Aridia is a planet in the Solana Galaxy featured in Ratchet & Clank, the 2016 re-imagined game, and Up Your Arsenal. It is a sparsely inhabited desert world covered in sand and mud. Many of the structures found in the planet's outposts are built on rugged terrain. Ratchet and Clank visited Outpost X11 in Ratchet & Clank and Outpost X12 in Up Your Arsenal.
Ratchet and Clank first came to Aridia's Outpost X11 in search of Skidd McMarx, who had crash-landed on the planet after his ship was shot down. From there, they were able to obtain a Z3000 Hoverboard from Skid. In Up Your Arsenal, Ratchet and Clank went to Outpost X12 to join the Galactic Rangers in a battle against the tyhrranoid invasion. Defeating the invaders allowed them to obtain the Warp Pad.
History[]
Ratchet & Clank[]
Ratchet and Clank received coordinates to Aridia from the Plumber on Novalis. It showed footage of an emergency crash landing from Skid McMarx and Skid's agent. Despite doubting that Skid knew Captain Qwark, the two agreed to travel to help Skid.
Ratchet and Clank found Skid alone, unable to return to his crashed ship due to a sandshark infestation. Skid gave them the mission "Help Skid get to his ship", in which they had to exterminate all of the sandsharks to clear a path to the wrecked ship. Once done, Skid presented them with a Z3000 Hoverboard, a hoverboard that could not be purchased on the market. Ratchet and Clank also explored the structure of Outpost X11. Traversing a Swingshot path led the two to obtain a Trespasser found inside, while traversing a path of conveyor belts led them to find Skid's agent, who agreed to grant them the Sonic Summoner if they competed in the Blackwater City hoverboard championships and return the prize to him.
Re-imagined[]
In Qwark's retelling of events, the story is largely the same. Skidd McMarx had opened the McMarx Sports Shack in Outpost X11, though during the opening had accidentally received blarg plans for the hydroharvester. This led the blarg to attack the Sports Shack, separating Skidd from his agent. In "Locate Skidd McMarx", Ratchet and Clank arrived and saved Skidd from the sandsharks blocking his way to his ship, leading Skidd to grant them a McMarx 4000 Hoverboard. In "Find Skidd's Agent", they saved Skidd's agent from an attack by blarg forces, reuniting Skidd and his agent, as they offered Ratchet the chance to compete in the hoverboard race on Rilgar in Skidd's place. Finally, in "Locate the gadget inside the McMarx Sports Shack", they retrieved a Hydrodisplacer from within the shack.
Qwark also mentioned that Neftin Prog had attempted twice to render the population of Aridia colorblind, which Qwark had stopped both times.
Up Your Arsenal[]
After searching the crash site on Zeldrin, Ratchet and Clank received a transmission from the Galactic Rangers on returning to the Star Explorer. The Rangers claimed they were having a birthday party for H-22, but Ratchet remarked from the laser fire he heard in the background that it sounded more like a battle. Nonetheless, he agreed to help anyway.[1]
In "Help the Galactic Rangers", Ratchet and Clank traveled to Aridia to lead the battle against the Rangers on Outpost X12 in Operation: DEATH VALLEY. Ratchet first defended the Ranger base before pushing back against the assault of Red Rock Valley. There, Ratchet defended the Rangers from an ambush, assassinated six robonoid commanders leading the tyhrranoids, and reactivated four turrets to create a defensive perimeter for the Rangers around the valley. After this, Ratchet led the Ranger attack on the tyhrranoid base.
To thank Ratchet for his help, the Rangers awarded him with the Warp Pad.
Geography[]
Overview[]
Aridia is a desert planet covered mostly in sand and mud. Most civilization on the planet is located in outpost compounds, built across a set of islands in between the mud. The world is home to a small amount of vegetation.
Outpost X11[]
Outpost X11 is the area seen in Ratchet & Clank. It is a compound, still under construction, situated within a larger area that is encapsulated by rocky cliff terrain, with a tall wall spanning the west side of the location. The center of the terrain is covered with a lake of mud, with the only way of traversal being a strip of sand that leads along the southern and western cliff walls, occasionally interspersed by thin rivers of mud. The landing site is located near the south-eastern end of the outpost, from where one can either head south to a secluded section inhabited by sandsharks, or further west to reach the main facility itself. This path features sparse vegetation along the cliffs, a series of girders mounted vertically, as well as some construction equipment and materials.
There are several out-of-place sunken girders located at random spots in the mud lake. In the center of the muddy lake is a small peninsula made out of sand that only touches the facility's wall. It is otherwise featureless except for a lone truck with a gold bolt in the back, two bulldozers, and a towering construction crane. Further past this, on the north side of the cliff wall is a bigger strip of sand, notably more covered in grass and vegetation, that is connected by magne-strips to a plateau on which a large cannon is located. Lastly, there is an underground shuttle machine capable of physically transporting people from one side of the mud lake to the other, located nearby the landing pad on the south side, and Skid's agent on the north side.
