Aquatos is a planet in the Solana Galaxy featured in Up Your Arsenal. It is an ocean planet home to the Deep Sea Hideout, a base owned by Dr. Nefarious. The planet also contains a vast sewer system populated by amoeboids where valuable sewer crystals can be found. Slim Cognito also operated his secret weapon shop here.
Ratchet and Clank were sent to infiltrate Nefarious's base by Captain Qwark and the newly formed Q-Force. The duo traveled through the sewers alongside Skidd McMarx, who brought a Hacker gadget to get past the fortress' security. After encountering Slim Cognito, they split up to infiltrate the base. Clank entered the ventilation shafts with Skrunch, while Ratchet used the Tyhrra-Guise to sneak past the tyhrranoid guards and reach Nefarious's office. After escaping they met the Plumber, who traded sewer crystals for bolts.
History[]
Prior to Up Your Arsenal[]
A famed aquatic adventuress from Aquatos known as Hydro Girl gained popularity in the Solana Galaxy.[2] The planet was also protected by the Aquatos National Protection Force.[3]
The Galactic Rangers once fought in the "Aquatos sewer war", with one Ranger claiming to have killed a king amoeboid with his bare hands, while another claimed that the amoeboid swallowed him and he had gone AWOL until appearing a week later floating in a toilet on planet Barium.[4]
At some point, Dr. Nefarious established his underwater base on the planet, believing it to be impenetrable[5], and weapons dealer Slim Cognito set up a new shop on Aquatos after a run-in with Bogon Galaxy law enforcement when he mistakenly sold a Suck Cannon upgrade to a minor.[6]
Up Your Arsenal[]
A drawing from Qwark's plans.
As leader of the Q-Force, Captain Qwark devised a plan to infiltrate the Deep Sea Hideout. He tasked Clank with navigating the ventilation shafts with Skrunch's help ("Banana-Guided Autonomous Monkey Device"), while Ratchet was to use the Tyhrra-Guise to sneak past the guards and access Nefarious's office. Ratchet protested against the plan, while Qwark was confident it would succeed.[1]
The duo meet Skidd on Aquatos.
For "Infiltrate the underwater hideout", Ratchet and Clank were surprised to find Skidd McMarx, calling himself "Shadow Dude", assigned to help them. Though initially reluctant, Ratchet accepted Skidd's help upon learning he had a Hacker gadget. During their infiltration the team visited Slim Cognito's shop, where Skidd fled in fear of Slim's whispers. After explaining his presence, Slim offered them Megacorp weapons for free, a service he claimed was at the behest of Abercrombie Fizzwidget.[7][a]
Ratchet meeting up with Clank in Nefarious' office.
In "Find Nefarious' Office", Ratchet and Clank split up per Qwark's plan. They eventually reunited in Nefarious's office, where they discovered his complete Secret Agent Clank holo-vid collection and downloaded an encrypted star map.[8] They exited through a sewer pipe, where they met the Plumber, who offered them bolts in exchange for sewer crystals.
Slim Cognito contacted Ratchet and Clank when more powerful weapons went on sale. When they arrived at the Thran Asteroid Belt for "Find Captain Qwark", Slim contacted them to inform them he was selling the Bouncer. After arriving on Koros for "Get inside command center", he sold a mint condition Plasma Coil still in its box.[9] Finally, when they arrived on Mylon for "Battle your way to the launch site", he sold a Shield Charger that he had just picked up.[10]
Deadlocked[]
Hydro Girl was later kidnapped by DreadZone while building a shelter for injured seals.[2] During this time, Aquatos was the site of an interplanetary tanker accident that spilled radioactive waste, injuring many baby seals. Vox News framed Ratchet for the disaster, with Dallas Wanamaker and Juanita Alvaro falsely claiming he had piloted the tanker..[11] After Ratchet destroyed DreadZone, Hydro Girl was freed and sent a transmission from Aquatos thanking him for his help.[12]
Geography[]
Aquatos is a dark, blue planet whose surface is seemingly covered entirely by water, with no visible landmasses from space. The only known civilizations are located in underwater structures. The surrounding ocean floor is dotted with large, insectoid machinery of unknown purpose connected to the central tower via long, glowing tubes.
Among the known life on Aquatos are seals[2][11], indicating there are at least some landmasses.
Deep Sea Hideout[]
The exterior of the Deep Sea Hideout.
The Deep Sea Hideout is a massive underwater facility that serves as Nefarious's base of operations. It consists of several distinct zones connected by elevators, teleporters, and a submarine.
The initial approach is through a series of underground tunnels and pipelines, with amoeboids inhabiting pools of green water, as well as a larger underwater chamber blocked off from the ocean by walls of seaweed. Progress is gated by security systems that require a Hacker gadget to bypass bridges and doors. This area eventually leads to the room where Slim Cognito runs his weapon vending business, including a submarine to the fortress.
The main fortress is a high-security area that Ratchet and Clank must infiltrate separately. Clank navigates the upper ventilation shafts, dealing with lasers, sentinel bots, and pressure-activated traps with the help of Skrunch and gadgebots. Meanwhile, Ratchet uses the Tyhrra-Guise to fool tyhrranoid guards in the main area below, which is composed of slime pits and force fields. The paths intersect at a large, movable bridge that must be coordinated to allow both to proceed. Both paths converge on Nefarious's office, a circular room containing a large viewscreen and shelves filled with his prized Secret Agent Clank collection.
Sewers[]
The open area of the sewer network.
