The second game of the Ratchet & Clank series to be released on the PlayStation 3, and the sixth mainline game of the series. Released on August 21st, 2008, this is the first Ratchet game to be released primarily digitally, although it did also have a physical release in PAL territories.

The game takes place a short time after Clank is kidnapped by the Zoni at the end of Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction and catalogs Ratchet's search for his lifelong friend. Consulting the IRIS Supercomputer, he and Talwyn learn about Captain Angstrom Darkwater, who previously met the Zoni. As the only lead he has on their whereabouts, Ratchet and Talwyn travel to Darkwater's last known location: planet Merdegraw in the Drogol Sector. There they learn of Darkwater's fate, the Fulcrum Star, and Darkwater's Curse.

It was followed by Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time, which concluded the Future trilogy.

Watch yer step there, troper. X doesn't always mark the spot!

• All There in the Manual: Where Ratchet got the Kinetic Tether upgrade is never explained in-game. Insomniac's old podcast, The Full Moon Show, revealed it was added by Talwyn's warbots, Cronk and Zephyr.
• Ascended Extra:
  • Talwyn is a more major character than in Tools of Destruction, accompanying Ratchet throughout most of the game and their relationship having a slightly stronger focus.
  • While the robot pirates had several appearances in Tools of Destruction, they had "equal billing" with Tachyon's Drophyd army. In this game, the pirates are the sole antagonists.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: Captain Slag returns when his head is fused to the body of Captain Darkwater. However, Darkwater's spirit still resides within his corpse and the two are forced to share the body, making them the dual antagonists of the game.
• Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: Upon reaching Morrow Caverns:
  Rusty Pete: Here we are — Morrow Caverns! Famous for its majestic fjords, soothing grottoes, and legions of tortured souls awaiting their chance for revenge.
• The Cameo: While he does not appear physically or through a voice role, you can still find a golden Captain Qwark statue under the sea near Hoolefar Island.
• Continuity Nod:
  • When you first meet Mayor Barnabus Worley, you have the option to claim you're a used Crotchetizer salesman.
  • The Hoolefoids of Merdegraw make several references to past games, including seeing Ratchet on DreadZone and somebody having their Courtney Gears holiday album stolen.
• Credits Gag: Keeping with the pirate theme of the game, Peter Hastings is credited as "PeteARRrr Hastings".
• The Cuckoolander Was Right: While the "Booty is in the Eye of the Beholder" Qwark Vid-Comic about "robot pirate ghosts" in Up Your Arsenal was very likely embellished to make Qwark look cool (a fact that does not escape the narrator), this game reveals that's exactly what Darkwater and his crew are now.
• Demoted to Extra: As the game is about Ratchet and Talwyn searching for Clank, it stands to reason that the robot only appears in the final cutscene.
• Dragon Ascendant:
  • Slag is revealed to be this to Darkwater, having previously mutinied against him to become Captain.
  • Averted in the case of Rusty Pete: by all rights he should be Captain, but the crew hates him and they are led by Captain Sprocket instead. Pete's motivation in the game is to resurrect Slag so that he can rule under him and be liked again.
• Fair-Play Villain: After tricking Ratchet into helping him out, Rusty Pete throws him over the side of a ship - however, he then throws Ratchet his Combuster and Plasma Grenade, which he had lost at the beginning of the game.
  Here's a little something to show that there's no hard feelings!
• Framing Device: The events of the game are presented ingame as a story narrated by Rusty Pete with occasional dialogue from the head of Captain Slag.
• Gaiden Game: Zig-Zagged; the plot of Quest for Booty does not directly tie into the overarching story of the other Future games, but it does explain how Ratchet discovered Clank's approximate location and introduces the Obsidian Eye, both of which go unexplained in A Crack in Time. Who sees it as a mainline entry and who sees it as this tends to vary — Insomniac counts the game as a main installment and the second part of the overall Future trilogy / saga, whereas PlayStation instead classifies it as standalone DLC for Tools of Destruction in the same vein as titles such as inFAMOUS: Festival of Blood. However this trope is invoked in Japan, where the game is titled Ratchet & Clank Future Gaiden, with its immediate predecessor and successor being Future and Future 2 respectively.
• Grimy Water: When the robot pirate ghosts attack Hoolefar Island, the water gets covered in smoke and saps Ratchet's health if he swims in it.
• He's Back!: The whole game is a setup to reveal the return of Dr. Nefarious.
• Hijacked by Ganon: The ending of the game reveals that Dr. Nefarious is in league with the Zoni, making him the greater threat. The reason for them kidnapping Clank in Tools of Destruction wouldn't be explained until A Crack in Time: Nefarious told Clank that he was their new master, but Nefarious only wanted Clank so that he could unlock the Orvus Chamber. He needs repair due to how the Zoni transported him away.
