20 Years of Insomniac Games (1994-2014): Part 1 Quiz

Answer: Disruptor

"Disruptor" was the game that started it all. Released in 1994 for the PlayStation, it takes place across several planets and moons, including Mars, Jupiter and Neptune's Triton (taking a few cues from the previous year's seminal shooter "Doom").

"Disruptor" was originally intended for release on the Panasonic 3DO. Luckily, the game was noticed by Mark Cerny, now one of the most iconic and influential names in video games, who took Insomniac under his wing and recommended switching development over to Sony's PlayStation. And thus, the saga began.

Answer: Sparx

"Spyro the Dragon" is fondly remembered by almost anyone who had a childhood in the late 1990s. The game focuses on Spyro's quest to rescue all the other dragons in the Dragon Kingdom who have been crystallised by the game's villain, Gnasty Gnorc.

Joining Spyro is his faithful friend Sparx. Not only is Sparx a useful ally to have (by helping collect nearby gems) but he also represents Spyro's current health level. Literally, Spyro relies on Sparx to stay alive. Each bit of damage taken changes Sparx's colour (from gold to blue to green and then disappearing altogether) but it can be reversed by getting him to munch on a butterfly or two.

Answer: No

NTSC players will be familiar with "Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!" while PAL region players will no doubt have been playing "Spyro 2: Gateway to Glimmer" instead. Most often these differences in titles are a result of having to translate into many different languages and to maintain consistency across the region. Interestingly enough, the "Glimmer" referred to in the European title is only the name of the very first level in the very first homeworld and not, as one might have thought, the name of the entire realm (that's Avalar).

"Spyro 2" plays out with Spyro (and Sparx) venturing into various worlds to collect gems and talismans to unlock access to boss levels and ultimately making their way to the game's titular menace, Ripto.

Answer: It is the last "Spyro" game ever

Coincidentally, the year 2000 was the Chinese Year of the Dragon. The developers incorporated this into the game, with the events taking place in one of the duodecennial Years of the Dragon when new dragon eggs arrive. This year's batch are stolen and Spyro then travels to the Forgotten Realms in search of the Sorceress who orchestrated their capture. Eager to create an immortality spell using the wings of these dragons, she is thwarted at the very end by Spyro's valiant efforts.

"Spyro: Year of the Dragon" marks a three-fold end of an era: not only is it the last game in the original trilogy and the last Insomniac-developed "Spyro" game, it's also the last game they developed for the PS1. With the PS2 on the market in 2000, their sights turned to this new console and a new series.

Answer: Chairman Drek

Drek, a wealthy Blarg businessman, comes from a world that is slowly becoming more and more polluted. In order for the rest of the Blarg to live, Drek decides to create his own planet by stealing pieces of other planets and putting them together. However, it's later discovered that it was Drek who was responsible for polluting his own planet in the first place, and this entire scheme is a way to make even more money. Fuelled by a desire to repeat this process over and over again for even more profit, Drek elevates himself to Ultimate Supreme Executive Chairman and vows to destroy Ratchet and Clank so they can meddle in his affairs no more. Needless to say, Drek is defeated and Ratchet is able to save his home planet of Veldin from destruction.

While Captain Qwark is an antagonist in "Ratchet & Clank", he isn't the game's primary villain. Qwark meets his (first) demise after an intense spaceship battle around a moonbase and is later found dazed and confused after having crash landed on a nearby planet.

Answer: Bogon Galaxy

Whisked away to the Bogon Galaxy at the behest of Megacorp magnate Abercrombie Fizzwidget, Ratchet and Clank are tasked with retrieving a stolen Protopet from a mysterious thief. Of course, things don't go to plan, and soon the pair are back to travelling across the galaxy, defeating enemies and acquiring more crazy weapons.

In the game's final climactic moments, the true mastermind behind this whole plot is revealed and the last battle sees Ratchet and Clank facing off against a giant, mutated Protopet at Megacorp's HQ.

Answer: Metropolis, Kerwan

"Ratchet & Clank 3" saw a return to the Solana Galaxy and the introduction of one of the series' most iconic and recurring villains, the robotic Dr. Nefarious. Hellbent on purging the galaxy of organic lifeforms (dubbed "squishies" by Nefarious), he creates a device called a Biobliterator, which can transform squishies into hostile robots. Ratchet and Clank manage to destroy the Biobliterator with a powerful ion cannon while it is refuelling, but at the end of the game, after his defeat, Nefarious reveals a second, more powerful Biobliterator and the duo take to the skies in a hovership to bring it down.

Other returning areas in "Ratchet & Clank 3" include a brief introductory section at Kyzil Plateau on Ratchet's own planet Veldin and Galactic Ranger missions at planet Rilgar's Blackwater City and Aridia's Outpost X12 (although it was Outpost X11 that featured in the original game).

Answer: DreadZone

Now recognised across the galaxy for their heroic actions, Ratchet, Clank and Big Al are abducted and forced to participate in DreadZone, a deadly (and illegal) tournament which pits the mightiest of heroes against one another in a series of increasingly dangerous interplanetary campaigns and arena battles, all for the entertainment of the masses. Hidden away in the Shadow Sector of the Solana Galaxy, their only hope of escape is to dominate the competition, topple the sinister Gleeman Vox from his perch atop the DreadZone empire and destroy the space station to stop it once and for all.

Instead of accompanying Ratchet as per normal, Clank is relegated to providing comms support, briefing Ratchet on upcoming challenges and providing advice on the battlefield. Big Al does what he does best by putting his robotic engineering skills to good use, offering upgrades for Ratchet's omnipresent combat bot allies. Although the game's tone is slightly darker than previous adventures, the witty comments from the DreadZone commentators, Dallas and Juanita, provide much of the game's comic relief.

Answer: Chimera

Set in a version of 1950s England ravaged by the recent incursion of the Chimera, "Resistance: Fall of Man" follows our protagonist, Nathan Hale, and his efforts to help quell the alien threat. Having arrived on the shores of old Blighty, Hale's band of soldiers is soon attacked by Chimera and infected with their virus.

However (and perhaps for narrative convenience), Hale is resistant to the virus and gains a variety of benefits from it instead of succumbing to its full, grisly effects. He then fights his way through many cities, including York, Manchester and London, to remove the Chimera influence from the island once and for all.

Answer: Ratchet finding the rest of the Lombaxes

The subject of why Ratchet is one of very few Lombaxes seen so far in the series forms the basis for the main series games on the PS3. "Tools of Destruction" reveals that the Lombaxes had been part of a bitter war against a race of creatures known as Cragmites. In a last, desperate attempt to save the universe from the Cragmite menace, the Lombaxes used a piece of their own technology called a Dimensionator to transport them to another dimension. Only one Cragmite survived this: Percival Tachyon. He was discovered by the Lombaxes at a very early age and raised amongst them. However, once he discovered that was a Cragmite and what the Lombaxes did to them so long ago, he turned on them and waged war. Unable to successfully repel this new threat, the majority of the Lombaxes transported themselves to the relative safety of another dimension.

The events of "Tools of Destruction" see Ratchet and Clank fighting against Tachyon and his army, as well as venturing across the Polaris Galaxy discovering more about the Lombaxes. Not to be ignored, Clank also begins seeing invisible creatures called the Zoni, which Ratchet brushes aside as him hallucinating. However, at the end of the game, the Zoni reveal themselves and take Clank to an unknown location, leaving Ratchet alone.