The Art of Ratchet and Clank is here at last, created by Dark Horse Books and Insomniac Games themselves! This 200+ page book features never-before-seen art from all 15 years of the Ratchet and Clank saga. It also details how Ratchet and Clank came to be, and the game concepts that came before it.

During a conference back in 2000, Brian Hastings ask this one simple question: "Wouldn't it be great to play as a furry hero and his robot friend--traveling from planet to planet, collecting weapons, and blowing up bad guys?" 2 years later, the first Ratchet and Clank game was released to the public, and it was only the start of something truly amazing.

With a firmer grasp of the PS2 technology, Insomniac Games created Going Commando, and many more games on the PS2 after that. There is also a tid-bit about Angela Cross saying: "Is she a lombax? Or is she not? She doesn't have a tail! We're really, really sorry to our fans about this one...seriously, we mean it!" TJ Fixman has gone on record to say that Angela is Lombax, but at this point, speculation is all we get.

Speaking of Lombaxes, Into the Nexus was going to be much different than it is now. There was going to be a "Nexus Lombax Society" with different factions and tribes. More concept art showed Ratchet and Clank ride lombax speeders and using different technology all created by lombaxes. Mr. Eye was supposed to be a lombax slaver, as concept art showed him taken wounded lombaxes as prisoners. All of this interesting concept art was scrapped because the Ratchet and Clank movie probably caused Into the Nexus to be rushed into final production.

There were quite a few new weapon designs that never made it into the games. Ratchet would have had a proto-shield attached to his wrist that used nether-energy to block attacks. Some un-named weapons for Ratchet and Clank All 4 One also appear in the art book. Up Your Aresnal weapon concepts showed their sequential weapon upgrade attachments from V1-V5. The original RYNO was going to be a deployable turret that fire unlimited missile at any target.

Even games like Ratchet and Clank Q-Force had interesting concept art. Before Clank became "Alpha Clank" as a playable Q-force cadet, he was going to have rocket attachments armor pieces to make him appear a bit taller and more mobile. Also, Talwyn was going to be in the game! Concept art of her pink armor (and the screenshot at the top of the page) showed her as part of the team. And yes, they do refer to her as "Ratchet's girlfriend."

Though Insomniac Games is not currently working on a Ratchet and Clank game now (with the hype around Spiderman) they did say that the RaC PS4 game was such a huge hit, that the future looks bright for Ratchet and Clank. As they head into the 2nd decade of their epic saga, they hope to create more games for the dynamic duo, closing on this: "Ratchet and Clank represents our steadfast refusal to grow up--channeling our inner 9-year-old's fantasies, while imagining to the future."