Astro Bot finally gets a Square Enix character, but it's Gex and not Final Fantasy 7's Cloud

gamesradar.com:

As the headline says, Astro Bot finally has a Square Enix character cameo, only it's not Final Fantasy's Cloud as you may have hoped for, but rather Gex, the green gecko.

For the dozens of you who may not be familiar with the little guy, Gex is from a '90s platformer series developed by Crystal Dynamics, which is now working on new Tomb Raider and Perfect Dark games.

Shared by the official Square Enix Twitter account, you can watch an adorable clip of a bot in a Gex costume watching TV and eating popcorn – that is until cheeky Astro gives him a slap on the back of the head, sending his popcorn flying everywhere.

This is very much a monkey's paw situation, as you were likely expecting Cloud, or maybe even Tidus or Yuna to grace Astro Bot. Team Asobi studio head Nicolas Doucet previously said, "It's difficult to comment on" why the game launched with no Square characters, but added "We really respect the choice of each publisher."

The GEX Bot is now ready for your rescue in Astro Bot! pic.twitter.com/roterZVXxSDecember 14, 2024

Now that Gex is in, we may see the floodgates open. Astro Bot's DLC already added Eve from Stellar Blade and a smattering of helldivers, so we may see some Final Fantasy folk in a future update, but don't hold your breath.

We did get a Final Fantasy character in Tekken 8, but again, it's not who you'd expect. Everyone wanted Tifa, the well-known brawler, to square up against Jin and King, but instead we got Clive. "IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN HER", one happy gamer commented.

Fan reactions to Gex have been pretty positive overall, with many people replying to Square Enix's tweet wondering when we'll get a new Gex game. An old boss of mine was obsessed with the gecko, so there is certainly some demand there. Maybe this is Square testing the waters, or maybe it's just getting your hopes up the same way Sony loves to tease us Bloodborne fans.

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