It’s a reference to Symphony of the Night thanks to the blonde hair. In one of the animations, the Bot will check a clock, referencing how Dracula only returns lomboktoto from the dead every 100 years. Castlevania is a very important game, as it alongside Super Metroid helped establish the Metroidvania genre. A second reference to the game is the “Adequate, Boy…” Trophy, awarded for shooting all the rabbits at the end of Mt. Motherboard level in GPU Jungle. The name is a reference to Kratos always referring to his son as “boy”, as well as his habit of faint praise.

Sony Interactive Entertainment finally nailed the platforming genre, and it only took a cute little robot to give them the courage to innovate. Another display you can unlock for the Labo area is a sign with the Sony Interactive Entertainment logo which, if punched three times, will drop down and reveal the Sony Computer Entertainment logo. This is the old name for Sony Interactive Entertainment, which changed to that name in 2016. Throughout Astro’s Playroom, notably the Labo area and SSD Speedway, you’ll find boxes of Data with 8MB printed on them.

Astro’s world–the literal playroom–is a cartoon fantasy-style interpretation of the PlayStation 5. Each one is densely packed with fun little scenes and interactive set-dressing. Astro’s adorable bot friends hang out, play games, and cosplay as some of the platform’s iconic characters, making every adventure feel like a party, too. Having the PlayStation hype-train baked into every nook and cranny of the world could have felt overbearing, but it’s all very endearing.

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While most are unlocked naturally as you progress‚ some may need replays to collect missed items. These trophies serve as milestones‚ encouraging exploration and ensuring you experience the game’s diverse environments and mechanics. These trophies introduce you to Astro Playroom’s creative levels and DualSense features‚ making them a delightful way to begin your trophy hunt. Other stages are linear platforming challenges that use Astro’s laser-powered hover-jump.

They’re mostly there for the fun of it all rather than to accumulate anything, but every single one of them made me smile, even the few that I had to take a moment to try and guess at. I won’t spoil any more here so as to not rob anyone of the joy of first discovering them. But, much like with the hardware artifacts, every era of PlayStation is represented in some truly hilarious ways. I went into this game expecting it to be nothing more than a quick tech demo, I was very wrong.

Around the edge of the main hub area is where you will find the bots from Astro’s Playroom. These will appear automatically once they have been unlocked them; there is no specific importing process or menu screen to go through first. They are located high up above at a tree on the hill top just ahead. To reach the tree, progress the level so you end up behind the hill, and use the PS1-shaped clouds and the steps on the rock face to climb up the wall. Upon touching the fourth starfish, you’ll come across the special bot, and the clue for the riddle — an arrow following a specific route.