Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One

The series' first foray into the world of co-op gameplay, set after the |comic series and the Future trilogy.

Nefarious, eager to stir up trouble again, baits Galactic President Qwark out under the premise of an award ceremony where he will receive a 'Tool of Justice Award'. Qwark, being Qwark, drags Ratchet and Clank along with him. Eventually, Nefarious's plan to unleash a Light Eating Z'Grute goes pear-shaped as it draws the attention of the Creature Collector, which captures the four playable characters and strands them on planet Magnus.

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Tropes used in Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One include:

• Abandoned Laboratory: Not of the standard variety. There are several of Dr. Croid's labs scattered throughout the levels and, if you have enough creatures, you can enter them and complete challenges for RYNO parts.
  • The Exploratorium Power Station may count, as well.
• All Myths Are True: The fairy tale about the Loki and the Cragmite hero.
• Exclusively Evil: The Loki. Interestingly, the Big Bad goes on to subvert this where the Cragmites are concerned. During the final battle, he even laments the fact that they're gone. He wanted to take revenge on them for the cragmite hero who sealed the Loki away in the first place.
• Apocalyptic Log: The egg-shaped... things are actually journal entries from Dr. Croid.
• Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other: Qwark and Nefarious get a moment like this late in the game. Subverted in that Nefarious is insulting Qwark even as the latter is apologizing... and throughout his own apology. Possibly played straight by the very end, when Nefarious is thoughtfully looking at a photo of the group.
  • There's also an instance in the ending cinematic. After the Loki is expelled from the Z'Grute enhanced body of the Grivelnox, he desperately looks for a new host and finds Qwark. Nefarious bats the Loki away from him without any visible hesitation.
• Bait and Switch Boss: Turns out that the Big Bad isn't Nevo. It's Mr. Dinkles, who's been using Nevo.
• BFG: The Warmonger.
• Blatant Lies: Nefarious's trap for the heroes—a ceremony for Qwark to receive the Tool of Justice Award.
• Brick Joke: Ratchet comments on how well Dr. Croid seems to be doing, after being reunited with Nevo.

Ratchet: Well, Dr. Croid seems to be doing better. Still keeps feeding me those treats... but otherwise, he seems surprisingly sane.

• • In the same cutscene, Ratchet proceeds to snatch the bag of treats away from Croid.
  • There's also the Octonok Bay Tharpod, as listed down in Tempting Fate.
• Call Back: There's an indirect one in one of the later cutscenes, when Susie (whose parents are missing or dead, thanks to Ephemeris) is about to 'lead an assault' on the station. Ratchet immediately seems to get what it's about and convinces her not to continue with the ill-advised attack.

Ratchet: A few years ago, I'd be doing the same thing. But running into something you're unprepared for isn't going to bring them back.

• Capital City: What Uzo seemed to be before Ephemeris attacked. Luminopolis may be Igliak's capital city (or that may be Meridian, which was capital of "Free Polaris" in ToD).
• Casual Danger Dialogue: Happens a few times during combat, when characters will take the time to talk. Fairly common when the player characters are Ratchet and Clank.
  • There are also one liners tossed about whenever a certain character achieves (or fails) something. For instance, every now and then you can hear Clank say "My father would be so proud" when he completes something first or kills x enemies. Once in a great while, Ratchet will tease Clank when he dies instead of shouting for him.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Lawrence, who comes back after his Screw This, I'm Outta Here moment and helps Cronk and Zephyr down onto Magnus.
• Commuting on a Bus: Cronk and Zephyr make a reappearance.
• Completely Missing the Point: Even after it's become obvious that the Tool of Justice award was a fake, Qwark still thinks it's real fairly late into the game.
  • Then there's Dr. Croid. Oh boy. Turns out that he's not entirely sane, and fancies himself a Lombax Whisperer. This ends as well as one might expect. He translates Ratchet's request for help as "He's hungry".
• Continuity Nod: Some of the throwaway lines during gameplay make nods to earlier installments. Somebody in Luminopolis makes a comment about Stunderwear, for instance, and then there are a few of the trophies or skill points. (Upping Your Arsenal and Deadlocked and Loaded stand out, in particular.)
  • The arthopods from Sargasso make a reappearance in Terawatt Forest, too. There are even mentions of creatures whose habitats are scattered throughout Polaris (Reepor, Sargasso, etc)
  • The escape pod used to leave Dr. Croid's lab is the same model used in Tools of Destruction to get from The Hall of Knowledge on Kortog to Fastoon. It, like the pod before it, crashes. Much more spectacularly, though.
  • When the group finds the first holo-journal you can clearly see Body By Qwark sitting in the background. What it was doing in the Deadgrove is anybody's guess...
• Co-Op Multiplayer: Though the game has been specifically designed to be playable with friends or alone.
• Curse Cut Short: Barely 3 minutes into the game.

