Katamari Damacy

Katamari Damacy
Developer(s)	Namco
Publisher(s)	Namco
Designer(s)	Keita Takahashi
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2
Release	March 18, 2004 August 12, 2004 September 22, 2004 (NA)
Genre(s)	Third-person action
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer

Katamari Damacy (塊魂, Katamari Damashii) is a Japanese video game designed by Keita Takahashi and published by Namco. It was released for the PlayStation 2 in Japan on March 18, 2004, in South Korea on August 12, 2004, and in North America on September 22, 2004. However, it has not been released in Australia or Europe.

The game's plot concerns a tiny Prince on a mission to rebuild the stars, constellations and Moon, which his father has accidentally destroyed. This is achieved by rolling a magical sticky ball called a katamari around various locations, collecting increasingly larger objects, ranging from thumbtacks to schoolchildren to mountains, until the ball has grown large enough to become a star. The game falls under both the puzzle and action game genres, since strategy as well as dexterity are needed to complete a mission.

Katamari Damacy's story, characters, and settings are bizarre and heavily stylized, rarely attempting any semblance of realism. The game's simple controls and colorful, blocky graphics make it appear to be targeted towards a young audience, but with its matter-of-fact, often twisted sense of humor, its innovative gameplay, and its surreal setting, it has attracted attention from gamers of all ages.

Name

In Japanese, 塊 (Katamari) means "clump" or "clod" and Damashii is the rendaku form of 魂 (tamashii, "soul" or "spirit"). Therefore, the phrase approximates to "clod spirit". The two kanji that form the name look nearly identical (sharing the same right radical) in a kind of visual alliteration. The name is officially transliterated as Katamari Damacy in most releases.

Alternative interpretations have been suggested which find meaning beyond the direct translation. For instance, to pack something (like a snow ball) is 固まる (katamaru), so the title could be seen as meaning "The spirit of clumping." Others have suggested a connection with the Japanese term Yamato Damashi. Additionally, damashii could be split in half and interpreted as 'dama' (rendaku of 玉, tama), meaning 'ball', and 'shii' (四囲), meaning 'circumference', making the title a pun. Unfortunately, the producer Keita Takahashi has not divulged much information on the origin of his game's title. When asked about it in an interview with Dengeki Online, he replied "It just popped into my head suddenly, and this is what it has been from the beginning."

Story

The plot of Katamari Damacy is very simple, with few deviations from the singular goal specified near the game's start. Although occasional cut scenes progress the plotlines, most of the game's dialogue comes in the form of instructions and rants given by the King of All Cosmos that are focused more on gameplay tips and humor than on directly developing the story.

The many quirks and idiosyncrasies of the game are left unexplained to the player in the plot. These unusual characteristics are somewhat reminiscent of the early days of computer gaming; Katamari Damacy evokes the type of gaming philosophy common to such early titles as Spindizzy, Pac-Man or Jet Set Willy (the last of which has a very similar plot device), where, due to memory restrictions, plot and characterization were typically neglected in favor of gameplay.

File:KingOfCosmos.jpg

The King of All Cosmos in the opening cut scene of Katamari Damacy.

The King of All Cosmos accidentally destroys all the stars in the sky while on a bender. The original Japanese release explicitly states that he was drunk, but the US release only mentions that he cannot remember what happened clearly and passed out afterwards. He sends his son, the Prince (who is five centimeters tall), to Earth to gather material with which to reconstruct the galaxy.

To gather this material, the Prince is given a katamari, a magical ball that will stick to any object it touches of a size no larger than its own (which includes anything it has gathered). The Prince then pushes the katamari around various locations and attempts to make it large enough to serve as a replacement star. Initially, the katamari can only pick up tiny items, such as loose change, thumbtacks, and ants. As it accumulates a shell of objects, its overall size grows, allowing it to pick up increasingly larger items such as fruit, milk cartons, small animals, children, cars, houses, stadiums, office buildings, rainbows, clouds, and sperm whales. There seems to be only one object excluded from this rule: the person pushing the katamari.

In addition, an adjacent storyline develops throughout the game showing the effects of the game's missions on the people of Earth. It is told entirely through cut scenes that follow each level, and focuses on the Hoshino family. The family is intent on watching astronaut father Tomio begin his trip to the Moon. In the end, Tomio's mission is called off because there is no Moon to which to travel. The final mission of the game, "Make the Moon", requires the rolling up of many or all of the objects on Earth, including the hapless family, Tomio's rocket, and, ultimately, the island on which the rocket was located. Following this, the Moon is recreated, and in the final cutscene, the entire family is seen on the Moon.

Characters

File:Hoshino2.jpg

The Hoshino family in a cut scene.

