Astro Bot is two things at the same time: first, it’s a delightful little platformer with some really good “damn PS5 is actually a powerful console” moments and level design that makes you feel smart. In a second, slightly more depressing example, it’s a reminder that PlayStation isn’t what it used to be, thanks to a plethora of cameos throughout the platform’s 30-year history.
If you feel like this is just an advertisement for an expensive console, I’ll understand, especially considering the whole goal is to repair your spaceship, which is actually a PS5 and even has some levels themed after specific iconic PlayStations game. But playing it, Astro Bot feels much more genuine than that, and you can feel the love that the Asobi team put into it. It’s clear that everyone out there loves all the games that come out of Astro Bot, especially when paired with some of the behind-the-scenes videos PlayStation has released talking to the developers themselves.
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There was one particular episode that caught my attention, the third one, which focused on the cameo itself, with Nicolas Doucet, Studio Director of Team Asobi saying: “One of our hopes is that the younger generation can Meet these special characters and then be inspired to play these old games and try them out for yourself.
This is a comment I totally agree with, especially since how many modern games *cough* live service games *cough* just want to keep you occupied with your busywork and take your money with battle passes and microtransactions (yeah, I know I don’t sound right) touch, you can jog). There’s just one little problem: many of them aren’t even playable on modern consoles.
We’re (somewhat) lucky that PlayStation Plus offers a number of classic games like the Jak and Daxter series or Ratchet and Clank, but only the former has actual ports available for purchase on PS4, while the latter has to be purchased from Streaming in the cloud. Still, while it’s not perfect, at least you can play the original Ratchet & Clank, but what about those games that don’t exist?
Take the very niche Demon Dice as an example. It has a cameo, a very specific cameo actually, with an entire room, which is a small nod to the PS1 game, but it’s not available for purchase anywhere. Okay, okay, this one was technically produced by THQ, but you know who helped? Japan Studio is one of the best studios of all time and the birthplace of Team Asobi.
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You’ll find many interesting references to Japan Studio’s libraries, from the games it develops itself to games like Devil Dice, which it just helped develop. There’s also a cameo from Boku, the Japanese-exclusive Boku no Natsuyasumi, a nifty little game that fans have been begging for a translation for, but haven’t received yet. Or there’s Vibri from Vib-Ribbon, another game Japan Studio helped develop and a true PS1 classic. I haven’t even mentioned Toro Inoue from Doko Demo Issyo, who was PlayStation Japan’s mascot for years and a game that never appeared in Japan.
Of course, not all of these games are for everyone, but they should be accessible to everyone so that they can at least say that it’s not for them. I’d go so far as to say that cloud streaming versions of PS3 games don’t really make them available, because what happens when PlayStation inevitably decides it’s not worth it? Is poor, outdated cloud streaming really how we want the next generation to play Ico?
There’s just too much stuff that’s not easy to play for the younger generation, and subscription services with too many tiers and ridiculous restrictions will just send them right back to Fortnite, and yes, Fortnite is a fun enough game time, but it’s still just Fortnite. Yes, I do know I’m making an argument in favor of protection here, businesses would never care about this behavior because it’s unlikely. But maybe PlayStation shouldn’t allow someone to make a game that shows people everything it’s not.
