Amoeboid

Template:Appearances

General information
Location	Ratchet & Clank: Tobruk Crater, Novalis Blackwater City, Rilgar Jowai Resort, Pokitaru Up Your Arsenal: Aquatos Secret Agent Clank: Venantonio
Offense	Bite
Defense	Splits in two

Amoeboids are enemies in Ratchet & Clank, the 2016 re-imagined release, Up Your Arsenal, and Secret Agent Clank. They are an artificial race of hostile slime creatures created by Dr. Nefarious and found throughout the Solana Galaxy, infesting sewers on planets such as Rilgar, Aquatos, and Venantonio. Amoeboids notably split into two smaller amoeboids after being hit, until they are down to their smallest form, at which point they can be killed entirely.

History

Qwark vid-comic

The creation of the amoeboids in Dr. Nefarious' lab.

Amoeboids appear in the second issue, Arriba Amoeba!, of the Qwark vid-comic series. In this issue, the amoeboids were created by Dr. Nefarious in the swamps surrounding Blackwater City, Rilgar, seemingly to exact vengeance on those who had called him insane. Captain Qwark then arrived to defend the city by fighting off the amoeboids, while also fighting the extermibots that had been sent to exterminate the creatures and were unable to differentiate between him and the amoeboids.

Ratchet & Clank

A large amoeboid next to Darla Gratch.

Ratchet and Clank first saw the amoeboids in an infobot obtained on the Blarg Tactical Research Station, Nebula G34, after "Destroy the warship". The infobot contained a news broadcast from Darla Gratch, reporting on the Hovercon Intergalactic Hoverboard Competition in Blackwater City, taking place around the time the city was attacked by amoeboids. Ratchet and Clank visited Blackwater City and encountered amoeboids during "Win the hoverboard race". Extermibots were sent by the Blackwater City Administration to eradicate the threat, though they also attacked Ratchet.

The duo later encountered amoeboids in the sewers of Jowai Resort, Pokitaru, during "Navigate the sewers". Here, they defeated the amoeboids before encountering Fred for the second time. Later, upon returning to the Tobruk Crater, Novalis, they found amoeboids in a cave only accessible by swimming in the river upstream with the Hydro-Pack.

Re-imagined

The 2016 re-imagined game is primarily an unreliable retelling of events by Qwark.

The re-imagined game primarily describes Captain Qwark's account of events. As Qwark is an unreliable narrator, and contradictory events are in-universe fiction (though those which correspond still apply). Please see Project:Bulletin board/Canon for the wiki's coverage of canon.

In Qwark's retelling of events, amoeboids were created by Drek Industries, sent by the blarg to assist the warbots in attacking the galaxy. They were first encountered by Ratchet and Clank in the Tobruk Crater, Novalis, in the caves behind their ship's landing pad, during "Search the caves for hidden treasure" (in different caves to those they appeared in in the original release).

Later, amoeboids were encountered in Blackwater City, Rilgar, during "Travel to the hoverboard event". While the amoeboids infested the city, the Blackwater City Administration closed down the hoverboard race until their extermibots could eliminate them. Ratchet and Clank defeated the amoeboids, and the race was back on.

Amoeboids were encountered once again in the Pumping Station in Jowai Resort, Pokitaru, in "Clean up Amoeboids in Puming Station". Ratchet and Clank defeated the amoeboids here to obtain the O2 Mask.

Up Your Arsenal

Ratchet encountered amoeboids throughout Aquatos' underground tunnels in "Infiltrate the underwater hideout", on the way to reaching Dr. Nefarious' Deep Sea Hideout with Skidd McMarx. The amoeboids fought against the hover bots, though both were hostile to Ratchet. On two occasions during this mission, Ratchet also fought king amoeboids, which were much larger variants that spat balls of slime from their mouths, and carried a sewer crystal in their bowels.

File:Plumber with sewer crystal.png

The Plumber with a sewer crystal.

Later on Aquatos, Ratchet also fought amoeboids in the sewers during "Gather Sewer Crystals". Amoeboids were found throughout the slime of the sewers, along with king amoeboids, and had to be fought to obtain the sewer crystals for the Plumber.

Ratchet also played the Qwark vid-comic, Arriba Amoeba!, in which the amoeboids were fought as a common enemy in Blackwater City, along with the extermibots.

Post-Up Your Arsenal

According to Vox News, the mayor of Metropolis, Kerwan, stepped down after being involved with a scandal involving illicit funds from the amoeboid mafia, prompting President Phyronix to install Sasha Phyronix as the interim mayor. They also alleged that the President was involved in the scandal. Additionally, a Vox News report claimed that Captain Starshield had saved the Bogon Galaxy in the date G2.15.173 from a pan-galactic amoeboid mafia ring, though it is unknown when exactly this date took place.

Later, in Tools of Destruction, when outside the Planetary Defense Center, an automated message made reference to an attack from a "radioactive amoeboid", suggesting they were activate on Metropolis.

