Once Upon a Katamari Reveals New Music Video and Launch

Bandai Namco Entertainment started streaming a music video for Once Upon a Katamari on Thursday, the newest game in the long running Katamari Damacy series. The clip is set to “Katamari on the Doun” by Saki Hanami, and the game itself rolls out the same day on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC through Steam.

The new entry brings fresh stages and songs while keeping the cheerfully chaotic gameplay fans know. The story kicks off after the King of All Cosmos accidentally wipes out the Earth and the stars, leaving The Prince to travel through time and rebuild the night sky. Players can dress up The Prince and his 68 cousins with their own colors and facial features.

There is also a new four player competitive mode called KatamariBall, where everyone races to roll the biggest ball, and it works both online and offline. A Deluxe King of All Sounds edition rounds things out with 60 songs and 26 costumes pulled from earlier games.

Katamari has been rolling along for a while. Bandai Namco released the original Katamari Damacy on PlayStation 2 in 2004, and it went on to inspire a string of sequels across PlayStation consoles, the PSP, the PS Vita, Xbox 360, and mobile. The smartphone game Amazing Katamari Damacy followed in December 2017.

More recently, the HD remaster Katamari Damacy Reroll reached Switch and PC in 2018 and the PS4 and Xbox One in 2020. We Love Katamari Reroll+ Royal Reverie, an updated take on the 2005 game, arrived on a wide spread of platforms in June 2023, and Katamari Damacy Rolling LIVE launched on smartphones on April 3.

My take: I have a soft spot for how silly and warm this series is, and the idea of rebuilding the stars one rolled up ball at a time sounds like exactly the kind of gentle chaos I want after a long day.