The Ratchet & Clank series

ラチェット&クランク

I’m Cory Roberts. Do you need some Ratchet & Clank on your Medium and also on your social media? Here you go! Ratchet & Clank is a series of action-adventure platform and third-person shooter video games created and developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for PlayStation consoles, such as PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5. Insomniac Games departed from the Spyro series to move into a new IP since the Spyro series was owned by Universal Interactive Studios (later Activision Blizzard).

In the game series, you play as Ratchet (Mikey Kelley in the first game, later Final Fantasy X and Johnny Test star James Arnold Taylor from the second game; Makoto Tsumura in the Japanese dub), a lombax who is a mechanic along with his partner/best friend Clank (Inuyasha/Yasahime star David Kaye; Tohru Ohkawa in the Japanese dub), an escaped robot (real name: XJ-0461 or Defect B5429671) who soon teams up with him. I remembered all of these games, including the first one. The Japanese releases feature covers that are more manga-stylized, as the series is big in Japan, not just North America alone.

Here we go!

Ratchet & Clank

• Known in Japan as ラチェット＆クランク (Ratchet & Clank)
• Released in late 2002 in all regions
• Composed by David Bergeaud (including the second, third, and fourth games)

The first order of business is Ratchet & Clank, as he only wore green cargo pants, in addition to his gloves. The game follows the anthropomorphic character Ratchet meeting the robot Clank on his home planet, Veldin. Clank discovers that the villainous Chairman Drek of the Blarg race plans to create a new planet for his species, destroying other planets in the process. Clank convinces Ratchet to help him in his mission to secure the assistance of the famous hero Captain Qwark.

The game offers a wide range of weapons and gadgets that the player must use to defeat numerous enemies and solve puzzles on a variety of different planets in the fictional Solana galaxy. The game includes several mini-games, such as racing or hacking, which the player must complete to proceed. The game was very well received by critics, who praised the graphics, gameplay, voice acting, audio, soundtrack, and comedic approach to the story; some criticism was directed at the camera, the characterization (especially regarding Ratchet’s personality) and the low level of difficulty in early stages.

The player begins the game with two weapons: the “OmniWrench 8000”, a standard melee weapon with a variety of uses such as interacting with puzzles in the environment, and the Bomb Glove, a short-range grenade thrower. As missions are completed across the game’s various planets, more weapons and gadgets become available, including the Blaster, an automatic pistol; the Pyrocitor, a flamethrower; and the Suck Cannon, a vacuum gun, which sucks up smaller enemies and converts them into projectiles. Weapons are either found or can be bought with bolts, the game’s form of currency. The OmniWrench remains the standard melee weapon for close combat, with its own button, as all other weapons assume the role of secondary weaponry and can only be equipped one at a time, though all weapons can be carried in the player’s inventory.

There have also been many times that my niece laughed at Ratchet falling off the stage/platform, and she does it again in the sequel and the third game. Ratchet also appears in Hot Shots Golf Fore! (known in Japan as Minna no Golf 4, in Europe as Everybody’s Golf, and in Australia as Everybody’s Golf 2004), with his classic outfit (which consists only of brown gloves and green cargo pants) and Clank as his caddy, as well as Jak X: Combat Racing (Jak X in Europe). Fourteen years later, a remake of the first game of the series was released in early 2016 for the PlayStation 4 (the game is also a tie-in to the 2016 film of the same name, which I sadly didn’t watch).

Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando

• Known in PAL regions as Ratchet & Clank 2: Locked and Loaded and in Japan as ラチェット&クランク2 ガガガ! 銀河のコマンドーっす (Rachetto ando Kuranku 2: Gagaga! Ginga no Komandōssu, lit. “Ratchet & Clank 2 Gagaga! Galaxy Commando”)
• Released in late 2003 in all regions

In this game, James Arnold Taylor replaces Mikey Kelley as the character’s voice actor, providing a more mature-sounding voice. The gameplay of Going Commando is similar to that of the original Ratchet & Clank. The player-controlled protagonists are seen from a third-person perspective. The player progresses through the story by using various weapons and gadgets to defeat enemies and solve puzzles while exploring planets and completing platforming sections and minigames. The game features many improvements over the original game, such as the aesthetics, and introduces many new gameplay aspects, such as weapon upgrading.

