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So, is Metropolis still in, uh, one piece?
Metropolis, also known as the City in the Sky,[1] was the capital city of the planet Kerwan and one of the biggest cities in the solar system. Al's Roboshack was also located in this city, along with Qwark's apartment. It was the location where Nefarious first used the Biobliterator, thus turning the Tyhrranoids into robots. Many flying cars can be seen here. Metropolis is currently home to Ratchet, Clank and Qwark.
Metropolis was home to Captain Starshield. Shortly before being forced to enter DreadZone he was declared Metropolis' Citizen of the Millennium.[2]
Architecture and landscape
Metropolis was a large, bustling city, and it probably was the capital sector of a planet-wide city. It appeared to be a very environmentally-friendly city, as the buildings were dotted in plants and moss, and the platforms also were grassy areas as opposed to the expected concrete. The buildings themselves often had bronze caps on them as decorations. It was not unusual in Metropolis to not see the ground below.
The city had varying means of transportation. The most common means was that of flying cars, which flew in pre-designated lanes like the other large cities (Megapolis and Meridian City).[3] Grav-Trains ran about on grindrails to provide another means of getting around the city for the average citizen. There were also similar hovering trains, which were used to load cargo around Metropolis. However, there were passenger cars seen at the hover train station, but they were never seen in use. The adventurous commuter could take the grind rails to get around, provided they could avoid the Grav-Trains.
Other features included meteor pads and the dense blue-ish fog that gathered in the lower parts of the city, obscuring the view.
History
Ratchet & Clank
Ratchet in Metropolis
Metropolis first appeared in Ratchet & Clank. It was seen as a city filled with vegetation and high buildings.
During the time of Drek's plan to build a new planet, Kerwan was taken over and occupied by Drek's forces; however, it was unknown whether Drek actually wanted to use Metropolis for his synthetic planet. A likely alternative was that he expected Ratchet to land in the city at some point, and stationed his thugs there in advance.
It wasn't long before Ratchet and Clank arrived, following the trail of Captain Qwark, who had filmed a commercial for Al's Roboshack. Ultimately, the duo only left the city with a Swingshot, a Heli-Pack, and an Infobot for planet Eudora. However, they had also successfully driven off the Blarg and were a step closer to making contact with Captain Qwark.
Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal
Through an issue of the Qwark vid-comics, Ratchet found out that Dr. Nefarious had invaded Metropolis once before with an army of robotic Insectoids, but had been thwarted by Captain Qwark. Now that he had the Tyhrranoids at his disposal, as well as his Bio-Bliterator, he was ready to exact his revenge on the city. The design of this city at the time of Nefarious's original invasion was practically identical to the design from when Ratchet first visited the city.
Metropolis in Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal
The invasion was already in full force when Ratchet & Clank (who was secretly Klunk in disguise) arrived. The skies of Metropolis were alive with Blaster fire and explosions. The design of the city had also changed. There was more walkway for Ratchet to use, and the colors were more dulled. Making their way through this section of the city, Ratchet & Klunk witnessed the Biobliterator change the entire population of Metropolis into robots in a matter of seconds.
The duo eventually came across Dr. Nefarious atop a Mag Train, but he swiftly teleported away, but not before giving a horrible rendition of his "Crushin' on Squishies" single. After battling Klunk, who had now transformed into Giant Klunk, and rescuing Clank, Ratchet helped the Galactic Rangers wipe out the remaining Tyhrranoids situated in another section of the city, also destroying several bombs that threatened to destroy it as part of Operation: URBAN STORM.
In this part of Metropolis, the colors were a bit darker and more muted, there was less air traffic (likely due to the invasion), and there were no bronze caps on any of the buildings. There was; however, a clock which was always on the time set in the internal clock of the PS2.
Also on Up Your Arsenal, one of the glitches on Metropolis was to use your Charge Boots, which for some reason, ejected a green charge, instead of blue.
Ratchet: Deadlocked
In Ratchet: Deadlocked, Sasha was appointed interim Mayor of Metropolis by President Phyronix after the previous mayor stepped down amid a sordid scandal involving illicit funds from an Amoeboid Mafia.