The King of All Cosmos: The reigning monarch of the entire universe, who has just accidentally destroyed all of the stars in the sky. He opens every level by giving the Prince the size goal and time limits of that level, and later judges the size of the finished katamari and the speed at which the goal was reached. He will also peek in occasionally during gameplay to comment on the Prince's progress or the unusual objects he gathers. The King is at least 3 km tall and generally has a jovial, carefree attitude, but he is also very demanding of the Prince and insults him frequently. If the Prince fails to meet the goal for a level, he finds himself facing a very displeased and disappointed King. Another of his quirks is his usage of the "royal we".

The Prince: The character controlled throughout the game, whose task it is to roll up objects with the katamari to fill the sky back up. He is never referred to as the Prince "of All Cosmos", even in the game's instruction manual; he is simply known as the Prince. He also has no spoken dialogue. He is said to be five centimeters tall by the King, although at the end of the game, the King claims that he has actually grown two centimeters.

The Queen of All Cosmos: She is rarely seen, and is only visible in the opening and ending sequences of the game. She has no spoken dialogue, and is always seen by the King's side. She is shorter than the King, but still towers over the tiny Prince.

Cousins: The Prince has twenty-three cousins, according to the game. The cousins are found in levels and can be rolled up like people and other objects if the katamari is of the proper size. The cousins cannot participate in missions, but can be used in multiplayer mode after they have been rolled up in single-player missions. The cousins vary widely in appearance and size. Eight of the cousins are female, and the other fifteen are male. The King of All Cosmos finds their strange shapes and dispositions "disturbing".

Hoshino family: An ordinary-seeming family that a plot parallel to the main one follows. The son, Mutsuo, seems to be the only one noticing most of the strange events that occur. He actually sees the katamari rolling in one of the cutscenes, and sees the King of All Cosmos in another. The daughter, Michiru, senses changes in the cosmos, and reacts with joy after each of the constellation levels. Her messages after these levels are often unusual, cryptic references to the constellation in question. The mother, Mizue, never sees the effects of the katamari, and tells her children to stop imagining things when Mutsuo tries to point them out. The father, Tomio, is an astronaut whose mission to visit the moon is canceled due to the absence of the moon and stars.

Gameplay

"Make A Star" mode in Katamari Damacy.

Katamari Damacy is a radical departure from traditional video game genres. There is no attack button, there are no "special moves" to unlock as the game progresses, and there are no bosses, distinguishing the game from most adventure and role-playing games. However, the game also does not fall into the familiar mold of puzzle games like Tetris—it features dialogue, a definite plot, and an explorable world, instead of an abstract puzzle challenge.

The game is also unusual in that getting a "game over" is impossible; it is possible to do very poorly on a mission or to run out of time, but the only conceivable "danger" in the game is from running into moving objects and animals that are too large to roll up, which at worst can cause a few objects to be dislodged from the katamari. The challenge in the game comes from the time limits and optional goals, which encourage playing the same level repeatedly to get a better score; getting through a level with a poor score is very easy, which can make Katamari Damacy an exceedingly short game for those who focus only on completing it rather than on getting especially good scores.

The game's graphical style is more simplistic than realistic; the graphics have a blocky appearance that economizes polygons. The cut scenes are similarly styled, with everything composed of simple shapes, comparable to Lego toys in appearance. The individual objects have few details, allowing for a large number of things to be efficiently rendered on the screen without slowdown or popup. This includes the objects attached to the katamari, all of which are constantly rendered.

Controls

The katamari is moved entirely by the two analog joysticks in a manner similar to the classic arcade game Battlezone. The Prince pushes his katamari over smaller objects, picking them up and increasing the size of his katamari, which in turn allows him to grab larger objects.

The difficulty of picking up each object is not directly related to mass or volume; every object has a threshold value indicating that once a katamari is the same size or larger than that value, it can be rolled up. These threshold values are not determined by the size or weight of the object, but rather the volume of its bounding box, an invisible box that barely contains the object. This sometimes defies common sense, as an open beach umbrella is more difficult to pick up than a small car. Another striking example of this anomaly is that of a manhole cover and a small dog: the small dog actually has a threshold value six millimeters larger than that of the manhole cover. Long, narrow items, such as pencils, fences, and lampposts, are easily grabbed, even if the length of the object is significantly greater than the diameter of the katamari. This can make rolling awkward for the player as the object protrudes from the katamari. The protruding object will briefly lift the katamari off the ground when it is rolled over until it is knocked off, or until more objects are accumulated to counter the imbalance.

When the katamari grows to certain target sizes, which differ in each level, the screen blurs for a few moments and the gameplay changes slightly. The world and its objects become smaller in relation to the katamari, making the objects slightly easier to pick up, but with less of an effect on the size of the katamari. In addition, any objects that have become too small to affect the size of the katamari disappear from the world.

