I was so thirsty after the Ratchet & Clank PS5 announcement that I decided to finally check out the one game in the series I'd never played before: the side-scroller made for Java-based flip phones in 2005. I even sought out and played through the completely different, barely-functional Series 40 version as well (though I did not 100% complete that one, as it takes playing through half the game to level up a single weapon one time).
The main Series 60 iteration of the game is surprisingly solid, provided you find the 1.0.10 version that actually runs at a decent frame rate without hitches. The controls, if you try to play it on an Android-based emulator (or, I assume, an actual 2005-era phone), are godawful, but if you use a PC-based one and plug in a gamepad, you can create a fairly comfortable control scheme of your own.
Going Mobile isn't a great game by any stretch of the imagination, but considering that it's a mobile game released two years before the original iPhone, it's a miracle it's any fun at all. The level design and combat aren't particularly good but work well enough within the massive constraints provided by the hardware, and the game features nearly all the series' staples - upgradeable weapons, an arena with different modifiers, rail grinding, both small currency bolts & large collectible ones, and a challenge mode (though more of a straight new game+ with no real differences here). It's incredible how much they packed into less than 300 KB.
There are about five sound effects total and no in-game music, but the game still retains some of the series' charm with its graphics (I actually love the pixel art renditions of Ratchet/Clank and Maximillian) and silly storyline about the characters being trapped inside your cell phone. This is also technically the first entry in the series where you unlock the RYNO by hunting for collectibles instead of grinding money.
While nothing to write home about outside of its status as one of the few genuinely playable pre-smartphone mobile games, it's hard not to be impressed by what Handheld accomplished here as a huge fan of the main series. If they'd been assigned to develop this for the PSP instead, I think they could've made something really special and we'd still be seeing 2D R&C spin-offs to this day.
The main Series 60 iteration of the game is surprisingly solid, provided you find the 1.0.10 version that actually runs at a decent frame rate without hitches. The controls, if you try to play it on an Android-based emulator (or, I assume, an actual 2005-era phone), are godawful, but if you use a PC-based one and plug in a gamepad, you can create a fairly comfortable control scheme of your own.
Going Mobile isn't a great game by any stretch of the imagination, but considering that it's a mobile game released two years before the original iPhone, it's a miracle it's any fun at all. The level design and combat aren't particularly good but work well enough within the massive constraints provided by the hardware, and the game features nearly all the series' staples - upgradeable weapons, an arena with different modifiers, rail grinding, both small currency bolts & large collectible ones, and a challenge mode (though more of a straight new game+ with no real differences here). It's incredible how much they packed into less than 300 KB.
There are about five sound effects total and no in-game music, but the game still retains some of the series' charm with its graphics (I actually love the pixel art renditions of Ratchet/Clank and Maximillian) and silly storyline about the characters being trapped inside your cell phone. This is also technically the first entry in the series where you unlock the RYNO by hunting for collectibles instead of grinding money.
While nothing to write home about outside of its status as one of the few genuinely playable pre-smartphone mobile games, it's hard not to be impressed by what Handheld accomplished here as a huge fan of the main series. If they'd been assigned to develop this for the PSP instead, I think they could've made something really special and we'd still be seeing 2D R&C spin-offs to this day.