The Suck Cannon is a weapon invented by the blarg and later manufactured by Gadgetron, featured in Ratchet & Clank, Up Your Arsenal, and Size Matters. Functioning as a deadly vacuum cleaner, it uses quantum technology to suck smaller enemies in and converts them into explosive projectiles, using them as ammunition.[1]
The Suck Cannon can be upgraded to the Gold Suck Cannon in Ratchet & Clank. In both Up Your Arsenal and Size Matters it can be upgraded to the Vortex Cannon, then to the Mega, Giga, and Ultra Vortex Cannon in the former, and the Titan Vortex Cannon in the latter.
Obtaining the Suck Cannon in the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita versions of Ratchet and Clank will unlock the bronze trophy Very Sucky.
History[]
The Suck Cannon was invented by the blarg, and tested at the Blarg Tactical Research Station, with advertisements for a dummy to test it.[2] The Suck Cannon was a prototype developed by the blarg, and thus, could not be purchased from a vendor.[3] Instead, Ratchet acquired it on Eudora after "Explore the mills". Nonetheless, Gadgetron released a Gold version of the Suck Cannon due to the prototype's popularity.[4]
Slim Cognito attempted to sell a Suck Cannon upgrade to a minor, forcing him to flee the Bogon Galaxy and make a base in Aquatos in the Solana Galaxy.[5] When Ratchet and Clank returned to Solana in Up Your Arsenal, the Suck Cannon had been commercialized by Gadgetron and sold in their vendors once Ratchet first arrived in the Starship Phoenix. This Suck Cannon had a different appearance and could be upgraded to the Vortex Cannon with use. It was also capable of sucking up crates.
Characteristics[]
The Suck Cannon's appearance in Ratchet & Clank is an ovoid shape with a vacuum muzzle at the end, held with a bar at its back and a tube leading to the main gun.
In Up Your Arsenal and Size Matters, the commercialized Suck Cannon is much shorter, with a shorter ovoid shape filled with rotating blades, and a thicker muzzle. When upgraded to the Vortex Cannon, several green pads are placed around the ovoid shape, with the handlebar being bright green.
Gameplay[]
Overview[]
The Suck Cannon is situational in its use, as no ammo can be bought or picked up from ammo crates. To use it one needs to find suitable ammunition and suck it up, which is best done all at once, as the next time it is used it can no longer suck until all ammo has been expelled again. Despite its limitations, it does shine in areas where ammo is plentiful.
Ratchet & Clank[]
The Suck Cannon is acquired for free upon completing "Explore the mills". The weapon shines in certain situations, such as on Pokitaru, during "Help the resort owner", in which the player can suck in puffoids, which can then be fired at the larger psy-tcopuses. As small enemies are relatively common everywhere the weapon will provide some simple and convenient use almost anyplace.
A gold version is available for 10,000 bolts and 4 gold bolts. This could first be purchased in the gold weapons room on the Gemlik Base, and later accessed in challenge mode in the gold weapons room reached with a teleporter at the Tobruk Crater, Novalis. The Gold Suck Cannon improves the rate of fire, damage, and maximum ammo capacity, and ammunition is also fired out as flaming comets.
Up Your Arsenal[]
The Suck Cannon is available at a vendor upon first arriving at the Starship Phoenix, for 8,000 bolts. It can be upgraded to the Vortex Cannon with use. As with the Gold Suck Cannon, the upgrade improves its rate of fire, damage, maximum ammo capacity, and causes ammo to be fired as flaming comets.
In Up Your Arsenal the weapon can also suck up crates, which greatly increases the possible ammo to be used, at V2 shots can ricochet, and at V3 they deal extra fire damage. In this game, the weapon is useful when fighting tyhrranoids, being able to pull in the one-eyed tyhrranoids to fire at the larger versions. It additionally is surprisingly powerful when considering ammo is always free if available.
Killing 40 enemies on Zeldrin with the Suck Cannon earned the skill point, "Suck it up!".
Size Matters[]
The Suck Cannon can be purchased from Dreamtime onwards, and upgrades to the Vortex Cannon with use. It functions identically to its Up Your Arsenal appearance. In challenge mode, a mod, the Bounce Mod, became available for 600,000.
In Size Matters, only the first few locations, Pokitaru, Ryllus, and Dreamtime, have an abundance of enemies that can be sucked up, meaning the weapon is reliant on crates at later stages of the game. Due to this it can be difficult to keep up with it, as past Dreamtime it will see little real use. In challenge mode it will likely level quickly however, but is also guaranteed to remain a niche weapon up until the Bounce Mod. Said mod noticeably increases the weapon's damage output, often doubling or even tripling it. Fired objects will bounce on enemies and crates up to three times, making it very effective against groups.
Behind the scenes[]
The Suck Cannon was one of the first weapons designed, and one of the few where its name stayed throughout the process.[6] The Suck Cannon in the E3 demo build featured an entirely different HUD.[7]
In a video for A Crack in Time around the time of the My Blaster Runs Hot weapon contest, Brian Allgeier listed the Suck Cannon as his seventh favorite weapon of the series.[8]
Citations[]
- ↑ Ratchet & Clank (2002 game), game manual (PAL), p. 10
- ↑ Ratchet & Clank (2002 game) script § "Infobot - Recruiting advertisement"
- ↑ Ratchet & Clank (2002 game) menu § "Suck Cannon"
- ↑ Ratchet & Clank (2002 game) menu § "Gold Suck Cannon"
- ↑ Up Your Arsenal script § "Infiltrate the underwater hideout (gameplay)"
- ↑ Ratchet & Clank (2002 game), Goodies § "Sketchbook"
- ↑ Ratchet & Clank (2002 game), demo
- ↑ Allgeier 2011
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.
- High Impact Games (2007). Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters [Game]. Sony Computer Entertainment. PlayStation Portable.
- Videos
- Allgeier, Brian [Games @Insomniac Games] (2011, April 27). Allgeier's Top 10 Ratchet Weapons - Behind the Scenes - RCF: ACIT [Video]. YouTube.
- Stevenson, James; Price, Ted [@InsomniacGames] (2017, November 7). Insomniac Live - Ratchet & Clank [Video]. YouTube.