Template:Appearances The Gadgetron Morph-o-ray, occasionally spelled Morph-O-Ray,[1] is a weapon in Ratchet & Clank and the multiplayer of Up Your Arsenal developed by Gadgetron. It features infinite ammunition and converts normal enemies into chickens. It can be upgraded to the Gold Morph-o-Ray for 20,000 bolts and 4 gold bolts.
History
Ratchet & Clank
The Morph-o-Ray was Gadgetron's failed attempt to create a disintegration ray, and instead became one of Gadgetron's most popular devices.[2] Their failed result emanated a colorful ray that turned enemies into chickens. Both the weapon and the chickens made chicken noises. The Morph-o-Ray had infinite ammunition. Larger enemies took longer to transform, and the only boss that could be transformed was the Alien Queen.
The Morph-o-Ray could not be purchased at a vendor. It had to be acquired in Oltanis, once found in the ruins. Upon completing the game, it could be upgraded to the Gold Morph-o-Ray for 20,000 bolts and 4 gold bolts.
Up Your Arsenal
The Morph-o-Ray could only be used in the multiplayer. Unlike the original appearance, it would not transform enemies into chickens, but rather into sheep or ducks. Its appearance was more similar to the Sheepinator.
Characteristics
The Morph-o-Ray in Ratchet & Clank has the appearance of a pistol with a large, yellow nozzle. A wire below the nozzle connects to its handle. When it fires, it fires a red and a blue beam that spiral together as one.
In Up Your Arsenal multiplayer, the Morph-o-Ray looks more similar to the Sheepinator.
Combat
The Morph-o-Ray gameplay
The Morph-o-Ray fires a beam that will morph enemies into chickens. When fired at an enemy, a bar on the right of the screen will fill up, and once full, that enemy will have morphed. If the beam leaves that enemy, it will decrease. The larger the enemy, the longer it takes to morph them. It cannot convert any boss aside from the Alien Queen, and conversion takes longer the larger the enemy is. When there are too many chickens in a world, the Morph-o-Ray will kill enemies and chickens will not be spawned.
The Morph-o-Ray is a situational weapon. Against smaller enemies, the Morph-o-Ray can rapidly defeat large mobs at once as it can transform them near instantaneously. As it requires no ammunition, it is preferable to weapons such as the Pyrocitor which have a similar role. However, against larger enemies, it serves little practical use, as they take far longer to morph. This means it is difficult to morph an enemy before being hit and the bar being reset, making it ineffective against them.
More bolts can be acquired than regularly by transforming an enemy into a chicken and then using the Suck Cannon on it.
The Gold Morph-o-Ray morphs enemies at a faster rate into larger chickens. These chickens serve as decoys, and once enemies attack them, they explode and damage the enemies.
In Up Your Arsenal multiplayer, the Morph-o-Ray instead morphs enemies either into sheep or ducks at random. Morphed opponents would revert to their original form after a time period.
Behind the scenes
The Morph-o-Ray was originally named the "Morpharay" early in development. The Gold Morph-o-Ray description still refers to the weapon as the "Gold Morpharay",[3] and several Epilogue magazines refer to it as such.
In a behind-the-scenes video in the goodies menu, at one point footage of the early version of the game is seen where the Morph-o-Ray had a different effect. It shot white rings, an effect that looked very similar to the effect created by the Metal Detector. It was also noticeable that in this early version, the Morph-o-Ray had a much shorter range.
The Morph-o-Ray featured in the Insomniac Museum in the 2016 reimagined Ratchet & Clank.