Video Game / Ratchet & Clank: Going Mobile!

You can always call on them.

Ratchet: Where are we?!
Clank: It appears that the Bio Matter Converter technology, that we were invited to preview, has accidentally been triggered.
Ratchet: And that means?
Clank: I believe we have been converted to digital information and stored within the converter. Curious...

Ratchet & Clank: Going Mobile! is a 2005 mobile phone Spin-Off game starring the titular duo, developed by Handheld Games.

The story finds the duo getting zapped into a Secret Agent Clank vid-comic where they then have to find all of the pieces of a device called the MCGuFIN in order to escape. Unlike other Ratchet and Clank games which are 3D platformers, this game is a side-scroller. There are 7 weapons to choose from that can be upgraded 3 times, and 4 kinds of enemies to fight.

Two versions of the game were released: Version 1.0.8, created for phones with weaker graphic displays, and version 1.9.8, created for phones with better graphic displays. These releases are more commonly referred to as the Series 40 and Series 60 versions respectively. A sequel titled Clone Home was intended to release in 2006, however it was cancelled.

I suggest you avoid any irregularities in these tropes:

Both versions

• Action Bomb: The Explodo enemies, which detonate when close to Ratchet.
• Backtracking: Both versions require you to return to previous levels after acquiring the Circuit Jammer in order to destroy special blocks. However, the Series 40 version only has it once in the entire game whereas the Series 60 version has several instances.
• Cliffhanger: Ratchet and Clank have collected every piece of the MCGuFIN, not knowing where it will send them. The plot was resolved in the sequel...oh, right.
• Bizarrchitecture: Despite taking place within a Secret Agent Clank Vid-Comic, all of the levels with the exception of the Maktar Casino don't resemble anything spy or supervillain related, being more themed around circuitry. Even Maximillian's office◊ in the Series 60 release looks more like half of a normal hallway instead of a room.
• Continuity Nod: The title itself is a reference to Going Commando.
  • The game's promo art reuses artwork from Up Your Arsenal.
  • The Lancer, Gravity Bomb and Minirocket^note Tube from Going Commando are present, and the Chickenbots from the same game appear. The R.Y.N.O. also uses the look of the RYNO II.
• Cut Short: After Maximillian is defeated, Ratchet and Clank use the MCGuFIN device with an Infolink to escape back into the real world, but Clank warns that where they'll pop up in it is unknown. This was supposed to be a set-up for a cancelled sequel, Ratchet & Clank: Clone Home.
• Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: Ratchet respawns quickly upon dying, and checkpoints are very frequent. Even arena challenges will automatically restart upon death instead of kicking you back out to the challenge select.
• Excuse Plot: Ratchet and Clank are accidentally transported inside a Secret Agent Clank Vid-comic and have to find six parts of the MCGuFIN to escape, so run around and shoot things! The game doesn't even bother having an opening cutscene—everything is explained in text once you start a new game.
  • It's even worse in the Series 40 version, where most of the story is cut and Maximillian doesn't even appear.
• Final Boss: And the only boss in the game, at that. Its a short and easy fight against Maximillian in a very slow moving and firing security turret.
• Flunky Boss: During the final fight against Maximillian, he constantly summons Chickenbots to harass you.
• Forced Transformation: The Boar-Zooka weapon, which turns all enemies except the Security Tanks and final boss into boars.
• Genre Shift: From a third person shooter with platforming elements to a side scrolling run and gun platform.
• The Goomba: Chickenbots, the most common enemy and only slightly more threatening than an actual Goomba.
• Homing Projectile: Both the Circuit Jammer and R.Y.N.O. have these, with the former explaining it as the projectiles honing in on the enemies' electric signature.
• Infinity +1 Sword: The R.Y.N.O., which you unlock by collecting all of the Titanium Bolts in the game (30 in the Series 60 release, 9 in the Series 40 release).
• Loose Canon: Similar to the other non-Insomniac games, when Going Mobile! occurs isn't established, if it even happened at all. Most fans place it somewhere around Deadlocked, leaning towards sometime before simply due to the game's use of visuals from Up Your Arsenal.
• Mecha-Mook: All four of the types of enemies you fight (chickenbots, security bots, security tanks and explodos) are robots.
• New Work, Recycled Graphics: The key art lifts the artwork of Ratchet and Clank straight from Up Your Arsenal's cover art.
• No Ending: Even ignoring the Cliffhanger, after Clank says he doesn't know where the two end up the game immediately sends you to a results screen.
• Punny Name: The Boar-Zooka.
• Series Continuity Error: Both versions of the game have Clank use contractions, something he has been stated to not do since Going Commando.
• Shielded Core Boss: The final fight against Maximillian in his Security Cannon. Its an armored turret that you have to chip the armor off of before you can damage it.
• Silence Is Golden: Played negatively: Aside from the title screen music there is no soundtrack to speak of, and there are only around 10 sound effects across both versions of the game. Oddly enough, the Series 40 version contains more sound effects.
• Win to Exit: The point of the game, although Ratchet has to collect all the MCGuFIN pieces first in the Series 60 version.
• Unlockable Content: Though, not in the traditional sense. By beating the game and inputting your Ratchet: Deadlocked multiplayer name, you would receive a unique button combination that when entered into Deadlocked would grant you the Renegade armor.