Sandshark Valley[]
The aforementioned section inhabited by sandsharks is also entirely surrounded by tall cliffs, but almost devoid of mud, save for a few small streams of mud that cut through parts of the terrain, though there is always a metal platform to function as a bridge. Near the entrance is Skid's escape pod, from where the path leads into a large circle shape, surrounding a raised plateau in the center, on top of which is a small pool of sand indented within the rock. There is a grating in the west wall, through which a hidden tunnel and gold bolt is visible, which is accessed through a cracked rock wall located in the south-western end of the circle, across a bigger stream of mud. On the south-eastern end is an area across another stream of mud, with several steps leading to the wrecked Solarship Radical, through which one can access a ledge overseeing the mud lake and a construction vehicle with a platform that will take you down to the landing pad.
Outpost X11 left path[]
The compound is accessed by using a small elevator, from where the path splits again, leading left and right. To the left is a linear route, with many neon-gray lights on the walls, that leads to an increasingly taller series of platforms, accessible only through use of the Swingshot and versa-targets to avoid the mud depths below. Eventually this leads to a very tall cylindrical-shaped chamber, with walls covered in red lights embedded in hexagonal shapes, containing only the Trespasser and an Invinco-Lock leading to an elevator that returns to the start.
Outpost X11 right path[]
The path on the right starts with a set of metal platforms and wide conveyor belts, located above the mud lake below, as the building appears to be partially in construction above it. At the end is an elevator that leads to a separate construction site, deeper within the structure and well below ground level, tall walls keeping the lake of mud from flooding it entirely. The terrain here is largely just dirt, with a stream of mud in the center, on the other side of which is more dirt and a few explosive crates. A multitude of pipes and tubes lead out from the walls and platforms and into the floor, two stone blocks sit in the center, with a stack of three tubes on top of a platform located between the two. The blocks can be climbed, ultimately leading to several platforms, traversable ledges, and a bridge, culminating in an exit that leads to the strip of sand north of the mud lake. It is here where the escape pod of Skid's agent is located, as well as the aforementioned transportation device and supercannon.
Re-imagined differences[]
The layout of Outpost X11 is largely unchanged in Qwark's version of events, with the main differences being that the compound is named the McMarx Sports Shack, and that the large cannon is absent, with a bolt crank in its place linked to cranes carrying construction materials. In place of the Trespasser, the Hydrodisplacer is found, along with pools of water in its hexagonal room and in the path from this room leading to the elevator. Additionally, the transporter connecting the end island with the starting island is replaced with a teleporter, and the island in the center with a truck also contains a teleporter back to the ship.
Outpost X12 area[]
Outpost X12 is the area visited in Up Your Arsenal. It is located on the opposite side of the planet,[2] and has a flat landscape with mud and small bridges between two opposing facilities. The outpost comprises six main islands, with a large canyon surrounding the four islands in the middle area known as Red Rock Valley,[3] while the bases are located on the outer two islands beneath two identical immense black tower-like structures. The blue structure on the east is the Rangers' base, while the red structure on the west belongs to the tyhrranoids. A round metal island is located in the middle, reached with the Hypershot using versa-targets.
Each base is sandwiched in-between two islands, the main island on which it is located (just behind the tower-like structure), and a small island behind it. Adjacent to the canyon wall surrounding each base are rock plateaus and one small tower climbed using a grav-ramp, which can be used to reach the small island behind the base. Each base has a tunnel used to reach the room at the bottom of the large structure, with a bridge in the tunnel across mud used to reach it.
The four islands are mostly symmetrical, with a few differences. The eastern islands closest to the blue base have rock plateaus climbed using grav-ramps; the northeastern island has a smaller plateau, while the southeastern island has two long plateaus and a rock bridge across them. These islands are linked by a diagonal bridge, and the Rangers' base leads out directly to the northeastern island. The western islands contain metal structures on each climbed with grav-ramps, with the southwestern island having a thinner but tall structure, while the northwestern island has two longer but shorter structures crossed using a bridge. The tyhrranoid base is reached from the northwestern island.
On the southern end of the map, a large metal bridge connects the southern islands together, while on the northern end are two mirrored ramps across either island, allowing a turboslider to cross them. Behind this ramp are two crevices atop tall mountains, climbed using the grav-ramp.
Multiplayer[]
Outpost X12 from Operation: DEATH VALLEY features as a multiplayer map in Up Your Arsenal multiplayer, and supports all game modes. The map is identical to Outpost X12 from the game, aside from a few minor differences around the base in which there are three tunnels to access each base instead of one. The turboslider and hovership are both available for the map.
Behind the scenes[]
The planet's appearance from space changed drastically compared to its original Ratchet & Clank appearance. In Up Your Arsenal, the planet's appearance from space strongly resembles a mirrored Tabora, with added purple oceans.
Citations[]
References[]
- Video games
- Insomniac Games (2002). Ratchet & Clank [Game]. Sony Computer Entertainment. PlayStation 2.
- Insomniac Games (2004). Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal [Game]. PlayStation 2.
- Insomniac Games (2016). Ratchet & Clank [Game]. Sony Interactive Entertainment. PlayStation 4.
- Bibliography
- Greg Off (2004). Ratchet & Clank Up Your Arsenal Official Strategy Guide [Book]. BradyGames. ISBN 0744005000.