

Pictured: Early concept of what could have been the bible of platformers

 

Fast forward to 2002 and Ratchet & Clank was officially revealed as the new franchise of Insomniac Games. Ratchet (who is a legend) quickly sparked a lot of media attention due to his incredible design...which seemed to be déjà vu for fans of a certain orange bandicoot who served his first flop a few months prior.

 

 

Pictured: Not Ratchet

 

To make matters worse, the frat bros at TT realized Ratchet & Clank is doing the exact concept they were doing but better. They had no choice but to scrap everything and start over. But it was okay, they were college grads, we are used to completing assignments at the very last minute and somehow get a B+ which either means we are geniuses or the education system is stupid. Crash Bandicoot stans proceeded to spread conspiracies online that Ted Price was stealing from TT. This is FALSE. Seethe, Bandicoot stans. Not only do we have concept art for Ratchet's design, but if we go back to the ancient days of the 90's, we can see in Spyro 2 Gateway to Heaven a certain enemy that bares a striking resemblance to Ratchet if he was designed by Bandai Namco in 2023.

 

Pictured: Ratchet if he was in Tekken 8

 

In addition, Traveller's Tales CEO published a video on YouT*be to confirm that he also believes Insomniac Games did not copy their logo. SEETHE, Bandicootz.

November 2002 arrives and Ratchet & Clank officially debuted on store shelves. It was a hit. Critical acclaim included. The game went on to sell over 4 million copies as of 2007 (So probably 5 million copies sold as of today if we include individual sales from the PS3 store) and launch Insomniac Games into world wide stardom.

 

Pictured: The Bible

 

The game is unbelievably good. Every weapon is viable (yes even the Taunter) and you can even complete it with just the wrench! I've done it once and only cried twice. I was 24. Don't judge me.

 

Pictured: A classic

 

2003 arrived and it was time to make more coin with a new game: Going Commando. It was now that Ted Price revealed his love for Madonna by deciding to name every future game after a sexual innuendo. But not in Europe and the UK. Those got a Microsoft Paint boxart with the title "Locked and Loaded" which makes far more sense if you think about it.

 

Pictured: Going Commando means no underwear in British

 

The game was a hit, including many features which are now staples of the franchise such as experience-based health and weapon upgrades, collect-a-thon levels, Insomniac Museum, fashionable armor, useless weapons (hello spider bot) and a detailed guidebook about every enemy-oh wait this was only in this game. It was a cool feature Insmoniac, why did you scrap it? Anyways, Going Commando is considered to be the best of the franchise by many, despite having the worst level ever made in the history of humanity. *deep breath* Grelbin.

 

Pictured: WHAT THE ****

 

You know how everyone describes Hell as a place of fire? It's the opposite. In late 2003, after throwing a listening party for Britney Spears' album In The Zone, Ted Price realized they still had one more level to finish. So they locked their intern in the building until he created something. "Anything?” the intern asked. "Anything.” Ted Price said. "How much time do I have?” the intern asked. "One hour.” Ted Price said. "Wait what-“

 

Pictured: Hell

 

Grelbin is so trash Ted Price gave the intern an award. Look it up, Insomniac Games Snowbeast Award. Grelbin was so poorly coded, memory leaks were all over the place. It had SO MUCH to it. A massive boring hellscape to collect moon crystals, a flying segment that takes place INSIDE A DEAD LEVIATHAN, and was supposed to also include a boss battle. The level was so badly designed that even though Insomniac claimed to have removed the boss battle, it is still in the game. But you have to hack it in order to access it. Good job Insomniac. Oh and this game RUINED the Tesla Claw.

