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00:00Welcome to Mojo Plays, and today we're celebrating the release of Astro Bot and looking at the
00:1220 most obscure characters you'll come across in the game.
00:19Before we begin, we publish new videos all week long, so be sure to subscribe to Mojo
00:23Plays and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos.
00:28Aspirational Cat and Streetwise Cat
00:37Unless you know how Sony operates in Japan or at least know a fair amount of PlayStation
00:41history, you probably didn't recognize these two adorable kitties.
00:46Toro and Koro have long served as the Japanese mascots for not just PlayStation, but Sony
00:51as a whole, and if you've been playing PlayStation games for the past decade or so, you've
00:56probably seen this pair already and not even realized it.
01:00Before Astro Bot, Toro and Koro did appear in PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale and,
01:05strangely enough, Street Fighter X Tekken.
01:08You may have even spotted one of them in Hot Shots Golf or LittleBigPlanet.
01:23Racing Model
01:34We already have a couple of racing game reps in Astro Bot, most notably Wipeout with five
01:38different racers and Gran Turismo if you save that bot in Astro's playroom.
01:43But who is this lady playing with an RC car?
01:45Why that is Reiko Nagase, the long-time bodacious face of the Ridge Racer franchise.
01:52Sadly, Ridge Racer has not been relevant since Ridge Racer Unbounded in 2012, which many
01:57fans scrutinized for trying to copy Burnout with its heavier focus on road rage and demolition.
02:03The only games to have come out since were two mobile games released in 2013 and 2016.
02:08Since then, Ridge Racer has faded into obscurity, and in a world where Gran Turismo and Forza
02:13dominate the racing sim and arcade racing subgenres, it's hard to say if we'll ever
02:18see Ridge Racer again outside of cameos in games like Astro Bot.
02:28Dream Walker
02:36Astro Bot pays tribute to many vintage PS1 titles, as we'll see throughout the list,
02:41but Alundra… that wasn't on our bingo cards for Astro Bot cameos.
02:46Alundra was the very first game developed by Matrix Software in 1997, and it managed
02:51to sell more than 100,000 copies within its first month just from North America.
02:57Critics even compared the quality and imagination to Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda, while
03:02we did see an Alundra 2 in 1999 that was really the last we had seen of him.
03:07Alundra hasn't really made his presence known since then, and Matrix Software has
03:11gone on to work on mobile ports of other games.
03:15Who knows, maybe this is the spark that will kick off a resurgence.
03:18Let's hope.
03:25Magical Graffitist
03:34If you had no idea who this bot was, we honestly can't blame you.
03:38This struggling artist is Ash, and he hails from a PS4 exclusive that Sony themselves
03:43swept under the rug.
03:45Concrete Genie was an open-world game that encouraged players to create their own friendly
03:49monsters to solve puzzles and navigate the world.
03:53Unfortunately, on the game's launch day, Sony decided to drop news about the PlayStation
03:575, sucking up any and all attention Concrete Genie could have had.
04:02As a result, the game sold next to nothing, and developer Pixelopus was closed in 2023.
04:08This was only their second game, but it's nice that the team's legacy lives on through
04:12Astro Bot.
04:21Creepy Sightjacker
04:29Surprisingly, there are quite a number of M-rated games represented in Astro Bot, and
04:34one that was perhaps most surprising to see was Siren.
04:38When talking about horror games on PlayStation, Siren is rarely ever among the first for players
04:43to think about.
04:44You know, we always go to Resident Evil or Silent Hill.
04:47But if you lived and breathed PlayStation 2 when it was out, this was one of the must-have
04:51games.
04:52The coolest part about these games was a unique mechanic this bot's name references to,
04:57a mechanic dubbed Sightjacking.
04:59This was your ultimate tool in avoiding monsters as it let you see the world from their perspective,
05:04clueing you in on where they might be hiding and waiting to ambush you.
05:08Even though Siren got a sequel in 2006 and a remake for PS3 in 2008, the franchise currently
05:14only exists in the form of a PS4 port that you can grab for $10.
05:24Dice Tumbler
05:33The PS1 saw a ton of experimental titles coming out of the woodwork, and of them all, Devil
05:38Dice?
05:39That's a really, really deep cut, and a really, really weird one at that.
05:44This was the very first game developed by Shift Inc., a studio credited as working on
05:49games such as Pokemon Legends Arceus, Code Vein, and the God Eater series.
