Astro's Playroom - #2 - Untapped Nostalgia

[@Wizdos0]

Mr. Dan, let me speak for all of us when I say: WE ABSOLUTELY WANT YOU TO PLAY ASTRO BOT ON THE CHANNEL.

[@Guydude777]

We've still got the rest of the week, but this series makes me hope we see Astro Bot at some point on the channel. Both games are a delight from start to finish.

[@stevethepocket]

"I don't have a button for cleaning that up, so I'm just going to go." Yes, that's my usual excuse for not cleaning up my messes too.

[@Patty-Q]

It'd be such a blast to see you go through Astro Bot. Also, it's funny seeing Past Dan be a little snarky towards Past-er Dan

[@basilanan]

Man, this week is gonna be so comfy. EDIT: I don't know how long Astro Bot is, but that could be a like a MONTH of comfy maybe, yes please.

[@liamwhite3522]

12:26 Vib-Ribbon, sort of a rhythm game with the cool ability where you can put whatever music disk into the playstation while the game runs to play a generated level to the music on that disk

[@Prototype-357]

Which sounds insane to me as person who was a toddler when that game came out, like how does that tech work and why can't modern consoles do something like that? When I heard that it game me the same reaction I had when people explained the Psycho Mantis fight on the PS1, it blew my poor little millenial mind, why did we stop doing stuff like that? You'd think it's because of tech limitations but there's a bunch of indies that play around with that like Doki Doki Literature Club for example, so why aren't the bigger developers doing the same?

[@kimu8639]

I loved this game and the sound track is pretty cute too

[@littleneri3761]

16:21 looks like the way the androids are arranged in the shop in Detroit Become Human

[@JochemKuijpers]

The foreground is Detroit Become Human, the background is just an ASOBI reference I think; Team A 40 - Team B 1, spells ASOBI.

[@JustinWO-31]

I got the Astro Bot game recently. It's so creative and charming. Sometimes it's nice to play a game just for fun and not get devastated by a heart wrenching story.

[@ember-fire7583]

Having a full playthrough of the new AstroBot game, with possibly a Carrie tagging along as well, would be amazing!! The folks at Asobi have shown they definitely know what they're doing just with this demo like game alone, and from what I've seen of the newest game they've taken this and just ran with it completely!

[@iamjafooli]

An Astro Bot playthrough would be an utter delight. I would love that. Full endorsement

[@siliconvalleygirl6595]

16:20 wasnt until i saw the little red circle on the lil headbanging bot i realized the detroit become human reference

[@Ahrpigi]

I didn't think I had much nostalgia for PlayStation, but these two episodes have proved that wrong. Even if not for a lot of games themselves, then for that particular era of gaming and time in my life.

[@yonyon5432]

Yes Dan please do a playthrough of the full Astro Bot game!!! I’ve yet to play it myself but it looks absolutely delightful

[@JoyceW-Art]

5:40 man not only are the animations of the little bots very cute, but the animations for these platforms have so much character too! They could have just made a simple animation where they are all floating up, but instead the platform in the background swings the smaller ones in place. That gives it so much character!

[@LagiacrusHunter]

This whole thing is giving "Insomniac Museum" vibes and I am here for it. I spent so many hours unlocking and exploring those areas in the Ratchet and Clank games, admiring the concept art, the debug tools, all the unfinished level concepts. It's part of what got me interested in game dev in the first place. Like you said, sure it's an exercise in Sony branding, but there are decades of childhood memories and hard work from talented devs on display here. Those things deserve to be remembered, regardless of current sentiment around Big Company.

[@PlebNC]

My favourite thing about the Insomniac Museum was in the R&C3 one where there was this small tile of water with dynamically rippling water you can play with and the developer commentary was basically "it takes all the PS2's processing power/memory to render this little tile" which was amazing to me. Over time this has only gotten more amazing as technology advanced. The game Spyro Enter the Dragonfly would use it alot in the PS2 version and the framerate suffered alot, among its other technical issues, which reinforced the sentiment in the commentary. Nowadays the effect is commonplace to the point Sea of Thieves' game world is basically built on 1 massive version of this effect.

[@rat4716]

I’m joining everyone else saying that AstroBot with Carrie would be downright delightful!!!!

[@dekushrublily]

agreed!

[@JoyceW-Art]

23:26 I would be soooo up for you playing the Astro Bot game! This is genuinely a lot of fun!

[@tetsiga45XxX]

13:15 Champions of Norrath:Realms of Everquest. Played the Hell out of that game with my brothers and cousins.

[@Kalnaur]

I remember being the wizard class in that game, fire on top of more fireballs, to the point that my then-girlfriend (now my wife) and my brother basically refused to play with me if I played it . . . optimally. I.E. just using every last ounce of explosive fireball goodness to both obliterate every enemy in the postal code as well as entirely remove the ability to see anything on the screen clearly.

