Astro Bot’s credits are a joyful, playable homage to its developers

Like Astro’s Playroom, Astro Bot has a playable end credits scene: Team Asobi created a playful sequence to finish off its platforming masterpiece. While the credits of Astro’s Playroom had a simple design, they have their own own level in Astro Bot, called “Credits Clash.” As many have written, Astro Bot is a stunning homage to PlayStation history. The credits scene, though, is a joyful tribute to Astro Bot itself and the people who made it.

The credits sequence begins with an explosion of confetti before Astro smashes through red and yellow blocks that spell out “GAME DESIGN.” Blocks fly everywhere as confetti falls. The bots you’ve collected along the way — out of 300 total — cheer from their PlayStation paraphernalia. To reach the next platforms, Astro has to hop along PlayStation memory cards, each of which displays a developer’s name. When Astro’s feet touch one, more colorful blocks spill onto the level, once again highlighting the respective developer’s name. Not only is it eye-catching, but it also gives each person their own little moment to shine.

It continues on like this throughout the credits, into different segments of the team. Along the way, Astro will swap out his different power-ups, the ones you’ve been playing with throughout the game. The first is the bulldog backpack that’s essentially a powerful forward thrust, used to smash through things and bridge long gaps. Later, it’s a monkey with cymbals whose explosive claps burst blocks like fireworks.

It’s a really lovely way to end the game. Who doesn’t love playable end credits? The main credits flow into more detailed ones that unfurl side by side with clips of Astro and his pals. 

[Ed. note: Stop reading here if you’re worried about potential spoilers for Astro Bot downloadable content.]

During the secondary end credits, Team Asobi thanks third-party publishers as “long-time friends” — it’s largely the list of companies with character appearances in Astro Bot. But there are a few on that list that aren’t in the game yet: Shift Up’s Stellar Blade; Ubisoft’s Rayman, Assassin’s Creed, and Beyond Good & Evil; Koei Tecmo’s Rise of the Ronin; and Argonaut Games’ Croc. It’s possible that Team Asobi licensed the characters but decided not to include them, but it’s also possible that they’re intended to be added with DLC. Team Asobi studio head Nicolas Doucet said in an interview with Quest Daily that Astro Bot will get a small update with speedrunning leaderboards, as well as “some characters that [Team Asobi] didn’t include yet.” There’s no word yet on when that’s expected, however.