Team Asobi has casually dropped a never-before-seen Astro Bot speedrun stage.
Debuted at this weekend’s PlayStation tournament, the challenge – which you can see below – saw speedrunners explore the unfamiliar level to secure the fastest clear time in a bid to win the final.
The two finalists were given five attempts to set the fastest time across a devilishly difficult level, using the flower umbrella and slo-mo to speed up the run as much as possible.
Team Circle’s Rhys secured a win with an astonishing run-time of 34.51.6s, narrowly beating Team Square’s equally-impressive 34.84.1s.
There was no word from the commentary team on whether the general public will eventually get the chance to run the gauntlet, too, but Bot fans are hopeful Team Asobi hasn’t yet given up on patching in a cheeky cameo or two given several games noted in the credits have yet to be discovered.
“I’ve built my entire working life around , my career dedicated to celebrating the best and highlighting the worst,” Tom O wrote in his feature, Astro Bot made the best play for nostalgia this year, and I don’t care if you think it’s a big advert. “As a job, it’s as tiring and exhausting, sometimes exasperating, as any other, and it’s easy to lose sight of why I chose this path all those years ago.
“Just for a moment, in the darkened early hours, a dim light from the DualSense painting the room in an ethereal glow, I was 12 again, and it was incredible. For that, I love Astro Bot, and I guess I love PlayStation too.”
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