• Human Cannonball:
  • In the first cutscene of the game, Sprocket loads Ratchet into his Arm Cannon and shoots him off to another ship in the pirate fleet, leading into the start of gameplay.
  • At the end of the first level, both Ratchet and Talwyn get loaded into a more traditional cannon and fired to Hoolefar Island under the command of Rusty Pete pretending to be Captain Slag.
• MacGuffin Delivery Service: The way the villains get their hands on two MacGuffins is by getting Ratchet to unknowingly guide them.
  • The first is when he and Talwyn goes looking for Deadwater's corpse at Morrow Caverns by accepting help from Rusty Pete. While Ratchet is the one to get his hands on the map to Darkwater Cove, it also allows Rusty Pete to connect Slag's head to Darkwater's body, reawakening him as well as reactivating the ship that the pirates then use to attack Hoolefar Island.
  • Second is at Darkwater Cove, where after Ratchet gets the door to Darkwater's treasure cove in order to get the Fulcrum Star, the pirates appear and nabs it while also taking Talwyn captive.
• Mission-Pack Sequel: Quest for Booty is largely the same as Tools of Destruction, with only a few graphical tweaks to it and all the weapons lifted entirely from ToD. The main difference is the addition of two new OmniWrench-based elements; the ability to pick up and throw small objects, and the Kinetic Tether which can be used to manipulate objects from a distance. It also introduced a wider, more sandbox-like level design that would appear in A Crack in Time's Krell Canyon and Rift Apart's Urfdah Mesa.
• The Mole: Rusty Pete turns out to have been using Ratchet and Talwyn to revive Captain Slag by placing his head on Captain Darkwater's body.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Captain Angstrom Darkwater and his crew of robot pirate ghosts.
• Oh, Crap!: Ratchet says this verbatim upon quite literally falling for Darkwater's trap.
• Opening Narration: Rusty Pete gives one and occasionally interjects the story. The ending reveals he's reciting the events to Captain Slag shortly after the game's conclusion (Slag is rather frustrated at how redundant this is).
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Mayor Barnabus Worley.
• Reimagining the Artifact: One of the gameplay directives of the game. Starting with the second game the OmniWrench was an unviable weapon, since it did pitiful damage despite upgrades while enemies were fast and agile enough to make killing them without taking significant damage almost impossible. Since then it was only used for smashing crates, since it's conveniently mapped to Square and uses no ammo. With Quest for Booty, Ratchet can use the tether to manipulate objects from a distance, and pick up objects like a claw, making the wrench relevant for non-crate activities.
• Retcon: In Tools of Destruction, we learn that Tachyon created the Space Pirates himself. However no mention was made of Angstrom Darkwater, the captain immediately preceding Slag (who was assumed to have always been captain by virtue of being a robot).
• Running Gag:
  • The reason you give to the mayor for being on the island will be referenced by the townspeople as you walk by. While the first few are unremarkable, picking the last one is always hilarious:
    Hoolefoid: That must be the used Crotchetizer salesman!
  • Hoolefoids have a tendency to not help you because of "union regulations".
• Sequel Hook: The whole game is a setup for the events of A Crack in Time, ending with Ratchet learning that Dr. Nefarious was behind Clank's kidnapping and getting his approximate location: the Breegus Nebula.
• Space Pirates: All of the main enemies are robotic pirates from space.
• Sure, Let's Go with That: When using the turret to destroy the second set of pirate ship cannons at Hoolefar Island, the mayor begins to say he'd be helping you out, but before he finishes his sentence, Ratchet guesses "union regulations". Barnabus responds with "eh, yeah, yeah, let's go with that."
• Symbol Swearing: The European release had Ratchet's dropping of "awww, crap" - when tricked by one of Captain Darkwater's traps mere inches away from the Fulcrum Star - completely bleeped out. If subtitles are turned on, it's censored with symbols too.
• This Is a Work of Fiction: Used for snark by Slag. When Rusty Pete plays himself up as a majestic corsair with tons of women who want him while narrating the travel to Morrow Caverns, Slag simply remarks "Arr, this be a work of fiction."
• Trailers Always Lie: The launch trailer is narrated by Captain Slag, with him saying he'd get Ratchet to the robot that can help him find Clank, but he's already killed him. In the game proper it's Rusty Pete who guides Ratchet to Darkwater, in order to resurrect Captain Slag. Slag remains dead until that moment and never helps Ratchet's quest at any point.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: It's possible to leave Talwyn behind in Morrow Caverns when you get separated. However, she'll eventually escape on her own and will be pretty pissed at you about it. She also claims she now knows how Clank must feel.