05:55Devil Dice was an odd little puzzle game where you had to match dice with equal values in
06:00order to slowly reveal the board.
06:02While the game has received a few awards from gaming magazines that were around in 1998,
06:07Devil Dice has been largely forgotten with no sequels or ports having been made.
06:12Perhaps we'll see it come to PS5 as part of Sony's initiative to bring their old
06:16games forward?
06:17At least Astro Bot has immortalized the game in some capacity.
06:28Gifted Soul
06:37Say what you will about Quantic Dream, but this one was worth pointing out.
06:41On the surface, it looks like Astro Bot included some random character from a long-forgotten
06:45Japan-only horror game or something.
06:48However, this is Jody Holmes, the protagonist of the often-shunned Beyond Two Souls.
06:54Beyond was arguably Quantic Dream's most disliked game, many citing how Quantic failed
06:59to evolve from their flaws shown in previous games such as Heavy Rain, which is also referenced
07:04in Astro Bot, by the way.
07:06The game was also swamped in controversy after explicit images of Jody's character model
07:10started making the rounds online, which led to Sony conducting an investigation into taking
07:15the images down and finding the person responsible.
07:19So for a game that was so heavily plagued by negativity by the public, it's kind of
07:23astonishing to see Astro Bot recognize this PS3 exclusive most would rather move on from.
07:37Galactic Pirate
07:44Rogue Galaxy was a beautiful RPG that very, very few folks from the PS2 days will remember,
07:50and if somebody says they remember playing Rogue Galaxy, be suspicious.
07:55Absolutely be suspicious.
07:56Before Jaster made his cameo here in Astro Bot, Rogue Galaxy was among the worst-selling
08:01PlayStation games in the platform's history.
08:04The game never sold more than 400,000 units worldwide, and the director's cut barely
08:09made a fraction of that.
08:11Sales data from the 2023 Insomniac leak even show that as of June 2023, Rogue Galaxy has
08:17only made roughly $50,000 between its PS3 and PS4 ports, so it's surprising that even
08:23Team Asobi knew what a Jaster was.
08:26Look, story may not be its greatest strength, but some of you might really enjoy Rogue Galaxy
08:31for its gameplay and sidequests.
08:32If you got a few bucks to spare, you can still get it on PSN.
08:41Quizmaster
08:49For a time, trivia games were popular on consoles like PS2 and PS3, and Buzz was the
08:55biggest series in that genre.
08:58So if you played any of those games or even had the special controllers made specifically
09:02for those games, you probably recognized the titular host in Astro Bot.
09:06While we haven't had a new installment since 2010, Buzz has cropped up in a couple of spots
09:11you may have seen him in, such as PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, where he invades
09:15the Dreamscape stage and makes you answer trivia while fighting.
09:20Of course, we got to see a sizable rendition of the Buzz controller in Astro's Playroom,
09:24and even got a costume of the host in LittleBigPlanet.
09:26Hey, Sony, you clearly haven't forgotten about Buzz.
09:31So why not make the franchise one of your live service projects?
09:35Not all of us want to keep playing new versions of Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy.
09:39Let's bring Buzz back.
09:40I'll miss you.
09:41This is Buzz, I'm Buzz, and you have been buzzing.
09:46Pup Pal and Pup Pal Plus
09:48Oh, did you think only games were referenced in Astro Bot?
09:59No, the Pup Pals are both references to Sony products known as Sony Abo, and the only
10:05way you'd be able to grab these two is if you took some time to explore Safari Park.
10:10Chances are that you'd only recognize them if you grew up in the late 90s and early 2000s.
10:15These robo-puppos came in during a period where digital pets were incredibly popular.
10:20However, popularity drastically declined in the mid-2000s, prompting Sony to cease support
10:25for Abo.
10:26It wasn't until 2017, when Sony resurrected the Abo brand with a new dog, the one Astro
10:31Bot has called Pup Pal Plus.
10:38Unlucky Salaryman
10:39Honestly, we got confused by this one and almost thought this was supposed to pay tribute
10:50to Shuhei Yoshida, one of PlayStation's oldest and longest serving executives, who
10:55today, helps fund and curate indie titles as exclusives for Sony.
11:00On the contrary, unlocking this guy's collectible quickly revealed that this is actually a character
11:05referencing the cult PS1 gem, Incredible Crisis.
