Ratchet & Clank makes its long-awaited debut on PlayStation 4 on April 20. To celebrate the game’s release, we’ve looked back over the adventurous duo’s history, and developer Insomniac Games’ cheeky knack for subtle and not-so-subtle Easter Eggs and hidden cheats.
From Star Wars nods to Mario Bros. jokes, and even eyebrow-raising chest expansions (yes, you read that right), the Ratchet & Clank series certainly isn’t light on sly jeers and cheeky jokes.
Click on through to check out our favourite Ratchet & Clank facts and Easter Eggs.
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1. You’re Our Only Hope
In an obvious ode to Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, a trophy in the HD version of the original Ratchet & Clank on PlayStation 3 is called “These Are Not The Droid You’re Looking For”.
In order to unlock the trophy, you needed to take the Raritanium that you got from the icy Planet Hoven back to the sewers on Planet Pokitaru, where you traded with a scientist for the Persuader (which gave you a 20% and 25% discount), which would in turn unlock trophy.
2. You’re From Out Of Town, Aren’t you?
For whatever reason, the Japanese version of Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time featured a Ratchet in dire need of a visit to the beautician.
Initially planned only for the game’s box-art but eventually introduced to the game itself, Ratchet was given a black, bushy eyebrow makeover to somehow make the character more relatable to Japanese players.
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3. Who Would Use A Pipe, Anyway?
In Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time during a cutscene in Clank’s memory banks, the plumber is trying to find a clog inside a — you guessed it — pipe. The plumber encourages Clank to jump in “willy-nilly” to try and unclog it, but when Clank asks if he’s coming as well, the plumber responds: “Plumbers don’t just go diving down strange pipes all willy-nilly, that’d be ridiculous!”
It’s a little hard to ignore the obvious ode and jeering of Super Mario Bros., which undoubtedly acts as early inspiration for the Ratchet & Clank series.
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4. That’s Not A Weapon! THIS Is A Weapon
As far as useless cheats go, this one is right up there.
In Ratchet & Clank 3 for the PlayStation 2, Insomniac added a little cheat that added a lightsaber-esque ninja sword to Ratchet’s arsenal, replacing his wrench with a double-sided glowing stick.
To unlock it, all players needed to do was pause the game, go to the cheat screen and enter circle, square, circle, square, up, down, left, left.
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5. Woah, Double Rainbow!
Weapon customisation and leveling-up is the best/worst aspect of the Ratchet & Clank franchise, depending on who you speak to. Most Ratchet & Clank games let you level you weapons up to around level 10, but Ratchet: Gladiator let you level up to level 99. That’s a whole lot of grinding.
The interesting thing is that beyond level 10, nothing really changed. The weapons didn’t get any more powerful. But if you did manage to get up to level 99 with a weapon, you’d unlock a special rainbow effect aesthetic. So yeah, there’s that.
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6. Now This Is Kart Racing!
Ratchet is quite the action star but the furry little beast ain’t too bad behind the wheel of vehicle, either, although we knew as much from some of his adventures!
He really put his driving skills to the test in a special appearance in Jak X: Combat Racing.
Ratchet appears as a playable character in the game if the player has saved game data of Ratchet: Deadlocked on their memory card. Clank also appears as an antenna for his car.
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7. Is That A Wrench In Your Bra, Or…?
Certainly one of the more quirky Easter Eggs across the entire Ratchet & Clank series appears in the very first game.
At one point in the game, Ratchet can enter into a hoverboard tournament. To initiate the tournament he has to approach a green alien standing in the middle of a small park. However, should you no longer have the competitive urge, you can instead put your jumping skills to the test and, erm, entertain the young alien. If you walk up to her and circle her doing flip-flops, her breasts will grow large with every jump. Riiiiiiiight.
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8. A Dan Johnson For The Ages
Dan Johnson was a former Insomniac employee who sadly passed away in December 2006. Before his unfortunate passing, however, he was part of a cheeky inside joke, which saw him appear in almost every Ratchet & Clank game, even as a full character skin in Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools Of Destruction. He could also be seen staring out into space at the Insomniac Museum planet.
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9. Oops!
In Ratchet & Clank 3, Insomniac made a pretty obvious and cheeky jibe at Britney Spears, who at the time was at the peak of her pop career.
The boss Courtney Gears is clearly designed in Spears’ image, even occasionally saying, “Oops! I did it again” throughout the final boss fight.
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10. Ratchet’s A Gamer
It should come as no surprise that Ratchet is a gamer considering his passion for science, technology and action!
The title screen for Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando shows Ratchet and Clank sitting in front of a TV playing levels from the game. If you wait long enough, they will start playing levels from Ratchet & Clank, Jak and Daxter: the Precursor Legacy, Jak II, and Sly Cooper and the Thievious Raccoonus.
Ratchet & Clank launches on PlayStation 4 on April 20.