Rilgar is a planet in the Solana Galaxy featured in Ratchet & Clank, Up Your Arsenal, and the 2016 re-imagined game. It is a water-logged world most notable for being home to Blackwater City, an entertainment capital renowned for its hoverboard racing championships.[1] The city's sewers, meanwhile, are home to a thriving underground weapons market.[2]
Ratchet and Clank first visited during an amoeboid infestation to compete in the hoverboard race and to find Captain Qwark. They later returned in Up Your Arsenal to help the Galactic Rangers defend the city from a tyhrranoid invasion.
History[]
Before Ratchet & Clank[]
Dr. Nefarious' secret laboratory on Rilgar.
As documented in the Qwark vid-comic Arriba Amoeba!, Dr. Nefarious created the amoeboid species in a secret laboratory in the swamps of Blackwater City. Captain Qwark was alerted to the infestation and coordinated the city's defenses from the women's restroom at a local Galaxy Burger.[3] Qwark eventually defeated Nefarious's army, forcing Nefarious to flee the planet in disgrace.[4]
Ratchet & Clank[]
Ratchet and Clank being welcomed by Starlene.
Ratchet and Clank traveled to Rilgar after they found an infobot in the Blarg Tactical Research Station containing a news broadcast from Channel 2 News featuring Darla Gratch warning about an amoeboid infestation. While making their way to the hoverboard event, they fought through the amoeboids and the local extermibots—robots that unfortunately could not distinguish between amoeboids and Ratchet. They were welcomed to the race by the hoverboard girl and, using the hoverboard given to them by Skidd McMarx, won a Platinum Zoomerator upgrade.
Ratchet and Clank meet Captain Qwark.
During their visit, in "Locate Captain Qwark", the duo also traversed the sewers of the city and happened to locate Qwark's trailer. His bouncer initially refused them entry to Qwark's trailer, but was persuaded by a bribe of 4,000 bolts. After bribing the bouncer, the duo entered Qwark's trailer, where he told them he had been following their adventures and gave them an infobot to his headquarters on planet Umbris, where he promised to meet them.
The Shady Salesman, pleading "Not Guilty" in The Rilgar Times.
The duo also encountered a Shady Salesman who sold them the powerful R.Y.N.O. weapon. Following the events of the game, the Shady Salesman was caught and arrested. As reported in The Rilgar Times, he pleaded "Not Guilty" to his crimes.[5]
Re-imagined[]
In the re-imagined version of events, Ratchet and Clank traveled to Rilgar after they had received coordinates from Don Wonderstar, Skidd McMarx's agent. Upon their arrival, they found that the Blackwater City Administration had shut down the local hoverboard race due to an amoeboid attack. They fought through the amoeboids and extermibots to stop the infestation, which allowed the race to restart. Ratchet then competed in the race on Skidd's behalf and won.
During their visit, the duo also searched the city's sewers using the Hydrodisplacer for a gadget, but the area flooded, forcing them to escape to the surface. There, they met Slim Cognito, who asked them to find holocards throughout the galaxy. In exchange for collecting all the cards, he offered to assemble a powerful RYNO weapon for them for free, leaving them with a Trespasser to aid them.
Up Your Arsenal[]
A Ranger broadcasting during the Blackwater City invasion.
Later, Blackwater City came under attack by tyhrranoids while Ratchet investigating Obani Pollux with Skidd. The Galactic Rangers contacted him, initiating Operation: BLACK TIDE. Ratchet led the successful defense of the city, for which the Rangers awarded him with a pair of Gravity Boots.
After Up Your Arsenal[]
After DreadZone Station was destroyed following the events of Deadlocked, the combat bots Merc and Green worked in the Galaxy Burger fast food restaurant in Blackwater City.
Society[]
Rilgar is home to a species of tridactyl humanoids with green skin and small horns in a single row on their heads, whose members include Skidd McMarx, Don Wonderstar, Starlene, the Shady Salesman, Qwark's bounce, and the re-imagined Slim Cognito.
Blackwater City is an entertainment capital[1] home to the Hovercon Intergalactic Hoverboard Competition,[6] It has a Galaxy Burger restaurant,[3] a newspaper, The Rilgar Times, a popular magazine known as Hoverboarder, and Ratchet & Clank: The Motion Picture featured Ratchet and Clank gliding in Rilgar in its poster.[5] The city hosted the Villainy Jamboree; a celebratory event for which villains from across the universe would gather.[7]
Geography[]
Rilgar is a planet with both expansive landmasses and vast, dark oceans. The planet's surface features green continents and rugged, reddish-brown terrain. The atmosphere is often cloudy. The main settlement is Blackwater City, an urban center built around the planet's signature dark water.
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Blackwater City[]
Blackwater City is a sprawling metropolis surrounded by the dark water from which it gets its name. The city is defined by its towering skyscrapers and advanced infrastructure, with a network of docks, downtown plazas, and sewer systems.
Ratchet & Clank[]
_screen_1.png){kind=link}
Blackwater City.
The area explored in both the original game and the re-imagining includes the city docks, a downtown area, the sewers, and the hoverboard racetrack.
