Astro Bot's Cut Flight Level, Headless Skin Found

Astro Bot enthusiasts are familiar with the origin story of its sponge power-up, but few know that Team Asobi experimented with even wilder ideas, like a coffee grinder and roulette wheel mechanic.

This revelation came to light during GDC 2025, where studio director Nicolas Doucet delivered a presentation titled "The Making of ASTRO BOT." His talk offered unprecedented insights into the PlayStation platformer's development, featuring rare prototype images and scrapped concepts.

Doucet traced Astro Bot's beginnings to May 2021, just months after initial prototyping began. The pitch underwent 23 iterations before reaching executives - including a charming comic strip outlining the game's core elements. This unconventional approach clearly resonated.

The creative process involved cross-disciplinary teams of 5-6 members brainstorming with sticky notes. Doucet revealed only 10% of these concepts progressed to prototyping - though that still translated to extensive experimentation. Even audio designers contributed, creating a virtual theater to prototype haptic feedback for various sound effects.

Specialized programmers focused exclusively on prototyping non-platforming mechanics - leading to innovations like the adaptive trigger-controlled sponge system. This philosophy birthed numerous prototypes, from working coffee grinders to roulette wheels, though many didn't make the final cut.

Level design followed strict diversity principles. "Every level needed unique gameplay," Doucet explained. This led to scrapping a bird-themed level that reused the monkey power-up too similarly to existing stages. The team prioritized variety over content quantity.

The ending sequence also evolved significantly. Initially featuring a completely dismembered Astro Bot, testers found this version too distressing. The final iteration shows the character receiving help from fellow robots to reassemble.

These development insights complement our 9/10 review praising Astro Bot as "a fantastically inventive platformer" that holds special meaning for PlayStation fans.