Sony’s platformer hit starring a cute robot is a genuine love letter to fans, packed with nostalgia, deep-cut references, and playful surprises. Speaking with Japanese media Famitsu, the Astro Bot developers shared how they chose which PlayStation games deserved a Special Bot. From mainstream icons to something more personal to the team members, every decision was made with passion.
“For example, Toro and Kuro from Dokodemo Issho [Japan-exclusive PlayStation series, lit. Anywhere Together] are familiar characters to the Japanese, but are not well known overseas,” said Team ASOBI director Nicolas Doucet.
“On the other hand, the mascot for the original PlayStation, Polygon Man, is not very familiar to the Japanese audience but is popular in North America because he was used in marketing campaigns,” Nicolas continued. “Taking into consideration the balance of regions, we created a list of Special Bots that we want to feature [in the game].”
However, regional popularity isn’t the only factor in deciding which PlayStation characters are getting into Astro Bot. Senior concept artist Toshihiko Nakai divulged that this is truly a passion project for the team. Higher-ups often asked other members whether they had an attachment to specific PlayStation games. Even modelers and animators enthusiastically said they ‘really want to work on’ particular Bots like Wander, Shadow of the Colossus‘s protagonist.
Recent releases like God of War and Horizon were also obvious picks for the team since they’re very ‘well known’ and easily recognizable to newcomers. At the end of the day though, Team ASOBI still wants this to be a celebration for everything PlayStation.
“But to cover all generations of PlayStation, we had to balance them with iconic titles from the past and truly celebrate the PlayStation brand,” added Nicolas. “We treat all Special Bots with the same care since they are characters from the game we used to play, we have to make sure that they get the respect they deserve.”
Meanwhile, in terms of looks, Nakai said that making the Bots ‘cosplaying’ characters like in Astro’s Playroom worked best. At least, most of the time. It becomes a headache when they have to redesign the Bots for more iconic characters, such as Ape Escape‘s Pipo Monkey.
“There were a few characters that could not be expressed well with the LED robot face, such as Pipo Monkey,” said Nakai. “We tried designing various LED robot face versions of Pipo Monkey, but none of them seem quite right.”
“So we decided to use the original face as is and make it as if they’re wearing a ‘mask,'” added Nakai. Thankfully, it was the right call to make as the Pipo Monkey addition garnered positive responses from Astro Bot players.
“There was a lot of talk on social media saying, ‘It’s just like playing an actual Ape Escape!’, so I thought, ‘I’m glad we left the face as it is.'”