The city docks are a series of small, dirt-covered islands that lead to the main city via an extendable bridge and a taxi service. The downtown area is a large square where a battle between extermibots and amoeboids takes place upon arrival. Elevators and sewer caps provide access to different levels and a large laser grid puzzle, as well as an underground amoeboid nest.
The sewers are a long, linear network of pipes and basins that must be navigated using Insta-Drain and Insta-Faucet mechanics. This path eventually leads to Qwark's trailer, which is parked near the raceway plaza.
_screen_3.png "Blackwater City from R&C (2002) screen 3.png (6.13 MB)")
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The hoverboard racetrack is a wide course built amidst the city's skyscrapers. The track features multiple ramps, hazards, and two separate elevated shortcut paths that run above the main course.
_1.png "Blackwater City hoverboard track from R&C (2002) 1.png (3.89 MB)")
_2.png "Blackwater City hoverboard track from R&C (2002) 2.png (3.69 MB)")
_screen_3.png "Blackwater City from R&C (2016) screen 3.png (1.84 MB)")
Re-imagined differences[]
In Qwark's version of events, Blackwater City's layout is similar but with key differences. A Swingshot path replaces the taxi to downtown. Instead of Qwark's trailer, the Blackwater Market is located there, where Slim Cognito and his large, brightly colored ship are found. The city is also more vibrant, with numerous bright billboards and increased flying traffic.
_screen_1.png "Blackwater City from R&C (2016) screen 1.png (2.4 MB)")
_screen_2.png "Blackwater City from R&C (2016) screen 2.png (2.04 MB)")
Up Your Arsenal[]
The area fought in during Operation: BLACK TIDE is a small, symmetrical portion of Blackwater City. It consists of two opposing islands, each serving as a base, connected by a wide central bridge. Each island has ramps leading to two circular platforms,.
Multiplayer[]
Rilgar is the setting for two multiplayer maps in Up Your Arsenal.
Blackwater City[]
Map layout of Blackwater City.
The Blackwater City map is an average-sized, symmetrical locale based on the area from Operation: BLACK TIDE, supporting Siege, Capture the Flag, and Deathmatch. The two bases are on opposite islands, connected by a central bridge, and extra versa-targets for Swingshot traversal. No vehicles are available on this map.
Each side has a large, round platform with a Holoshield Glove, a Mine Glove, Charge Boots, and a player-controlled turret. Bridges bend from these central platforms up to smaller, elevated platforms containing well-guarded nodes and weapon pickups like the Minirocket Tube and Lava Gun on one side, and the Flux Rifle and Morph-o-Ray on the other. Versa-targets also allow traversal between each opposing platform.
Blackwater Docks[]
The Blackwater Docks map is a small, asymmetrical area for Deathmatch and Capture the Flag modes. It consists of four main platforms around an inaccessible central structure, with no clear center. The layout forces players to use bridges, steps, jump pads, and the Hypershot to navigate between the platforms. The top-left platform is the largest and most elevated. Item placement is varied, with numerous weapons and other crates spread across the tiny map.
Behind the scenes[]
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Concept art from the original game.
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Concept art from the re-imagined game.
Blackwater City was one of the first levels developed by Insomniac Games as a demo for Sony Computer Entertainment when they were pitching the original Ratchet & Clank concept.[8] It was also one of two levels included in the demo of the original Ratchet & Clank, along with Metropolis.
While the city name "Blackwater City" was constant, the planet name in early builds of the game was instead named "Talos".[9] This name was later used for the name of a boss in Up Your Arsenal, the Terror of Talos.
Hoverboard race area entry bug[]
On the PlayStation 2 version, a bug allows players to enter the hoverboard race track with the Hologuise instead of a hoverboard. This enables Ratchet to walk around the course and collect large numbers of respawning bolt crates. Using the Taunter, players can easily farm hundreds of thousands of bolts in a few hours.
This glitch was fixed in the Ratchet & Clank Collection, but other methods of entry exist. One involves using the Decoy Glove to clip through a wall near the hoverboard girl, by using the decoy to push yourself through. A second method is slope-intercepting. By performing a series of jumps (while holding 
) on the slope of a tree, next to a stack of crates, players can land on a nearby roof and glide to the race track.
Citations[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Off 2004 p. 86
- ↑ Ratchet & Clank (2016 game) menu § "Sewers"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Up Your Arsenal script § "Emergency Plan Number 2"
- ↑ Up Your Arsenal script § "Qwark Holds His Breath"
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Ratchet & Clank (2002 game), Goodies § "Epilogue"
- ↑ Ratchet & Clank (2002 game) script § "Welcome!"
- ↑ Rift Apart menu § "Dr. Nefarious' Party Crasher"
- ↑ Fixman September 2012
- ↑ Ratchet & Clank (2002 game), E3 demo
References[]
- Video games
- Insomniac Games (2002). Ratchet & Clank [Game]. Sony Computer fEntertainment. 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.
- Videos
- Fixman, TJ (2012, September 5). "Ratchet & Clank - The 10th Anniversary Celebration Panel (PAX 2012)". From IGN. Archived from the original on November 7, 2019.