Speedrunner KillaLombax Destroys Ratchet and Clank

In a time where gaming trends were coming off of the monumental success of platformers, Insomniac stuck to their guns to create an iconic PlayStation franchise about a lombax and a robot. Ratchet and Clank have seen many hilarious adventures through various galaxies over the years and the quality of each game has almost always been at the forefront. Tight platforming mixed with explosive combat created a series that’s hard to forget. Longtime fan KillaLombax takes things to the next level in his Any% and All Gold Bolts speedruns with an interesting approach to the PS3 title Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction.

In a speedrun, 2D or 3D platformers almost always make for a viable, entertaining, and quick run. Some of the greats include Super Mario 64, which has seen extensive research into several categories that go so far as to offer bounties on glitches, as well as modern approaches like A Hat in Time. Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction fits into that style of run with a few glitches that allow for skipping large sections of the game, mostly with the goal of getting out of bounds.

So we asked the Tools of Destruction wizard a few questions over Discord.

With many speedruns that offer different weapons and upgrades, most Any% runners gravitate towards doing a New Game Plus run, due to having extra firepower to cut through enemies. What’s interesting about KillaLombax’s Tools of Destruction run is that he sticks to doing it on a fresh save. This appears to be mostly due to the run benefiting from movement, boundary exploitation, and clever routing. There aren’t many moments that require lots of combat, as most that are troublesome can be quickly dealt with using proper weapons.

KillaLombax ended up sticking with Tools of Destruction because of his love of the series, as well as just owning a PS3. He’s also been into speedgaming for quite some time. “I was sorta into it from the start. I've always had a good memory, so once I had played a game and ‘learned’ it, I would go back and play it, going as fast a casual could go. It wasn't until about 3 years ago that I started to really watch speedruns. I found one of Xem92's world records at the time and slowly got introduced into Twitch.”

“It wasn't until another streamer, JoshJepson, started to speedrun Super Mario Sunshine Hoverless% that I started to think maybe I can do this too,” said Killa Lombax as we chatted about his speedrun beginnings. “Wanting to do a Ratchet and Clank game, I chose Tools of Destruction for it's ready availability.”

During a spring break, he took to the game to start piecing together the run through good ol’ fashioned grinding, starting with the All Gold Bolts category. “I spent the whole week learning Tool of Destruction’s AGB category, since it only had one runner. Ever since spring break last year, I have been speedrunning this game.”

With many speedruns there is always that one trick that can cause tension. KillaLombax pointed to one in particular that can cause trouble, “the ship bounce on Rykan V. If you fail it results in a death and a softlock, thus killing the run. Needless to say I've softlocked a lot. I now just sorta bat an eye at it as I've learned to get it consistent and line up quickly. The other two triumphs I'd say I've had is the discovery of God Rac and Fastoon 2 missile skip.”

For those unaware, a softlock is an instance where the player is stuck and cannot respawn. Usually, the only way out of a softlock is to reset the game or load from a checkpoint. In a lot of speedruns, saving doesn’t happen often, which is why softlocks can “kill a run” and make it not viable as a time.

All in all, Tools of Destruction (as well as most of the Ratchet and Clank series) makes for a really cool speedrun to watch with a lot of depth in its exploits. It seems like KillaLombax is willing to take his runs further, as personal bests have been coming in steadily. Since he began last year, Killa Lombax has dropped his time from 2:48:53 to a 1:19:57 in All Gold Bolts. It was Punchy that described this phenomenon best when he said put in effort to get a desired result. 

KillaLombax ended our interview with a sound piece of advice for anyone wanting to get into a speedrun at all. “Be proud of your runs and don't let mistakes get to you.”

Find KillaLombax streaming on Twitch, he also archives most of his runs on YouTube.