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The Katamari Damacy game series reached its 21st anniversary on March 18, 2025. Bandai Namco celebrated the occasion by revealing numerous new plushies that will appear in April 2025.

The first ones revealed are Nuigurumi Keyholders—better described in English as plush keychains—of the Prince and two of his cousins: Miso and Ichigo. Prices for these items will range from 1,760 yen (~$11.85) to 1,925 yen (~$12.95). Pre-orders are available at Natalie Store, which also s international shipping via the WorldShopping widget.

The next item revealed is a large plush featuring the titular Katamari ball, which will have a size of around 27 cm (~10.63 inches). Bandai Namco will release this plush as a crane game prize via the Banpresto brand.

In addition, Bandai announced that it is working on Narabundesu capsule toy figures that will feature the Prince along with Miso, Ichigo, Opeo, and Huey. The five figures will be available via Gashapon vending machines across Japan in April 2025.

The new plushies are not the only things Bandai Namco revealed in its press release. The company also announced that it is working with Village Vanguard to restock the merchandise revealed around the 2025 New Year holidays. The pre-order window for the new batch will open on March 19-30, 2025. The newly revealed Apple Arcade game, Katamari Rolling Live, is also part of the series' 21st-anniversary celebrations.

Katamari Damacy originally appeared for PlayStation 2 in Japan on March 18, 2004. Bandai Namco has since released Reroll remasters of the game and its 2005 sequel We Love Katamari for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

The post Katamari Damacy 21st Birthday Celebrated With New Plushies appeared first on Siliconera.

Village Vanguard will sell some exclusive merchandise of the Prince and his cousins from Katamari Damacy. This is to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the game. [Thanks, PR Times!]

Pre-orders will be available until January 19, 2025. Then, you can expect your orders to come out some time in Spring 2025. As a note, Village Vanguard does not offer international shipping via its website. So if you want to purchase these items but you don’t live in Japan, you might need to employ a proxy service.

Here are the items that are part of the Katamari Damacy Village Vanguard collection, as well as their prices:

• Acrylic mascot: 1100 JPY each
• Badge with flakes inside: 1320 JPY
• Clear card: 880 JPY each
• Plush hanging mascot: 2200 JPY each
• Stickers: 550 JPY each
• Sweater: 6600 JPY
• T-shirt: 3850 JPY
• Tote bag: 3300 JPY

You can purchase goods of The Prince, as well as his various cousins that appear in the franchise. This makes for 24 total variations of acrylic mascots and clear cards. The Prince and the King of the Cosmos feature on the T-shirts, and the flakes feature various items and level motifs from Katamari Damacy. There is even a massive cow, for those with fond memories of rolling up the Holy Cow.

The Katamari Damacy items at Village Vanguard are open for pre-order until January 19, 2025. Katamari Damacy Reroll is available on the PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Windows PC.

The post Katamari Damacy Prince and His Cousins Head to Village Vanguard appeared first on Siliconera.

Bandai revealed a new lineup of keychains featuring characters from the Katamari Damacy series. The company will release these items as capsule toys via Gashapon vending machines in late July 2024.

People will need to spend 300 yen to get one of these keychains at random. Each character in the keychain will be made of silicone and have an approximate height of 25 mm (0.98 in). The owner will be able to attach them to various items ranging from bag zippers to drink bottles and umbrella handles.

The lineup will primarily feature The Prince as the series protagonist and his father The King of All Cosmos. It will also include three of The Prince's cousins: Miso, Ichigo, and Beyond. Bandai chose these characters from the cousin popularity poll that Bandai Namco held following the release of We Love Katamari Reroll + Royal Reverie in June 2023. The aforementioned cousins made their way to the top three ranks in that poll.

Here are the sample images for each item in the lineup:

The Katamari Damacy "Mejirushi Accessory" keychains will be available at Gashapon vending machines across Japan in late July 2024.

