The idea of cameos is something that just about every medium does at one point or another. Whether it’s comics, TV shows, movies, or even video games, developers can’t help but put in little references or glimpses of things from other properties to be a bit “tongue-in-cheek” about things and show that they love certain properties, too. In the case of Astro Bot, though, the cameos were a bit more important than others. You see, you got to both rescue and play as some “VIP Bots” that directly referenced past video games that were on the various PlayStation systems that Sony had made.
There are dozens of them to rescue, and more are on the way by all indications. However, if you were a bit confused about some of the ones you saw, the PlayStation Blog is here to help with that. They did a special history of some of the bots, highlighting the ones reference Ape Escape, Patapon, LocoRoco, and more.
The breakdowns explain the various games’ histories and how they pertain to PlayStation lore while also showing them off in Astro’s world. Thus, if you didn’t recognize these ones or knew the full history of what was going on, now you’ll know!
There is a bit of a dark twist with this that was highlighted by a certain internet show called “Fully Ramblomatic.” In the episode reviewing Astro Bot, host Yahtzee Crenshaw made an Excel sheet, which he hated doing, of all the franchises that were referenced in the game. By the time he was done, he noted that of the over 100 franchises referenced, there was only one game that you absolutely needed the PS5 to play. The other franchises were either multiplatform via Xbox or PC or weren’t even available to play on the PS5 at all.
It’s a sobering reminder that despite all of Sony’s attempts to showcase the upcoming PS5 Pro, the current PS5 doesn’t have the massive gaming library to make users happy. They have some big titles, obviously, including ones featuring Kratos, Spider-Man, Cloud Strife, and so on, but it’s not enough, and it’s part of why Sony has had to lay off people in 2024.
Ironically, we don’t even know the sales of Astro’s title despite it being a Game of the Year contender. We know it’s getting free content for the next few weeks and that some DLC will be coming down the road. So, if nothing else, you’ll have plenty to enjoy with this game.
