Raritanium

Raritanium, also known as raritanium ore, is a rare and elusive mineral in the Ratchet & Clank series. It is a very strong and durable substance, used for armaments such as the Terraflux armor. It is also extremely valuable, traded by Ratchet and Clank with many characters for rare items, such as starship upgrades weapon upgrades, from certain vendors. The substance can be mined on various planets throughout the galaxy, and is found in asteroids in space.

Appearances

Ratchet & Clank

In the original Ratchet & Clank, raritanium is used to obtain the Persuader from Fred. Ratchet and Clank met Fred in the sewers in the Jowai Resort, Pokitaru, after the mission "Navigate the sewers". He was searching there for raritanium, as Pokitaru's oceans were a great source of the material, until the blarg waste disposal tankers dumped toxic waste in the water, obscuring all traces of it.  Ratchet and Clank later found the Miner on Hoven in "Explore the Icy Wastes", who gave them raritanium after Ratchet fixed his drill. Upon returning to Pokitaru to give Fred the raritanium, he gave them the Persuader.

Re-imagined

Non-canon warning: This article or section contains non-canonical information that is not considered to be an official part of the series and should not be considered part of its overall storyline.

In the 2016 re-imagined game and the movie, raritanium has a minor role in the story as the armor for the warbots sent by Drek Industries was made of raritanium alloy. Using the Mag Booster that Ratchet installed on Mr. Micron's ship, he was able to vacuum up warbots and propel them towards the Class G Dreadship, destroying it in the invasion. This occurs in both the movie, and during the mission "Take down the Warship" in the game. In the game, the hydroharvesters also used raritanium hulls, and Al mentioned that the Teslablast weapons kit rockets he installed to the class-g Star Jumper could pierce through them.

In the game, raritanium has a larger gameplay role than in the original. Instead, raritanium is found throughout several planets, and can be used in Gadgetron vendors to purchase certain weapon upgrades. After upgrading weapons and obtaining holocards, raritanium is also dropped by some enemies. Most upgrades provide improvements to aspects of the weapons, but some are unique upgrades when all upgrades in surrounding tiles are unlocked. More upgrades become available for a weapon depending on its level.

Going Commando

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Raritanium, as seen in Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando

Template:Image needed In Going Commando, raritanium is used in Slim Cognito Ship Shack to purchase upgrades for Ratchet's ship, the Star Explorer. It can be obtained during space battles (in the Wupash Nebula, Feltzin System, Deep Space Disposal Facility and on Gorn) by destroying enemy ships, drones and turrets. Breakable objects such as asteroids, large crystals and space debris also sometimes contain raritanium. Lastly it can mined up using a mining vehicle on planets Tabora and Grelbin, in respectively the local desert in the mining area, and the Y.E.T.I.-infested Tundor Wastes.

Said mining vehicles are small one-man hovercraft with a large cockpit and an olive-green paintjob. Two large thrust fans are located near the rear on each side. On the cockpit is a small dish with which the vehicle can detect underground raritanium, and with the use of the large drill which is mounted on the back, dig it up.

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Ratchet using the mining vehicle to harvest Raritanium.

Each mining vehicle in each region is located on top of a tall stone pillar, safe from any harmful local species, as it is only accessible through traversing a grav-ramp with the Gravity Boots. The one on Tabora is located near the east end of the desert, close to a mountain, while the Grelbin vehicle is located near the facility and landing pad on the southern side. They are remarkably fast when traveling (using ) across the local terrain, but also rather fragile. The position of nearby raritanium is shown on both a minimap and through the use of a large orange arrow in the HUD. When positioned on top of raritanium press to dig it up, which takes a few seconds.

Up Your Arsenal

Raritanium is mentioned in Up Your Arsenal, but does not have a role in gameplay. The Director of Clank's Secret Agent Clank series described a holo-vid as "raritanium quality".

Deadlocked

In Deadlocked, one of the challenge courses is the raritanium factory on planet Orxon, with the challenge requiring contestants to destroy it. Additionally, many of the upgrades for the OmniWrench use raritanium.

Tools of Destruction

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Raritanium as seen in Tools of Destruction

Tools of Destruction is the first game to use raritanium for unique weapon upgrades. GrummelNet vendors would trade in raritanium, found in crystals throughout planets (and after some upgrades are earned, dropped from some enemies when defeated with certain enemies), to unlock several minor upgrades to each weapons' abilities, and special upgrades that provide a major enhancement to their popularity.

The Golden Groovitron is also available for purchase for 2,000,000 raritanium in challenge mode at the GrummelNet device vendor in Cobalia spaceport.

Ratchet's Terraflux armor is also plated with raritanium.

A Crack in Time

In A Crack in Time, raritanium is not used for weapon upgrades, but is mentioned in the story. Alister Azimuth mentioned that Lumos was home to the raritanium mine, and it is mentioned that both the Great Clock and IRIS supercomputer's sisterboards used a raritanium vector shell. Additionally, the second tournament at the Agorian Battleplex is named the "Raritanium Cup".

Comic series

During Issue 5: Multiple Organisms, Ratchet and Clank hid from one of Zogg's warbots beneath a hatch made of pure raritanium. When warbots began drilling through the hatch, Clank mentioned that it would last a few minutes against the drill.

Before the Nexus

Raritanium can be obtained in Before the Nexus, and transferred over to an Into the Nexus save file.

Into the Nexus

Raritanium in Into the Nexus is used to purchase weapon upgrades, similarly to Tools of Destruction. In the same way, it provides several improvements to the weapons, and unique upgrades if surrounding upgrades are unlocked. More upgrades become available for a weapon depending on its level. Raritanium from Before the Nexus can also be carried over.

In the Intergalactic Museum of History on Igliak, it was mentioned a Raritanium Wing would be included, but the museum lacked funding.

Behind the scenes

Unused Going Commando audio files refer to raritanium as "ore".  Remnants of this are present in old builds, with a different model and icon used when mining raritanium.

References

This article uses content from the Ratchet & Clank wiki.