 

Pictured: I-

 

It's 2004 and Insomniac Game is busy with a 3^rd Ratchet & Clank game. Things are going great so far. Ratchet is outselling Jak, Crash is a flop, Spyro is MIA, Ratchet WON. Ratchet & Clank Up Your Arsenal, known as the highly creative Ratchet & Clank 3 in Kylie Minogue's Europe, is released. This game is considered the best (it is!) by many for its fresh scenery, cool characters and the incredible fact that weapons now have 10 upgrades, and each upgrade has a unique cosmetic effect. And there is only 1 useless weapon this time around!

 

Pictured: Sales elixir

 

With 2.5m sales for Ratchet & Clank Up Your Ass from the US alone, a sequel was bound to happen, and indeed it did in the form of Ratchet Deadlock / Gladiator, the 2^nd best Ratchet & Clank game with 3m units sold. This was my first, and it is SUCH a vibe. You see this Jak? This is how you do emo. This game had it all. Awesome cast of characters, incredible soundtrack, beautiful graphics, immense replay value, and half as many weapons as R&C 3 but they were all unique and viable in combat expect the ***** ass shield which somehow made its way to this game as well. To make it even worse, it doesn't work on the PS3 / PS5 versions of the game. Cool.

 

Pictured: Who the hell uses this?

 

I also want to point out that Deadlock has THE best cheats in the franchise. You can set weather effects, change the UI colors, turn every enemy into Qwark. Ah, the good old days of 2005 when you could still buy McDonalds for $2.69.

 

Pictured: Lol

 

Anyways, it's 2006 and Insomniac workers had enough of Ratchet & Clank, so half of them disbanded to form their own studio that develops Ratchet & Clank games while the other half stayed to keep developing Ratchet & Clank games. Ted Price was NOT having it, so he screwed the backstabbers by only allowing them to develop PSP games. At least, he thought he fooled them, but you see, High Impact Games (the name of the other company that now exists) was playing futuristic chess, and everyone knows that Insomniac Games has an allergic reaction to swamp flies that lasts two turns, so High Impact Games got to release before Insomniac did. And oh MAN what game did they release.

 

Pictured: High Impact Games. 2006 – 2008 RIP.

 

The first of High Impact Games was Ratchet & Clank Size Matters (I'll leave that to you to find out what sexual innuendo this one is) and if you haven't played it, you missed out. This game is basically Silent Hill in the future. You start out in Pokitaru (slay) and find yourself killing crabs that leave behind green blood. Yes. Blood. Then you make way to some sort of forest with a creepy temple that has floating cameras all around broadcasting your every move to some shady online website. The third planet doesn't have a map because they were too lazy to expose how ugly the layout looks like. There's a boss battle with some weird p!nk creature called Wumpa Fruit for some reason.

 

Pictured: This game sold 3.75m copies

 

Suddenly Ratchet is taken to an asylum and you find yourself in a world of hallucinations. You HAVE to watch YouTube videos of this level. I remember using the snipe weapon to zoom in on the nurses and they were SO creepy. This level's titanium.mp3 bolt is the craziest of the entire franchise. You have to launch fruit shaped as Qwark's head in order to avoid eyeballs that insta kill you with red lazer beams. I am serious. 

 

Pictured: I can't stay on your life support there's a shortage in the switch

 

This game is incredibly hard, I think it's the hardest R&C game. Eventually you face a recycled boss battle from R&C 3, and then end up in Ted Price's farm except all the farm animals turn into DEMONS when the sun goes down. The final boss is trash in this game. Takes forever to kill. High Impact Games went on to create Secret Agent Clank which is incredible. Hot take: To me Secret Agent Clank is the true sequel to Ratchet & Clank 2002. It really has that 2002 soul to it. I am so happy I got to play this game because nowadays you can't find it anymore. A shame.

