One of the best things about Astro Bot is all of the cameos from PlayStation’s history that it features. Astro Bot highlights iconic franchises like God of War, Horizon, and Uncharted, as well as more obscure or dormant ones like Ape Escape, Wild Arms, and Cool Boarders. My favorite cameos are the ones that are impossible to find elsewhere on PS5. For most of the games referenced within Astro Bot, there’s a way to play them on PS5, mainly through PS Plus Premium’s classics catalog or PS3 game streaming. Some of the VIP Bots in Astro Bot that are based on characters from these games aren’t so lucky.
It’s wonderful that Astro Bot can serve as a springboard for people to look up and familiarize themselves with video games, both iconic and obscure. It’s also in Sony and other game publishers’ best interest to have those titles readily available for interested players to purchase and play on PS5. These VIP Bots need stronger representation on PS5, and I hope Astro Bot lights the fire required for rereleases or remasters of these games.
Legacy of Kain
Crystal Dynamics’ Legacy of Kain fantasy action games are beloved by many, and the series shares connective tissue with PlayStation because Uncharted’s Amy Hennig honed her narrative skills with it before moving on to Naughty Dog. Sadly, the series has not seen a new single-player entry since 2003, which makes VIP Bots based on Kain and Raziel’s appearance in Astro Bot bittersweet. Of all the series on this list, Legacy of Kain is the most likely to make a comeback. Crystal Dynamics recently conducted a survey asking people if they’re interested in a remaster of the series, it’s getting an Evercade cartridge, and a leak at San Diego Comic-Con outright claimed a remastered collection is in development. After all of that and these Astro Bot cameos, I really hope a current-gen rerelease of the Legacy of Kain games happens sometime soon.
Um Jammer Lammy and Vib-Ribbon
Although PlayStation still references and has rereleased the PaRappa the Rapper games, developer NanaOn-Sha’s other PS1 rhythm games weren’t as lucky. First, there’s Um Jammer Lammy, a PaRappa the Rapper spinoff featuring a guitar-playing lamb named Lammy. Then there’s Vib-Ribbon, which was a much more experimental game that allowed players to create custom levels by putting music CDs into their PS1. Music rights issues might make the rerelease of these games a bit more complicated, but PaRappa the Rapper isn’t the only NanaOn-Sha franchise that deserves to be preserved on PS5.
Motor Toon Grand Prix
Before Gran Turismo, there was Motor Toon Grand Prix. These games were cartoonish racers that featured surprisingly simulation-like physics and gameplay for the time. That makes sense, as director Kazunori Yamauchi would go on to create the Gran Turismo series and still spearheads it to this day. Sony left Motor Toon Grand Prix behind for Gran Turismo, so seeing its main character, Captain Rock, get a VIP bot in Astro Bot is a nice callback. At the very least, one of the Motor Toon Grand Prix games should make its way to the PS Plus Premium Classics Collection at some point.
Alundra
Alundra was PS1’s answer to The Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past. Because 3D games were the new hotness at the time, Alundra never reached the heights of popularity of some other PlayStation games at the time. Despite that, it’s beloved by those who played it at the time of its release because of how ahead of its time some of its dream-walking mechanics and narrative are. It’s the perfect kind of hidden PS1 gem that deserves to be rereleased or reimagined on PS5, building off its surprise cameo in Astro Bot.
Devil Dice
Finally, we have Devil Dice. It’s a frenetic and competitive PS1 puzzle game where players have to roll around dice and line up strings of dice all on the same side. It’s simple to understand, but surprisingly hard to execute, and it’s still very unique 26 years after its original release. When it comes to weird PS1 puzzle games from Sony, I.Q. Intelligent Cube gets a bit more love, but I’d love to see Devil Dice get the PS Plus Classics treatment in the wake of its Astro Bot cameo.