Astro Bot's Cut Content: Bird Flight Level and Headless Astro Revealed

Astro Bot fans are no strangers to the fascinating story behind the creation of the game's sponge power-up, but did you know that developer Team Asobi explored even more outlandish ideas? During IGN's attendance at GDC 2025, Team Asobi studio director Nicolas Doucet delivered an insightful talk titled "The Making of 'ASTRO BOT'". In this presentation, Doucet delved deep into the development process, showcasing a variety of early prototype images and revealing content that didn't make the final cut.

Doucet kicked off his talk by revisiting the initial pitch for Astro Bot, crafted in May 2021, just months after Team Asobi began its prototyping phase. He revealed that the pitch underwent 23 revisions before being presented to top management. The pitch was creatively presented as an adorable comic strip, highlighting the main pillars and activities of the game. This innovative approach clearly resonated well.

Doucet then discussed how the team generated ideas, which involved extensive brainstorming. Team Asobi formed small groups of 5-6 people, mixing individuals from different disciplines. Each member contributed ideas on sticky notes, resulting in an impressive brainstorming board.

Not all ideas progressed to the prototyping phase, Doucet noted, with only about 10% of the brainstormed concepts actually being prototyped. However, this still amounted to a significant number of prototypes. Doucet emphasized the importance of prototyping across all departments, not just game design. He cited an example where audio designers created a theater within Astro Bot to experiment with haptic controller vibrations tied to different sound effects, such as various door opening and closing sounds.

Prototyping was crucial for the Astro Bot team, and Doucet mentioned that a few programmers were dedicated to prototyping non-platforming elements. This approach led to the development of the sponge mechanic, which involved squeezing the sponge dry using the adaptive trigger—a fun and engaging feature that made it into the game.

Doucet shared an image showcasing several prototypes, including the balloon and sponge that were incorporated into the game, alongside others like a tennis game, a walking wind-up toy, a roulette wheel, and a coffee grinder, which did not make the final cut.

Later in the talk, Doucet explained how levels were chosen and designed around specific mechanics. The goal was to ensure each level offered unique gameplay and avoided feeling repetitive. While the same power-up could be used in multiple levels, its implementation had to be distinct enough to maintain the level's uniqueness. Doucet showed images of a cut level themed around bird flights, which was removed due to its similarity to the level Go-Go Archipelago and another level in Astro's Playroom that used a similar 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 said. "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."

Doucet concluded his talk by discussing the game's final scene, which contains **spoilers for those who haven't finished Astro Bot yet. Proceed with caution.**

In the final scene, players reassemble a broken Astro Bot with the help of other bots. Initially, the player was presented with a completely dismembered Astro, consisting only of a torso without limbs or a head. This approach upset some players, leading to the adoption of the slightly more intact version seen in the final game.

Doucet's talk was filled with intriguing insights into the development of Astro Bot. IGN has previously interviewed him about the game's creation, which we praised with a 9/10 score in our review, 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."