 

Pictured: One of the best PSP games

 

In Superbowl 2007, Ted Price blessed us with a commercial that had better animation than DreamWorks could afford at the time, for a video game with better graphics than what R*ckstar Games could afford at the time. Tools of the Destruction is THE BEST Ratchet has ever looked. He PEAKED in this one. His animations are incredible. Listen, every single frame of Ratchet is unbelievably well done. They poured heart into him and it shows. This game also gave us the best weapons ever: Razor Claws, Groovitron, whatever the slinky was called. The best armor ever: the gold one. And the best level ever: Igliak / Meridian City. And of course, the dragonfly wings! Unfortunately the game overall fell flat due to how easy it is, the HORRIBLE story, and overall lack of innovation. It sold 2m copies.

 

Pictured: James_Blunt_You're_Beautiful.mp3

 

What they should have done is make the dragonfly wings be a main focus of the game, exploring massive levels of various vertical distance using the wings. It would have been so cool. This game is unfortunately the last time we would get what I consider a full-length game, with 17 planets to boot.

 

Pictured: My beloved dragonfly wings

 

Ratchet's personal business endeavors were also seeing success. Stunderwear, Ratchet's very own jockstrap brand was a huge seller on Umbris. He was finally able to buy new gloves, new boots, and a shirt. The socio-economic disparity is wild in Kerwan.

 

Pictured: Not Jak

 

Ted Price being Madonna's #1 of course had to do a tribute to Confessions On A Dancefloor, and he did so by adding The Groovitron, a disco ball that plays random tracks from the album and forces everyone to dance. 

 

Pictured: Madonna Confessions Tour

 

2008 saw Quest 4 Booty, which was basically DLC for Tools of Destruction. Its level design was so much better than ToD. Whew. The game also allowed you to dump his girlfriend, very fitting for Ratchet's personality. This is a very rare Blu-Ray. If you have it, treat it well. 

 

Pictured: The Sims 4: Pirates Expansion Pack

 

It is now 2009 and Insomniac was TIRED. They had ENOUGH of Ratchet and so they sent him on what should have been one last adventure, A Crack In Time. I hate this one. The graphics are ugly, ***** ass Nefarious is back for some reason, the moons made me want to vomit with their horrible point of view, and worst of all: They got rid of all of Ratchet's animations! Why? He was so expressive in ToD and Q4B, why would you take that away?? CLOWNS. Anyways, this game is considered to be his best by many. Of course THIS ONE is so beloved. It sold less than Tools of Destruction so I won in the end. And Talwyn wasn't in this for…some reason?

 

Pictured: Where are my animations, Insomniac?

 

In this game Ted Price was projecting a bit by forcing on us a story that explains how you are a flop while your best friend is #blessed with a super rich dad who likes you enough to let you enter their house without asking you to take your shoes off but you still do because you don't want to leave a bad impression and it's the few moments in life where you can pretend to be in a functional family and that Ratchet's daddy issues are the cause of his abandonment issues, ***** behavior in R&C 1, lack of desire to apply himself, unsatiable desire for attention and questionable mental state but whenever you let it show they tell you to suck it and man up. But enough about me.

 

Pictured: I hope you know I hope you knoooooow that this has nothing to do with you

 

You know that time period in Madonna's career that came after Hard Candy? This is where we are now. 2010-2013 saw the release of "mini" games for the franchise because Insomniac was bored and Sony wanted money. The first of these was All 4 One which had a very cool concept! It looks like it would be very fun to play as a team of 4 but I think they should have had Talwyn instead of Nefarious.

 

Pictured: This was meant to be called 4-Play

 

Remember the Qwark stan from Going Commando? Me neither. Anyways, he is now a main character in this game called Full Frontal Assualt which saw our first official DLC for Ratchet & Clank. Greedy bastards. This was a "tower defense" style game with an actually fun solo campaign but an online mode that flopped hard.

 

Pictured: Weird graphics

 

Time flies, it's 2013 and Insomniac finally stopped dicking around and finally gave us a proper game. Expect it only has 5 levels, 1 of which is the WORST in the franchise in terms of visuals. It's a new version of Igliak that looks like trash. Story was stupid but at least Talwyn is back. Too bad he dumps her again! Also Insomniac lied to us that Into the Nexus would be the start of a new trilogy.