The post Katamari Damacy Keychains Will Appear as Capsule Toys appeared first on Siliconera.

The Katamari Damacy 20th anniversary falls on March 18, 2024, and Bandai Namco has prepared numerous pieces of merchandise and new music on a soundtrack plans to celebrate it. The company will gradually release physical goods and digital soundtracks related to the Katamari clump-rolling game series. [Thanks, 4Gamer!]

Bandai Namco has first released a "KatamaRespect Remix" EP album featuring covers of Katamari Damacy series songs by Den-On-Bu characters, and this album is immediately available on multiple online music platforms, including Spotify and YouTube Music. The company will also release a Katamari Damacy original soundtrack on the same digital platforms in late March 2024.

Bandai Namco also revealed that it is working with multiple companies to release new Katamari merchandise. Torch Torch has opened orders for caps priced at 4,950 yen (~$33) and hoodies at 12,100 yen (~$81). Cake.jp is also selling cake jars featuring Katamari Damacy characters for 1,200 yen (~$8) individually until June 2, 2024.

Meanwhile, Animate will sell acrylic stands featuring all characters who appeared in the 2009 PS3 entry Katamari Forever from April 18, 2024, until May 20, 2024. Space A la mode will also release keychains of the Prince and other popular cousins in July 2024.

The first Katamari Damacy game came out for PlayStation 2 in Japan on March 18, 2004. Prior to the 20th anniversary, Bandai Namco released the game's remaster, Katamari Damacy Reroll, for Nintendo Switch and PC in 2018, as well as PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2020. Another remaster for the 2005 sequel, We Love Katamari, is also available since mid-2023 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X in addition to the aforementioned platforms.

The post Katamari Damacy 20th Anniversary Brings New Merchandise and Music appeared first on Siliconera.

The latest Nintendo Direct broadcast brought with it an announcement from the King (of all Cosmos). Bandai Namco is remastering 2005's We Love Katamari as We Love Katamari Reroll + Royal Reverie for the Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. The game releases on June 2, 2023.

Check out the announcement trailer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-KGt6Yido0

The game is a remastering of the PS2-era We Love Katamari, which was the sequel to 2004's surprise hit Katamari Damacy. As in the original, players control the Prince, a tiny alien that rolls up objects, people, and terrain into a giant "katamari" ball at the behest of his father the King of All Cosmos. The game has an escalating sense of scale, as players begin with a tiny ball rolling up small objects. As the Katamari grows bigger, more and larger objects can be glommed onto the mass. Notably, Katamari Damacy creator initially opposed the idea of creating a sequel to the game, but agreed to direct We Love Katamari after Bandai Namco (then still just Namco) began work on a Christmas-themed spin-off without his involvement.

We Love Katamari Reroll will have additional content as well, in the form of the Royal Reverie segment of the game. Royal Reverie puts players in control of the younger King of All Cosmos, back when he was training for the throne by his own father. The reverie takes the form of challenge levels and mini-game style puzzles. As in the original title, We Love Katamari Reroll will also cooperative and competitive two-player modes.

We Love Katamari Reroll + Royal Reverie launches on Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam on June 2, 2023. Katamari lovers can also pick up a Katamari Damacy-themed t-shirt at Uniqlo.

The post We Love Katamari Reroll Announced for June 2023 appeared first on Siliconera.

More video game shirts are heading to Uniqlo, courtesy of a Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) collection. In early March 2023, five will appear. All of them are tied to games like Katamari Damacy and SimCity, while still referencing the museum. Each one will cost $19.90. [Thanks, Keita Takahashi!]

Here’s the full list of video game MoMA Uniqlo shirts that will be available. Each one will be available in sizes XXS through XXXL. They are all going to be 100% cotton. Not to mention all five are unisex designs.

