Katamari

Did You Know?

• Keita Takahashi created 'cheerfully bizarre' sculptures as a student at Musashino Art University, which inspired him to entertain audiences and join Namco as a visual artist.
• Takahashi wanted to create a game where players could do something only possible in a game and that was not formulaic.
• The series creator did not originally go into coding.

Gameplay and setting

In most Katamari games, the player character, The Prince, follows orders from his father, the King of All Cosmos. In Katamari Damacy, the King has destroyed the stars and constellations, and The Prince must rebuild them by combining objects into a singular ball called a katamari ball, which can become a star, constellation, or stardust. The katamari ball can roll up objects depending on its relative size to them. Players control the katamari using two analog sticks: pushing both sticks forward or backward moves the ball in that direction, while pushing one stick or the sticks in opposite directions turns it faster, a method often described as tank controls.

Pressing both sticks down performs a 180-degree turn, and rapidly moving the sticks in opposite directions makes the katamari roll at high speed. Pressing L1 lets The Prince jump for a better view. Katamari Forever introduced the Prince Hop, allowing the katamari ball to hop.

Video games

The first game, Katamari Damacy, was released for the PlayStation 2 in Japan in March 2004. Its critical and commercial success led to a 2005 sequel, We Love Katamari, also for the PlayStation 2, with new environments and slightly improved physics. Me & My Katamari, a 2006 sequel for the PlayStation Portable, uses a different scenario and requires players to use the D-pad or analog nub and face buttons instead of dual analog sticks. The first mobile version, Katamari Damacy Mobile, was released in 2007 and offers tilt controls alongside traditional controls.

Beautiful Katamari, released in 2007, was the first major title for a non-PlayStation console and the first to support high-definition resolutions of 720p, 1080i, and 1080p; a planned PlayStation 3 version was canceled. Katamari Forever, released in 2009 for PlayStation 3, is mostly a compilation of previous levels with a new story and a few new levels. Touch My Katamari was released in 2012 exclusively for the PlayStation Vita, and Tap My Katamari for iOS and Android in January 2016.

Katamari Damacy Reroll, a remake of the original, was released for Nintendo Switch and PC in December 2018, and for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in November 2020. We Love Katamari Reroll+ Royal Reverie, a remake of We Love Katamari, was released in June 2023 for multiple platforms. In February 2025, Bandai Namco filed a trademark for Once Upon a Katamari, leading to industry speculation. Katamari Damacy Rolling Live was released in April 2025 on Apple Arcade.

Once Upon a Katamari was announced at the Nintendo Partner Direct in July 2025 for Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5, and released on October 24, 2025.