Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. Features

‘Katamari Damacy Reroll’ is pure gaming nirvana

Ditch the meditation app. 'Katamari Damacy Reroll' is pure gaming zen

By
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Katamari Damacy originally launched in 2004 on PlayStation 2. At that time, I was an awkward and weird 13-year-old, which made that quirky game about rolling over stuff with a ball resonate with me. I looked weird. The misshapen ball composed of thumbtacks, signs, cats, bowls, toothbrushes, and a human or two? Well, that sure as hell looked weird, too.

Fourteen years later I’m obviously still weird, but I think I look a bit better. And what do you know? Katamari Damacy Reroll, an HD remaster that got this bizarre franchise rolling, looks a whole lot better, too. Once again, it’s a perfect fit.

Revisiting Katamari Damacy after all these years does more than just pique nostalgia. Katamari Damacy Reroll is a great game by 2018 standards, too. It holds up remarkably well and is as charming, joyous, and relaxing as it was in 2004.

To Earth and beyond

For those who haven’t played the cult hit, Katamari Damacy tells the tale of a young prince sent to Earth to retrieve literally everything in order to rebuild the moon and the stars. Why? His father, the King of All Cosmos, accidentally destroyed the galaxy after having one too many drinks.

Related

There’s something extremely cathartic about rolling over objects and watching them become part of your growing ball.

The lime green prince, whose head looks like a pill capsule, is comically small for the objective. But the King of All Cosmos knows best. The prince is zipped off to Earth with only a katamari — a ball with excellent sticking properties to gather the goods. How do objects like boxes of cereal and tiny elephants help recreate the moon and stars? No idea, but it’s awesome anyway.

Each time you’re beamed to Earth, you have a certain amount of minutes to roll your ball to a set size. The stages start off small in scale. In early levels, you go from picking up small household objects to small animals to humans. In later levels, you’re rolling over homes and skyscrapers and even mountains. With each level, the scope of your mission increases.

There’s something extremely cathartic about rolling over objects and watching them become part of your growing ball. Sometimes, oblong shapes make the ball move not quite as smoothly, only adding to the charm. It’s funny to watch a screaming human, in all of his or her blocky glory, become part of your creation. The satisfaction of returning to an area to scoop up items that were initially too large to attach to your ball is immense.

Rolling in HD

Reroll definitely looks the part, too. Although the environments and objects still have muddied textures and polygons are evident, everything is brighter and clearer. The colors are vibrant and you never have to guess what it is that you’re about to add to your katamari. The prince himself is more adorable than ever. If only we could get him in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Most notably, Reroll doesn’t have an auto-save feature. If you forget to save your game manually, you’re out of luck.

A new control scheme, dubbed Simple, is included in the remaster. This scheme lets you control your movements with one thumbstick and the other with the camera. It doesn’t work nearly as well as it sounds, sadly.

Reroll‘s dual thumbstick control scheme still works very well. Yes, it’s awkward and clumsy at times but that’s sort of the point. A miniature prince should have a hard time turning and moving a ball that’s ten times his size. The controls adequately and charmingly represent the struggle and zaniness of the situation.

The one area that could’ve used a true makeover is the menu system. Between each mission, you walk around your home planet. Here you have to literally walk to adjust the settings, save your game, or choose the next mission. Most notably, Reroll doesn’t have an auto-save feature. If you forget to save your game manually, you’re out of luck. This isn’t a huge deal, but it did remind me of how much games have evolved to be more player-friendly over the years.

Though Reroll is available on PC and Nintendo Switch, the Switch feels like its natural home. While the PC version looks prettier, playing Reroll in handheld mode on Switch is a dream. If you’re brave, you can also utilize the Joy-Con for motion controls. These work better than I expected, but I think they take away from the game’s relaxing identity.

The soundtrack makes the serene experience even better. Katamari Damacy had one of the best PS2 era soundtracks. It stands the test of time. The jazz-infused electronic music coupled with catchy vocals will have you bobbing your head along to the beat. Before long, you enter a Katamari trance, hypnotized by the singular, pleasing goal.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Steven Petite
Steven Petite
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Steven is a writer from Northeast Ohio currently based in Louisiana. He writes about video games and books, and consumes…
This creepy game is a picture-perfect throwback to PS1 horror
Mara walks through an amusement park in Crow Country.

Have you ever found yourself thinking that old video games used to be scarier?

I know I'm in that boat. Nothing creeps me out more than the original Resident Evil or Silent Hill 2. Some newer games might hit me with some extra jump scares, but many titles that really stick in my mind tend to be from older eras. There's one obvious reason for that: I was younger and dumber then. But that only tells half the story. There's something undeniably creepy about 1990s horror games made before the days of photorealism. It's hard to put a severed finger on it, but a new indie game might help.

Read more
Netflix subscribers are getting five games, including Sonic Mania Plus
Sonic give a peace sign in an animation.

Netflix unveiled the lineup of games it plans to bring to its game catalog over the course of May. The ones that stand out the most are Sega's excellent Sonic Mania Plus and Askiisoft's violently satisfying action game Katana Zero.

Sonic Mania Plus is the definitive 2D Sonic game. Made by fan-game makers turned game developers, Sonic Mania Plus is equal parts a throwback to Sonic's Genesis games and a clever platformer for the modern day. It has been available on PC and consoles for years, but Netflix is finally giving players an official way to play it natively on mobile. Sonic Mania Plus is available through Netflix starting today, May 7.

Read more
Should you play Hades 2 in early access or wait for the full game?
Melinoe fighting under a full moon in Hades 2.

After what felt like a much longer wait than it really was, Hades 2 is out now in early access. PC players can dive into the roguelike sequel right now and start their war against Chronos. Not everyone is rushing to buy their copy, though. Since its release, I've seen a common question across social media and my own personal circles: "Should I play it now or wait for 1.0?"

It's a great question. Personally, I rarely ever play games in early access. I'd much rather prefer to wait for a game's full release so I can play the feature-complete version all at once. I intended to do the same with Hades 2, especially since it's more narrative driven than your average roguelike, but I made a rare exception here. Call me weak, but the good news is that I can now answer that burning question: Should you play Hades 2 now or later? You won't be let down either way.
Should you play early access or not?
If you're skeptical about early access, I don't blame you. The term generally implies that a game is incomplete in key ways, which can lead to an unfulfilling experience. This year's surprise hit Palworld is an extreme example of that. While it hooked players right out of the gate, the early access version was fairly bare bones. That led to a major player drop-off as developer Pocketpair, Inc. looked to staff up to keep up with demand. Roguelikes tend to be especially unsatisfying in early access too. Rogue Legacy 2 initially launched with a limited taste of a full run, including only four character classes. You were better off waiting for 1.0 unless you actively wanted to help shape the game.

Read more