During Ratchet's stay in DreadZone, and as a result of his rise to fame, newsreaders Dallas and Juanita used a photo of Metropolis from his first adventure, to depict Ratchet as a malicious criminal, pegging him as destroying Metropolis, not Nefarious or the Blarg.
Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
Ratchet on Metropolis during Percival Tachyon's invasion
The city of Metropolis was once again invaded, but this time by invaders from another galaxy - the Drophyds. Their leader, Emperor Percival Tachyon, hated the Lombaxes and had attacked Metropolis to hunt down Ratchet, the last Lombax, as well as to find the "Lombax Secret," the Dimensionator, according to the IRIS Supercomputer. Tachyon's Imperial Army quickly overwhelmed the planet's defenses, with the city itself sustaining major damage to its landscape, with several skyscrapers crumbling, mag-rails torn apart and sky bridges tumbling into the fog.
Ratchet and Clank managed to destroy a large portion of the army before they escaped the planet, but the army still remained behind looking for the Lombax Secret, leaving much more of the city in ruins. Metropolis soon underwent re-construction, once the army left (at an unknown time). Upon finding IRIS, Ratchet discovered that the inhabitants were stuck watching repeat screenings of Big Al's Bot Wars.
The Metropolis in Tools of Destruction had a more brilliant and dazzling design due to the games' better graphics. Metropolis had a lot less plant life and stone activity, and more of the bronze caps from the original location, as well were large glass windows and doors, and a new redesigned architecture and redesigned street lights.
Crossover appearances
PlayStation Move Heroes
Metropolis is the first unlcokable game hub and represents Ratchet and Clank, the items here are gold bolts and the breakable objects are crates. The game also introduced several new areas of Metropolis.
PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale
Metropolis appears again, now crossed with the Hydra Sea from God of War. The stage was originally going to feature Hades from God of War.
Major Landmarks
Metropolis during Full Frontal Assault
The Planetary Defense Center
Ratchet and Clank outside the Planetary Defense Center
The Planetary Defense Center
The Planetary Defense Center was the building assigned to the protection of Metropolis, as well as the rest of Kerwan. Captain Qwark was assigned there prior to the invasion that occurred at the start of Tools of Destruction, and was promptly captured. The building had a telephone-like automated network that was used for a variety of situations, such as when Qwark used it to call Ratchet and Clank to warn them about a massive deadly space armada and mutant amoeboids. It even had a Spanish translation.
Big Al's Roboshack
Big Al's Roboshack was the shop where Al installed and fixed many gadgets and devices, as advertised by Qwark in the original game. According to Qwark, "If Al can't fix it, it's not broke!." Big Al had also apparently been fixing Qwarks Super-Electro-Gadget since he was "knee-high to a sandmouse"'. That was where Clank obtained his Heli-Pack upgrade.
There were two other roboshacks in the Solana Galaxy: Bob's roboshack on Pokitaru, and Edwina's roboshack on Hoven. Both of these gave Clank upgrades, the Thruster-Pack and Hydro-pack, respectively.
Ratchet traversing a Zip Line portion of the Fitness Course
Captain Qwark Fitness Course
The Captain Qwark Fitness Course was an advertising mechanism to get the people of Solana into the Qwarktastic spirit, as those who completed the Course were awarded a prize from Qwark's Trainer. It was generally impossible for most people, but Ratchet, being the agile Lombax that he was, was able to make it through. Despite this, Qwark's Trainer, Helga, felt that it was "one of the most pathetic displays… on that obstacle course," and that it was "weak, weak, weak!" Because of this, Ratchet had to pay for the prize, rather than earn it. The prize turned out to be the Swingshot, yet another invaluable tool in his adventures.
The Fitness Course introduced Ratchet to several key elements of traversing, most importantly the Zip Line and Jump Slots.
