Reggie Fils-Aime: 'Astro Bot Almost Outdid Nintendo at Its Own Game' - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 01 February 2025 / 2,691 Views
Reggie Fils-Aime, the former president of Nintendo of America, presented at the 2025 New York Game Awards and complimented the developers of Astro Bot.
"So I have to admit it, Astro Bot almost outdid Nintendo at its own game," said Fils-Aime (via VideoGamesChronicle).
Astro Bot at the 2025 New York Game Awards was nominated for four awards and won three of them. This includes Game of the Year, Best Kids Game, and Best Music in a Game.
Over here on VGChartz, Astro Bot did win the Overall Game of the Year for 2024. It also won Game of the Year at The Game Awards last month.
Astro Bot is available on the PlayStation 5.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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This is an odd statement, like sure, Mario games are the king of platformers but it's sadly got to the point where platformers are an extremely niche thing, which is kinda sad. Is there a mentality in the games industry that "Why bother trying when Nintendo will make a better one?"
"Why bother trying when Nintendo will make a better one?" .....sadly that quote you said is bang on and is the case that not only the game industry sees but gamers/consumers as well.
Anytime there's a new kart game or a brawl game by another dev; many gamers will simply turn a blind eye and use your quote.
It doesn't help that the ones that do try to compete with Nintendo, such as PSABR and MultiVersus, failed. MultiVersus was widely hailed as the "Smash killer" due to strong player engagement at launch before it quickly crashed to earth.
With dev cycles being what they are now, we probably won't see any direct influence any time soon but I'm hoping that its acclaim and, hopefully, its legs will push Sony towards more of such projects.
And who knows, if 2 console makers instead of just Nintendo are pushing out quality 3D platformers, maybe we'll see some movement in the genre from non-indies again.
I think that’s right. Team Asobi demonstrated 3D platforming prowess typically reserved for Nintendo’s top teams. I’d only rank five or six 3D platformers ahead of Astro Bot, most of them Super Mario games.
Then you clearly haven't played enough games!
Get out of the Nintendo bubble then you'll see what you missed out on
I mean... we haven't had a new 3D Mario since 2017 lol
Almost? it's better than almost every Mario game ever made, and I adore Mario.
Wasn't Sony doing that with Crash back in the 90's? And then on PS2, with Rachet, Jak and Sly? This is nothing new (competing with Nintendo on the platformer front). Although I still think Nintendo is king in that department.
Ikr! Since the PS2 days we got Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2, Super Mario 3D World and Odyssey. I think Nintendo was doing just fine without competition.
“thinking that they can overlook their quality” Competition or not, Nintendo will value quality. (Nintendo is by far the most protective of their IP, meaning anything that is less-than-spectacular is not good enough for them.) Mario Odyssey. Mario Wonder, and KirbyATFL all serve as a perfect example of this.
Maybe you mean quantity? To which, I cannot disagree that Nintendo has been slacking as of lately (…tho i feel the lacking quantity rcntly has been a consequence of placing so much value on the quality ironically lol).
I think the exact point is those games weren't actually that comparable. Slightly different flavour in being more adventure/action driven and not quite reaching the same level of creativity or gameplay/level focus seen in Nintendo's efforts. That's where Astro differed and it's reflected in its metascore and awards
I love both flavours though and Mario Sunshine also leaned a bit into the adventure direction
I didn't watch the video so feel free to update me on the context...but this sounds like such a cocky statement.
"....'almost' outdid Nintendo at its own game". What does he mean by "almost"? Is not winning GOTY and other awards not enough? What more was he expecting from Astro Bot?
I mean it is, especially when you consider how niche platformers are, and Nintendo is pretty much the one big player doing them, besides Sony's recent one platformer in years.
Also helps that he worked for Nintendo before, so it makes sense why he'd vouch more for the company he once worked with (I used to do this when I worked with my previous retail company, because I also happened to like the food and higher standards of products that we sold, which in turn made me biased for that company, much the same way Reggie feels, so I understand his pov).
I mean games of this kind aren't really rocket science to make. It's just that nobody tends to bother, because Nintendo seems to have this corner in their pocket so firmly with brand names and whatnot.
I'd beg to differ. Although there aren't a ton of platformers and the sort, those that are made rarely have the level of magic seen in both Astro Bot and Nintendo's efforts. It's the small details in the interactive world that bring joy or the kinectic response to hitting enemies, bouncing of objects, the world responding to you etc. It takes genuine science and care to make them especially satisfying to play.
I heavily disagree. In terms of game feel and level design, there's a lot of depth in creating these things.
You only need to look at the N64/PS1 and the PS2/GC/Xbox era when the genre had a lot of entries and even big names were tackling 3D platformers and realise the giant divide between the good ones and the bad ones.
Almost isn't enough though lol. Next 3D Mario will trounce all.
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