• Katamari Damacy - $19.90
• Pac-Man - $19.90
• SimCity - $19.90
• Space Invaders - $19.90
• Tetris - $19.90

Here’s a closer look at every shirt. The Katamari Damacy shirt with the Prince rolling up art supplies, SimCity one, and Pac-Man design with a MoMA maze all feature designs on the front and the games’ logos on the back. The Space Invaders and Tetris ones feature game logos on the front and MoMA-related designs on the back.
[gallery columns="5" size="full" ids="949468,949469,949470,949471,949472" link="file"]

Uniqlo frequently releases shirts tied to other properties. Ones inspired by shows, animes, and video games often appear. For example, it will be bringing back its "Big Three" shirts inspired by Bleach, Naruto, and One Piece.

The MoMA video game shirts will show up at Uniqlo in early March 2023 in Japan and North America.

The post SimCity, Katamari Damacy Game Shirts Heading to Uniqlo appeared first on Siliconera.

Katamari Damacy rolled into my life in 2004 when it originally released for the PlayStation 2. I was terrible at it, but it was so unique, so charming, and had an amazing soundtrack that I couldn’t let it go. I somehow spaced out on it when it released for the Nintendo Switch, but now that it’s back home on a PlayStation console, it’s time to roll up some stars.

If you’ve never played a Katamari game before, there really isn’t much of a story. The King of the Cosmos got drunk one night and bounced around the galaxy, destroying stars. For some reason, this is now his son’s problem, and the Prince has to create objects for the King to put in the sky as stars. He even gives his son size requirements for the future star and, if that wasn’t enough, there’s a time limit too. He’s being rather unfair about a problem he created.

Each level, the little Prince has a katamari ball he uses to roll over objects to add them to the ball. As the ball increases in size, the Prince can roll over even larger objects. It may take awhile for a 5cm katamari ball to reach 10cm, but once the ball is able to roll over larger objects—usually around 45cm—it doesn’t take long to grow the ball to over 1.5m.

This is one of those games where it is deceptively simple to play. Sure, you’re just rolling a ball around objects, but with that time limit, you have to employ strategy to what you roll up first. Not to mention, moving objects, like animals or people, or too-large-to-roll-up objects can knock objects off of the ball. All it takes is one ill-timed hit to knock 2cm off the katamari. That may not seem like much, but it can make or break your success.

I’m much better this time around, as 16 years gaming experience will do a lot for someone, which only makes the game far more enjoyable. Sure, there’s nothing overly complicated about it, but that’s what made it great back in 2004. Playing it again now in 2020, it’s still just as great.

It doesn’t look any differently visually, because the art design was simple back then. I do wish the developers had remastered the humans in the cutscenes, because they’re as creepy now as they were then. However, I’m glad the rest of the visuals stayed true to the original. There is just something charming about rolling over people who are about five steps above Minecraft villagers. Especially when they try to run away from the giant ball of impending doom. Yes, run and scream little ones. You’ll be part of my ball soon.

There’s plenty of replay value as well. You can always replay levels to try to create larger stars or find the Royal Presents the King can’t seem to hold onto to give his son. There’s also the constellation levels, where you need to roll up as many of one particular object as possible. To make the constellation Cancer, you’ll need to roll up as many crabs as possible, for example. It doesn’t matter how many you roll up, because the King will make it a constellation regardless. However, upon completion, you’ll see what percentage of those objects you rolled up. If you want to make the perfect constellation with all the things, replay as much as you’d like. There’s always room for more stars in the sky.

[caption id="attachment_861262" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Swan collecting for Cygnus[/caption]

Probably the best part about Katamari Damacy Reroll is the fact it doesn’t matter if you played the game before or not. It’s just as entertaining now as it was in 2004 with its charming gameplay and its still amazing soundtrack. It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve heard these tracks. They still bring a smile on my face as big as the King of the Cosmos’ ego.

Katamari Damacy Reroll is now available on PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4.

The post Katamari Damacy Reroll Will Roll Back Into Your Heart appeared first on Siliconera.