Dr. Nefarious: "Son of a BAAAAAAGH!"

• Cryptically Unhelpful Answer: Ratchet is puzzled by the lack of this when the Plumber makes his appearance.
• Damn You, Muscle Memory!: For those already used to the controls from the Future trilogy, this game may be a pain to re-adjust to, such as the Triangle button being used for the swingshot instead of selecting a weapon, as that's assigned to the Right Stick instead, and the game won't pause when you select a weapon (unless you're playing in Single-Player mode).
• Deadpan Snarker: Ratchet demonstrates this even in the trailer.

"Ladies and gentlemen, your president!"

• • The act of sticking the playable characters in the same area is basically guaranteeing monumental levels of snark.
• Deflector Shields: The Reflector and the Qwark-exclusive Quantum Deflector.
• Derelict Graveyard: The latter half of Octonok Cay.
• Dreamworks Face: Very noticeable on Nefarious in 'A Nefarious Affair' after Qwark asks "You would've done the same for me, right?" Quite interesting to see on a robot.
• Dug Too Deep: The Access Shaft in the Deadgrove—the Wigwump was not amused.
• Enemy Mine: The basis of the game, with four 'enemies'. (Obviously averted in Ratchet and Clank's cases, being friends and all.)
  • Especially notable with Ratchet and Nefarious, who, at one point, seem to bond through a mutual hatred of Qwark.
• Fluffy the Terrible: Subverted. Mr. Dinkles himself isn't evil, he's just playing host to the leader of the Loki.
• Foe Yay: By the ship load with Qwark and Nefarious.
• Foregone Conclusion: We're shown the last of Dr. Croid's logs first. It's kind of sad to find the first of the lot, knowing what's going to happen in the end.
• Foreshadowing: In one of Dr. Croid's logs, he mentions using a "vectomorphic tricilloscope" on his pet, Mr. Dinkles, and discovers a strange form of energy inside of him. It's actually the Loki Master, the final boss of the game, possessing the pet for now.
• Friendly Enemy: Nefarious seems to be moving toward this. Particularly if The Stinger was anything to judge by.
• Genre Savvy: It really starts showing mid-way through the game that, after nine (ish) adventures, Ratchet's figured out how the games progress.
• Glory Hound: Qwark's reason for setting out to collect the 'Tool of Justice Award'. Actually a trap.
• Heel Face Revolving Door: Nefarious. First he's evil, then he's forced into being not-so-evil, then he's just there, then he's helping to defeat another galactic threat, then he's evil again. And then maybe not.
• Hey, It's That Voice!: Richard Horvitz is the voice actor for what seems like half of the Tharpods. Tropers may recognize him as Razputin, Zim, Lunk or even the Zoni.
  • For the Norwegians, Ratchet now has Erik Skøld as James Arnold Taylor's replacement, who also voiced Sly Cooper in all his appearances.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: The Light Eating Z'Grute's presence is what led the Creature Collector to Luminopolis. Well done, Nefarious.
• Hypocritical Humor: In the final cutscene, it sounds like Ratchet is complaining about the whole treats thing. Less than a minute later, he steals the bag of treats from Dr. Croid.
• In Soviet Russia, Trope Mocks You: One of the skill points is "On Planet Magnus, Vegetables Eat You"
• Kill It with Fire: The Pyroblaster
• Kill It with Ice: The Frost Cannon
• Lampshade Hanging: Ratchet's response to the Plumber's appearance. Makes sense that it was Ratchet who was puzzled by the lack of "cryptic advice that will help us beat Nevo", considering how that turned out last time.
  • Fridge Brilliance: Of course the Plumber doesn't have any advice for beating Nevo. You never fight Nevo.
• Lighthouse Point: The end of Octonok Cay
• The Lost Woods: The Deadgrove, Terawatt Forest
• Meaningful Name: The Loki share a name with a Norse entity closely tied with mischief and mayhem.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: When you play as Qwark and Nefarious, if Qwark is killed, Nefarious will yell, "No one kills Qwark but me!" Also, the ending cinematic where Nefarious backhands the Loki away from Qwark.
• Only Sane Man: Doesn't show up often, but 'A Presidential Retreat' gives us Qwark, fantasizing about the eponymous retreat-slash-waterpark, Nefarious cajoling Ratchet to let him kill the Captain, Ratchet considering the plea and Clank trying to keep things moving along. Poor little guy.
• Percussive Maintenance: Appears to be part of how Nefarious repaired Commander Spog.
  • Applies to Nefarious himself, as per usual. Qwark is beyond willing to give him a smack when he freezes up.
• Port Town: What the Tharpod Fishing Village in Octonok Cay was before the W.A.S.P messed everything up.
• Power Fist: The Blitzer seems to fall into this category.
• Retirony: Subverted. The player is lead to believe they'll be doing this to Commander Spog, but you end up fixing him after the boss fight.
• Rewarding Vandalism: As per usual.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: The very instant things go bad, Lawrence runs away . . . then again, this wouldn't be the first time he's done it.
• Secret Weapon: Dr. Croid's "Last Resort" project. The game doesn't even try to hide the fact that you're just assembling a new RYNO.
• Shout-Out: One of the first levels you play through is a training ground monitored by an AI. If you listen to her for more than five minutes, she'll start to remind you of another passive-agressive AI. Once she realizes that the players aren't trainees, but "interlopers" she even tries to deter them by damning them with faint praise and making mostly-useless threats. ("You remember those gold stars I gave you? They're gone now. Try hanging that on the fridge.") On a similar note, more than one villain asks if/how the heroes are "Still Alive"—sometimes several times in a row.
  • Also a different AI, at one point, lies about cake.
• Shock and Awe: The Arc Lasher and Thundersmack
• Single Biome Planet: Magnus actually averts this—it's where most of the game takes place (with the exception of one segment up above the planet's stratosphere), but still features the usual array of themed levels.
• Slippy-Slidey Ice World: The Polar Sea
• Somebody Else's Problem: There's a short instance of this, right after the group gets free of the Creature Collector. Fortunately, Ratchet decides that (true) retirement can be put off a little while longer.
• Splash Damage: Whenever overload occurs.
• Stop Helping Me!: The tutorials through Luminopolis. Particularly jarring, since it freezes gameplay and only goes away when its good and ready.
• Strawman News Media: Kip Darling and Pepper Fairbanks make their return on the airways of Luminopolis, continuing the not-so-proud tradition set by Darla Gratch way back in Ratchet & Clank.
• Take That: See Voice with an Internet Connection for one, but another comes up right away in Luminopolis:

