There was a time when the video game mascot was unstoppable, with Mario and Luigi, Sonic The Hedgehog, Crash Bandicoot and Spiro all helping launch individual console systems for Nintendo, Sega and the Sony PlayStation. However, as time marched on and audiences for console games started to move away from cutesy platformers and towards super soldiers with enormous guns, the opportunity for marketable, franchise-launching mascots noticeably started to shrink.
Sure, the likes of Banjo & Kazzooie would break through from time to time and Mario is still called upon to launch every new system Nintendo creates, but for many, the platform adventure was a throwback to a bygone age.
Step forward Ratchet the Lombax and Clank the sentient robot who, logically, appeared together in Ratchet & Clank on the PlayStation 2 way back in 2002. This was a game that a) took advantage of the technological leaps and bounds the PS2 made and b) fused the very best of our memories of platform games with our apparent new-found thirst for REALLY BIG guns, creating easily the closest the new generation of gamers have got to a system mascot.
But with nearly 15 years of gaming history behind them and a brand new animated adventure, Ratchet & Clank (coming to digital download on August 22nd and DVD on August 29th courtesy of Lionsgate Home Entertainment), what better time to get newcomers up to speed with our heroic pair’s illustrious video game history?
Ratchet & Clank – PS2, 2002
The first game in the series introduces us to a planet-bound Lombax called Ratchet (think a biped fox with enormous ears and a talent for engineering) who longs for the stars. Fortunately for him, Clank crashes into his life and sets off a chain of events that see them teaming up to take on the evil Chairman Drek and discover that lifelong hero, Captain Quark, might not be the universe’s saviour everyone assumed him to be…
Ratchet & Clank 2: Locked and Loaded – PS2, 2003
With Locked and Loaded the early promise of the first game nevertheless is delivered upon, with this second instalment introducing hoverboard racing, space battles and upgradeable weapons for the first time as Ratchet and Clank, flushed with the success of their first adventure, agree to attempt to retrieve ‘The Experiment’ for seemingly cuddly CEO, Mr Abercrombie Fizzwidget
Ratchet & Clank 3:– PS2, 2004
As the weapons became increasingly inventive and downright ridiculous (in the best possible way), the third adventure from our plucky duo also introduced the series’ most identifiable antagonist after the helpful/hindering Captain Quark in the form of Doctor Nefarious. Hell bent on destroying the galaxy, Nefarious wasn’t so unreasonable as to prevent multiplayer options to be dropped into this iteration
Ratchet & Clank: Deadlocked – PS2, 2005
With the fourth instalment of the series, Deadlocked moved away from the platforming/shooting action and concentrated instead on arena-based death matches and was relatively light on canonical story development. Never afraid to change, the franchise took this opportunity to attempt to broaden its gaming limitations, but still keeping the bonkers ideas of the previous titles.
Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters – PSP, 2007
Introducing the PSP to the story, Sony’s first shot at handheld gaming gave our plucky heroes the chance to make their inevitable bow on the portable system. This time around the focus was on the pair having a much-needed vacation ruined by a mysterious quest to rescue a girl called Luna whilst also discovering a race of inventors known as the Technomites.
Look out for part 2 tomorrow of our feature on the Video Game world of Ratchet & Clank.
Ratchet & Clank is available on digital platforms from August 22nd and on DVD from August 29th, courtesy of Lionsgate Home Entertainment.
Karen Woodham is the founder and owner of the Blazing Minds. She is also a Cinema reviewer and works with RealD 3D reviewing the latest 3D releases and IMAX, she has also had several articles published in various publications including the first edition of SFW Magazine. In 2015 she became an Award Winning Blogger and also has her website listed as one of the UK’s Top 10 Film Blogs.