11:09This was a game created from complete chaos, as characters experienced a litany of odd
11:13situations as they tried to simply get ready for Grandma's birthday.
11:18Like most Japan-centric PS1 titles, Incredible Crisis rarely gets a shoutout like the one
11:22it received from Team Asobi here.
11:24As for its developer, Polygon Magic, they have long moved on from this title and are
11:28still producing games today under their parent company, Future Institution Corporation, all
11:33while running their own social media platform, Poromaji Games.
11:45Forgotten Mascot
11:53So you now know about Toro and Koro being Sony mascots in Japan.
11:58Well then, who is this guy supposed to be?
12:01Well, this is Polygon Man, and the forgotten mascot misnomer is absolutely fitting for
12:08him.
12:09Polygon Man was a very short-lived mascot made specifically to be the face of the original
12:15PlayStation console, and nobody liked him.
12:18The public found Polygon Man to be more frightening than intended, and Sony quickly threw him
12:23away before perception could get any worse.
12:26It wasn't until 2012 when Polygon Man was resurrected to serve as the final boss for
12:31PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, and since his reappearance, he has now been accepted
12:36as a lost part of PlayStation history, a piece that we can all joke about in a more lighthearted
12:42manner than before.
12:54Classical Conductor
13:03Unless you beat every level in the Lost Galaxy, you will never find this guy, and very, very
13:09few PlayStation fans will probably recognize this character.
13:13This character is Tact, the protagonist of the forgotten PS2 game Mad Maestro.
13:19Rather than focus on a specific instrument like most music games at the time, Mad Maestro
13:24put you in charge of an entire orchestra, and required a certain amount of pressure
13:28on the buttons and analog sticks to execute motions correctly.
13:32It was a bit brutal to play, too, as making too many mistakes could result in failure.
13:37Yeah, and we thought Parappa was hard.
13:40Nevertheless, Tact has been lying dormant for well over a couple decades now, Mad Maestro
13:45being his only game, and the only game he ever appeared in, before Astro Bot.
13:50Maybe this is a sign that his game is being explored by internal teams to bring to PS5
13:55in some capacity.
13:56Here's hoping.
14:03Urban Survivor
14:13There are a surprising number of pets to collect between the Pup Pal, Spyro, and even the Shiba
14:18Inu from the recent puzzle game, Humanity.
14:21But what about this one?
14:23This random, robo Pomeranian found in the crash site?
14:27Well, some PS3 owners know why this dog is in Astro Bot.
14:31One of the most overlooked titles we saw on PS3 was Tokyo Jungle.
14:36It was one of those rare survival games focused on the wildlife food chain, but set in a modern
14:41world where all of humanity has vanished.
14:43The Pomeranian dog was one of your very first animals to play, as you learned how to survive,
14:48repopulate, and potentially turn your species into the apex predator.
14:52Honestly, if Sony ever gets around to putting PS3 games on the PS5, we sincerely hope Tokyo
14:57Jungle is one of the first handful to be brought forward.
15:00And I know, it can be streamed on PS5, but no, we don't do streaming.
15:13Guardian of Mankind
15:23A good group of JRPGs got represented in Astro Bot, like Wild Arms and Legend of Dragoon.
15:29But how many of you recognized The Guardian of Mankind?
15:32Don't be ashamed, it took us a second too before we realized who it was.
15:37This is Ark, from the PS1 tactical RPG known as Ark the Lad.
15:42Once upon a time, this series was one of Sony's biggest franchises, though development was
15:47handled by a different studio for almost every single game, gradually decreasing in quality
15:52with every entry.
15:54It's almost the same story as Ridge Racer.
15:56But at one point, dipped over time until nobody was interested anymore.
16:00The last time we saw Ark was in 2004 with End of Darkness, before we got a remake on
16:06mobile platforms in 2018 from the original key talent behind the first Ark the Lad.
16:11Aside from that, the only game in the series that is widely available is the PS4 port of
16:16Twilight of the Spirits, the fourth game in the franchise.
16:27Pure Hearted Puppet
16:36Bouncing back to the PlayStation 3 one last time, Puppeteer was a game from Japan Studio
16:41that sadly suffered a similar fate as Concrete Genie years prior.
16:45This platformer tasked players with using a magical pair of scissors to manipulate the
16:49environment, and almost nobody played it.
16:53The reason?
