PlayStation Franchises Missing From Astro Bot

Astro Bot is a fully-fledged 3D platformer that seems like the culmination of over a decade’s amount of work from Team Asobi. It seems like Sony gave them the go-ahead to get buck wild including referencing many first-party and third-party franchises. These references come in two forms.

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By  Tristan Jurkovich

In stages, players can rescue bots themed around characters like Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid or The Prince from Katamari Damacy. There are some DEEP cuts in here too including Polygon Man who was almost a PS1 mascot. Then there are Astro Bot’s Hero stages that are fully themed around a franchise like Uncharted. All of these references are great with over a hundred VIP Bots included. However, there are also some surprising snubs and let’s get to those examples right now.

8 Beyond The Beyond

Nintendo Would’t Play Ball

Beyond the Beyond was one of the first RPGs on the PS1 which featured classic turn-based combat. Another notable fact is that it was developed by Camelot who most probably know from the Golden Sun series and the various Mario sports games, because of their ties to Nintendo, that could explain why Sony didn’t or couldn’t get Beyond the Beyond in Astro Bot. It’s a shame since the game was able to highlight other early PS1 RPGs like Alundra, Arc the Lad, and Wild Arms. Perhaps Nintendo and Sony can strike a deal in the next sequel to Astro Bot.

7 Dino Crisis

Lara Croft Gets The Dinosaur Attacks

Capcom is all over this game, featuring tons of their action titles along with their horror ones too. Resident Evil and Onimusha are in the game but there is a strange omission from their big horror lineup: Dino Crisis. Three of the four Dino Crisis games are exclusive to PlayStation consoles, making it just as important as all the others. There is a female heroine who is getting chased by dinosaurs in Astro Bot though. If players find Lara Croft from Tomb Raider and unlock her collector’s setback at Astro Bot’s Crash Site, they can watch Lara get chased by a dinosaur. That could have easily been Regina from Dino Crisis.

6 Fat Princess

Let Them Eat Cake

Fat Princess was a downloadable multiplayer game Sony helped publish on the PS3. Players must build up their tower defenses to block opponents from stealing back their princess. The goal was to get this princess as large as possible by feeding her with things like cake thus making it harder to carry her.

It was a new way to play a capture-the-flag type of multiplayer game that got a decent amount of success early on leading to spinoffs like a puzzle game and an action RPG. Despite that, the series is not represented in Astro Bot.

5 Final Fantasy 7

Where Is Square Enix?

Square Enix is completely missing from Astro Bot which is wild considering how well Sony and Square Enix get along. They are a big reason why the PS1 became popular in the RPG market thanks to games like Final Fantasy 7. A nod to Cloud from Final Fantasy 7 almost seemed like a sure thing until nothing happened. Kingdom Hearts would have been another franchise that would have worked well considering it is more age-appropriate for the happy-go-lucky style of Astro Bot. Whatever the case may be, hopefully, one of their franchises will make it into the sequel.

4 Marvel’s Spider-Man

A Swing And A Miss

Marvel’s Spider-Man was a big hit on the PS4 and the PS5 got a just as well-received sequel. The developer, Insomniac, has been a part of PlayStation consoles for years. Ratchet and Clank characters appear in Astro Bot along with Spyro from his titular series but none of their other franchises do. This includes any of their Spider-Man games which may be more Disney not wanting to play ball than Insomniac. Also, the Resistance series is absent from the game which was their big alternate World War 2 alien shooter from the PS3 era.

3 Syphon Filter

Metal Gear’s Counterpart

The PS1 had some great stealth games which was a genre that was coming into its own during this era. Metal Gear Solid was huge and there are characters from that specific game in Astro Bot like Solid Snake and Psycho Mantis. Sony’s internal counterpart to that was Syphon Filter and it is not in the game.

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There was a big push for the series during the PS1 era with a trilogy followed by several smaller spinoffs after. It has been a long time since Sony made any new Syphon Filter games past the PSP. Another military shooter/stealth series, SOCOM, is also missing in action.

2 Twisted Metal

There’s A Show But Not A Game?

The lack of the Twisted Metal series feels like an incredible loss for this game as it was a huge part of the PlayStation roster for a couple of generations. It was a destruction derby experience featuring cars that could shoot missiles and other gadgetry. Sony even made a TV show that was well-liked enough to grant it a second season but there is no mention of it in Astro Bot. Other racing games are featured though like Gran Turismo along with other sports titles like Cool Boarders. Another missing PS1 era racer is Jet Moto which featured races on futuristic jet skis.

1 White Knight Chronicles

The Forgotten Level-5 Series

White Knight Chronicles never made it big on the PS3 when it debuted. Reviews were ok along with its sequel but the PSP spinoff didn’t even make it to North America. Despite the lukewarm reception, it did come from Level-5, a big studio that worked with Sony a lot, and it would have been nice to see more representation. Two of their games, Dark Cloud 2 and Rogue Galaxy are in Astro Bot. Another missing game that would have been fun to see from Level-5 is Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch.

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Astro Bot

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10 /10

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Released

September 6, 2024

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ESRB

E10+ For Everyone 10+ Due To Crude Humor, Fantasy Violence

Developer(s)

Team Asobi

Publisher(s)

Sony Interactive Entertainment

Engine

Proprietary Engine

Franchise

Astro Bot

Platform(s)

PlayStation 5

Genre(s)

Platformer

PS Plus Availability

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