I’m always mixed on whether to call Mega Man 1 a classic or a genuine method of torture, but I probably lean more towards the latter.

Mega Man 1 at least deserves some praise in how much it establishes the franchise’s identity in just its first installment. The simple run and gun platforming gameplay, stages themed after bosses whose powers you obtain upon their defeat, getting to play in any order you want, the striking visual style for an NES game, catchy tunes, etc. While future entries are much more refined and make a number of big and small additions, the core formula remained pretty much completely in tact. So clearly the fault in Mega Man 1 isn’t the concept…so what is it?

Mega Man 1 is designed like an absolute nightmare, featuring some of the most unfair difficulty you will ever see. No, I’m not just bad at the game. Mega Man 1 has a huge reputation for this. The difficulty of the game can easily be described as an equivalent to “Most Difficult Stage Ever” levels in Super Mario Maker where you’ll quickly find that all they did was spam the most obnoxious enemies and obstacles they could find starting from frame 1. There’s no class to Mega Man 1’s difficulty. It’s just a relentless beating full of enemy and projectile spam whose patterns are near impossible to react to by themselves let alone in groups, brutal knockback, pixel perfect jumps, etc. It’s like the game is genuinely out for blood and never lets up for even a second. With certain things moving impossibly fast or enemies being placed right at the entrance of a new screen before you can even move more than an inch, there’s many instances where it feels damage is actually unavoidable. Even the most minor of slip ups can cost you your entire run of a stage. Due to the difficulty spawning pretty much exclusively by bad design, it never feels rewarding. Every time you beat a stage, you don’t feel proud of yourself. You just feel relief knowing you’re closer to the end. I don’t want these types of games to be easy, but I’d rather them find ways to be difficult through intricate design instead of just wasting your time.

In the end, Mega Man 1 establishes a great formula for the games that followed it but…offers extremely frustrating poor design of its own with difficulty so unfair the game just becomes a chore to finish. Thankfully starting from as soon as its sequel: Mega Man 2, the series would see a lot of refinement and bring out the real potential of the Mega Man formula. But Mega Man 1? Yeah…not all legends are glorious at the start of their story.

With the announcement of Astro Bot, Astro’s Playroom received a surprise update with small bits of new content with more to be released leading up to the release of Astro Bot. Very cool and unexpected! Before Astro Bot releases however, I’d like to get a review out for Astro’s Playroom and how I fell in love with it, making me desperately want it to become a full fledged game.

Astro’s Playroom is a pre installed game that comes with your PlayStation 5. If you have a PS5, you know this already. Its purpose is to be a short but sweet 3D platformer tech demo of the PS5’s capabilities as well as a celebration of sorts for the PlayStation’s history. The game takes no longer than 2 hours to complete which honestly makes it all the more impressive just how much charm and inspiration it’s able to cram into such a short amount of time.

Every single corner of Astro’s Playroom is truly inspired. It feels extremely reminiscent of the golden age of 90’s 3D mascot platformers. Everything is packed with so much detail and life. Notably, much of its design is centered around PlayStation’s past. The game uses the history of its company to its advantage, and in a rare case where it doesn’t feel egotistical and malicious but instead genuinely proud and appreciative of its roots. You’ll find countless references both big and small of PlayStation IP’s and other 3rd party series that were popularized on PlayStation. The game’s collectibles are all consoles and accessories/peripherals throughout the generations. Every world is based off of an aspect of the PS5’s capabilities as well as a previous PlayStation generation, literally integrating consoles and their accessories into the level design. Platforms shaped like controller triggers, ropes that are the wire of a PS1 controller, springs that are the buttons on PS1 console, etc etc. It’s insane how creative the visual design is. Literally almost every bit of your environment is designed to make a real world PlayStation related object and turn it into interactive level design. Again, it’s a rare case where nostalgia doesn’t feel derivative. It’s not going “LOOK AT THIS THING YOU REMEMBER!” Rather, it’s a new experience that utilizes its respect of the past. It’s a constant trip down memory lane done right that makes you proud to like PlayStation instead of ashamed. And as a tech demo for the PS5 itself, it’s really good. It makes great use of the console and controller’s capabilities in ways that 99% of games will probably never utilize, but that’s usually the case with tech demos…at least it’s cool here!

Even when it’s not basking in nostalgia, Astro’s world on its own has such a special appeal. It’s cute, it’s colorful, it’s lively, and honestly feels like it would be such a fit for a modern day mascot franchise for PlayStation. Everything about it just carries the aura of something from a better, memorable time. The gameplay is simple 3D platforming goodness and it’s just so fun. Despite only being a tech demo history lesson, I think you’d be surprised to find just how much its core gameplay would make for an absolutely fantastic full game. (Which as of the time of writing this, we are FINALLY getting!)

For a not even two hour tech demo, it’s incredible how much Astro’s Playroom stole my heart since the launch of the PlayStation 5. In such a short amount of time, it neatly bundles an original 3D platformer with loads of gaming history all into one…my only complaint is that it isn’t longer. It becomes extremely apparent how much Astro and the bots have potential to be a new pillar of PlayStation if given the chance, which thankfully they are! Astro Bot appears to be taking literally everything from Astro’s Playroom and simply expanding upon it into a full length game which is what I’ve been asking for. I truly could not be more excited than I already am. Can’t wait!