16:54Puppeteer launched in September 2013, a mere two months before the launch of the PlayStation
17:004.
17:01Customers were just too busy scrounging up and saving money to get the new console.
17:05Why would they get another new game for their soon-to-be-ancient hardware?
17:08Thankfully, Kotaro has not been left by the wayside, and he can live again through Astro
17:13Bot.
17:14And maybe a port for PlayStation 5.
17:16Come on, why are we sleeping on this?
17:26Puzzle Cube
17:34The Puzzle Cube bot might look odd from a distance, but for those of us in our 30s or
17:3840s, a closer look brought back so many memories.
17:42Whether you experienced the full game back in 1997, or you tried out the unintentionally
17:47terrifying demo that had no music, Intelligent Cube was one of those very niche corners of
17:52the PS1 that many players forgot about or just never knew how to play.
17:57This game had you highlighting tiles in order to erase cubes from the board, and you had
18:01to erase all colored cubes before they reached the end.
18:05Intelligent Cube and its sequel, Kirushi Final, have been brought forward to PS5 within the
18:10last couple of years, so if you never got to play these games, we highly recommend you
18:14go try them out.
18:15Once you figure out what you need to do, this game is a ton of fun to play.
18:19I guarantee it.
18:28Malleable Motorist
18:36Legendary PlayStation Studio Polyphony Digital did have a life before Gran Turismo, back
18:41when they were an internal team at Japan Studio under the name Paulus Entertainment.
18:46Originally, studio founder Kazunori Yamauchi believed that no one wanted to play a realistic
18:52racing game, and so he and his team poured their efforts into making a racing game with
18:57cartoon physics.
18:58This little-known title was called Motor Toon Grand Prix, and it has never been acknowledged
19:03by Sony since the PS1 days.
19:06So imagine our surprise when we were playing Astro Bot and found Malleable Motorist, who
19:11is dressed as the lead racer of the game, Captain Rock.
19:15You can even unlock Captain Rock's car and watch him drive and bounce around in place.
19:29Prodigious Chef
19:38At first, we noticed some folks mistaking this funny little guy as a nod to Overcooked,
19:43which is kind of odd considering Overcooked hasn't exactly had close ties with Sony
19:48in any way, shape, or form.
19:50No, this cooking connoisseur is a reference to a Japan-only PS1 game called Ore no Ryuri.
19:56Much like Incredible Crisis, this was a game with a frenetic feel as you filled out orders
20:01as quickly as possible before your customers lost their patience.
20:04And if the footage you're seeing here looks very familiar to you, well then, hello fellow
20:10Cook Serve Delicious fans!
20:12You have found the original title that would eventually serve as the inspiration for Cook
20:16Serve Delicious.
20:18And yet, this small corner of PlayStation wasn't the most obscure, the most random,
20:23and the most unexpected character we encountered in Astro Bot.
20:32No, that title goes to Young Holiday Maker.
20:46Don't recognize this one?
20:48Well, neither did we.
20:50At first.
20:51But hey, let's go over the checklists, shall we?
20:53Ancient game from the first PlayStation 1 console?
20:56Check.
20:57Only ever released in Japan?
20:58Check.
20:59Absolutely no acknowledgment from Sony in any way, shape, or form within the last decade?
21:04Check, check, check.
21:06Boku no Natsuyosumi was practically Sony's own Animal Crossing where you play as a kid
21:10running around and catching bugs as you live out your summer vacation.
21:14While developer Millennium Kitchen is still around and making cozy games today, there
21:18hasn't been another Boku game since 2009.
21:21The closest we've gotten to experiencing this game here in the West was 2023's Natsuman
21:2620th Century Summer Kid, a spiritual successor to Boku that wasn't even developed for PlayStation.
21:31It's a Switch game!
21:33With Life Sims being more popular than ever thanks to Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley,
21:38how has Sony let Boku fade away instead of hiring Millennium Kitchen again so they can
21:42compete?
21:43Oh well.
21:44At least Astro Bot has clearly remembered Sony's Japanese roots.
21:53But tell us, what was the most surprising bot you found in Astro Bot?
21:57I was personally surprised that they put the prince from Katamari into this game.
22:01But let us know what your favorite bot is down in the comments below, and be sure to
22:05subscribe to Mojo Plays for more great videos every day.
22:14Thanks for watching.
22:16If you enjoyed the video, there's more where that came from.