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The Groovitron is a recurring item in the Ratchet & Clank series. Manufactured by GrummelNet Industries, it is a floating disco ball that, when thrown, plays disco music that mesmerises anything near it to dance uncontrollably until it expires.

The Groovitron appeared in Tools of Destruction as one of the devices, before appearing as a weapon in A Crack in Time (as the Groovitron Glove), Full Frontal Assault, and Ratchet & Clank (2016 game). It also also appeared as a weapon in Before the Nexus. The Groovitron weapon is also known as the Groovitron Glove in A Crack in Time, and in Full Frontal Assault, the Groovitron also appears as a mine named the Groovitron Mine. It is mentioned in Into the Nexus.

In Tools of Destruction, the Golden Groovitron upgrade could be purchased in challenge mode, giving it unlimited ammo. In A Crack in Time, the Groovitron Glove can be upgraded to the Groovibomb Glove with use (which exploded upon expiry), and the Omega Groovibomb Glove upgrade could be purchased in challenge mode. In Ratchet & Clank, it upgrades to the Groovibomb with use, and the Omega Groovibomb can be purchased in challenge mode once the Groovitron holocard set is complete.

As well as being a tactically strong weapon, the Groovitron is required for several skill points and trophies.

History[]

Groovitrons were GrummelNet's most advanced defense technology when released,[1] but was the latest in a line of funk-inducing weaponry by the company.[2]

The Groovitron featured in Igliak's Intergalactic Museum of History, described as a weapon that can lead to death or "worse, a social media video resulting in lifelong shame and embarrassment".[3] Ratchet and Clank came across it during "Find the Dimensionator". When activated, it caused the valkyries in the room to dance and also start causing the platforms to rise and fall. When the second button was pressed, the disco lights would come on, causing the Valkyries to change their dance style, and start to make more of the upper platforms move.

Characteristics[]

The Groovitron itself is a floating silver disco ball, which rotates in the air, blasts disco music and projects colored lights around the area. The Golden Groovitron appears identical other than its gold appearance rather than silver.

The Groovitron Glove is a silver and red glove, from which the Groovitron is contained on the back of the hand. The Groovibomb Glove is gold and red instead, and plays rock music rather than disco.

Gameplay[]

Overview[]

The Groovitron, when deployed, will rise in the air for a period of time, immediately cause all enemies and allies to dance for its duration (though some bosses will only briefly be mesmerized before returning to normal). It is therefore a very strategic weapon, being useful at stopping enemies to buy the player some time in a tricky situation, or to begin a fight by allowing the player to defeat the more dangerous enemies in a group before then attacking the rest.

When upgraded to the Groovibomb in A Crack in Time and Ratchet & Clank, the Groovitron itself will explode after expiring and deal damage to nearby enemies. This improves the weapon but does not change how it is used, as it will still be used primarily for crowd control rather than as a source of damage. In Ratchet & Clank, the Groovitron becomes particularly useful with raritanium upgrades to its range and duration, and is relatively weak before upgrading.

Tools of Destruction[]

Groovitron from TOD gameplay

The Groovitron making some space pirates dance.

Groovitrons became available upon reaching the spaceport in Cobalia. They can be purchased from a device vendor for 500 bolts each. As one of the devices, Groovitrons in Tools of Destruction cannot be replenished from ammo crates, only in rare raritanium chests that do not respawn, and cannot be upgraded with use.

Unlike other devices, the Groovitron can be upgraded in challenge mode, to the Golden Groovitron upgrade. This is a 2,000,000 raritanium upgrade purchased from the device vendor on Cobalia that gives it unlimited ammo, which is convenient as after upgrading all other weapons there is no more use for raritanium.

The skill point "Everybody Dance Now" is acquired by making all enemies in the game dance with a Groovitron.

A Crack in Time[]

Appearing as a regular weapon for the first time, the Groovitron Glove can be found in ammo crates and upgraded with use. It Groovitron Glove can be purchased upon reaching the Agorian Battleplex for 22,000 bolts (or 11,000 bolts if the player has a Tools of Destruction save).

At level 5, it upgrades to the Groovibomb Glove, plays rock music instead of disco, and drops to the ground and explode when expiring. In challenge mode, the Omega Groovibomb Glove can be purchased for 332,000 bolts (or 249,000 bolts with a Tools of Destruction save).

The "Terachnoid Rave" skill point can be acquired by making 12 terachnoids dance with one Groovitron.

Full Frontal Assault[]

Groovitron mine ffa

Mine

The Groovitron Glove returned as a collectible in weapon pads, and with use, could be upgraded to the Alpha Groovitron Glove at level 3.

The Groovitron also appeared as the Groovitron Mine, sending a ball into the air whenever activated by an enemy.

Ratchet & Clank (2016 game)[]

The Groovtrion is available to purchase from a vendor upon reaching the Blarg Tactical Research Station. It upgrades with raritanium, largely to improve its range and duration. With use, it upgrades to the Groovibomb, which deals damage and explodes after enemies finished dancing.

A similar trophy can be obtained by making all enemies dance. For this trophy, the player can use their first playthrough and their first challenge mode playthrough combined; however, if a second challenge mode playthrough is begun, the counter resets.

Behind the scenes[]

Development[]

After coming up with a solid list of weapons, we began narrowing it down by combining those that were too similar from those in the first game, and throwing out the weapons that would create too much additional work. For example, if we wanted a weapon that would make all the enemies in range dance to disco music, then we would need dancing animations for every enemy in the game. So, the weapons that we ended up with were then prototyped, tweaked, modified then tweaked again. Some weapons sounded great on paper, but ended up not working very well in practice.

Colin Munson (Insomniac Games designer)[4]

The Groovitron had been proposed for several previous games in the Ratchet & Clank games since the first game, but had been scratched due to lack of memory in the PlayStation 2 to store the custom animations, and due to requiring too much work for developers.[5][6][7][8][9] It was also proposed by designer Colin Munson for Going Commando[8][6] as the "Rainbow-Afro-Nator", a weapon that would also spawn rainbow afros on all enemies.[8] After being striked off in pre-production, Munson talked about its concept publicly in interviews.[6]

When included for Tools of Destruction, it hit the team's three goals for creating new weapons established in Tools of Destruction: it was comedic, had spectacle, and was strategic.[10]

Music[]

The Groovitron was going to include the song "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees, and had been used by developers in the prototype for Tools of Destruction, though it was excluded as the rights for the song were too expensive.[7]

When the Tools of Destruction in-game language is switched to Japanese, the Groovitron uses a different playlist. Instead, the playlist consisted of techno tracks, each opens with the line "Let's go to the party!" in English sang in a robotic voice. One of the tracks is a remix of Courtney Gears' "Robots of the Galaxy" (also in English), sang by the producer of the Japanese version, Roppyaku Tsurumi.

All of the tracks that the Groovitron played are the same speed in beats per minute. It is highly possible that they were beat-matched in order to fit the dances of the characters to all the tracks.

Cameos[]

The Groovitron was shown in the Tools of Destruction official teaser trailer and also in the Ratchet & Clank movie announcement teaser.

Citations[]

References[]

Video games
Books
Websites
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