Katamari Damacy Is Rolling Onto The Nintendo Switch This November

The original is good enough that I’ll get it as long as they is reasonably priced!

No physical, no buy

Hello shovelware my old friend.

I guess I don't need to emulate it anymore. Maybe.

@Al_Godoy Man, you are going on the ignore list for that!

This was my highlight of the presentation, not sure what that says about what was revealed

Can’t wait.

@Al_Godoy If this is shovelware than it's the most fun shovelware I ever played. I'm sad it's not a proper sequel.

I am SOOO excited for this. Day one purchase.
Its been way too long.

naaaaaaaaaaaaaaa nana nanana nanananaaaa katamari damashiiiii

This was easily the best announcement of the direct for me. Bigger than Animal Crossing. I’ve been waiting years to play Katamari on Nintendo hardware.

@Al_Godoy You have no clue what you are talking about. Katamari is quality.

@TJWorks I'll give it a go... I'm just tired of pastel looking kiddy stuff... I dreamt of Fire Emblem showing up on the direct, maybe a glimpse of Samus shooting something.

I'm a bitter old man.

@justin233 I have clues. Not many, but some.

Eh

I kept going back and forth in my head as to whether I wanted to get the original on PS4, thanks to this announcement I have no need to. So excited for this.

@GrailUK but why? I'm a nice person that hates one thing you love.

What's up with the colors? It's looking weirdly faded.
Though, still super happy for this announcement. <3

Really like the inclusion of gyro controls, seems like a great idea for this kind of game!

@Al_Godoy Yeh the direct was disappointing, but this Katamari port was a legitimate surprise. It's a fun goofy game where you destroy civilisations by a rolling a giant alien ball over them.

My avatar speaks for itself regarding how I feel about this announcement.

Ports of old games woooooooooo!

@Al_Godoy I wasn't being serious You are allowed not to like the game.

@Al_Godoy Katamari Damacy is from an era in game console releases when developers were still taking chances in physical releases. The game is bizarre and doesn't seem to make a lot of sense, but was a lot of fun and had an amazing soundtrack. My wife used a few for our wedding.

It's FAR from shovelware.

Annnnnnd Now the theme song is stuck in my head. Send help!

Yes yes yes, day one buy for me. This game is such a blast!!

An original game idea. The music is sublime. The main theme resonates in all the subsequent pieces of music really cleverly. The scale of the game is impressive and it's just full of charm. In my eyes, it's a proper video game.

@Al_Godoy This is actually a classic. Nice troll tho.

@KingdomHeartsFan Did they put the original version on the vita?

@faint thanks.

@Al_Godoy "I'm just tired of pastel looking kiddy stuff"

You should get a PSVR headset then, I wrote a long post today about how all of those games are gray like the DC movie universe.

http://www.pushsquare.com/news/2018/09/guide_best_psvr_games

@Luke937 Pretty sure it is going physical. It's up for pre-order at EB Games in Canada anyway.

https://www.ebgames.ca/Switch/Games/755539/katamari-damacy-reroll

I’m not sure if anyone noticed, but I’m slightly interested in this..... NA NAAAAAA runs off maniacally

Yooooou're lonely rolling staaaaarrrr….
Man I can't wait.

If they put the HD Rumble to good use - Joycon feel light and fast when it's small, heavy when it's big - think 1 marble small 3 marbles large - this could really be interesting.

Bought every Katamari game, even 'Wonderful End of the World" on Steam, we'll get this eventually when it gets down to $20, I'm guessing way too much $ at release.

@Cynas Good, if it's physical in Canada it will be in the US too.

@rjejr like the DC Universe hahahahaha... awesome.

I own a PS4, i do like more mature looking games. I love me some Mario, Luigi's Masion, Kirby games and tons of other kiddy stuff.. It just sometimes is too much.

Some people do get very sensitive about their game taste around here though, which is fine.

@GrailUK I wanna roooll you up into my life.