 

Pictured: Ugly

 

The next two years are boring.

 

Fast forward to 2016 and we have not only a reboot, but a movie as well! Sony forced Ted Price to care again for Ratchet, by convincing him to work with a studio that makes direct-to-DVD Barbie movies. He agrees for some reason and thus Ratchet & Clank 2016 was born. The movie flopped, but the game became a huge success. In fact, this is most likely the best selling Ratchet & Clank game. We don't have the precise number but all the estimations point towards at least 3.5m as of 2023. This game finally made Ratchet look good again, though not as good as Tools of Destruction or as iconic as in the PlayStation 2 days, but at least he looked good. The game + movie spawned many gifs and stills to keep the rabid stans happy. Unfortunately reactions were quite mixed. The writing was bad, so bad. The gameplay was easy, and HALF THE LEVELS WERE GONE. HOW. Trash company. I actually unstanned for a while. Don't get me wrong, I DO like this game, especially now that the PS5 version has 4k graphics and 60 fps (it makes such an improvement) but to know what we could have had is painful.

 

Pictured: The game based on the movie based on the game

 

Now let's add salt to the wound. Who came back in 2017? Crash Bandicoot. Who sold +10m copies with a new game? Crash Bandicoot. Who included ALL the levels in his remakes? …Crash Bandicoot. It was tough for Ratchet stans back then. The lashes were BRUTAL. I mean it. The Bandicootz have waited 15 years for the opportunity to finally bite back, and they sure did.

 

Pictured: Icon

 

We were on the floor. Bruised, used, abused. And it wasn't over just yet. In 2018, Insomniac revealed Spider-Man. It was over. Ratchet was DONE. Spider-Man quickly outsold most of Ratchet's discography. We sat in silence for 2 years until finally something happened. Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart.

Initially, this got very good reviews from fans and critics. Nowadays? It's decently mid-tier. I've seen some folks say the 2016 game was better. It's just too short. Nefarious is back (how original), Ratchet has a new potential girlfriend (how original), and it's focused on the multiverse. MCU ha impact. The game flopped, it sold about 1.5m copies but the lack of PS5s is a major contributor to this.

It has now been 2 years since Rift Apart came out with no indication of a sequel. Insomniac is about to release Spider-Man 2 and is busy on a Wolverine game for some reason. You can play all the PS2 and PS3 games on the PS5's most expensive PS+ tier, but you have to stream them which means online-only which SUCKS. But at least they playable.

So to summarize it, if you were a stan between 2002-2009, you were lucky. I only discovered the franchise in 2005, at which point many consider it as the lesser half of its prime. I see more fondness for R&C 2016 but that seems to be driven by the fact 7 (yes, 7 whole years) years have passed since it came out, and due to the fact its obvious we won't have another game for at least 2 more years.

 

Aaaand cut! 

 

[Hiatus]

Just in case I'm taking the 2nd post too

 

 

RECIEPTS:

Ratchet & Clank 2002 - 4x platinum (1x plat in the US)

Going Commando - 3x plat

Up Your Arsenal - 3.5x plat (2.5x plat in the US)

Deadlock - 3x plat

Size Matters - 3.75x plat

Tools of Destruction - 2x plat

A Crack in Time - 1x plat (HA!)

Ratchet & Clank 2016 - 3x plat

Rift Apart - 1x plat

 

TOTAL: Over 26,000,000 copies sold IRL

TOTAL: Over 300,000,000 copies sold in my mind

Edited May 18, 2023 by PoKiTaurus

[Iantuition]

👀 all time favorite series.

[Katamari]

Does your name come from Pokitaru

[Helios]

I dont know what this is about but im actually Downloading Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart as I type this to play on my ps5. I was too much of a broke b**** to buy it when it came out 2 years ago. Im excited.