[@mjjmedia12]

uh Dan, OF COURSE you have to give us a playthrough of Astro Bot! I need the animation commentary on that especially. I'll be waiting!

[@Withernall]

Astrobot in Playframe? Yes please and thank you, Dan, Carrie! :D

[@hunterroge]

There is something delightful about the little LED lights as mushrooms. That just makes me smile. 25:05 I think that might be R-type? a Shmup that started on the SNES but moved to Play Station eventually. 36:25 that one gave me a Genuine belly laugh not gonna lie. 40:50 Honestly yeah that kinda disappointed me in Smash Ultimate. In the previous games you had the Trophy galleries that each came with a little blurb about what the game the trophy was from and given how much stuff they stuck in ultimate the fact they didn't do something equivalent with the spirits feels like a massive missed opportunity. Any who yeah I think it easy to be cynical these days about things like this that are just celebrations of mega corporation's IPs but like I dunno, Let people have their joy the IRL kinda rough right now.

[@cyclopsboi]

from what i remember the colored disc were an attempt to prevent piracy because you needed a non standard cdrom laser to read them

[@foursideseven]

Between both Astro's Playroom and Astro Bot, I feel like Sony is finally learning that they can make a cute, cheery mascot of their own and not have their sole MO seemingly be "be more hardcore and mature than Nintendo" and have it work to such great effect. PS5 is my first Sony console and I already feel like Astro is up there among my favorite video game characters.

[@dimwarlock]

"I bet there's a non-zero ammount of people being put off by this, but being into Nintendo doing something similar" Not only that, Dan, I'm sure they are already very vocal about it in social media, I imagine something like "why do I have to see this for Crash Bandicoot but not for Pikmin?", a sentence like that, but way longer because of the insults.

[@PlebNC]

9:00 - "I don't remember what it's called" The name was literally written on the wall, Pain.

[@Myself1098]

An Astro boy play through would be so fun!! This is my first introduction to Astro and honestly I want more of him!

[@Doomsword0]

32:42 oh man, the number of times I would excitedly go down to the basement as a kid ready for the one hour I was allowed to play our ps2 and hearing that startup is such a nice feeling to hear again since I don't have that ps2 anymore

[@AndrewVallejos]

I had a lot of fun playing Time Splitters 2 4-player split screen back in the day.

[@darienmask]

AstroBot is so fun. Definitely love to see you play that at some point

[@KitiRama]

I would love to see the actual game since I'm enjoying your playthrough of the demo.

[@anyajurney4910]

I am so happy you are playing this game. It is such a great nostalgic playroom, I got the full game. You should start punching everything and everyone.

[@ShakalDraconis]

100% in favor of a full Astrobot playthrough!

[@ember-fire7583]

40:45 Also, having Nintendo make a game like this that's also a museum for it's history, would be amazing! Even if I never got to play it, just seeing it would be a huge blast from the past in a super fun way.

[@Leron...]

Nintendo's way of one-upping this (pun semi-intended) was to create a PHYSICAL museum full of interactive Nintendo history. too bad it's in Japan and most of us are not...

[@insaincaldo]

Though Mario Odyssey and Smash combined is enough of a proxy.

[@PlebNC]

Meanwhile at Xbox HQ: "Umm, we've got Halo, and uhhh Forza... OH! And a few games by Rare!" *smoke bellows in from all the studios burning from being bought and shut down by Microsoft* "IGNORE THAT!" *Bethesda Software explodes in the distance.* "AND THAT!"

[@Caterfree10]

32:52 literally paused my work to vibe with that sound tbh. For the 30th anniversary of Sony’s systems, they have various themes that are also based on the previous systems. While I went with the 30th anniversary version, I was sorely tempted by the PS2 one. God, the flashbacks to many a gaming session from middle school to college.

[@Landis963]

33:53 It's the same sort of mixed emotions that one might feel upon seeing, say, a _Darkened Skye,_ or a _The Lego Movie,_ or a _Barbie._ Yes, they're giant advertisements for their respective brands, but so much high-quality work went into them that you can't help but see that shine through.

[@NadirEatsRocks]

Yes to playing Astro Bot on the channel! It's SO cute and it'll be fun to see you try to puzzle out all of the easter eggs!

[@rhubarbjin]

40:48 Isn't that basically what the _Smash Bros_ series is, with the unlockable trophies and such...? 😀

[@SpiritofLibegon]

Yes and no. Ever since Brawl, they really don't lean as much into this. And they could really have more interactivity on this.

[@LegendOfMoriad]

I'd love to see more of Astro bot, in any form!

[@PlebNC]

Fun fact: punch the glass dome in the hub area and you'll tap the glass. The big bot doesn't like it and punched back. If you're on the glass you get knocked back.