Secret Agent Clank

Clank arrived in the Secret Laboratory, Venantonio, where many amoeboids were created by Klunk. These included explosive amoeboids, red amoeboids that would explode on contact with foes. Self-deodorizing amoeboids were also mentioned on a plaque. Later, during Qwark's opera, amoeboids appeared in as aliens. According to Qwark's tale, they attacked the town, but Qwark shot them down with his laser eyes, causing the town to be messy with alien bodies.

Ratchet also fought many amoeboids in the Prison by the pipes.

Overview

Characteristics

Concept art in the re-imagined release.

Amoeboids are green, slimy creatures with two arms on their upper body, and glowing yellow eyes (red in the re-imagined release). They have slug-like movement, and are as such relatively slow. They appear to lack sapient intelligence, though Vox News claimed they were capable of forming a mafia on at least two occasions. Amoeboids are hostile to all lifeforms, and attempt to devour them. Normal amoeboids will make a laughing noise and raise their arms in the air after attacking. While they wield no technology, some king amoeboids are partially encrusted with thick crystals.

Different types of amoeboids come in different shapes and sizes, though only three amoeboids were directly related: larger amoeboids, medium amoeboids, and small amoeboids, where the large amoeboids split into two medium amoeboids, while medium amoeboids split into two small ones.

Habitat

A cave filled with amoeboids in Tobruk Crater, Novalis, with nest-like constructs on the ceiling.

Amoeboids appear to primarily prefer underground dwellings, such as caves and sewer systems, almost always appearing near water. However, they are occasionally able to escape beyond these areas, and attempt to eat civilians, as was seen in their attack on Blackwater City, where they came from the sewers and expanded outwards. In Tobruk Crater, there is a small cave system filled with a green haze and a collection of strange constructs on the ceilings filled with eyes, out of which slime drips. Amoeboids are found in a large number in this cave, and the constructs appear to be nests.

Known locations of amoeboids include planets Novalis, Rilgar, Pokitaru, Aquatos, and Venantonio, where Ratchet and Clank encountered them, as well as planet Kerwan and in parts of the Bogon Galaxy.

Types

Name	Location	Description
Small amoeboid	Novalis, Rilgar, Pokitaru, Aquatos, Venantonio	Small-sized, weakest in the chain, dealing low damage. They appear on their own and as a result of a medium amoeboid being killed. When they themselves are killed, they simply burst into a spray of slime.
Medium amoeboid		Medium-sized, dealing moderate damage. They appear on their own and as a result of a large amoeboid being killed. When they themselves are killed, they will split into two small amoeboids.
Large amoeboid		Large-sized, with the strongest damage of basic amoeboids. They appear on their own (though they are much rarer than the others), and when alone, will run around in circles, and make loud noises upon seeing Ratchet. When killed, they split into two medium amoeboids.
King amoeboid	Aquatos	Giant amoeboids, and the largest type encountered. Most often encountered in the sewers of Aquatos, and before being approached, will be stuck in a wall of slime that forms a barrier in between pipes. They deal heavy damage, with their attacks hitting twice as large as the larger amoeboids, and guard sewer crystals. Mutated variants wearing thicker, spiked armor also appear.
Explosive amoeboid	Venantonio	Red, small and medium sized amoeboids, originally known as Experiment #27 A. They detonate on contact when near enemies, and must be avoided.

Combat

In the original Ratchet & Clank, amoeboids primarily become a threat when attacked by a larger group, as they are only capable of hurting Ratchet in melee range. Therefore, the Pyrocitor is most useful against them, due to its continuous fire being able to take out amoeboids as they split up into their larger form. The Bomb Glove is also adequate, as its decent range and explosive damage works well against groups, while it lets you keep away from their melee attacks. When acquired later on, the Morph-o-Ray is effective against them, as amoeboids will not split up when morphed.

Small amoeboids in combat.

In Up Your Arsenal, the Plasma Whip and Shock Blaster are useful due to their weak constitution and tendency to appear in groups. The N60 Storm and Lava Gun are similarly effective, with the Rift Inducer being strong when they appear in high numbers. In the sewers the Suck Cannon is a cheap solution against the weakest variants. Once acquired, the Qwack-O-Ray is the most potent weapon against them when exploring the Aquatos sewers, as it takes little time to morph them, and when upgraded, the ducks that appear after morphing will also explode and defeat nearby amoeboids.

In the re-imagined Ratchet & Clank, unlike the original release, amoeboids are much more durable, though still arrive in numbers. The Proton Drum is particularly effective against them due to its continuous pulses, area of effect, and its ability to knock them back before they approach Ratchet. The Pyrocitor's continuous fire is also strong against them. Summoning Mr. Zurkon can allow fire to be focused on the large amoeboids while Zurkon attacks the smaller ones that approach.

Behind the scenes

In Up Your Arsenal, Garcia programmed the amoeboids for the sewer section. They proved difficult to code, as the amoeboids had to be split in any orientation in the sewers' tunnels without it looking disorienting.