Good morning, everybody, and welcome to VG Myths: the online internet video game TV show that's always got a spanner in the works. Up Your Arsenal is the third game in the Ratchet and Clank series, and as the name implies, it's got a metric buttload more devastatingly explosive weaponry to unleash on everybody who doesn't like your puns. But we try not to be that petty on this show, which is why we're sticking with good old-fashioned facial reconstruction! Can you beat Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal with only the wrench? The rules are identical to the Going Commando run; use of any weapons found in the weapons menu is banned. Everything found outside the weapons menu, including gadgets, turrets, and vehicles, are freely allowed. I'm sorry; I know most of you were really looking forward to seeing me beat the game without the banana gun, but I could not resist. Of course, all those are highly context-sensitive, so throughout the vast majority of the game, you'll be whacking everything with the wrench. It functions mostly the same as it did in the prior game. Grounded ranged attacks can be pulled off quickly, and are the best defensive option when you're busy dodging. If you need to attack something in the air, you can throw the wrench in any direction from first-person view. And to deal the most amount of damage as fast as possible, aerial hyper-strikes deal double damage with each hit. Also, while Ratchet doesn't ever get new wrenches, the game instead automatically upgrades your wrench's strength as your maximum health increases. It'll still be weaker than I'd prefer, but it's enough to keep the endgame from being terribly grinding. The run encounters a minor problem almost immediately. The Galactic Rangers give us our first gun and task us with blowing up this hovership with it. It's been made specifically difficult to hurt with the wrench, therefore forcing the player to use the gun. Thankfully, if you politely refuse their request and run around like an idiot, the Galactic Rangers will get fed up and just shoot the hovership themselves. Another hovership challenges you up ahead, but there's nothing stopping you from using the tried-and-true technique of running away like a little sissy baby. Worth noting now: a lot of combat situations in Up Your Arsenal are functionally optional. If the enemies are giving too much trouble, it might be in your best interest to ignore them and make a mad dash for the next checkpoint. The first level ends with a forced solo fight against a third hovership. This one has cover directly in front of it, letting us throw our wrench at an angle in total safety. Before heading to Markadia, the first armor upgrade will become available. It's super cheap since it's so early in the game, so dump your bolts in to get that extra wiggle room. Aquatos features an escort quest with Skidd McMarx, who refuses to open the way forward until you've killed the enemies in the nearby area. This mostly isn't an issue, save for a couple of these bridges. The enemies you need to kill are on the opposite edge, and, well... things got weird when I tried to jump over to them. For whatever reason, they dematerialize when you're on the lower floor. On one of these bridges, I just kept trying to fly over until eventually I got enough hyper-strikes in to kill them. On the other bridge, I totally lucked out. The flamethrower enemy accidentally killed its ally before flying over to join me. The Adamantine Armor is available just before heading to Tyhrranosis, and I highly, highly, HIGHLY recommend buying it. I was stingy on my playthrough and didn't, but trust me, you'll have enough bolts to go around later, and it's well worth the investment. Tyrrhanosis marks the first area with some difficult combat. In particular, one mission has you visiting four separate areas for a series of fire fights. When fighting the saucers, rather than risking your neck going in with hyper strikes, you can hit them with a normal wrench throw by jumping just before the wrench boomerangs back. You'll quickly discover that the dual-laser-wielding mechs are your best friends. Their lasers are friendly-fire capable, and they have few scruples about carving a hole through their friends to get to you. Abuse their ill-thought-out priorities, and you can carve out chunks of the enemy forces without attacking at all. And if you're running low on health, take close attention to your EXP gauge; when it fills up, you get +1 to your maximum HP, and a huge amount of lost health recovers with it. That recovery can often make all the difference. You'll finish the level with an endurance battle against the Mama Tyrrhanoid. She can move slightly faster than you during her swiping animation, BUT has difficulty taking corners. Get a couple throws in while she's walking towards you, but always be ready to dash away at the next corner. When she starts roaring, that means she's about to jump on the ceiling, leaving her open to a couple hyper-strikes. Don't take too many chances. This fight is gonna take a while, and if you die, you have to start the whole thing over. When she's whittled down, Captain Qwark will heroically steal the final blow and let you move on to planet Daxx. Weave around the enemies on the path behind your ship for the ultimate in sissy baby technology: the charged boots. These upgrade your sissy baby stat TO THE MAX, letting you fly past some battles before your opponents can even fire a shot. Keep up the sissy baby strats through the level's main battle course. Remember, enemies are too polite to hurt you during the door hacking minigames, So just run for the lock ASAP. One door along the way doesn't necessitate killing the surrounding enemies, but it's much easier to just vault over with the nearby boxes. The enemies might try to murder you during the cutscene at the end, but don't worry; they are TERRIBLE shots. The platforming course ends with a fighter ship boss battle, and sorry, but