God, the music. When this came out on PS2, my buddies played it in the dorm. Near the end we were screaming “get that thing! Where is that?! Roll up Belize!” The whole series is just great

@KingdomHeartsFan yeah, they’re all the same mechanic. Some were better than others in terms of overall content. I liked Beautiful Katamari on 360 the best.

@HobbitGamer Aye, I'm so happy! I know some folk will complain about there being too many 'ports' but for Nintendo fans, it's more a case of 'FINALLY!'. This Direct was huge.

Huzzah! Hopefully we will get the latter sequels sometime in the future as well.

@Al_Godoy Katamari is definitely not Shovelwhere, bugger off.

@Al_Godoy I think its more the terms you are using that is garnering you the outraged replies. "shovelware" tends to be used for titles of high quantity and very low quality. Katamari might not be to your taste but it doesn't fit that definition so your one-liner comes off as a knee jerk reaction with no basis in either fact or personal experience.
Same with the "kiddie" descriptor. I need to find this adult world where all we do is participate and talk about sex and violence all day...I never see it in real life but I hear it used as a qualifier in video games....
Most NLers don't mind basic disagreements in taste (we are all different after all) but outright dismissals usually raise hackles.

tldr: I'd use more clear and descriptive terms to get my point across if I were you...to lessen misunderstanding. Just my two cents.

@Al_Godoy "Some people do get very sensitive about their game taste around here though, which is fine."

People are defensive here, but I find them to be mean over there sometimes. I try to take it all w/ a grain of salt. I finished Kirby Star Allies and God of War in the same weekend, I try not to judge or take sides.

I've also seen all of the DC and Marvel movies, but I do have a preference there.

@KingdomHeartsFan nope some of them are good and some are bad

@Ryu_Niiyama I don't mind being misunderstood. A PS2 port seems like shovelware to me. Ports are very high quantity and arguably low quality on the Switch.

Adult means many things, not just sex and violence. It is also themes. Like The Last of Us or Read Dead Redemption or the Latest God of War... they do have sex and violence, but they are not about that, they touch on many layered themes in a very adult fashion.

This kiddiy games, to me, are not just about pastel colors, but are also very "rescue the princess". And that gets old fast. So everything feels too simple all the time. The better ones have great gameplay and I'm down for that, but all in all, I need games to appeal to more adult aspects of my mind.

This wasn't even on my radar as a remote possibility, but it's a very pleasant surprise indeed! Definitely picking this one up!

Okay this is a big one.

@Al_Godoy Question, do you feel that any non modern/natively made for the system games fall into the shovelware category? Regardless of acclaim, content or age of owner (keep in mind gaming works best due to its revolving nature due to new generations of players being introduced every year.) That of course would nix every game that isn't a modern sequel or a fresh new IP. Legitimate question as I always find the acceptance of some old games but not those old games fascinating.

While I agree on the themes argument that isn't how the the kiddie/adult/mature labels are often used. Still does that mean that you no longer play games that focus on gameplay first? I would assume that means that you don't play games that are primarily skill based (racers, fighting games etc) as they don't do much beyond a paper thin story for obvious reasons. Although to be honest most of the games that are lauded for their story can often be stripped down to a basic a to b underlying mechanic. (or have stories that go through the ringer due to executive meddling, staff changes, dev heck and the like.)

Katamari is one of my favourite things ever made.
I can't express just how significant this game series is to my life. I really LOVE Katamari.

But the Vita and Mobile offerings have been horrendously subpar. Not to mention all the on-disk DLC in the XB360 version.

I really really REALLY hope this one turns out fun and good just like the original PS2 games. This one seems to be a port or a compilation of some kind, but it's difficult to tell. It might be a port of Katamari 1, or it might just be using some of the old maps.

Yes!!! I am thrilled

@Al_Godoy Call this a cheap cash-in, but don't call it Shovelware. Shovelware implies that the original game was poorly made, which it was not.

It's also not 'kiddy', per se. Katamari is a wacky puzzle-action game, where the vibrant art style, music, etc, all blend together in a cohesive way. The series wouldn't be as interesting, if you were controlling some realistic dude rolling a ball around collecting realistic things with a realistic grey and brown art style.