Edited May 16, 2023 by Helios

[Mr. Stratus]

I liked the first one I think I got stuck on it though 

[Danes]

22 minutes ago, Katamari said:

Does your name come from Pokitaru

I've been meaning to ask the same, I'm guessing yes!

[Danes]

I still pump to the soundtrack of the very first game. David Bergeaud was genius for this.

[Hiatus]

24 minutes ago, Katamari said:

Does your name come from Pokitaru

 

1 minute ago, Avariko said:

I've been meaning to ask the same, I'm guessing yes!

Yes

 

13 minutes ago, Helios said:

I dont know what this is about but im actually Downloading Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart as I type this to play on my ps5. I was too much of a broke b**** to buy it when it came out 2 years ago. Im excited.

It's from the original creators of Spyro, the PS2 games in particular are God-tier. It's one of Sony's darlings, they love Ratchet even more than Crash & Spyro.

 

All the games minus the two PSP ones are available to stream through the most expensive PS+ subscription but I wish we could directly buy them  

[Robburro]

going commando still the goat

[Totami Legend]

Is the movie good?

[Helios]

4 hours ago, PoKiTaurus said:

 

Yes

 

It's from the original creators of Spyro, the PS2 games in particular are God-tier. It's one of Sony's darlings, they love Ratchet even more than Crash & Spyro.

 

All the games minus the two PSP ones are available to stream through the most expensive PS+ subscription but I wish we could directly buy them  

Premium? They should at least put them on the ps plus extra tier. 

Edited May 17, 2023 by Helios

[Hiatus]

1 hour ago, Totami Legend said:

Is the movie good?

It's like the Mario movie

[Hiatus]

Ted Price (Insomniac Games founder and CEO to this very day) is a legend. He really said music not the bling, stop the drama start the music, love one another, magic still exists, talent always wins, express yourself don't repress yourself 

THIS is a man that deserves to be worshipped. 

 

[Totami Legend]

10 hours ago, PoKiTaurus said:

It's like the Mario movie

Haven’t seen that one either.. 

 

Need to check them both atp

[Heldenzeit]

The OP 

[Gorjesspazze9]

Up your Arsenal will forever be the greatest game of my childhood

[Fevesy]

The OP took me OUT. 

 

Ratchet and Clank was the first game I had on PS2. I stanned the PS2 games HARD. I remember one time weeks before Ratchet 3 was available there was a demo in one of the game stores and trust and believe I played that **** for a long ass time before the staff had to ask me to give other kids a chance.

 

I skipped the PS3 generation since I was in my Wii/Xbox era but I bought a PS3 just before the PS4 came out and I played the PS3 games and the original trilogy. The Ratchet 3 multiplayer was still active then. TABS

 

I can't see the Ratchet PS2 games on the PS exclusive list but I am in Europe so maybe it's exclusive to America?

 

 

 

[RockStarShit101]

[BigBangStan]

21 hours ago, Avariko said:

I still pump to the soundtrack of the very first game. David Bergeaud was genius for this.

His mind, my favorite R&C soundtrack 

[Hiatus]

Last year David tried to get the soundtracks on Spotify + CD + vinyl but looks like he failed 

Edited May 17, 2023 by PoKiTaurus

[Danes]

3 hours ago, BigBangStan said:

His mind, my favorite R&C soundtrack 

It's easily the best one of the bunch!

[Danes]

3 hours ago, PoKiTaurus said:

Last year David tried to get the soundtracks on Spotify + CD + vinyl but looks like he failed 

We NEED this to happen.

[Danes]

9 hours ago, Gorjesspazze9 said:

Up your Arsenal will forever be the greatest game of my childhood

It has a special place in my heart too. It was my first R&C-game and I fell in love with it immediately.

[Gorjesspazze9]

1 minute ago, Avariko said:

It has a special place in my heart too. It was my first R&C-game and I fell in love with it immediately.

Same! It’s a classic in my household