Once Upon a Katamari

Written by Joseph Moorer on 11/13/2025 for SWI  

Story time, and I'm letting the cat out the bag. Our Editor in Chief and I go back to 1997. We used to work at Kay-Bee Toys together. I don't understand how we're friends at all, because Eric will tell anyone who listens that I once hit him over the head with a foam bat. He was upset to say the least, because underneath that foam was a hard plastic shell, so if kids hit a ball, they at least wouldn't hurt themselves. Eric is the one who allowed me to record a song to be featured on an album that shall not be named.

He also introduced me to a quirky 2004 game called Katamari Damacy. The premise was simply explained. "You have this ball, and the object is to roll [things] up. The more things you roll up, the bigger the ball gets, allowing you to roll up bigger things. You have a timer, and you have to meet a certain size based on the timer. You should try it." So, I did, and I failed. Eric, without missing a beat goes, "Yeah, this [game] is hard, dude!" That's all it took. 

I was addicted to Katamari Damacy. I played it all the time. I think I borrowed Eric's copy and didn't give it back for months before I bought my own. I tracked down the music for years. I'm in a 13-piece party band, so I've played Gin & Tonic & Roses at wedding cocktail hours. I bought Katamari Damacy ReRoll the day it came out, and my 5-year-old loves the game and music too.

This would be my first time reviewing a Katamari Damacy game, so as you read this review for the latest entry, take heed. There are things I love about this game, and things that frustrate me about this game. And the game hasn't changed much over the years. This one is called Once Upon A Katamari. It is a Bandai Namco love letter to the series. 

The story premise is similar to all the previous games. As the game lore goes, The King of Cosmos does anything he wants. In doing whatever he wants, he ends up destroying the world, or in some cases, the entire cosmos. You, as the Prince, are tasked to go to different places, or planets, to roll up the scattered pieces of the destroyed cosmos, and release them back into the cosmos as different planets, stars, constellations, or whatever the King wants. The King usually sets this up with a bunch of non-spoken text banter, that you can thankfully speed through or skip. He had me in the first few games, but not anymore. I hardly listen to him anymore. Give him a shot for the first few, but don't feel bad if you skip a screen or two. He'll be ok. He will talk to you more throughout the game. 

The tutorial is the way the game ropes you in with its simplistic controls. It's a twin-stick game. If you push both control sticks forward, the prince will move the Katamari forward. If you pull the sticks down, you go backwards, as you probably already guessed. You can click a control stick for a flip around if you're against a wall. You can even get a bird's eye view. Once you start picking stuff up, you probably start to feel like not only is this game easy, but you may not get it. This is the point of the tutorial. This game wants you to be a little cocky, like the King. It's only a matter of time before it's game time, and other tasks kick in. 

In this title, the King of the Cosmos will reassemble the galaxy using time travel. Aboard the S.S. Prince, the king's plan is that if he travels through different eras in time, it would be way easier to just rebuild the cosmos again from scratch. This feels very Thanos-like. The eras you travel throughout range from the Stone Age, to the Jurassic period, and even Edo Japan. I'm sure there are knowledgeable easter eggs within the King of Cosmos's lengthy speeches, but they're so long. Like really long. This is where I would've preferred the voice acting instead of the opening prologue. 

The eras are essentially worlds. The levels are split using different characters you have to interact with. These characters ask you to help them clean up their part of the era, for they don't know what is happening. You are given a brief version of what they're experiencing, followed by yet another lengthy dialogue from The King. Then you're dropped into the stage, and you are told what you need to do to clear the stage. Some objectives have you make a particular size of a Katamari by a certain time. Others will have you collect a number of a certain item.

You'll also get different challenges, like speed runs. Speed runs don't give you a time limit, but just a size. I found these the most fun, and quickest way to clear levels. The most frustrating levels were the ones where I was told to collect one thing. Once you roll your Katamari over this one thing, the level is over. 

You can roll the Katamari anywhere you want, and if the item is smaller than you, you can pick it up. I always start by picking up everything in my path and then circling back to pick up the bigger things. Once Upon a Katamari has made it easier for users two ways.

The first is there are powerups littered throughout the stage. A magnet allows you to grab all the nearby things that can fit. A rocket allows you to speed through the stage. A stopwatch allows you to stop the timer, and the stage, so you can collect things that may be running away from you. My favorite powerup is the radar. The radar shows you where your extra objectives are, in presents, crowns, and cousins. 

Crowns can be rolled up, and count toward unlocking new levels. They are optional up to a point, to where the game tells you to go back and look for them before you can progress. The cousins are just other characters that you can be. There are 68 of them. If you want to switch the Prince out for a cousin, you can at any time. The cousins have no special powers or anything. Collecting presents will net you some cool customizable items, like sunglasses, or scarves.

The Crowns and cousins, though optional, is how you unlock more stages in other eras. Be aware of that. The second way is the game gives you a grade as you're playing. The grade goes down, or up in some cases, based on your in-stage progression. Use this as a tool to present the best Katamari to the King of the Cosmos. He won't like it if you slip up. 

The fun here is rolling over everything. Matches, money, cards, batteries, dogs and cats. Spiders, butterflies, people, buildings, volcanoes, clouds and tornadoes. As you progress in the game, you get the chance to roll bigger Katamaris. The stages also tell you where you can go once your Katamari gets big enough.

Listening to each sound of each thing getting picked up is just plain funny at times. It's a genuine joy to watch my kid play this game, as it is easy to pick up, and the reading in it doesn't really matter, even though she tries. It really is a treat, and it's where the addiction comes from for these games. The downside is if you fail—and the King comes down on you. 

Now, I've been playing Katamari a long time. While there are some quality-of-life improvements, there are some things that I wished would go away. At any time you want, you can go into a sub menu and go to any stage you want. You can even see what crowns, presents, or cousins you didn't collect. The game also lets you unlock and choose your music. If you got the digital deluxe version, the music from all the Katamari titles is included, and some customizations.

The downside with this game is that The King talks to you with his words covering the whole middle of the screen. Sometimes, there's a way to skip this, or speed it up. Others, there isn't, and you just have to wait. If you're replaying a level, and you just want to get moving, you can interrupt him and just start rolling. He reminds you every time that he hates being ignored and won't tolerate it any further. Remember, sometimes you let him get his whole thing out. 

In the S.S. Prince, you can view a gallery of items you picked up. You can customize the "break room" too. There's an online feature called Katamari ball, where you and three other opponents try to roll up as much as you can. If you get big enough, you can roll up your opponents. You have a time limit, and you have to sit your Katamari under a UFO, to score points. No one was playing this, so luckily, there's a local version. The S.S Prince allows you to access this mode, but you can also access it in different eras, where you'll take on CPU players. You can also view the movies you've unlocked, if you ever want to sit through those again. 

I'm playing the Nintendo Switch version. I hate being this person, but it's happening. There are instances of pop up, even if I'm right next to something. It runs at 30 fps on the Switch 2, but I stumbled upon a video of the game on the PS5, running at 60 fps. Where's my Nintendo Switch 2 version, Bandai Namco? It was also over before I could really get into it. There are unlockable stages and an eternal stage to just collect everything, for replay value. I did play Katamari Damacy over and over again, but I don't know if I'm excited or just rolled out. Even with the powerups, and the grades to make the requirements easier, it's the same Katamari you've come to know and love, with the same annoying King of Cosmos micromanaging the whole thing. "Leave me alone, Dad! I'm 21 now!" said the Prince, probably.