[@AllocInit]

8:52 - "Now what on earth was this game called?" thought Dan, while the title of the game sat perfectly in-frame.

[@rundinj]

I would tune in daily for little wholesome robot adventures

[@SpiritOnAdventure]

Even as someone who’s not that into playstation IPs, I would love to see an Astrobot playthrough!

[@DaneeBound]

20:34 the blue PS2 discs are essentially just CD-ROMs (like PS1 games). Most other PS2 disc were standard DVDs which had no special coating. ICO was one one those games that was small enough to be printed onto a regular CD-ROM rather than a DVD. (Tho in Europe, Ico was printed onto a DVD)

[@timothystamm3200]

Wasn't the color a DRM tool to prevent reading the data in a computer and downloading the game's data?

[@mgormley7530]

There are actually a fair number of games that need the PS2 multitap! such as most co-op shooters and rhythm games.

[@lexalchambers]

38:22 maybe Beyond: Two Souls? That[s the only thing that comes to mind.

[@Minihood31770]

I really want Dan to play the ful game, because it is delightful, and Dan discovering it all would be even moreso.

[@KensanOni]

Multitap for the PS2 probably was used most for Gauntlet Dark Legacy, if google is to be believed.

[@dekushrublily]

the more astro bot LPs, the better!

[@JoyceW-Art]

Now the PS2 is where I get all my nostalgia from! This is going to be a delight to watch!

[@adamgardner9374]

23:28 yes!

[@JochemKuijpers]

10:30 - Dualshock2 had pressure-sensitive face buttons. PS2 indeed :)

[@biancacastellanos6528]

Yes I would love an Astro Bot series! I just finished the game and loved it

[@4raptor]

Ratchet and clank up your arsenal is a game that can use the muti tap

[@adamgardner9374]

20:42 My understanding is that the black color of the disks from the PSX, at least, functioned as a sort of rudimentary copy protection, as your typical CD drive laser wouldn’t read them correctly. Not sure if that was the reason for the blue coating on the PS2 disks as well.

[@stevethepocket]

Nope. In fact, CD lasers (also used in the PlayStation, CD-ROM drives, and anything else that wants to be backward compatible with CDs) are uniquely suited to reading through the black layer since they're infrared. Even Sony is guilty of perpetuating this lie, but anyone who has actually put a PlayStation disc into a computer can see that it's able to be read like an ordinary CD-ROM.

[@Kirlac]

40:15 - I believe this sign is just a reference to the corporate restructuring from Sony Computer Entertainment to Sony Interactive Entertainment. I think if you find the sign in the museum/gallery you can hit it and the SIE one falls off revealing the old SCE one underneath or something like that IIRC.

[@mynacollyn4212]

Found it funny how he looked directly past the detroit become human androids and tried to think of a volleyball ps video game. Then again, it is tough to communicate the concept of androids with characters that are already robot people at their default

[@ShineeSylveon]

I'm still holding out hope we're gonna get an Astro Bot playthrough after this. Maybe not right after, but dang it, I wanna see Dan play it 😅

[@Ladylenea]

yes plz play the Astro Bot full game

[@danielwitt757]

Yes, please, to a full Astro Bot play through. Please include Carrie somehow!! Let her play!!

[@Caterfree10]

7:01 oh hey, I know that sword. BD

[@Doogie2110]

The spaceships racing around the planet is a Wipeout reference, an excellent (and sadly defunct) anti-grav racing series. It's in Astro Bot too, which I'd be overjoyed to watch you play as soon as possible! :D

[@E1235]

On the topic of corporate branding exercise vs. nostalgia ... I think the important thing to keep in mind is that for many of us, this was basically home. For me, the PS1 and PS2 bootup animations are the sounds and images of coming home after a school day. Of the beginning of the weekend. Of the long-awaited summer or winter vacations. Y'know, simpler times. And that's clearly also the lens through which this game was made, and that's what makes it so good. Anyway, yes, go play the recent Astro Bot. And keep hitting all the things, the reference bots in particular. Also, what you thought was Resogun was clearly WipeOut, and what you thought was Galaga-related was actually Resogun. ;) Similarly, when looking at the volleyball scene you missed the actual reference there, which was Detroit: Become Human in the foreground.

[@Inlelendri]

You've just made me remember the pure joy of coming home for the Christmas holidays and being able to futz around in Precursor Basin for as long as I liked because everything had been handed in and done and I could relax. Thank you.

[@MisterDrBob]

25:10 possibly Gradius? Also older than PlayStation, but as I recall a few entries were on PS1 and 2.

[@joemalo5335]

13:25 Multi-tap PS2 games I own: Gauntlet Dark Legacy Champions of Norath (1&2)

[@VoilaTadaOfficial]

Tales of the Abyss as well is 4 player with a multitap. :3 good times that was.

[@MysticMindAnalysis]

Another W for the sound track, this time with a deep slap bass on lead. Sounds very Daft Punk!

