Back before memes were even a thing in gaming, the Ratchet & Clank games brought a lot of meme-worthy moments. Filled with humor and jokes that could even fly above children’s heads, the series is known for its brand of goofy jokes. Due to this, the lead characters have also been the source of comedy for fans.
Of the duo, Ratchet is the one to portray the most emotional responses and make the funniest expressions, giving meme creators the perfect opportunity to get to work. As fans prepare for Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, it’s worth checking out these 10 memes aimed at the first character of the lead pair.
10 Ratchet Is Everybody’s Inner Child
Ratchet is like Crash Bandicoot in many ways, in that he gets excited when it’s time for action but phases out when he should be paying attention. In most of the moments where something important needs to be discussed, it’s Clank who does the talking while Ratchet sits around bored.
This attitude of his is best illustrated here, where Ratchet is seen falling asleep only hours after he’d been out blowing stuff up. In this regard, he’s pretty much the inner child everyone has.
9 Why, Ratchet, Why?
One of the things that makes the early Ratchet & Clank games still be associated with the PS2 era is the fact that the weapons get discarded from one game to the next. In-universe, Ratchet collects the most powerful items there are, only to randomly forget about them.
After all, from his point of view, he’s been living out his life without any event that caused him to lose these weapons. And yet, the stuff he does spend so much time acquiring go unmentioned in the following game and he has to start over again.
8 Same Thing, Different Design
One of the things fans have noticed is that the guns Ratchet takes so much difficulty to collect don’t really matter. This is due to the fact that run-of-the-mill enemies seem to have just as imposing weapons, which means Ratchet could easily take their guns once he’s dealt with them.
Instead, being an “intellectual,” he wastes a whole lot of time and effort in collecting a gun that looks slightly different but has pretty much the same functions as his other guns. This usually can be overlooked, but the games of lower quality in the series do make this trope striking.
7 Close Enough, Sony
For every awesome PS2 exclusive that Sony had, Microsoft had the Halo series to counter it. While Ratchet has never been placed in a position to rival Master Chief, some people did notice how his get-up compared to the former.
The creator of this meme sarcastically suggests that the resemblance is too uncanny, so much so that they’ve put Ratchet on the cover of the Master Chief Collection. In all fairness, the last couple of pictures really do make Ratchet seem like he could fit in the Halo series just fine.
6 Ratchet-Ception
It’s a fact that the original Ratchet & Clank games were the very best, seeing as they show in critic lists as well. However, this idea is driven home hard by the game itself, with Ratchet shown playing as himself in a game based on him.
This makes things similar to the film Inception, with gamers playing as Ratchet, who’s playing as Ratchet. Then again, considering how self-centered Ratchet used to be in the earlier games, maybe this isn’t all that crazy after all.
5 Now That’s Horrifying
Games of the sixth-generation consoles tend to glitch a whole lot. This was second nature for gamers back in the day, who used to expect these problems to surface even before purchasing a game. Still, nobody can get accustomed to the horrible glitches to Ratchet’s graphics model.
This particular one is scarier than most, with Ratchet missing most of his right eye and his entire nose. Kids will most definitely consider this image the stuff of nightmares, and it’s hard to argue against the caption in this meme.
4 Useless Heroes
For the Ratchet & Clank fans, the original game deserves being put in the list of the best PS2 games of all time. So, this meme will probably serve as glass-shattering information, as it reminds people that Ratchet and Clank didn’t directly influence the story.
It makes Ratchet seem even worse considering he had such a bad attitude during these events. Basically, players had to put up with this smart mouth character and it turns out he wasn’t important to proceedings in the first place.
3 No Break For Ratchet
To his credit, the voice actor behind Ratchet might not be an A-list star, but his portrayal does the character justice. After the developers realized that he came across as something of a jerk, Ratchet’s personality was altered to reflect a more down-to-earth being.
This had the effect of making him too sympathetic at times, though, with this meme making fun of how the more recent Ratchet tends to become emotional far too easily. However, all things considered, this would most likely be his reaction if this scenario were actually to play out.
2 How Does That Work?
The video game logic is strong in Ratchet, seeing as he’s largely inconsistent with his abilities. Within gameplay, certain limitations prevent Ratchet from being considered as a very powerful character, but his feats in the story say otherwise.
Putting both of these aspects together reveal the weird kind of hero Ratchet is since it seems more like a joke than a real fact. Maybe his villains should realize what a simple weakness he has and simply push him into a lake the next time.
1 Old Versus New
There’s no doubt that the graphics of today are far better than when Ratchet was first seen by fans. But that doesn’t matter as much to those who prefer the original series, who argue that the initial design remains better.
The person behind this meme has captured the two sides of the fanbase well, with the first Ratchet being compared to Mr. Krabs’s restaurant from SpongeBob SquarePants, and the new one being Krabs’s rival. It seems that it’s up to one’s personal preference over which Ratchet suits them best.
NEXT: 10 Horizon Zero Dawn Memes That Prove The Game Makes No Sense
