The Visibomb Gun is a weapon in Ratchet & Clank and Going Commando. The weapon fires a missile that the player can control, to fly at enemies and destroy them. It is a strategy weapon, and its missiles fired are incredibly destructive.
The Visibomb Gun does not have an upgrade in Ratchet & Clank, but can be upgraded to the Mega Visibomb in Going Commando for 150,000 bolts.
The Visibomb Gun is required for a skill point in Ratchet & Clank, on the Gemlik Moonbase, to destroy several cargo ships around the station. It is also required for a gold bolt on Orxon to destroy a path leading to it.
History[]
When released, the Visibomb Gun was Gadgetron's most effective long range weapon.[1] It was one of the weapons sold by Gadgetron in the Bogon Galaxy on Barlow by the Help Matron.
Ratchet purchased the weapon from Gadgetron in Ratchet & Clank, and later from the Help Matron in Going Commando.
Characteristics[]
Ammo in Ratchet & Clank (2002).
The Visibomb Gun is a silver, metallic weapon, with yellow and black stripes in parts. It is mostly a rectangular weapon, with its main notable aspect being its screen at the top, which Ratchet uses to aim the weapon.
Gameplay[]
Overview[]
The Visibomb Gun fires a missile which the player controls completely. The missile can be exploded immediately by pressing the 
button to destroy enemies around it. The missile can only travel a finite length, as after a certain point, the Visibomb's screen will turn to static, and Ratchet will lose control of it. However, the missile stops in mid-air if Ratchet is attacked; as such, the Visibomb Gun should never be used in the middle of combat, as being hit will automatically cancel the Visibomb controls.
Aside from combat the Visibomb Gun is also used to acquire several gold bolts, by destroying a background target to gain access to a normally unreachable area. It could also be used to destroy far-away targets for skill points, such as Shattered Glass on Oltanis.
The Visibomb Gun also ignores the player's camera settings when attempting to aim the missile. If you invert the camera controls in the options, it will have no effect on the direction the Visibomb travels when you move the control stick up or down.
Ratchet & Clank[]
The Visibomb Gun became available for purchase in Ratchet & Clank once Ratchet reached planet Orxon, for 15,000 bolts. It does not have a gold upgrade, unlike other weapons in the game.
In Ratchet & Clank, the Visibomb Gun can be very useful when destroying large targets from a distance. When the missile hits, it can deal heavy amounts of damage, more than a Devastator missile. This makes it convenient for destroying the most dangerous foes beforehand.
Going Commando[]
The Visibomb Gun can be acquired from the Help Matron on Barlow. It can be bought for 15,000 bolts, or can be acquired for free if the player has a save file of Ratchet & Clank. In challenge mode, the Visibomb Gun can be upgraded to the Mega Visibomb Gun for 150,000 from any Megacorp vendor.
In Going Commando, the weapon is heavily outclassed by other weapons in the game, due to the toughness of enemies compared to its predecessor. As such, it is not worth using in the majority of cases.
Behind the scenes[]
In early versions of the game, the Visibomb used a red overlay rather than green, could not be manually detonated, and was able to travel out of bounds.[2]
On Kalebo III, the player could fly a visibomb around one lap of the hoverboard course with a visibomb. When standing outside, the player had to look into the water and fire, allowing them to then pilot it around the course.
The possibilities for the Visibomb to break geometry in levels, reveal broken textures otherwise invisible to the player and easily defeat some enemies from a distance meant many levels had to be altered to take it into account.[3]
Citations[]
References[]
- Insomniac Games (2002). Ratchet & Clank [Game]. Sony Computer Entertainment. PlayStation 2.
- Insomniac Games (2003). Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando [Game]. Sony Computer Entertainment. PlayStation 2.
- Stout, Mike; Garcia, Tony [@uselesspodcasts] (2012, September 24). Ratchet & Clank 3 Dev Commentary: 29 - Qwark's Hideout [Video]. YouTube.