Tropes exclusive to the Series 40 version

• Adam Smith Hates Your Guts: In the Series 60 release, the Boar-Zooka is given to the player for free for simply completing every arena challenge. Due to the arena being cut entirely from the Series 40 version, the Boar-Zooka is instead sold from the vendor like the rest of the weapons. Not only that but it is the most expensive weapon in the game, and chances are you won't have enough bolts to buy it before you reach the final boss.
• Adaptation Distillation: The game is significantly shorter than its Series 60 counterpart, and as a result the story only really hits three of the same plot points: Ratchet and Clank get sucked into a virtual world, Big Al appears, and the duo get zapped into an unknown location at the end.
• Adapted Out:
  • Maximillian doesn't appear at all in this version, despite being the Big Bad of the game. The final boss against his tank remains, though.
  • The Bouncer and the brief side mission to bribe him are cut entirely.
• The Cameo: Big Al only shows up once.
• Demoted to Extra: Big Al, who played a fairly major role in the Series 60 version, only appears once in this version.
• Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: The Security Tank Final Boss comes off as this, due to Maximillian being cut entirely from this release. It gets no foreshadowing, introduction, and isn't even mentioned after it is defeated.
• Guide Dang It!: After telling you how to attack, the game proceeds to never explain any of the mechanics it introduces. While most of these mechanics are fairly straight forward, some of them - such as using the Circuit Jammer to break specific blocks in the first level - are left up to the player to figure out.
• In Name Only: The two versions share a handful of elements, but the Series 40 version cuts and changes so much that it might as well be a separate game entirely.

Tropes exclusive to the Series 60 version

• Big Bad: Maximillian, who wants to escape from the video game into the real world.
• Continuity Nod:
  • At the start of the game, Ratchet and Clank get sucked inside a Secret Agent Clank Vid-Comic, and Ratchet is still wearing his Adamantine armor from that game (albeit with a recolour).
  • Your nanotech bar is styled in the same way as Going Commando. Maximillian's Casino level is clearly based on the Maktar Nebula level from that game.
• Forced Tutorial: In a complete reversal of the Series 40 release, every time you start a new save the game will pause the action in order to tell you every new mechanic you encounter. These tutorials will still appear in Challenge Mode as well.
• Fun with Acronyms: The MCGuFIN's name is short for Macro Corporeal Geo Fragmentation Ion Negator.
• Gladiator Subquest: As is tradition for the series. This game has one in the form of the Battle Arena. Due to this being a sidescroller, the arenas have been redesigned as 2D levels with enemies you must seek out instead of an onslaught of enemies rushing after you.
• MacGuffin: Lampshaded with the MCGuFIN device, which splits into six pieces that Ratchet and Clank have to find to escape.
• New Game Plus: After beating the final boss, you're given the option of replaying the game in Challenge Mode. As usual, you get to keep your bolts and weapons upon starting it. Unlike the rest of the series, however, Challenge Mode here cannot be replayed infinitely, as after a Challenge Mode playthrough you will be kicked back to the main menu and loading your save will put you back to just before the final boss.
• Orcus on His Throne: Despite being the main antagonist of the game, Maximillian isn't mentioned until about halfway through. And after that, he doesn't even appear physically until the very end for the Final Boss.
• Over 100% Completion: It's possible to collect 31 out of 30 titanium bolts, as an extra Titanium bolt will spawn in the Security BIOS level in Challenge Mode.
• Punny Name: The MCGuFIN device.

Clone Home

The key art to the ill-fated sequel.

Ratchet & Clank: Clone Home was the sequel to Going Mobile! that was set to be released in the Fall of 2006, however it was cancelled for unknown reasons. It was going to be an even bigger and more impressive game than its predecessor, boasting 15 levels and a larger arsenal of weapons. Most of the information currently known about the game comes from its (quite short) announcement article from IGN, which you can view here.

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• Aborted Arc: How did Ratchet and Clank end up in this new location? Who was making these imitators? Due to the game's cancellation, we may never know.
• Art Evolution: The game was to boast better graphics from Going Mobile!, with the handful of screenshots from the game showing them off.
• Clone Army: Not explicitly stated, but judging by the name and the game's announcement mentioning "imitators that [Ratchet and Clank] do not find flattering", it's a safe assumption.
• Immediate Sequel: Clone Home was to take place immediately after Going Mobile!'s cliffhanger ending.
• Mission-Pack Sequel: From what little is known, this was most likely the case.
• New Work, Recycled Graphics:
  • While the environments and enemies got a visual upgrade, Ratchet and Clank's sprites were recycled from Going Mobile!.
  • The game's key art recycles promotional art of the duo from Ratchet: Deadlocked.
• Pun-Based Title: On "phone home", referencing both E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and the fact that this was meant to be a phone game.
• Recycled Premise: Perhaps unintentional, but the game's premise is eerily similar to Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters due to both involving the duo shrinking down and fighting clones. They were even revealed within a month of each other!
• Unlockable Content: Much like its predecessor, Clone Home was going to allow you to unlock an exclusive skin for Ratchet in...something. The actual game it was meant to work with is unknown.

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Clank: I will now connect the MCGuFIN and we'll use this Infolink to transmute ourselves back into our analog forms.
Ratchet: Where do you think we'll come out?
Clank: Unknown.