Game modes

File:Katamari ps2 8.jpg

Multiplayer mode in Katamari Damacy.

There are three kinds of levels in Katamari Damacy's single-player mode: "Make a Star", "Constellation" and "Eternal".

In "Make a Star", the player is given a time limit (in minutes) and a goal (in centimeters or meters). The katamari must grow to the indicated size before time runs out. Whether or not the player is successful, play continues until the time limit has been reached. At the end of the limit, if the target size is reached, the katamari, along with the objects attached to it, becomes a new star. The larger the katamari, the larger the star in the sky. The final level, "Make the Moon", is played the same way. Unlockable rewards are given if the player can reach the goal size very quickly or make the katamari much larger than required.

In addition to the major goals of each level, there are some other prizes that can be acquired. Hidden throughout the levels are a total of 15 presents from the King of All Cosmos. If the player rolls a present into the katamari and keeps it until the end of the level, the Prince is rewarded with an accessory that he can equip. One of these is a camera, which can be used to take screenshots during gameplay; the rest are simply decoration. Other prizes that can be found on a number of levels include the Prince's cousins, which are playable in multiplayer mode.

In the "Constellation" levels, the goal is tailored to match the constellation given. Most levels are centered around collecting as many themed items as possible. For example, to recreate Cancer, the katamari must collect enough crabs. To recreate Virgo, the required item is "maidens"—any human female, from young girls to old women, and even representations, like dolls and statues, will count. For Pisces, the player must collect fish; for Gemini the player must collect identical pairs of items. There is only a certain number of these items in each constellation level, and there is also a time limit, usually more strict than that of the other missions. The player's katamari is judged on the percentage of the desired objects the player rolled up out of all of the objects of that type available. The higher the percentage, the brighter the constellation.

Other Constellation levels have more specific goals. To recreate Ursa Major, the player must find and grab the largest bear (real or fake) they can find. Rather than having a time limit, the level ends only whenever the katamari picks up a compatible item. The player must keep the katamari away from tiny bears before it is big enough to grab a more substantial bear. Taurus has a similar goal, to catch a large cow. Note that for most of the Constellation levels, the type of item that qualifies is rather loosely defined, applying to almost anything that resembles the goal—for example, a man in a bear suit counts for the Ursa Major level, and anything with a cow-pattern print on it counts for the Taurus level, even pylons and boxes.

There is also a level to make the North Star, which is considered a constellation in the game. The player's goal in the level is to get the katamari to exactly 10 meters, or as close to it as possible, with no size indicator to show how large the katamari is at any point. There is a bit of leeway, however, as the resulting katamari is only measured in meters and centimeters, not millimeters.

In the "Eternal" levels, there is no goal, and no time limit. The player is free to roam around the level getting as big as possible, until they decide to quit. There are only three Eternal levels available, and they must be unlocked by building a katamari much larger than the required size on Make a Star 4, Make a Star 8, and Make the Moon. The Eternal levels are nearly identical to the standard versions of the three levels, but they produce separate five-pointed stars in the sky, instead of the more rounded stars produced by the Make a Star levels.

There is a two-player game in Katamari Damacy. A player can pick either the Prince or one of his numerous cousins to play as. The screen is split vertically; player one is on the left, and player two is on the right. Both players compete simultaneously in a small arena to collect the most objects within three minutes. The playfield is replenished with new objects periodically. In addition, if one player leads by a fair amount, they can even collect their opponent and the opponent's katamari.

Areas

The game takes place in one of three types of areas, each of them used in multiple missions. In some missions, only certain parts of an area are accessible, but in others the entire area can be explored. Although the three area types maintain the same scenery and layout, placement of the objects to be rolled up by the katamari differs between missions.

• House: The house is the area where the first missions, with a katamari size up to about 1.30 meters, are played. It is simply a small, traditional Japanese house with a kitchen, dining area, bedroom, entry hall (genkan), bathroom, and a small attached yard. Also included are the streets in the immediate neighborhood. The roof of the house can be accessed, but this is somewhat difficult.
• Town: The town is the area where missions involving katamari between 90.0 centimeters and 25.5 meters take place. The town consists of an upper section of densely packed homes centered around a very small park. In the center of the park is a sandbox, and down the hill from this area is a shopping district and a large park area with a lake. The shopping district has several small farm fields and a river running through it. The area around the lake has more fields and a baseball field as well.
• World: This is the largest area in the game. It is used for katamari sizes larger than three meters, up to the maximum size of about 950 meters. The world includes many cities, islands and other towns. The katamari starts off in a small park area, but usually outgrows this locale very quickly.

