Mr. Zurkon

"Yoo-hoo, Mr. Zurkon is looking to kill you."

- Mr. Zurkon hunting for enemies.

Mr. Zurkon is a weapon manufactured by GrummelNet in Tools of Destruction (as a device), A Crack in Time, All 4 One, Full Frontal Assault and Into the Nexus. He is a synthenoid which, when deployed, will hover around Ratchet and fire his laser at nearby enemies, while cracking one-liners and sadistic jokes at their expense.

As a device in Tools of Destruction, Mr. Zurkon cannot be upgraded. In A Crack in Time as a weapon, Mr. Zurkon can be upgraded to the more powerful Zurkon the Destroyer with use, and later to the more powerful Omega Zurkon the Destroyer in challenge mode. In Into the Nexus, he can be upgraded to Zurkon Family, which causes him to be deployed alongside Mrs. Zurkon and Zurkon Jr., who contribute their own firepower.

Mr. Zurkon is voiced by Marc Graue.

Tools of Destruction
Mr. Zurkon was available as a combat device upon reaching Rykan V, and could be purchased from a device vendor. Ratchet could hold up to four Mr. Zurkons, which cost 5,000 bolts each. As a device, Mr. Zurkon could not be upgraded with raritanium or with use, meaning he stayed at the same power level throughout.

A Crack in Time
Mr. Zurkon reappeared as an ordinary weapon, and could be purchased from a GrummelNet weapons vendor for 6,000 bolts upon reaching Vorselon's Warship (or 3,000 bolts if the player owned a Tools of Destruction save file). With use, he could be upgraded to the blue Zurkon the Destroyer. In challenge mode, the Omega Zurkon the Destroyer upgrade could be purchased for 196,000 bolts (or 147,000 bolts if the player owned a Tools of Destruction save file).

All 4 One
Mr. Zurkon could be obtained upon reaching planet Magnus (or earlier if the player preordered from Gamestop). He returned with a co-op twist: when teammates launch multiple Zurkons at once, they would work together as a team. Mr. Zurkon could be given an ammo upgrade for 5,000 bolts, a power upgrade for 10,000, and an Elite upgrade for 30,000 bolts. With the Elite upgrade, Mr. Zurkon created a massive explosion when destroyed, taking out as up to ten enemies.

Comic series
Mr. Zurkon appeared in Ratchet & Clank: Issue 6: Bros Before Foes. Artemis Zogg dispatches many of them to attack Ratchet, Clank, Sasha, Cronk, Zephyr, and the Galactic Rangers.

Full Frontal Assault
Mr. Zurkon was a member of the Q-Force, and reappeared as a weapon in the game. He could be upgraded to Alpha Zurkon at level 3 with use.

Into the Nexus
Mr. Zurkon was available upon reaching Silox for 20,000 bolts. When upgraded once, Mr. Zurkon would take his son, Zurkon Jr., with him to fight. When upgraded to level 3, Mr. Zurkon became Zurkon Family, and took Mrs. Zurkon with him as well.

Characteristics
Mr. Zurkon is a small, dark grey and green synthenoid. He has a humanoid shape with thrusters for legs, a laser for his right hand, and a large, menacing skull face. When firing at enemies, he would often throw out pre-recorded lines at them, cracking jokes and insulting them.

As Zurkon the Destroyer, Mr. Zurkon was instead blue and light grey, and would occasionally fire a bolt of explosive plasma at enemies. His dialog and behavior was unchanged.

The members of the Zurkon family share a resemblance with him. Zurkon Jr. is a smaller synthenoid with only a single eye and a brighter orange color in place of Mr. Zurkon's green. Mrs. Zurkon is much larger, with pearls around her neck and three lasers on her left arm. They roughly share Mr. Zurkon's behavior.

Combat
Mr. Zurkon, once deployed, will hover around Ratchet, and fire at enemies until he runs out of ammo, at which point he will self-destruct. His blasts have a moderate rate of fire and do decent damage to enemies over his lifespan, making him a very versatile weapon useful against most types of enemies. Mr. Zurkon's firepower is provided as a very useful supplement to Ratchet's, allowing him to serve both a defensive and an offensive purpose.

In A Crack in Time, upgrading Mr. Zurkon to Zurkon the Destroyer does not fundamentally change the weapon, though it allows Zurkon the Destroyer to fire an explosive blast of plasma occasionally at enemies. In Into the Nexus, upgrading Mr. Zurkon would add his family members, Zurkon Jr. and Mrs. Zurkon to be deployed alongside him. This also did not fundamentally change the weapon, and was a flat upgrade to Mr. Zurkon's damage. However, the family could be upgraded with raritanium, including the special Proton Blast upgrade allowing them to fire a large blast at a single enemy, making the family more useful against bosses.

In All 4 One, when multiple players deployed different Zurkons, they would work together. In Full Frontal Assault, Mr. Zurkon was particularly useful at shooting down missiles fired from the Missile Minion.

James Westbrook
In Tools of Destruction, there is a cheat which was unlocked with 400 skill points that turned Mr. Zurkon into a child in a flying saucer. Insomniac Games was inspired to make this cheat when a child was hit by a car and was paralyzed from that point on. However, he still had his love for video games and continued to play the Ratchet & Clank series. The child was named James Westbrook and his family was on an episode of the since-ended ABC show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

GrummelNet preview
"Mr. Zurkon is the perfect companion for spontaneous treks through hostile alien environments. Uh oh. Looks like these guys are hungry for Lombax soup. Well, not to worry! Just deploy your Mr. Zurkon, and he'll target any hostile entity. "Yoo Hoo! Mr. Zurkon is looking to kill you!" Ain't he eloquent? Mr. Zurkon. Available only at GrummelNet."

- GrummelNet preview

Appearances

 * Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
 * Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time
 * Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One
 * Ratchet & Clank: Issue 6: Bros Before Foes
 * Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault
 * Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus


 * Non-canon
 * 8-bit Mini-Mayhem