Video Game / Ratchet & Clank: Clone Home

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Ratchet & Clank: Clone Home was intended to be the sequel to Ratchet & Clank: Going Mobile! (though it was developed by Javaground instead of Going Mobile!'s developer, Handheld Games) and was set to be released in the Fall of 2006, however it was cancelled for unknown reasons.

It was said to be an even bigger and more impressive game than its predecessor, boasting 15 levels and a larger arsenal of weapons. For many years most of the information known about the game came from its (quite short) announcement article from IGN, which you can view here.

In 2025, a very late build of the game was found and archived. The Golden Bolt released a video discussing the discovery to coincide with its unofficial release, which can be seen here.

The story of the game takes place a year after Going Mobile! and sees Ratchet and Clank digitally copied by Gleeman Vox (who survived the events of Deadlocked... somehow), which he'd accomplished by using data left behind by the real duo after their escape from the Secret Agent Clank vid-comic last time. Aware of their nature and not wanting to be used by Vox for whatever plan he's cooking up, the clones get into contact with the genuine Ratchet and Clank, and they all team up to destroy the clones' source file and stop Vox again.

Uploading password "Tropes".... Success!

• Aborted Arc: Clank cryptically stated that he didn't know where the duo would be transported to at the end of the prior game. Clone Home, however, doesn't acknowledge this plotpoint, instead skipping ahead to a year later when the duo is definitively back in the real world.
• Art Evolution: The game boasts better graphics from Going Mobile!, with the handful of screenshots from the game and the later 2025 archived build showing them off.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Vox has pictures of his mother saved onto his PCD.
• Here We Go Again!: Ratchet and Clank have both been digitized and have to fight Gleeman Vox once again. The real Ratchet even lampshades this at the end of the game.
• Informed Attribute: At one point, the real Ratchet and Clank are digitized by Vox and end up running into their digital counterparts. This is not actually shown on screen, however, with only one set of sprites for the characters being present on screen at all times, even when the two sets of characters are meant to be directly talking with each other.
• Mission-Pack Sequel: The gameplay is broadly identical to the previous game, with various improvements and a new plot.
• New Work, Recycled Graphics:
  • The sprites for Ratchet, Clank, and all of the weapons were recycled from Going Mobile!, though now sporting some additional shading.
  • The game's key art recycles promotional art of the duo from Ratchet: Deadlocked.
• Other Me Annoys Me: The real Ratchet calling the digital Ratchet and Clank "copies" throughout the game begins to wear thin for the latter two midway through. It doesn't go beyond mild annoyance, though.
  Digital Clank: Does he always have to refer to us as "you copies"?
  Digital Ratchet: Weird, I never thought I'd insult myself...
• Pun-Based Title: On "phone home", referencing both E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and the fact that this was meant to be a phone game.
• Recycled Premise: Perhaps unintentional, but the game's premise is eerily similar to Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters due to both involving the duo shrinking down and dealing with clones. They were even revealed within a month of each other!
• Series Continuity Error:
  • The main antagonist is Gleeman Vox... despite the fact he died at the end of Deadlocked when the DreadZone Station blew up.
  • Once again, Clank uses contractions regularly despite his character having stopped using them since Going Commando.
• Time Skip: The game takes place a year after Going Mobile!, with Ratchet and Clank having escaped the Secret Agent Clank Vid-Comic.
• Unlockable Content: Clone Home has the same exact "Get Ratchet Skin" function as Going Mobile!; selecting it and entering your Deadlocked username gives you codes to use in Deadlocked for the same two skins (Eugene and Renegade Armor).