We Love Katamari

Did You Know?

• The game was released in Japan on July 7, 2005 as Minna Daisuki Katamari Damacy.
• Its cover art features the development team cheering outside Namco's head office in Yaguchi, Ōta.
• A remaster titled We Love Katamari Reroll+ Royal Reverie was released in June 2023 by Bandai Namco Entertainment.

Plot

The game opens with a self-aware plot: the King of All Cosmos, having finished rebuilding the stars, is stunned to learn that people on Earth actually liked his first game. To thank his new fans, he sends his son and the cousins back down to roll things into a katamari and grant their wishes. The second storyline goes back in time to show the King’s early life. His father, the Emperor, was harsh, always pushing him and punishing failure.

As a young man, the future King boxed. After he came in second in a tournament, the Emperor threw the trophy into a river in disgust. A fight over strawberry shortcake made the son run away, where he brawled with street punks who cut off the front of his pompadour. Down on his luck, he met a woman and they fell in love instantly.

When his father lectured him, the son lashed out and knocked him down, but the Emperor just walked away. Later, the son saw his father staring at the second-place trophy. Realizing the Emperor must have fished it out of the river, he understood the love behind the sternness. He burst in crying, knelt, and begged forgiveness.

His father accepted, blessing the relationship. Soon after, the Emperor fell ill, crowned his son the new King of All Cosmos, and collapsed. Later, the grown King paced a hospital waiting room. A baby’s cry came from the delivery room, a nurse called him in, and he and the Queen gazed at their newborn son, the Prince of All Cosmos.

Development

Namco announced We Love Katamari in April 2005 and demonstrated it at that year's Electronic Entertainment Expo, where it gained favorable reception. Keita Takahashi opposed creating a sequel, believing the industry relied too heavily on sequels that limited creativity. Namco had already begun work on a Christmas-themed version of the original without Takahashi. When he discovered the project, executives stated development would continue with or without his input, so Takahashi agreed to direct the sequel, tentatively titled Katamari Damacy 2.

He chose to theme the sequel around fan service in response to fan support for the original, stemming from his gripe with defining games through traditional methods like cover art descriptions. The team named it We Love Katamari in reference to this concept and the level structure of taking requests from fictional fans. The game was designed at a larger scale with a development team of 30 people. Takahashi mandated it keep the spirit of Katamari Damacy while feeling new.

Like the first game, it rarely attempts realism, focusing on heavily stylized and bizarre characters and environments. Takahashi wrote the story as self-referential, with characters knowing they are in a game. The multiplayer modes were originally created for Katamari Damacy but were cut due to time constraints.

Reception

We Love Katamari received positive reception upon release. Metacritic gave it an aggregate score of 86 out of 100, indicating generally favorable reviews. It sold over 116,000 copies in Japan by the end of 2005. The Sydney Morning Herald praised how the scale changes seamlessly, making areas accessible or off-limits according to the katamari's size.

The Times noted that Electronic Arts, the world's biggest games publisher, released a title that was new, entertaining, and original. GamePro and Game Informer praised the co-op mode, noting it took getting used to but was as polished and fun as single-player. GameSpot agreed that co-op could be a great acquired taste, while IGN was more critical, stating it did not work well at all. The music was received positively: Game Informer found dogs barking the theme song brilliant; GameSpy appreciated the ability to select songs; Eurogamer thought the music was better than its predecessor with re-recorded songs and classical pieces; GameSpot noted the music moved in a more experimental direction; X-Play found it one of the best but inferior to its predecessor.

Some critiques included Eurogamer criticizing imbalance in difficulty between levels, IGN stating the gameplay was not as appealing as the first game and expecting more creative changes, GameSpot criticizing the versus mode for having only three stages, and X-Play noting the game did not offer enough advancements from its predecessor.