I once had a friend describe Katamari Damacy to me as a “cool uncle game”–a statement I found hilarious considering the person who introduced me to the series was, in fact, my cool uncle. What he meant by this, though, was that while the Katamari series has never quite reached a point of true, mainstream popularity, it’s certainly managed to foster a cult following of fans who adore its peculiarity–fans who revel in absurd concepts like “rolling up the world,” and seemingly always have some niche-yet-utterly-engrossing New Thing to show you. A fanbase of “cool uncles,” if you will.
Though I can’t claim to be an uncle and certainly won’t claim to be cool, after playing Once Upon a Katamari, I am eager and ready to join their ranks. The newest entry in Bandai Namco’s nonsensical action-puzzle series has converted me from a Katamari appreciator to a Katamari fan. Once Upon a Katamari is a joyous return for the long-stagnant series, bringing with it small tweaks that make moment-to-moment gameplay more fun and lead to a number of clever levels. A tighter narrative, more engaging overworld, customization features, and updated visuals help set the game apart from its predecessors, while its playful writing and whimsical nature retain that distinctly Katamari feel. While Once Upon a Katamari might stumble a bit when it comes to innovating, the end result is a highly polished (and fun) new entry in the Katamari series.
Once Upon a Katamari kicks off the way these things so often do: with our beloved King of the Cosmos doing something tremendously stupid. During one of the royal family’s much-needed cleaning days, the King of the Cosmos stumbles upon a peculiar scroll. What ensues is an embarrassingly relatable sequence of events, as the king grows distracted by the scroll, decides he’d rather be doing literally anything other than cleaning, and ultimately ends up hurling the object into space after using it as a baton. Naturally, this action winds up destroying the entirety of the cosmos, prompting the king to recruit you, The Prince, to help fix this even larger mess.
In order to restore the universe to its former glory, The Prince is tasked with traveling back in time aboard his spacecraft, the S.S. Prince, to capture humanity’s essence in Katamari form prior to its untimely destruction. This ambitious mission ultimately takes you to over 50 levels spread across nine distinct eras, including everything from Japan’s Edo period, the Ice Age, and Ancient Greece. This setup–plus the addition of short cinematics throughout–makes for a much-tighter narrative from the Katamari series. And while it might not sound particularly grand in scope or scale, this loose, silly framework feels like precisely what the series needs to be both engaging and absurd.
Your hub on this grand, new adventure is the S.S. Prince, a saucer-like spacecraft that serves as both your time-hopping shuttle and home away from home. In addition to selecting which era or level you’d like to go to via the main console, you can use the ship’s amenities to customize your character with the items and character models you find, and adjust the look of your room. Though there’s not too much you can do on board, the ship’s inclusion is a nice touch and makes the game feel more complete. The same can be said for customizing your character; it isn’t a robust process, but being allowed to create and name your own cousins–the iconic little characters found trapped in various levels in every Katamari game–is new for the series and utterly delightful.
Off ship, the various eras are presented similarly to Mario worlds, with a decent amount of open space available for aimless wandering while actual levels are situated on large squares. Eras and levels are unlocked at a brisk pace as you play, with each completed Katamari also helping to generate the fuel you need to travel to a new point in time. A few levels, however, require you to find specific items throughout the game to unlock them, with the items generally being the three misplaced crowns hidden in every course. The nice thing is, you do have some say in which levels you want to do. While I was a bit of a completionist, keen on beating every level and getting as many of the collectibles within them as I could as soon as they were available to me, the fact that you don’t need to get all three crowns in every single level to progress means you can choose to ignore levels that you might find mundane or difficult. And to be clear, some of these levels can be a bit tough by sheer virtue of the Katamari series’ gameplay.
By and large, gameplay remains unaltered in Once Upon a Katamari. Once again, you are able to choose between standard and simple controls while rolling your lil’ (or big!) Katamari, with standard mode requiring constant use of both analog sticks and simple mode being a bit more streamlined, relying instead on using one stick to push the ball and another to adjust your character’s position behind it. Navigating across junk-covered floors and narrow alleys full of bustling people is as clunky and chaotic as ever–but that only makes getting better at doing so all the more satisfying.
