Who is Ratchet?[]
Every platformer character has a slightly different story to them and a slightly different way to beat down their enemies. For Ratchet, a character who dreams of exploration, a tiny robot crash lands on his world. The robot informs Ratchet that he is a refugee of the Blargs, and that their leader is planning on stealing the resources from every planet in an effort to build a planet of his own. Whatever is a hero to do...
Ratchet's method of getting through his particular games are a bit different in that he blasts the hell out of anything in his way with a wide array of "weapons not fit for this world", a common phrase heard among anyone who has ever seen a Ratchet and Clank commercial. Ratchet's series is a good one, but it has the unfortunate reputation of not only being a 3D platformer, but a 3D platformer created after Jak and Daxter. It's taken awhile for many people to look past the comparison and separate the two, but to this day, the discussion rages on.
"Have you seen any masked weirdoes?" - Ratchet
Ratchet's Contest History[]
Win-Loss Record: 1-6
Summer 2003 Contest - North Division - 14 Seed
- Northern Round 1 --- Lost to (3) Luigi, 24099 [25.46%] - 70550 [74.54%]
- Extrapolated Strength --- 57th Place [12.44%]
Summer 2004 Contest - Chaos Division - 13 Seed
- Chaos Round 1 --- Lost to (4) Dante, 14602 [19.72%] - 59437 [80.28%]
- Extrapolated Strength --- 62nd Place [10.05%]
Ratchet, like virtually every other 3D platformer character before him, has performed horribly in the contests he has appeared in. He has been treated like fodder before the contests even start, as evidenced by his seeding in both the contests he has appeared in. He hasn't exactly proven these theories wrong, either, as he has been more than happy to take the role of fodder whenever he shows up in a match. Ratchet is just one more example of casual gaming and GameFAQs being on opposite sides of the spectrum. Ratchet's games may sell well, but he's simply not in a genre that GameFAQs cares about.
Summer 2007 Contest - Division 5 - Second Group
- Division 5 Round 1 --- 4th place, 18987 [14.61%] - Ganondorf, 63805 [49.10%] - Vergil Sparda, 25168 [19.37%] - Thrall, 21979 [16.91%]
Ratchet is still lamentably weak, considering how good his games are. He came in last place in his lone match in 2007, but it was probably his best performance to date, which doesn't say that much. He did manage to do rather well with the day vote and gain a nice chunk of percentage. He even cut into Thrall's lead and won some updates over Vergil, too.
Summer 2008 Contest - Division 8 - Third Group
- Division 8 Round 1 --- 3rd place, 18377 [13.93%] - Sephiroth, 62298 [37.23%] - Tifa Lockheart, 37583 [28.49%] - Nana, 13657 [[10.35%]
Ratchet made some progress this year. He didn't finish last but was still no match for TWO FF7 characters. Despite releasing a well received and popular PS3 platformer, he still is not serious contender.
Winter 2010 Contest - Varia Division - 6 Seed
- Varia Round 1 --- Defeated (11) Eddie Riggs, 42066 [68.39%] - 19441 [31.61%]
- Varia Round 2 --- Lost to (14) Jecht, 20416 [43.84%] - 26156 [56.16%]
- Extrapolated Strength --- 67th Place [22.30%]
After many matches, Ratchet finally won a match against Eddie Riggs. He then went on to give Jecht a semi-close match. Does this mean that Ratchet is finally gaining strength? Probably, but it's going to take a lot more for Ratchet to become a serious competitor.
Summer 2013 Contest - Division 4 - 16 Seed
- Division 4 Round 1 --- 2nd place, 9692 [32.73%] - (25) Altair, 13157 [44.43%] - (3) Shulk, 6767 [22.85%]
Ratchet proved his 2010 performance was not a fluke by having a decent performance against Altair. He may still be nothing special and likely needs a huge game before he starts winning regularly, but at least he is more than a waste of space that his earlier performances were indicating.