Looks like I’d have a ball with this.....😒

@Ryu_Niiyama "do you feel that any non modern/natively made for the system games fall into the shovelware category?"

Sure thing. Mostly indie titles are starting to feel shovelwary (some). The download-only landscape is full of them... However, I think the PS4 has more shovelware than the Switch right now.

Senran Kagura Reflex comes to mind as recent shovelware.

Maybe the shovelware has evolved since the Wii days, when it was more obvious, but I'm talking about games than feel like padding for an arguably poor line-up. Like those tabletop card games, which some people may love, but they look cheap and dull to me and not very "Direct Worthy" if that means anything. Or even this one to be honest, although from all the comments I'm getting, I'm already inclined to try it when it comes out. I was in college during the PS2 and Gamecube gen so I missed out on a lot of games from that era.

"I would assume that means that you don't play games that are primarily skill based (racers, fighting games etc)"

You assume correctly with the exception of Mario Kart, F-Zero, Mortal Kombat and Smash.

"Although to be honest most of the games that are lauded for their story can often be stripped down to a basic a to b underlying mechanic"

Agreed. I need balance and high stakes decision making in a game of that sort. I can bare two button mechanics for a mind blowing interactive stories.

@yuwarite what about "padding" which is a different spin on shovelware.

However, Like I've told the many hardcore defenders of this game that have appeared I will try it when it comes out, and hopefully put my foot in my mouth. I didn't know this was so well liked.

@Al_Godoy Interesting viewpoints. Thank you for your take.

Back in the day I bought a PS2 just so I could play this 😀 Game’s classic!

I've heard Katamari WAS on a Nintendo console before.
But it was a Japanese DSiWare game.
And I recall the person who told me about it said it was basically a Pac-Attack (or Cosmo Gang: The Puzzle) reskin.

Ahem....YES YES YES. Katamari Damacy is the only Katamari game. The creator didn't even want to make any sort of sequel and you can tell. None of the other have the same feel or energy the first one had.

Way too excited to jam to the game everywhere and make my friends listen to the soundtrack.

I'm curious about this one. A lot of people seem to really enjoy the original.

I'm interested to see how the gyro controls work. I couldn't play the original because the controls made my hands sore but depending on how gyro is used maybe I could play it now.

It said "eshop" above the title in the European direct but not the American one so I'm guessing physical for North America and digital only for Europe/Australia.

@Luke937 next year it seems, i was disappointed that it would be digital only but i'm kinda relieved that a physical copy comes next year, i can wait.

@Sephiroth_FF i hope dam not, getting fed up of getting digital only releases.

I love this game! I was just telling my gf about it when we got out my PS2 to play Guitar Hero. I guess we’ll wait to play the Switch version now!
I hope that Namco adds some extra content. The game is amazing but a little short. More levels similar to the last level would be great.

@Huyi So am I. It's getting ridiculous now.

@Al_Godoy

For someone with Mallow as an avatar it's pretty funny you are bashing games that are quirky.

Katamari is basically a beat the clock game with a side of masochism. The graphics are simple because the absurdity and the surrealism of the game is part of its appeal. It is honestly one of the most challenging games you'll ever play because it depends a lot on stage memorization and your ability to dodge hazards with a ball in full inertia going towards it.

The trailer didn't do it justice because they used the ps2 video not the actual game with the hd textures. I'll honestly be surprised if you don't like it. The game is a huge stress relief.

I wonder if the game is just a port or if it will have extras. I would love me some katamari avatars for my profile though.

@Al_Godoy No, padding is also the wrong term. Padding is when a developer puts long (usually monotonous) tasks in a game to artificially lengthen their game. For example, putting long, mundane fetch quests that take 30+ minutes to complete because there's a ton of backtracking involved, etc.

Cheap cash-in, quick and dirty port are some derogatives you could have used.

Many sites are reporting a digital release on November 30 and a physical edition on December 7. They still fail to state if this is for North America only.

Is this the original? If so, do want!

@Al_Godoy Katamari Damacy was universally acclaimed when it first came out. It is anything BUT shovelware!