Astro Bot Rescue Mission, a unique VR game, went through a few changes before it’s final release. Japan Studio, the game’s developer, talks about the inevitable decisions they had to make in cutting content like enemies, different levels, and multiplayer.
The “Mecha Spider Enemy” was originally planned to be a fire-spitting enemy. To defeat it, Astro would have needed to cut its legs off with the shuriken gadget.
However, according to the developers, the spider’s movements were a little challenging to design when it was running around on less than four legs and the shuriken needed the proper distance to truly work.
Instead, they replaced the spider with the bamboo enemy for something more simple.
Some levels also needed a little bit of redesign. A part of the Canyon Stage was removed and repurposed for the Volcano Stage with a little bit of resizing and retexturing.
Our adorable little protagonist, the star of Astro Bot Rescue Mission, also had a few changes made. He initially would have danced and sung to the level’s music as an idle animation.
However, the developers found that Astro’s voice would have gotten a tad annoying and the music styles for each level varied a little too much for smooth dance animating. Alas, he’s still cute.
Finally, Astro Bot Rescue Mission would have had a multiplayer mode with three or more players. Players would make their way to the goal together while goofing off and having a generally great experience.
However, when playing in VR, the multiplayer levels ended up too large and too empty. The TV camera had to fit four players on the screen and that severely limited perspective ruined a few playable aspects.
Too much focus was put on TV play and the developers ended up nixing multiplayer for the game’s VR aspect that makes it so unique.
Even with all the cuts, Astro Bot Rescue Mission still provides a fun VR experience. Check out our opinion of it here.