Going Commando was released roughly a year after the original game and received critical acclaim. It has frequently been listed as one of the best PlayStation 2 games. Most critics felt that the game was superior to its predecessor and praised the game’s graphics, gameplay, story, characterization, and sound. Some criticized its unforgiving difficulty and minigames. We can’t get enough of this quote.

Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal

• Known in Europe as Ratchet & Clank 3, in Australia as Ratchet & Clank 3: Up Your Arsenal, and in Japan as ラチェット&クランク3 突撃!ガラクチック★レンジャーズ (Rachetto and Kuranku 3: Totsugeki! Garakuchikku ★ Renjāzu, lit. “Ratchet & Clank 3 Assault! Galactic Rangers”)
• Released in late 2004 in all regions

This is the first Ratchet & Clank game to offer online multiplayer as well as single-player. The service was terminated for the PlayStation 2 in June 2012 and for the PlayStation 3 in February 2018. Multiplayer features three different modes of play available on all of the maps and has a selection of weapons from the single-player game. As well as the multiplayer mode, it has many other differences compared to its predecessors such as higher quality graphics, larger worlds, and drivable vehicles. The voice cast from the previous game returned as their respective characters, and new actors were hired to voice the new characters. Despite straying further from a classic platform game, Up Your Arsenal still offers some of the basic features of a platform game but with a strong mix of action and shooting; PGNx Media has dubbed it a “combat platformer”. As in previous games of the series, it offers melee and long-range combat and boasts a large, varied arsenal as one of its primary features. The game also features Courtney Gears (Melissa Disney in the original, Nika Futterman in Deadlocked; Chigusa Ikeda in the Japanese dub), the first female boss who is a robotic parody of Britney Spears.

Ratchet: Deadlocked

• Released in PAL regions as Ratchet: Gladiator and in Japan as ラチェット&クランク4th ギリギリ銀河のギガバトル (Rachetto ando Kuranku: 4th Girigiri Ginga no Gigabatoru, lit. “Ratchet & Clank: 4th Giga Battle in the Galaxy”)
• Released in late 2005 in all regions

This is the first game not to include “Clank” in the title (in the NA and PAL releases), and for the first time, Clank (in his typical form) was not a playable character.

The game’s story begins as Ratchet, Clank, and Al are abducted and forced to compete in “DreadZone”, a violent game show in which heroes are forced to kill each other. Ratchet is given a “DeadLock” collar, which will explode if he becomes uncooperative or boring. The three must find a way to deactivate the collars and free the other heroes being held prisoner. Deadlocked was the last Ratchet & Clank game to be rated T by the ESRB, despite the introduction of the E10+ rating earlier that year. It’s also the last main series Ratchet & Clank game to be released on PlayStation 2.

The gameplay is similar to that of other games in the series but focuses more on shooter aspects rather than platforming. The player, Ratchet, fights in DreadZone tournaments across the “Shadow Sector” in the “Solana” Galaxy, with a large variety of weapons. This game was the first in the series to feature cooperative gameplay in a story mode and also includes an online multiplayer mode. Some vehicles return from previous games, and new ones are introduced. For the first time, Clank (in his typical form) was not a playable character. Idol Minds (aka Deck Nine) handled the HD edition of this video game for the PlayStation 3, but there’s a glitch during the cutscene in the YouTube video (at around 9 minutes, 24 seconds; reader discretion may be advised when clicking on the YouTube link). The game sold more than 2.1 million copies worldwide in the summer of 2007.

I still have a PlayStation 2 but I have yet to put it on eBay, and I also played the reboot of the first game a few times.