TITLE: Lost Ratchet & Clank Mobile Game Resurrected After 19 Years
A Gaming Mystery Solved
After nearly two decades of speculation and searching, a dedicated team of preservationists has successfully recovered and archived a fully playable version of Ratchet & Clank: Clone Home, the long-lost mobile game that was canceled just before its planned 2006 release. The remarkable story of this recovery effort has been detailed in a comprehensive video documentary that traces the game’s journey from obscurity to preservation.
The Hunt for a Legendary Title
Originally attributed to Handheld Games, the developer behind several 2005 mobile titles including Spider-Man 2: The Hero Returns and Ratchet & Clank: Going Mobile, Clone Home was scheduled to debut on Java phones in 2006 before being quietly canceled. Despite its official cancellation, rumors persisted that a complete, playable version existed somewhere, elevating the game to near-mythical status among Ratchet & Clank enthusiasts.
The search gained new momentum in 2019 when YouTuber The Golden Bolt, who would later help coordinate the recovery effort, learned from one of the original developers that the game was indeed finished and might have reached a small number of mobile devices. This revelation sparked a renewed investigation that would eventually lead to the game’s recovery.
Breakthrough After Years of Searching
The most determined researchers included college students identified as “Emily” and “Super Gamer Omega Clank,” who four years ago located someone with the game installed on a Sony Ericsson W880i phone. However, the device’s encryption presented a significant barrier, and as recently as a few weeks ago, the team described their extraction efforts as “hopeless.”
The situation changed dramatically when the team successfully cracked the phone’s encryption, extracted Clone Home, and created a preserved version available for public download. The recovered game is complete and fully functional, though it shows some signs of being unpolished due to its canceled status.
New Discoveries and Gameplay Details
Recent evidence suggests the game may have actually been developed by JavaGround, the company responsible for Sony’s final Java (J2ME) games, rather than Handheld Games as previously believed. Researchers now theorize the game might have been accidentally uploaded to mobile networks like Cingular or Sprint for a brief period, allowing a handful of users to download it before being removed.
Early players report that Clone Home is surprisingly polished and may even surpass its predecessor, Going Mobile, in quality. The game features the series’ characteristic eccentricity with a nonsensical plot, solid gameplay mechanics, the ability to play as two different Lombax characters, and a unique weapon called the “Ewezie” that transforms enemies into sheep.
Preservation Triumph
The cancellation likely resulted from potential legal disputes between Sony and Handheld Games, according to The Golden Bolt’s speculation. Regardless of the reasons behind its original cancellation, the recovery represents a significant victory for game preservation and serves as a rewarding conclusion to years of dedicated work by Ratchet & Clank fans. For those interested in the complete documentation of this remarkable recovery story, the original coverage provides extensive details about the search process and technical challenges overcome by the preservation team.