Kip: The depravity of this creature knows no bounds, folks. He just destroyed Rusty Pete's Healthy Hamburger Shack! His wheat grass and tree bark burger was a favorite of hipsters everywhere!

• • Your reward skill point for beating the game in single player counts, too. It's "Forever Alone"
• Techno Wreckage: Uzo City, the Exploratorium Power Station
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: The only ones who don't have some kind of issue with one another are Ratchet and Clank. Nefarious and Qwark butt heads, Ratchet and Nefarious briefly team up and entertain the idea of getting rid of Qwark (before being scolded by Clank) but end up on the same old footing once that fails, and even Clank scoffs at some of the dumber ideas or lines that come up.
• Ten-Minute Retirement: Difficult to say where this falls into this trope. Apparently, Ratchet and Clank are still retired throughout the game... but it doesn't seem like much of a retirement. By the ending, Ratchet comments on how it didn't exactly work out and the both of them agree that they prefer hero work. Still, they claimed to be retired throughout two separate adventures...
• Tempting Fate: The Tharpod who steered the boat toward the lighthouse in Octonok Cay. Here's the gist of what he says:

Tharpod: Well, I'm off to go live a life free of Sepiads and tragic irony!

• • It will surprise nobody to hear that, roughly 30 seconds later, the King Sepiad eats him. Subverted after the fight with it, when the Tharpod comes crawling out of its mouth, raving about the horrors he's seen inside the Sepiad.
• This Is Sparta: It doesn't show in the subtitles, but the emphasis on "This is the future!" squarely falls into this trope.
• Toilet Humor: An example of Doctor Croid's Lombax whispering skills

Ratchet: Dr. Croid, we're going to stop Nevo from hurting anyone else but we could really use your help. Do you understand what I'm saying?
Croid: I think he needs to poo! I'll go get a baggie.
Qwark: Hey doc, make it two. 'Been a looong trip.

• Very Definitely Final Dungeon: Again, Uzo City
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: It's a co-op game, and you're handed vacuums that let you suck up your friends early on. People are going to go flying everywhere. Including the into incinerator.^[1] Not to mention that if you turn "grief mode" on you can suck up other players whether they want to or not.^[2]
• Voice with an Internet Connection: Played hilariously straight. You even get to hear Cronk subscribing to the Hall of Knowledge online database.

Cronk: No, I don't want to receive exciting offers from outside vendors!

• Weapons That Suck: The Vac-Us, which play a major role in gameplay.
• Whip It Good: The Arc Lasher, which is a spiritual successor to the Plasma Whip and Lightning Ravager.

1. ↑ And you get a skill point for it, if it's Clank or Nefarious you toss in.
2. ↑ Otherwise the sucker must stand still and the suckee must be in the air.