Described as one of the smelliest sewers in the galaxy.[13], this vast network of tunnels is accessible from the hideout's sewer system. It is home to valuable sewer crystals, which are found in natural formations or dropped by defeated king amoeboids, whom often appear as slime walls blocking off entire tunnels. While the first section can be explored on foot, reaching the deeper, drier levels requires the Gravity Boots. A strong current in the main sewage river leading through the network serves as a quick way back to the submarine entrance.
There are 99 sewer crystals, which can be sold to the Plumber for 2,000 bolts each (or 20,000 in challenge mode).
Multiplayer[]
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The Aquatos Sewers multiplayer map.
Map layout of Aquatos Sewers.
Aquatos Sewers is a multiplayer map set in a small, closed-off portion of the planet's sewer system. It is available for Capture the Flag and Deathmatch modes.
Due to the symmetrical and repetitive design of the narrow tunnels, navigation can be confusing, and avoiding weapon fire is difficult. The map is centered around a large four-way intersection. In Capture the Flag, the flags are placed in opposing tunnels, with this central room between them. The item layout is mostly mirrored; the northern and southern tunnels each contain a pair of Charge Boots, the western tunnel holds a Flux Rifle, and the eastern tunnel has a Lava Gun. A powerful Minirocket Tube spawns in the center of the main crossroads.
Behind the scenes[]
Mike Stout designed the Aquatos level, and Jerrod Putman programmed the main segment.[14] Stout also designed both the Clank segment[15] and the Tyhrra-Guise segment,[16] while Paul Cazarez was handed the sewers.[17] The design was one of the first levels that Stout started from a paper design. It was also one of the first levels Stout placed all the enemy segments for, though he was inexperienced at it and had to split the work with Colin Munson in exchange for designing puzzle segments in one of Munson's levels.[18] The three different segments (main, Nefarious's fortress, and sewers) are actually separate game levels entirely; the submarine transition is just a variation on the flying ship transitions used to mask loading, which Al Hastings packed into memory.[19]
The main design requirement for the initial Aquatos segment was that Stout had to design a level where a member of the Q-Force helps Ratchet. Stout did not want this to be a traditional escort mission, which he felt were always bad.[20] The biggest difficulty was getting Skidd to run through the level. Skidd used the same AI system as the Galactic Rangers, and since designers at Insomniac Games were not using scripting at this point, Stout and Putman had to work out the complex pathing together.[18]
One of Stout's mandates when designing the Clank segments was that Insomniac wanted to introduce Secret Agent Clank elements to set up the spin-off game. The designers also felt the Gadgebots were not very interactive, which led to the solution of involving Skrunch with the banana gun.[15] Another mandate was that the player should be able to playfully bully Skrunch for enjoyment.[21]
The goal for the Tyhrra-Guise segment was to create a rhythm game inspired by Space Channel 5, with the twist that Ratchet was talking to tyhrranoids. The final version was similar to the original design, but it was very difficult for focus testers to understand the interface. Stout wrote many of the tyhrranoid lines, though they were rewritten by the game's lead writer, Brad Santos.[16]
The sewers segment was an attempt to repeat the collectible missions from Tabora and Grelbin in Going Commando but with fewer resources. It was going to be designed by Mike Stout, but he handed the design to Paul Cazarez after realizing "it would be awful".[17] Cazarez had to set up around 300 enemy encounters, none of which could be the same. Despite the goal of saving programming work compared to the previous games, it ultimately saved very little.[17] Programmer Tony Garcia also struggled, as the amoeboids had to be able to split in any orientation without looking disorienting.[22]
Notes[]
Annotations[]
- ↑ Provided if the player had purchased them in a Going Commando save.
Citations[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Up Your Arsenal script § "Mission Idiotic"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Insomniac Games official website 2005
- ↑ Deadlocked menu § "Elium Shocker"
- ↑ Up Your Arsenal script § "Tower Attack (gameplay)"
- ↑ Up Your Arsenal script § "Dirty Laundry and Whatnot"
- ↑ Up Your Arsenal script § "Infiltrate the Underwater Hideout (gameplay)"
- ↑ Up Your Arsenal script § "Other"
- ↑ Up Your Arsenal script § "Find Nefarious' Office (gameplay)"
- ↑ Up Your Arsenal script § "Get inside command center (gameplay)"
- ↑ Up Your Arsenal script § "Battle your way to the launch site (gameplay)"
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Deadlocked script § "Climb the Tower of Power (gameplay)"
- ↑ Deadlocked script § "Death of a Salesman"
- ↑ Up Your Arsenal script § "Gather Sewer Crystals (gameplay)"
- ↑ Stout, Garcia, Yu April 2012 0:31
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Stout, Garcia, Yu May 2012 0:57
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Stout, Garcia, Yu May 2012 3:18
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Stout, Garcia, Yu May 2012 15:32
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 Stout, Garcia, Yu April 2012 4:08
- ↑ Stout, Garcia, Yu May 2012 11:16
- ↑ Stout, Garcia, Yu April 2012 7:01
- ↑ Stout, Garcia, Yu May 2012 6:43
- ↑ Stout, Garcia, Yu April 2012 2:59
References[]
- Video games
- Insomniac Games (2004). Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal [Game]. PlayStation 2.
- Websites
- Insomniac Games (2005, October 19). "Entertainment News - News Update". From Insomniac Games. Archived from the original on November 8, 2019.
- Videos
- Stout, Mike; Garcia, Tony [@uselesspodcasts] (2012, April 29). Ratchet & Clank 3 Dev Commentary: 8 - Aquatos and Skidd [Video]. Anthony Yu. YouTube.
- Stout, Mike; Garcia, Tony [@uselesspodcasts] (2012, May 6). Ratchet & Clank 3 Dev Commentary: 9 - Aquatos Finale [Video]. Anthony Yu. YouTube.