Astro BoatReleased on September 6 on PlayStation 5 Awesome platform game. It also serves as the kickoff for Sony’s celebration 30 years of PlayStation (The original console debuted in Japan in December 1994). The game is saturated with PlayStation Easter eggs and fan service.
In particular, of the 300 collectible bots in the game, no less than 173 are characters from the last three decades of PlayStation games. But developer team Asobi cheekily doesn’t name them directly, giving each a Cluelike codename (“aristocrat archaeologist” for Lara Croft, “rider dude” for Nathan Drake) and a more allusive description. So browsing the collection is a guessing game and a test of how deep your PlayStation fandom goes.
Many bots are instantly recognizable. But some are very vague. While heroes from third-party publishers are all pretty famous (Ryu, Ken, Solid Snake), Team Asobi has taken a deep dive into Sony’s history as a game publisher, uncovering some weird and wonderful delights. Especially during the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 era, Sony was a deep-pocketed and fearless publisher, not afraid to throw all kinds of weird ideas at the wall to see what would stick, especially in the Japanese market.
Astro Boat‘s bot collection is a beautiful tribute to that time and to Team Asobi’s former home, Japan Studios — a legendary, innovative Sony studio that disbanded in 2021. Here are some of the deepest cuts from the collection.
(Thanks to my Polygon colleagues – especially Nicole Carpenter and Michael McWhorter – for helping identify some of these, and to Ryan Gilliam for sharing images of his entire boat collection!)
Puppet of pure heart
It is surprising that there are so many deep cuts Astro Boat hail from the PS1 era, but here’s a PlayStation 3 game that’s sadly been forgotten for a decade: 2013’s the puppet. This little guy is Kutaro, a boy turned into a puppet who can swap heads, as well as cut the scenery with his scissors, in a novel gameplay mechanic. This Japan studio game was creative, but failed to find a large audience – which, in the high-stakes world of the PS3 era, was becoming a problem for Sony. Its failure marked the beginning of the end for the studio.
Forgot the mascot
This is called a peculiar, angular purple head The polygonal man And, believe it or not, he briefly served as the marketing mascot for the original PlayStation in North America. Intended to be a edgy spokesperson for teenagers who might be put off by the toy-like PlayStation name, Polygon Man was considered a mistake by almost everyone, including PlayStation head Ken Kutaragi. It was abandoned before the PS1 even launched.
A reliable narrator
Dark ChronicleReleased as a 2003 PS2 role-playing game by Level-5 Dark Cloud 2 In North America, this is not as obscure as some of the other references on this list, but the way this boat is named and presented makes it particularly difficult to guess its identity. it is Dark ChronicleThe protagonist is Maximilian, or Max, and he’s paying attention to some toy houses as the game has a city-building mechanic, with randomized dungeons inherited from its spiritual predecessor. dark cloud.
Young Holidaymaker
Boku no Natsuyasumi (usually translated as My summer vacation) is a Japan-only series of open-ended, nostalgic life sims about being a kid on summer break in 1975. The boy who catches this bug is the main character, Boku. The first game released on the PlayStation in 2000 and its three sequels, such as No Objective; Aside from routines, it’s up to you to decide how Boku spends his 31 days of free time in the countryside. Natsu-Soma: 20th Century Summer KidThe spiritual sequel from the original director Kaz Ayabe, was recently released on Nintendo Switch and Windows PC.
Ribbon Rider
One of the most unusual games released for the PS1 — which is really saying something — is Vib-Ribbon. It’s an ultraminimalist, black-and-white take on the then-popular rhythm game genre, in which a scratchily animated, line-drawn rabbit named Vibri skips along a single line, navigating abstract hazards in time with chirpy electro music. The twist was that you could insert your own music CD into the PlayStation and have the game generate levels to match the tune.
Unfortunate Salary
Unhinged minigame compilations were a thing on the original PlayStation; Someone remembers Special debt to him? The most out there was one An unimaginable crisisAll sorts of terrifying and incongruous events — bank robberies, statues collapsing in the office, teddy bear kaiju, the works — follow four members of a working-class Japanese family trying to get home for grandma’s birthday — without busting their tension meter. This person is the father, Tanio.
Shredded lamb
This axe-wielding sheep is Lemmy, whose heroine Um Jammer LemmyA rocking spinoff of the more popular rap rhythm game Parappa the Rapper (Also shown in Astro Boat). Although it lacks the lyrical charm of Parappa, Um Jammer Lemmy Goes incredibly hard musically, conceptually and in its frenetic gameplay.
Dreamwalker
This is an elfin adventurer AlundraStar of the 1998 game for the PS1. Developed by Matrix Software and published in Japan by Sony itself, it was an attempt to bring the Legend of Zelda-style fantasy adventure to the PlayStation, with Alundra entering the dreams of the local townspeople with an interesting gimmick. But its old-school 2D gameplay was largely overshadowed by Zelda’s move into 3D. Ocarina of Time That same year, and it’s now largely forgotten.
Puzzle cube
This is a reference to the blockhead The intelligent cubeA 1997 Sony-published PS1 puzzle game in which a small man runs across platforms to avoid being crushed by monolithic metal cubes. At the mercy of a basic polygonal slab, there’s something eerie and oppressive about a fragile little person within this hostile, monochromatic void, one that could only be discovered in the wild early days of 3D gaming.
Guardian of mankind
This dude is Ark, the hero of a tactical RPG Ark the LadReleased only in Japan in 1995 on the PS1. The game was popular enough to spawn several sequels in the PS2 era, as well as manga and anime. But the first three games weren’t released in the West, which more or less doomed it to obscurity on these shores.
Gentle motorist
Before Sony allowed him to define racing games for a generation with his surrealist motorsport magnum opus. Grand tourismKazunori Yamauchi was asked to earn his stripes by knocking out a Mario Kart clone at Japan Studios. That game was from 1994 Motor Toon Grand Prix (a Japan-only release, although a sequel came out in the US). Apparently, Yamauchi completely overengineered it, creating complex handling physics with fully simulated suspension for a cartoon kart.
Shiba influencer
You’d be forgiven for being stumped by this strange glowing dog character, even though it comes from a very recent release. It is a player character HumanityA puzzle-platformer/art piece from 2023 in which your celestial hound guides hordes of people through treacherous, abstract levels (which are somewhat reminiscent of The intelligent cubeactually).
Urban Survivor
This cute lil’ Pomeranian is, in fact, the cover star of a particularly savage PS3-era indie game developed by Crispy! And brewed by Japan Studio: Tokyo Jungle. The 2012 game is about survival of the fittest in a ruined Tokyo with no human inhabitants – only animals eating each other, shitting and evolving. Pomeranians are one of two starter animal choices (the other is deer; living as a vegetarian is more difficult).
Robotic sucker
Every so often, you come across a game that needs no more explanation than its title, and an example is the 2002 PS2 release. Mr. MosquitoIn which you play as a… mosquito. You live in a house with a family of life-sized humans and need to suck their blood to survive. That’s it. It’s a game.
Leaping Lapland
This is Robit, the robotic rabbit protagonist of a very early PlayStation release Jumping Flash!1995 launch game for consoles in Europe and North America. Jumping Flash! was a bold, head-spinning attempt at platforming in 3D using a first-person perspective. Super Mario 64 This approach would consign to history a year later, but the game was still a real trailblazer.
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