Reception and awards

Katamari Damacy is an unusual game, and it was originally believed that it would have limited appeal, preventing a release outside of Japan. Indeed, even in Japan the game was only a moderate success, with 155,869 units sold in 2004 despite its low price tag of ¥4725, about two thirds the price of a regular PS2 game. Namco speaks of "robust demand" for the game in Asia in its annual sales report for 2005.

Katamari Damacy was first shown in the United States at the Experimental Gameplay Workshop during the March 2004 Game Developers Conference. Due to the popularity of Katamari Damacy at trade shows and a write-in campaign, Namco decided to release the game in the United States. Furthermore, to spur sales of the game, it was priced at only around US$20.00, less than half the usual price of a new game. The game was very well received by professional reviewers, was mentioned and praised on TechTV, and was a featured sidebar in the May 23rd edition of Time magazine. Time continued to praise the game in its November 22 "Best games of the year" special, calling it "the most unusual and original game to hit PlayStation2". Most retailers underestimated the demand for such a quirky game, and only purchased a few copies of this sleeper hit; it rapidly sold out nationwide, its sales passing the 120,000 units mark in North America.

Katamari Damacy won the gold prize at the 2004 Japanese Industrial Design Promotion Awards, the first time a video game has won this award. It also won the award for "Excellence in Game Design" at the 2005 Game Developers Choice Awards, and G4techTV awarded Katamari Damacy its "Best Innovation" prize in its G-Phoria of that year.

Although the game has rapidly achieved a cult following and has been praised by many reviewers, it also has its share of criticism. A common complaint is that the game is relatively short and repetitive—it can be completed in under ten hours, and the gameplay stays virtually the same all the way through. However, others, such as Electronic Gaming Monthly reviewer Mark McDonald, argue that the game's limitations are made up for by its strengths. "Sure, you're basically doing the same thing each mission, but Katamari's elegant controls, killer soundtrack, and wicked humor make it perfectly suited for replay."

The original game did not get a release in PAL territories such as Europe and Australia, since publishers thought it was too "quirky" for these markets. We Love Katamari, however, was picked up for release in Europe by Electronic Arts, and the PSP game Me and My Katamari is due for release in Europe, again through EA, on May 5th, 2005.

Soundtrack

Main article: Katamari Fortissimo Damacy

The music in Katamari Damacy was widely hailed as imaginative and original, and was considered one of its top selling points. The soundtrack was released in Japan as Katamari Fortissimo Damashii. Its eclectic composition featured elements of traditional electronic video game music, as well as heavy jazz and samba influences. Most of the tracks were composed by Yu Miyake, and many of the tracks feature vocals from popular J-pop singers such as Yui Asaka from the Sukeban Deka 3 TV series, a vocal sung and written by Charlie Kosei, composer of the Lupin III soundtrack, and anime voice actors, including Nobue Matsubara and Ado Mizumori.

Sequels

The sequel to Katamari Damacy, We ♥ Katamari (みんな大好き塊魂, Minna daisuki Katamari Damashii, more literally translated as Everyone loves Katamari Damacy), was released in Japan in July 2005, North America in September 2005 (some retailers, such as Target, released it early) and Europe in February 2006. We ♥ Katamari is essentially the same as Katamari Damacy in its gameplay, controls and graphics, but adds several new options, such as co-operative play and an optional new scoring system based on the monetary value of the objects picked up. Also, the sequel is substantially longer, and its plot is very self-referential—it deals with the fans the King of All Cosmos and his son have attracted since the first Katamari game.

Namco has also brought the Katamari franchise to the PlayStation Portable in the form of Me and My Katamari (僕の私の塊魂, Boku no watashi no Katamari Damashii, literally My My Katamari Damacy). This sequel is set on an island ravaged by a tsunami (brought upon by the Royal Family's vacation, where they were splashing around in the ocean), and features a day and night system, as well as different seasons.

Although a Nintendo DS version was on a list of games planned for the system in an issue of Nintendo Power, Namco has not made any official announcements as to whether the game actually exists.

Katamari-inspired works

As a well-executed, non-traditional game, Katamari Damacy has been influential in the game development community. Now, more than a year after its release, a number of designers have developed works inspired by Katamari: among them Isostar, and Cloud.

Namco itself had also added a Macromedia Flash mini-game on their official Minna Daisuki Katamari Damacy website. The game has since then been taken down or moved from the Japanese website, but it is found here on the American website translated into English.

External links

• Official website in Japanese or English, and a trailer demonstrating the game's concept and soundtrack.
• The Flash version of game is 2D but still captures the feeling
• Hints and tips from GameFAQs
• Katamari Damacy at MobyGames
• Speed run videos at Speed Demos Archive
• Katamari Damacy reviews at GameRankings.com
• A Japanese commercial for Katamari Damacy at Waxy.org
• A portrait of Katamari's creator Keita Takahashi (creative commons copyright)