Since its inception on the PS2 in 2004, the Katamari Damacy series has been a favorite and one that you can always play and never get tired of. The past few years have seen re-releases of the first two games on modern hardware with revamped graphics, and the series is one that I have loved showing appreciation for in the graveyard.
There are so many entries in it between the PS2, PS3, 360, PSP and Vita, but it has been dormant for a long time and with that comes the shift in culture tying into the game itself. The rise of otaku culture in the early ’00s thanks to the rise of Toonami and Adult Swim enabled it to come out without any changes made and that being such an authentic product allowed it to shine.
Today, Appleannouncedthat the franchise will return in an Apple Arcade-exclusive form with Katamari Damacy Rolling LIVE very soon.
The idea of the series has always been The King of All Cosmos sending his son to build up katamaris of certain sizes or of certain item types and the idea of his son being sent to fix the problems The King created always worked nicely, whether it’s a matter of him destroying the moon or being insecure and wanting to ensure he’s popular. Instead of it being a meta-story being told about sales ala We Love Katamari, it’s now about modernizing the franchise with the rise of livestreaming and Youtuber culture – with The King worrying that he’s losing popularity and now wanting to regain that popularity with the power of katamaris.
Apple announced that the franchise will return in an Apple Arcade-exclusive form with Katamari Damacy Rolling LIVE very soon.
The King has his subjects seemingly sending in requests via a YouTube comments-style message board and that delivery method is smart because it can be used to ensure that the game can become this live-service method of allowing the game to have a very long tail. One problem the series has run into was always feeling similar game-to-game with new games sometimes feeling like DLC, so having a setup that allows it to be updated constantly with new content for a set amount of time is a good thing.
Hopefully, it’s only a timed-exclusive for Apple Arcade, because it’s a fantastic value, but games have left the service and seemingly been lost to time before. This includes fantastic racing games like Detonation Racing, while other games like Fantasian have gone onto from Apple Arcade to get a full-on console and PC release and hopefully we see that happening with this game at some point.
Katamari Damacy Rolling LIVE hits Apple Arcade devices, including Apple TV devices, on April 3. This being playable with a controller ensures it should feel natural as a new entry right away too.
