Katamari

The Katamari (塊, lit. "Mass" or "Cluster") series is video game franchise created by Keita Takahashi and developed and published by Namco (and subsequently Bandai Namco Entertainment). The series puts players in control of a character called The Prince as he uses a ball called a katamari to roll up objects. The first title in the series was Katamari Damacy for the PlayStation 2, which became a cult classic and led to several sequels and spin-offs.

Gameplay and setting

In most games, players typically control the player character The Prince as he is ordered to do various tasks by the King of All Cosmos; for example, in the first title, the King binge drinks and inadvertently destroys all of the stars in the cosmos, to which The Prince is now tasked with fixing. To do this, The Prince uses an object called a katamari, which can roll up certain objects, depending on the Katamari's relative size to them. Players typically control the katamari using two analog sticks; players move forward and backward by pushing the analog sticks in that direction simultaneously. They can turn the katamari by pushing only one stick in the desired direction or pushing the sticks in opposite directions to do so faster.(Often described as 'tank controls') Players may also do a 180 turn that causes the Prince to jump on the other side of the Katamari typically by pressing the two sticks down into the controller. Players may cause the katamari to roll at high speeds typically by rapidly moving the two sticks in opposite directions back and forth. Players may also cause The Prince to jump and get a better look at the world by pressing L1. More recently, players are given the ability called the "Prince Hop" as well as look at the world in the first person.

Katamari Damacy

Katamari Damacy (塊魂, Katamari Damashii, lit. "clump soul") is a third-person puzzle-action video game developed and published by Namco for the PlayStation 2. It was first released in Japan and then later in North America. The game resulted from a school project from the Namco Digital Hollywood Game Laboratory, and was developed for less than $1 million. In designing Katamari Damacy, the development team aimed to maintain three key points: novelty, ease of understanding, and enjoyment.

The game's plot concerns a diminutive prince on a mission to rebuild the stars, constellations, and Moon, which were accidentally destroyed by his father, the King of All Cosmos. This is achieved by rolling a magical, highly adhesive ball called a katamari around various locations, collecting increasingly larger objects, ranging from thumbtacks to people to mountains, until the ball has grown great enough to become a star. Katamari Damacy's story, characters, and settings are bizarre and heavily stylized, rarely attempting any semblance of realism, though the brands and items used are based on those current in Japan during the game's production.