Astro Bot: Unused Content Revealed - Bird Flight Level and Headless Astro

Fans of Astro Bot are familiar with the creation story behind the beloved sponge power-up, but did you know that Team Asobi also experimented with even more outlandish abilities, such as a coffee grinder and a roulette wheel? This intriguing tidbit was revealed during IGN's coverage of GDC 2025, where Team Asobi's studio director, Nicolas Doucet, delivered a comprehensive talk titled, "The Making of 'ASTRO BOT'". In his presentation, Doucet delved into the intricate process of developing the PlayStation mascot platformer, showcasing a variety of early prototype images and cut content that provided a fascinating glimpse into the game's development.

Doucet kicked off his talk by discussing the initial pitch for Astro Bot, which was crafted in May 2021, shortly after Team Asobi began its prototyping phase. The pitch underwent a staggering 23 revisions before being presented to top management. The initial pitch was uniquely presented as an adorable comic strip that highlighted the game's main pillars and activities, a strategy that evidently paid off.

A slide from Nicholas Doucet's GDC talk, The Making of 'ASTRO BOT', illustrating the game's pitch through a comic book format.

Moving on, Doucet explained the team's approach to generating ideas, which involved extensive brainstorming sessions. Team Asobi formed small, interdisciplinary groups of 5-6 members, where each participant contributed ideas via sticky notes, resulting in a visually impressive brainstorming board.

A slide from the talk showcasing the sticky note brainstorming process at Team Asobi.

However, not all ideas progressed to the prototyping stage, with only about 10% of the brainstormed concepts being developed into prototypes. Doucet emphasized the importance of prototyping across various aspects of the game, encouraging every team member, including those from departments like audio design, to prototype their ideas. An example he shared was an audio team's creation of a theater within Astro Bot to test haptic controller vibrations corresponding to different sound effects, such as the opening and closing of doors.

A slide from the talk displaying a sponge prototype alongside concept art of Astro Bot transforming into a sponge.

The commitment to prototyping was so strong that a few programmers were dedicated to exploring concepts unrelated to platforming, which ultimately led to the creation of Astro Bot's sponge mechanic. This innovative feature allowed players to squeeze the sponge using the controller's adaptive trigger, a fun element that was integrated into the final game.

A slide from the talk illustrating various prototype activities developed for Astro Bot, including those that did not make it into the game, such as a tennis game, a walking wind-up toy, a roulette wheel, and a coffee grinder.

Doucet also discussed how levels were chosen and designed around specific mechanics, aiming to ensure each level offered unique gameplay and avoided redundancy. He showed images of a cut level themed around bird flights, which was removed due to its similarity to existing levels that utilized the monkey power-up. "In the end, it was decided that the overlap was not healthy enough to create variety, and we just cut this level entirely," he explained. "We'll never know if that level would have been popular. But in hindsight, I think it's a good thing that we got to spend that time elsewhere."

A slide comparing a cut level from Astro Bot with two other implemented levels.

**Spoiler Alert:** In the closing segment of his talk, Doucet touched on the game's final scene. Initially, players were to reassemble a completely dismembered Astro Bot, but this approach was altered due to negative feedback. The final version features a slightly more intact Astro Bot, a change that was well-received.

A clip from Doucet's presentation showing the original, more drastic ending of Astro Bot.

Doucet's talk was rich with insights into the development of Astro Bot, a game that IGN praised highly, awarding it a 9/10 and describing it as "A fantastically inventive platformer in its own right, Astro Bot is particularly special for anyone with a place in their heart for PlayStation."