this is way too hard for me to take in a head-on fight! Instead? We're gonna cheat. Equip the helipack and dash to the right side of the first building. The collision down here is terrible and finicky, with just enough leeway to let you ascend all the way back up top. The fighter ship pilot gets a score of zero for adaptability and will continue fruitlessly shooting at the platform the fight started on. Over here, you're 100% safe! It's got a lot of health, though, and whittling it down when it occasionally flies past is gonna take a while. You might be tempted to just skip killing the boss, since there's nothing stopping you from triggering the next cut scene -- in which Ratchet and Clank find out about an arena battle they need to enter. That is, however, a no-go. I have no idea why insomniac programmed the game this way, since it just made their own job harder, but the cutscene only updates the mission objectives to tell you to enter the arena. The arena battle itself doesn't exist until the fighter ship is dead. The battles in Blackwater City are pretty crowded, with very little breathing room. Pick your targets carefully, focusing on keeping the Galactic Rangers alive. They'll slowly pick off the enemies too dangerous for you to reach yourself. A good chunk of enemy deaths are gonna be friendly fire. Call on your inner action movie hero to pull off the sickest dodges, letting the enemy army wipe itself out. The Courtney Gears battle is too easy to mention, but I like her theme song, so I did it anyway. Soon after is the boss battle against Klunk. Klunk constantly hops around, making it difficult to get hits in. Keep chasing him and try to get one or two throws or hyper strikes before he runs away. All his attacks are easily dodge-able, so keep consistent damage on him to eventually rescue Clank. Also, do yourself a favor and keep some distance during his death animation. I've already facepalmed enough for all of us. Crash Site is gonna be a tough level to get past, even with sissy babystrats. Enemies are covering the battlefield and have extremely difficult to dodge, extremely powerful melee attacks. Just keep moving, never look back, and pray the enemies accidentally kill each other enough to upgrade your health along the way. You may even want to spring for the Aegis Mark 5 armor back at the Phoenix, though be warned you could end up needing to grind for bolts for the final armor. Aridia has the games last big fire fight challenge, requiring you to kill all enemy commanders in the surrounding area. Of course, they're all heavily guarded, AND of course, the game is mean enough to respawn ABSOLUTELY EVERYBODY after death. You COULD cheese it by using the guns on the buggy, Which is technically allowed, but I decided to keep with the spirit of the run and dismantle this army on foot. Every single point of health is precious here. Don't take any risks you don't have to. The trickiest enemies are the saucers on the bridge. They're too high to hit while grounded and fire too quickly to get in close. Instead, hop up to the side bridge, throw out the wrench, then jump up to give it the little bit of extra height it needs on the return. Every saucer you take out will make the strategy just a little bit easier, until they're all dead and you can focus on the commander. In the final two levels, the enemy firepower is lifted off the charts. I absolutely do not recommend actually fighting, and you'll want to grab that Infernox armor ASAP. You may need to go do some side quests to get the cash for it if you bought the other armor upgrades. After skipping them, I had just barely enough cash as soon as it was available. There's a required battle to open the door at the end of the final level command center, but the devs were way too lenient with the trigger for the cutscene. Fight around the left edge, and you'll hit the trigger even though you're about to fall into your death, teleporting you to the menu screen to initiate the final boss battle against Dr. Nefarious. Nefarious has a set in stone attack pattern. Keep dodging in a circle when he throws clones at you; he'll be momentarily stunned after, then start using his laser guns. Jump up to the side and get two hyper strikes in. Repeat until he starts throwing shockwave bombs. You have just enough time to get in a hyper strike while jumping over each shockwave, racking in tons of damage before the cycle repeats. This next bit is extremely important, and honestly, if you don't pull it off, I consider your entire run forfeit. Skip the cutscene after Phase 1 with proper timing, and you'll see the incredible secret easter egg where Dr. Nefarious reveals his true identity. You'll have to chase him past a ton more enemies, but I've got good news: the Galactic Rangers spawn in along the way, this time armed with nuclear peashooters that take out every enemy in one hit. If you're lucky, they may even get a little bit of damage for you, but for the most part, you're on your own. The pattern changes up a little throughout the battle. Most attacks are still easy to dodge, but the upgraded clones are another story, flooding the entire battlefield in an absolutely hopeless scenario. When this is about to happen, run for the tallest rock at the edge of the arena. It's just high and far enough to keep you safe. Thankfully, the laser guns and shockwave bombs remain unchanged, so you can keep racking up the damage until eventually his health bar reaches zero. The FINAL final battle on the hover ship is a glorified cutscene. Mash fire while strafing to destroy the Biobliterator once and for all. With the evil Diffy banished to the far-off galaxy of the PlayStation 3, the Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal wrench-only run is -- Special thanks to all Patreon backers, including: Let me know how much this video sucks and how to improve in the comments below. Yes, I'm thoroughly aware that TealGameMaster already did it, and get OUT of my house!