[@SlackwareNVM]

I'd love to see the full Astro Bot game, with that much charm and attention to detail, I'll probably be very good.

[@Nesetroll]

08:50 Dan not remembering the name, when looking at the name written in neon. Didn't play it myself, but I did at least catch that little detail.

[@the6ofdiamonds]

3:54 That looks really ominous. 6:55 Cloud? Zack? You shouldn't leave this here, one of the little guys might get hurt. 8:18 I'm starting to realise that I know "of" a lot of PlayStation games, but have no attachment to them. 13:24 I think this is one reason I went N64 to XBOX. Even though I didn't have more than two friends until college, my brother did, so 3 (occasionally 4) player gaming was required. No extra peripherals required, and everyone could use their favourite controller. 15:54 DOA was XBOX, wasn't it? i don't know if Team Ninja's legendary "physics" ever made it to PlayStation. Side note: DOA3 is one of the craziest levels of detail I've seen in a fighting game. You can button mash, or counter-counter throw, or anything in between. 17:16 One game I always wanted to play. A buddy had it and was super good at it. Now that it's on Steam, I hope to play it, I've been told that I might like the combat speed. 25:05 Man, now i want to go to an arcade. Or I could beat GBA Galaga again. 28:18 It was just another flavour of "black brick"! 35:04 The way they go about things is radically different, though. I don't know if I could call Nintendo "soulless" or "heartless", in spite of the fact that they are trying to make money, because it feels like there's a ton of that in their products, which idk how you put something like that into a product if the parent company doesn't have it. 36:28 What was it about this console gen and black bricks? 40:45 Put off, no. Surprised that it works, yes.

[@nefrone]

9:00 How could you resist punching that?! :D

[@SkidIncGaming]

19:40 I'm going with Wipeout since the craft are VERY VERY Wipeout shaped.

[@Doomsword0]

We had a ps2 multitap but only used it a couple times, but that was because we just didn't have a ton of people to play with aside from myself and my brothers. We did play some ATV Off Road Fury 2 with it, that with lots of people was a great time

[@ConfusedMoogle]

25:14 There's a part of me that wants to say that's Jupiter Strike (a Starfox-like for the PS1 my brother had when we were little) but that could just be because the Jupiter Strike ship was generic enough you can see some of it in just about any space fighter. (Jupiter Strike was not a particularly well-liked game.)

[@sirB0nes]

If the hero arc of this playthrough is Dan the player slowly remembering the name of the franchise that was bothering him since episode 1, I would be satisfied from a narrative point of view.

[@Minihood31770]

9:00 made me laugh out loud. I do not remember the name of this franchise. He says while the franchise title, in the stylised font no less, is literally centred on the camera. I know that if you don't remember it it just looks like onomatopeia, but that is very funny to me. Dan, please never change.

[@fishor6527]

a big boost to Nintendo over PlayStation for nostalgia is that Nintendo tend to keep hitting you with the same game over years - like LOZ or metroid. where as playstation has some decent series but most of them we havent heard of in a decade+ since being a kid (loved some jack and dexter)

[@Inlelendri]

Me too. I always feel like I'm entirely alone in loving that game, so I'm glad to see this

[@techercat3668]

I would love to have a full PlayFrame LP of Astro Bot!

[@jordak6200]

Absolutely want an Astro Bot playthrough!

[@brandonyohn]

It would be absolutely delightful to watch you play Astro Bot!

[@muraalia]

I had noticed this on my PS5, but never really checked what it actually was. After watching the first episode, I did go and play it, had fun, and found all the things :) Great little game! Might have to check out the actual game too. Also, it was so weird that it was in Finnish, I'm not used to that! 😆 Most games I play don't come in Finnish at all, and if they did I'd still most likely choose English, but I guess it went with the console's language setting.

[@screetchycello]

I'm loving these Dan Tries But Fails To Recognize Games For 40 Minutes videos! (/affectionate jk and not like I could do better lol)

[@JonnyRailgun]

I'd love to watch you play AstroBot. I got myself a PS4 a few days ago, so it'll probably take like 7 more years until I get myself a PS5 to experience it myself.

[@jkristoff88]

I REALLY hope you get to playing Astrobot

[@the_shadow_hog]

Yes! Play Astro Bot!

[@JHobzStreams]

Yes, please do an Astro Bot playthrough!

[@Grescheks]

I kind of want to replay some of the inFamous series now...

[@parallelself]

yes give more astro bot

[@PureMaddnessOne]

Freedom system = a based system.

[@ICountFrom0]

I'll go you on further... what if the little game like this was free.... but it existed as advertisements for the games, and you could BUY all the old NES games and play them inside of it?

[@Alfonsotakles]

Is infamous the new windmills saga?

[@falsicorgi813]

S S DEEEEEE!!!