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The Dynamo is a gadget manufactured by Megacorp in Going Commando. It is a green wrist-attached device that activates Dynamo triggers, which operate pieces of machinery, causing them to turn on, resulting in various effects such as opening a door, extending a platform, or activating a crane. They can also deploy holographic platforms that also move around sometimes, and can all thus be used to access areas otherwise out of reach.

In Up Your Arsenal, the Dynamo is combined with the Swingshot as the Hypershot, which can activate Dynamo triggers, as well as attach to versa-targets.

History[]

Dynamo gameplay

Ratchet using the Dynamo to gain entry into the Megacorp store.

Ratchet acquired the Dynamo on Oozla during "Find the store entrance", right at the entrance to the Megacorp Outlet, shortly after defeating swamp monster I. He then used the gadget to navigate the outlet in "Investigate the Megacorp store". He prominently used it on Dobbo, as it was required to activate many of the floating platforms used to traverse the testing facility, both in the inner and overground facilities during "Explore the testing facility". In "Enter the Megacorp Games", Ratchet used the Dynamo to create a series of temporary platforms and pistons along the path to the Megacorp Games arena, as well as create a path up a wall using a moving platform.

The Dynamo was used once again during "Find Angela", while navigating the outer buildings of the Thug HQ on planet Snivelak. Ratchet then used the gadget once more in the warehouse of the distribution facility on planet Smolg during "Traverse the Warehouse", for he needed to move several cranes and conveyor belts to get through. Finally, he used the Dynamo on planet Yeedil during "Break into Megacorp Headquarters", while venturing deeper into the Protopet Factory.

Ratchet was also able to use the device to obtain platinum bolts on Notak and Snivelak, as well as a nanotech boost on Joba. On Endako, the Dynamo could be used on the Game Pyramid in Clank's apartment to play the Sheep Blasters minigame.

Behind the scenes[]

Dynamo trigger promo render

A Dynamo trigger.

Mike Stout, junior designer at Insomniac Games who designed many of the Dynamo gadgets, described the Dynamo as the "worst gadget in the history of gadgets", believing it to be uninteresting.[1] Many of the challenges he designed were ones that focus test players and Mike himself found difficult, as he had tuned the difficulty to his own skillset without taking other players into account. A notable example of this was a floating platform challenge in Dobbo just before the Glider segment, which Mike described as "the worst thing in the game".[2]

On Joba, the segment during "Enter the Megacorp Games", in which the Dynamo created a floating platform used to traverse along the wall, was also designed by Mike Stout (and programmed by junior programmer Tony Garcia), and was internally unpopular at Insomniac due to breaking a few game design rules.[3]

Mike Stout also programmed the floating platforms for the Dynamo, and made them using scaled up versions of art taken from somewhere else. The artists did not know to replace it, as they were unaware it was just a placeholder.[4]

Citations[]

References[]

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