Summary
Astro Botunsurprisingly features a cameo fromCrash Bandicoot, but he’s not the onlyXbox-owned character to show up as one of the game’s VIP Bots.
Althoughmostof Astro Bot’s charm comes from it being a colourful platformer in a generation full of hyper-realistic triple-A games, it also manages to be so much more than that thanks to how it actively celebrates PlayStation’s history. Astro’s Playroom paid tribute to a lot of PlayStation characters and games, but Astro Bot goes even further and has a total of 169 VIP Bots for players to collect.
These cameos range from obvious first-party picks like Joel, Ellie, Jin, and Ratchet to more surprising deep cuts like The Puppeteer’s Kutaro and Arc from Arc the Lad. Although most of the VIP Bots in Astro Bot are PlayStation characters, there are a few third-party guests to discover, including two that are owned by Xbox.
Spyro The Dragon And Crash Bandicoot Are In Astro Bot
The first Xbox cameo in Astro Bot is one that won’t come as much of a surprise - Crash Bandicoot.Crash is an essential part of PlayStation’s history and previously appeared in Astro’s Playroom, so his cameo in Astro Bot isn’t a massive shock. He can be found early on in the game during the Az-Tech Trail level and will perform his signature dance whenever you give him a smack.
Crash is also adorably joined by Aku-Aku, who can be seen floating around him. He’s probably just as curious aboutwhat happened to Crash 5 as the rest of us.
Whatdoescome as a surprise, though, is a cameo from Spyro the Dragon, who shows up as another of Astro Bot’s VIP Bots. Unlike Crash, Spyro didn’t properly appear in Astro’s Playroom, as hiscameo was relegated to a small figure of him that could be found in the PlayStation Labo room.
Spyro finally gets the respect he deserves in Astro Bot and shows up as a VIP Bot that can be found in Crash Site, the game’s main hub area. Just like Crash and the monkeys from Ape Escape, the Spyro VIP Bot is wearing a full costume that makes him look just like he did in the original PS1 trilogy. He even breathes fire when punched, which is a nice touch.
Astro Bot is absolutely stuffed to the brim with cameos and references to other games, butconsidering how Xbox owns both Spyro and Crash, it’s a very nice surprise to see them both properly represented as VIP Bots. Here’s hoping Xbox and PlayStation stay this close when the platforming pair finally get new games.
