We Love Katamari

We Love Katamari

PlayStation 2 - USA - 1st edition.

Developer Namco Publisher Namco Published 2005-07-07 Platforms PlayStation 2 Genres Comedy, Maze, Maze traversal Themes Cartoon, Surreal Series Katamari Distribution Commercial

We Love Katamari is a maze traversal video game developed and published by Namco on 2005-07-07 for the PlayStation 2. The game is the sequel to Katamari Damacy and the second in the Katamari series.

In the game, the Katamari have become famous due to the events of the first game, and they have fans on Earth who keep asking them to roll up new katamari balls at various locations and of differing consistencies. Just like before, you play one of the two-centimeter-tall Katamai spirits, pushing a ball around an area where everything smaller than the ball sticks to it. As more and more things stick to it, the ball gets bigger and bigger, allowing you to roll up even larger objects. In this game, you keep rolling to the point where you roll up planets and even the sun itself!

Personal

Own?	No.
Won?	Yes.
Finished	2022-07-25.

I was made aware of the Katamari series after seeing some fan art of the Prince and a katamari showing up on a graphic designer's blog that I frequented in the mid 2000s. Shortly after, I saw my friend playing this game and thought it was interesting. Years later, while searching for more video game music to listen to, I found "Katamari on the Rocks ~ Main Theme" from the first game which I enjoyed. I bought the remastered "Reroll" version of Katamari Damacy on Steam and beat it. A while later, when I had a computer capable of emulating the PlayStation 2, I started playing this game and beat it too.

Review

5	4	6	7	5

Best Version: PlayStation 2

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

• Just like before, the art style is a combination of funny and cute, and there are an enormous amount of objects to roll up, and, although they're boxy, they're still enjoyable to look at.
• The cut scenes are pretty great. The opening is especially hilarious.
• There are many enjoyable songs in the soundtrack. Though not as great as the first game, the songs are still good enough to justify owning the soundtrack.
• A couple new map styles have been created including rolling up a snowball, making a giant fireball that can't touch water, collecting clouds in the sky, destroying a gingerbread house, etc. Thankfully, the style where you have to avoid objects has been decreased to only a single map.
• There are a large number of alternate characters to find and use. Though, I thin most of them are too weird looking to be enjoyable, it still lets each player use their favorite. There are also presents which add additional costume options.
• The change in scale is even bigger than the first game going from thumbtacks to planets.
• I love how the characters wave goodbye when you quit the game.

Bad

• The game is a bit tired. It's less a new game and more an additional set of maps to Katamari Damacy. By the end of the first game, I was tired of it, and ready for something new. There isn't enough new content here, so, while I still had fun for a while, I didn't find this game nearly as enjoyable as the original.
• I don't like it when the King of Cosmo talks to you during the game and his dialogue boxes obscure your view.
• I wish the game would show you the stages where you can make the most improvements. I had finished some stages with 100% completion, but the characters in the hub still urged me to replay those levels instead of the ones where I still needed a lot of work.
• Stardust doesn't really add any mass to your katamari ball in the sun stage, it's really just for decoration. This means all the instances where you convert a planet to dust or fail and get star dust is just a waste of time.
• The minigame where you try to avoid getting shot by the King of Cosmos's eye beams is interesting, but nothing ever comes from it.

Ugly

• You are expected to play most of the levels at least twice with only slightly different objectives and layouts (several even three times). I was already getting bored, and this just made the game drag on.

Media

Box Art

I don't really like any of these covers, though the Korean box is the one I dislike the least.

• 

  Japan - The developers hold up signs outside the Namco building. It's a bit funny, but self-serving.

• 

  USA - Some katamari with their balls show up outside the house of the Prince. Are they going to roll up his house? Pretty boring.

• 

  Korea - Animals and plants with the Prince rolling up a tiny katamari ball.

• 

  Europe - Two katamari push a ball in an overly-artistic cover. Boring.

Documentation

• 

  Manual - USA.

Videos

Promotional.

Longplay.

Representation

Strong female character?	Fail	None of the women are important.
Bechdel test?	Pass	You can play as a female katamari and speak to other female NPCs.
Strong person of color character?	Fail	There are many Japanese people, but none are important.
Queer character?	Fail	There are no explicit queer characters.

Titles

Language	Native	Transliteration	Translation
English	We ♡ Katamari	We Love Katamari
Japanese	みんな大好き塊魂	Minna Daisuki Katamari Damashii	Everyone Loves Katamari Damacy
Korean	데굴 데굴~ 쫀득 쫀득~ 괴혼	Degul Degul ~Jjondeug Jjondeug~ Goehon	Crawling Crawling ~Chewy Sticky~ Ghost Spirit

Links