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‘Astro Bot’ Inspired VR Platformer ‘Max Mustard’ Lands on Quest This Month
Toast Interactive, the developer behind Richie’s Plank Experience (2017), announced its Astro Bot Rescue Mission (2018) inspired VR platformer Max Mustard is set to launch on Quest later this month.
When it was first announced, we called Max Mustard a “spiritual successor to Astro Bot Rescue Mission,” however the studio says in a Reddit post that’s not entirely accurate, as Nintendo’s Super Mario 3D Land is its “closest refence to gameplay and difficulty.”
“If you do love the challenge, the levels are scattered with what the designers call ‘greed bait’ it’s optional coins and creates that are really hard to get and if you get greedy, you’ll need to be up for the challenge. Thing is, you need coins to buy upgrades. So it becomes a nice meta juggling act for the player,” the studio says.
Still, Toast Interactive says that while it’s not supposed to be a spiritual successor to Astro Bot, it was an inspiration.
“Astrobot [sic] set a really high quality bar. It’s an inspiration. Thing with platformers is that if they don’t cross a certain high-quality threshold, they only get bought by platformer fans. They need to be REALLY good to also appeal to into mainstream market. Customers will soon decide if we’ve done that.”
It’s set to arrive with 40 levels packed with first-person gadgets, classic third-person gameplay, four bosses and eight upgrades to unlock along the way.
Max Mustard is set to launch on Quest March 21st, priced at $30. You can now find it available for pre-order on the Quest Store. The game is also slated to release on Steam and PSVR 2 at some point later this year.
The post ‘Astro Bot’ Inspired VR Platformer ‘Max Mustard’ Lands on Quest This Month appeared first on Road to VR.
‘Richie’s Plank’ Devs Are Creating a Spiritual Successor to ‘Astro Bot Rescue Mission’ & ‘Lucky’s Tale’
Toast Interactive, the developer behind Richie’s Plank Experience (2017), revealed working on a new VR platformer that seems to be taking more than a few cues from Sony’s beloved Astro Bot Rescue Mission (2018) and Playful’s Lucky’s Tale (2016).
Called Max Mustard, the VR platformer has been under development for three years now, with the team calling it a “modern VR platformer with moments of nostalgia, meaningful upgrades, first person interactions and game play that keeps you wanting more.”
Here’s how Toast Interactive describes the game’s setup: “You and the famous inventor, Max Mustard embark on an adventure to reunite adorable mudpups with their parents. Along the way, you are faced with a surprise dilemma when a friend reveals a secret about who they are.”
Max Mustard is set to include 40+ levels, four bosses, eight upgrades, and 4+ hours of gameplay. Beyond that, judging by the trailer it looks like some mechanics were inspired by Astro Bot Rescue Mission. In the video, we see the player wield a suction cup dart gun, letting you solve minor puzzles to move Max forward.
We’d be surprised if the dart gun was the only tool, as those eight promised upgrades may include more elaborate puzzle-solving gear for the player to wield. Fans of pioneering VR platformer Lucky’s Tale will also probably note the resemblance thanks to its family friendly vibe and bright colors, which is admittedly a pretty standard look for games in the genre since probably before Spyro: Year of the Dragon (2000).
It’s still early days too. Max Mustard is “deep in the production phase,” the studio says, noting that it’s slated to release early next year. Toast Interactive hasn’t specified exactly which platforms it’s targeting beyond Quest, saying only that the reveal trailer represents the visual quality of Quest 2, noting further that the Quest 3 version will be “able to be pushed further” in terms of visual fidelity.
Astro Bot Gets A Practically Perfect Action Figure
VR gaming doesn’t enjoy much physical merchandise, but this Astro Bot figure is pretty much perfect.
The new figure, set to release next year, is part of Good Smile Company’s Nendoroid series. Usually, the series takes famous characters and gives them a child-like appearance but, in the case of Astro, the little guy looks pretty much identical to his on-screen appearances in Astro’s Playroom and Astro Bot Rescue Mission.
Astro Bot Nendoroid Revealed
The figure comes with several different heads to change Astro’s expression as well as items and collectibles you’ll recognize from both games.
It’s not cheap, though; the figure costs $63.99 to pre-order. The most popular Nendoroid items do tend to sell out, though, so you’ll want to make sure to scoop it up if you want to show your shelf some love for Astro.
Granted, Astro likely earned the figurine treatment based on his fantastic PS5 flatscreen debut, Astro’s Playroom, but we’ll still count this as a win for the absolutely immaculate PSVR-exclusive platformer, Rescue Mission. With PSVR 2 on the way, we’ve still got our fingers crossed that developer Team Asobi will be bringing Astro back to VR in the future. Currently the studio is hiring for a new project, but there’s been no indication that this title could support VR.
Are you going to be picking up the Astro Bot Nendoroid figure? Let us know in the comments below!