Other areas
- Captain Qwark Plaza
- Rooftop Promenade
- Transit Depot
- Spaceship Garage
Enemies
Ratchet & Clank
- Robomutts
- Blarg Commanders
- Blarg Helicopter Commanders
- Mine Layers
- Blarg Generators
Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal
- One-Eyed Tyhrranoid v2s
- Three-Eyed Tyhrranoids
- Four-Eyed Tyhrranoid Commanders
- Tyhrranoid Dropship
- Tank Bots
- One-Eyed Robonoids
- Three-Eyed Robonoids
- Robonoid Commanders
- Giant Klunk
- Tyhrranoid Saucers
- Ultra Mecha-Tyhrranoids
- Insectoid (Vid-Comic)
Bosses
- Insectoid Swarm (Vid-Comic)
- Nefarious (Vid-Comic)
- Giant Klunk
Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
Ratchet during Tachyon's invasion
- Tesladrones
- Drophyd Sentry
- Drophyd Trooper
- Tachyon Gunship
- Enforcer
- Attack Ships
Bosses
- Tachyon piloting Imperial Cruiser
Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault
- Turret Grungoid
- Grungarian Demolitionist
PlayStation Move Heroes
- Buccaneer
- Elite Buccaneer
- Guard
- Terrible Toucan
- KaGe
Glitches
- In the battle with Klunk in Up Your Arsenal, Klunk may fall through the train and die. However, the cutscene won't play and the player would have to reset the game.
Trivia
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- Metropolis was the level playable on the original Ratchet & Clank demo disc.
- The main theme for Metropolis in the first game was reused in Up Your Arsenal. However, the theme in UYA included heavier bass and different sound equalization.
- Every installment of Metropolis in the Ratchet & Clank series has had a train in some way.
- When one looked over Metropolis as it appeared throughout the series, they would notice that the design changed from each title in which it appeared. One possible explanation was that the city had undergone renovations since each visit; however, given the size and complexity of the city, this was unlikely. A more logical solution was the idea that Ratchet just visited different sectors of the city with each visit because it was so large.
- Metropolis was also the name of a city in Insomniac's earlier game, Template:W. The landscapes even looked similar. It is possible Insomniac Games used the Spyro 2 version of Metropolis as a basis for the Ratchet & Clank Metropolis.
- In the demo of the first game, there were several wanted posters for Ratchet across the city, and a second Blarg Helicopter Commander defending the Eudora Infobot. However, one of the wanted posters was left in at Al's Roboshack.
- Metropolis appeared as a stage in PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale.
- In Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal green charge boot fumes appeared instead of blue.
- Also in Up Your Arsenal, there was a hidden teleport to Insomniac Museum. It can be used between 3:00-4:00am.
- Metropolis has been invaded four times in the series. Once by Doctor Nefarious, once by Chairman Drek, again by Doctor Nefarious and once by Emperor Tachyon.
Insomniac Museum
In Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal, there was a hidden teleporter in the city. This can be accessed from between 3:00am to 4:00am. Once after you defeat the enemies near your ship and at the center area, go left and break the glass. You will see enemies early and defeat all of them. You must jump across before you defeat the enemies. Go left and break the glass. The teleporter will then be available to reach the Insomniac Museum.
Behind the scenes
- Insomniac Games had originally intended to place Metropolis on a planet called Caldera, but later on changed the planet name to Kerwan.[4]
- Creatures known as Kerwan Natives were originally going to appear in Metropolis in Tools of Destruction. Template:Fact
- The architecture of Metropolis was influenced mainly by Template:W, with Template:W, novelist Template:W and the 1927 Fritz Lang film Template:W having large impacts on the aesthetic of the city.[5] The iconic design of Metropolis lent to its appearance in six different games, as a result becoming the most prominent and famous of settings in the franchise.
Appearances
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- Ratchet & Clank Template:1st
- Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal
- Ratchet: Deadlocked
- Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
- Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time Template:Fo
- Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault Template:Mu
- Non-canon
- PlayStation Move Heroes
- PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale
Notes and references
- ↑ Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal Official Strategy Guide
- ↑ News Update at Insomniac Games' Website (backup link at web archive)
- ↑ The hover cars generally flew in straight lines of traffic in Ratchet & Clank.
- ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Za_ptwcZ7Ps YouTube video, welcome message says Metropolis is on planet Caldera.
- ↑ http://www.insomniacgames.com/community/showthread.php?46498-Questions-for-Insomniac-COO-John-Fiorito&p=1306709&viewfull=1#post1306709
See also
- Kerwan walkthrough
- Metropolis (multiplayer)