The biggest change to gameplay comes with the addition of items, or Freebies, which consist of four objects: a magnet, a stopwatch, a sonar device, and rockets. Similarly to Mario Kart or Monkey Ball, you can obtain these items simply by rolling over them, and must then press a button to activate them. Each item’s power is fairly self-explanatory–the magnet attracts objects, the sonar helps you locate key items, the stopwatch pauses time, and the rockets give you a speed boost–and are all relatively helpful. That said, I found myself wishing there were more of these items, and to them. One of the best parts of a Katamari game is when you reach that point where you feel all-powerful–when the once-too-large-to-roll-up structures impending your fun get sucked up into it. Literally. These Freebies fail to introduce the level of chaos and power I was hoping for. They’re short-and-sweet little perks, sure, but they don’t revolutionize gameplay.
However, everyone knows the real charm of Katamari lies in its levels, and rest assured that those in Once Upon a Katamari are an absolute blast to play. Infectious J-pop–or more suiting instrumental music, depending upon the era–accompanies each course and always seems to bring the exact energy you need; objects and stages are thoughtfully (and humorously) designed, and are visually splendid; the general conceits of most levels are extremely funny and make for memorable experiences. The best of these levels are the ones that break expectations, or amplify the game’s theme of rediscovering and celebrating our history. For example, one course in Ancient Greece entitled “Philosopher Hunt” tasks you with finding a handful of famous philosophers on the map. As you roll them up, a large portion of your screen’s real estate is then taken up by one of their famous quotes. My personal favorite level, “Lots of Yokai,” tasks you with rounding up demons to join the Night Parade of 100 Demons, a procession described in Japanese folklore. The entire level takes place in the dark, and relies on you finding and rolling up eerie blue lights to better illuminate the map.
Once Upon a Katamari also introduces a new multiplayer mode: KatamariBall. In it, you’re tasked with collecting items and then bringing them back to your spacecraft to be beamed up while three other opponents do the same. Though the mode is introduced during a random level that sees you face off against AI opponents, it seems as though that was merely the teaser for what will be an entirely online experience. As the servers were not yet open, I couldn’t experiment too much with this feature, but what I did play seemed fun.
Yet as enchanting and inventive as these levels were, the downside of their existence is that they made me extremely aware of how simplistic the majority of Once Upon a Katamari’s other levels are. When there are courses that cleverly explore folklore and history, or play with size, scale, and shape in exciting ways, visiting a level where your task is to make something relatively large in eight minutes, somehow, becomes mundane. When I went back to replay certain levels, I gravitated towards the ones that did something different–something innovative. Simply put, once you’ve had a taste of how thoughtfully designed these courses can be, it’s harder to find joy in simply rolling up a bunch of food–well, unless you’re doing it in that level that requires you to help a young heir up his gains. That one was pretty fun.
Ultimately this is a reflection of Once Upon a Katamari’s largest issue: It just doesn’t push the envelope enough for me. While there are no series quite like Katamari, there are plenty of titles that do something somewhat similar–that make room for people of all ages to enter a strange, little world and play within it as casually or sweatily as they desire. What ultimately sets them apart, and determines which ones stick with you or merely become “another entry,” is if they can successfully create these regular moments of delight that showcase their playfulness and innovation. Games like Mario Wonder and Astro Bot, both of which are eager to present players with their seemingly endless ideas and toolkits, are the types of games that stand out. And while certain moments of Once Upon a Katamari are every bit as joy-inducing and memorable, I find myself wishing the game fired on that level consistently.
Regardless, Once Upon a Katamari is still a fantastic time and the new must-play title in the series. It manages to perfectly capture what has always made Katamari so charming and special–the writing, the humor, the music, the absurdity of it all–and refines it into the best way to experience the series, regardless of if it’s your first time playing or if you’re a long-time fan. Though it seems absurd to claim I wanted Bandai Namco to commit even more to the bit with this game, more intention and innovation is all that keeps Once Upon a Katamari from being truly great. Regardless, it’s still a wonderful–and much-welcomed–return to the world of Katamari.
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