Katamari Damacy

Katamari Damacy is a video game that consists of 1 release

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In this quirky Japanese game, you must roll up anything and everything in your path to rebuild the cosmos.

Katamari Damacy is a cult hit developed and produced by the Japanese company Namco (now known as Namco Bandai). It involves rolling a ball of an unknown but very adhesive substance collecting objects until the katamari (katamari, literally translated, means clump) is big enough to become a star in the sky.

Story

The King of all Cosmos has destroyed every star in the night sky by means of an inebriated rampage through space. He has tasked his son, the Prince, to create new stars by using balls known as katamari. You take the role of the Prince and attempt to roll up as many items as you can so they can be used to create new starts.

The King appears often in game, and usually with humorous comments about life on earth. He refers to himself in third-person and happens to have a voice that sounds like a record player being scratched.

The game doesn't have a specific plot line, but the Prince must create stars to the King's specifications and doing so shall unlock new stages. The tiny Prince ends up getting tasked to rebuild the moon with help from the Hoshino family, who the Prince will come to know through the various cutscenes.

Gameplay

The hub world, known as the Home Planet, serves as a way of checking what items the katamari has rolled up, what constellations the Prince has created (from completing certain stages which focus on a different task than usual) and allows the player to save the game and change various settings.

He can then float down to earth and start playing stages. In the story stages the King will task you to create a katamari of a specific size or higher in a certain time limit. The earilier stages will have you rolling your katamari around houses, and then gradually you will move out into the open world by completing more stages, culminating in a stage where you have to create the Moon.

There are also "Constellation" levels, where you have to do other activities rather than creating the biggest possible katamari. You may have to collect crabs to recreate the constellation of Cancer, or to find and roll up the largest bear possible to make Ursa Major, among many others.

The "Eternal" levels are stages in which you may roam around specific stages. There is no time limit, no size requirement, just the ability to make the katamari as big as possible and seeing the sights. You unlock these stages by getting a large score on levels 4, 8 and the "Make a Moon" stage.

Multiplayer is available in a competitive form. The players take control of either the Prince or one of his many cousins. They are placed in a small area of the game and compete to gather the most objects possible in a three minute time limit. They can bump pieces off the other player's katamari, which provides an advantage as you can collect the fallen objects.

Controls

The game utilizes a dual-analog stick control system, which for many users takes a while to get used to. The player has to push both analog sticks forward to move forward, both sticks to the right if they want to strafe right, et cetera. To turn, the user must either push just one stick forwards or backwards, or one stick forwards and the other backwards, which is faster than the former method. If one pressed the left stick forward, the katamari will turn to the right, simulating the Prince's left hand pushing forward. It takes a few goes for many players to get the hang of it, but quite a few agree that it is intuitive and works well. The Prince can perform a 'spin dash' by rapidly moving both sticks forwards and backwards, which provides a short boost while traversing long terrain.

Graphics

Katamari Damacy utilizes a unique graphical style. It is very blocky and at times rough to look at, but critics and consumers alike praised its uniqueness, which allows the game to use bigger and more plentiful areas of gameplay, and was kept in the multiple sequels. The graphical choice reduces CPU and GPU load, allowing for faster load times and larger levels (although in some of the later levels there are loading screens when the katamari is big enough to progress to a new area).

Soundtrack

The unique soundtrack, prinarily composed by Yu Miyake was loved by critics, who applauded its mix of electronica, country and soft

Katamari Damacy Official Soundtrack

rock.

Track Listing

Name: Katamari Fortissimo Damacy
Total length: 75:14

"Nananan Katamari" - 1:21
"Katamari on the Rocks ~ Main Theme" - 5:57
"Overture" - 0:49
"The Moon and the Prince" - 5:30
"Fugue ♯7777" - 1:22
"LONELY ROLLING STAR" - 5:44
"The Wonderful Star's Walk Is Wonderful" - 3:12
"Katamari Manbo ~ Katamari Syndrome mix" - 5:35
"You Are Smart" - 3:32
"A Crimson Rose and a Gin Tonic" - 4:29
"WANDA WANDA" - 3:23
"Que Sera Sera" - 5:31
"Angel-Flavored Present" - 5:08
"Katamaritaino" - 5:54
"Katamari Stars" - 2:28
"Cherry Blossom Color Season" - 6:14
"Lovely Angel" - 1:27
"Stardust Fanfare" - 0:08
"Last Samba" - 1:00
"Katamari of Love ~ Ending Theme" - 4:09
"Katamari March Damacy" - 2:20

General Information Edit

Game Name	Katamari Damacy
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2
Publisher(s)	NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc.
Developer(s)	NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc.
Genres	Add a new genre Action Adventure Puzzle
Themes	Add a new theme Fantasy Comedy
Original US Release	Sept. 22, 2004 need a fuzzy date?
Original US Release	know the real date?
Aliases
ESRB	ESRB: E

Trivia

In the game Katamari Damacy, why does your character roll material off the ground into a growing magical ball?

You're recreating the stars for your father, who accidentally destroyed them. Whoops.
This ties into your nefarious plans for world domination. Muahaha!
There's too much garbage strewn around, so you're helping make the environment cleaner.

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