A little over 10 years ago, March 2004 to be exact, video game developer Namco released a new game for Playstation 2, and it was called Katamari Damacy. As the gameplay starts, you find yourself as “the prince”. The prince has to perform numerous tasks, and mostly fix what”the king” messed up or ruined. The king gives the prince a bumpy looking ball called a “Katamari”. It has been widely accepted that the king created the Katamari, but a little digging revealed to me the creator was a mysterious orange character aptly named “Dr. Katamari”. The Katamari ball has some helpful properties to assist the prince in performing these ridiculous yet addictively fun tasks the (sometimes drunk) king requests of you. The Katamari has an adhesive property that makes everything you roll it over stick to it. In the beginning levels it is very small and can pick up paper clips, ants and smaller objects. But as these object stick to the Katamari, it grows and can become amazingly large, even picking up people. Some levels require you to beat the timer, while others have you perform the king’s tasks. Leveling up and collecting rewards from the king is the main objective and can be oddly addictive. Obviously, I am not the only one with this opinion as it became a hit and spawned a whole series of Katamari games to come.
Katamari Franchise
- Katamari Damacy 2004 Ps2
- We Love Katamari 2005 Ps2
- Me and My Katamari2006 Playstation Portable
- Katamari Damacy Mobile 2007 mobile phones
- Beautiful Katamari 2007 Xbox 360
- Rolling with Katamari 2008 mobile
- I Love Katamari 2008 mobile
- Korogashi Puzzle Katamari Damacy 2009 Nintendo DSI
- Katamari Forever 2009 Ps3
- Katamari Amore 2011 mobile
- Touch My Katamari 2012 Playstation Vita
With the success of the original Katamari Damacy, the folks at Namco Bandai decided to “roll” out a series of bumpy ball rolling games that flew under the Katamari banner. The next two games released were We Love Katamari (2005), also for the ps2 and me and My Katamari (2006), for the Playstation Portable. For the Katamari series though, the next big release was in 2007, when Beautiful Katamari came out for the Xbox 360. This was Namco’s first Katamari game for a system other than Playstation. It was also the first Katamari release in full 1080p HD, and the silly graphics of the bumpy ball and prince were hard to not watch, even if you weren’t the one playing, as they popped off the screen. The latest release for an at home system was Katamari Forever (2009), for Playstation 3.
Sprinkled in between, the Katamari franchise joined everyone else making games for mobile devices releasing Katamari Damacy Mobile, Rolling with Katamari, and I Love Katamari. These mobile games were compatible for both the IOS and Android operating systems. One game that stands out is Korogashi Puzzle Katamari Damacy (2009). It was the only Nintendo release for the brand. Available for the Nintendo DSI, it resembled Tetris, more than any Katamari game. Korogashi seems more like a replica of another Namco Bandai game, Pac-Attack. The same falling blocks fitting into exact spaces is in both games, the graphics being the only difference in my opinion. Two more games were released after Katamari Forever, both for mobile devices. Katamari Amore and Touch My Katamari, the latter released on the Playstation Vita in 2012. I am anxiously waiting to hear an announcement from Namco Bandai that a new version is coming soon. Until then I will continue to pop in these older games whenever I get the hankering for some throwback fun.
8BitThis 