Bandai Namco filed a trademark for a new Katamari title, “Katamari Damacy Reroll,” in Europe today.

The post Katamari Damacy Reroll Trademarked In Europe appeared first on Siliconera.

Keita Takahashi's Never Ever Quest, an exhibition of the developer's artwork that plays out like an RPG, will be on display in Los Angeles this month.

The post Katamari Damacy Developer Turns An Art Exhibit Into An RPG appeared first on Siliconera.

Boss Fight Books, publishers of novel-length studies on classic games, are Kickstarting their third season of books.

The post Boss Fight Books To Publish Books On Kingdom Hearts II, Katamari Damacy appeared first on Siliconera.

The original Katamari Damacy is being released in North America as a PlayStation 2 Classic on PlayStation 3 this week.

As always, the game will be available on Tuesday, when the PlayStation Store is updated. Here’s the summary provided by Sony:

Ever wonder what it would be like to roll around and collect everything you touched in one massive heap? Well that’s exactly the premise of Namco’s strange action game Katamari Damacy. In it, players assume the role of the Prince of the Cosmos as he undertakes a quest to right the wrongs of his father who accidentally knocked the stars out of the sky. The only way to fix it is to roll around the world and collect as many items as possible in one gigantic clump. Both a single player story mode and two-player battle feature are included for the romp, and gamers will be able to accumulate hundreds of different items of various shapes and sizes.

The post Katamari Damacy Rolls Onto PS3 As A PS2 Classic This Week appeared first on Siliconera.

Namco Bandai will re-release the game that started the rolling over junk craze, Katamari Damacy, as a PS2 Classic in Japan.

Katamari Damacy was a surprise hit for Namco at the time and spawned a whole franchise. The Prince of Cosmos even has a cameo in Keroro RPG which was designed by the Tales team.

Katamari Damacy will be available on November 21 for 1,200 yen ($15). Japan's PlayStation Store has a different list of PS2 Classics including Contra: Shattered Soldier, Dragon Force, and Siren.

The post The Original Katamari Damacy Is Rolling On To PS3 As A PS2 Classic appeared first on Siliconera.

Namco Bandai’s Katamari Damacy—a game where you roll around picking things up along the way, almost like a growing snowball—has managed to roll its way into the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The game is part of the museum’s “Century of the Child: Growing by Design” exhibit, which is on show up until November 5th.

The Century of the Child: Growing by Design exhibit is a survey of 20th century design for children.  It’s described as an overview if “the modernist preoccupation with children and childhood as a paradigm for progressive design thinking”.

It covers everything from clothing, playgrounds and books to school architecture, children’s hospitals and furniture. Katamari Damacy, which was released for the PlayStation 2 in 2004, will be featured in the toys and game design section of the exhibit.

The post Katamari Damacy Rolls Into New York’s Museum of Modern Art appeared first on Siliconera.

Keita Takahashi, the creator of Katamari Damacy, left Namco Bandai and is spearheading a studio called uvula with his wife, a composer.

The official site says uvula will mainly work with music and video games. Maybe not this second, though. Right now, Takahashi is deg a playground and studying English.

Noby Noby Boy for iPhone was Takahashi's last game. The Katamari Damacy series lives on without Takahashi as a property of Namco Bandai.

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Keita Takahashi, the creator of Katamari Damacy, left his post at Namco Bandai. After working on the sequel, We Love Katamari, Takahashi handed the series over to Namco Bandai for future games.

“It's not that I don't want to make games necessarily… it's just that I don't know that this will be a career for me. If I do the same thing for my whole life, I'll become really narrow minded. So… I might make one more,” Takahashi said in 2006 interview with Gamasutra.

In 2009, Takahashi finished Noby Noby Boy, which was first released on PlayStation Network and later the iPhone app store. Speaking with The Setup, Takahashi said he is working on redeg a park in Nottingham, UK and his job was making “video games for the so-so company Namco Bandai Games Inc.”

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