9.0/10 – 9 hours to beat
Written on 8/20/2026, finished on 7/14/2026
Dude this is peak. I needed this game, man.
Once Upon a Katamari understands what makes Katamari special and goes all in on that while making fun new additions to flesh out the game. The simple joy of rolling things up, navigating the level, blasting banger music, reading unserious dialogue, and appreciating Japanese culture and humor is all here. The levels feel really fun to tackle with a variety of objectives and a large swath of different hub worlds and themes to check off. Plus the ease of displaying, tracking, and admiring the different collectibles throughout each level is pretty damn good too. New ridiculous Cousins to play as, goofy fits to wear, Crowns to unlock more levels, music to enjoy in the music player and levels, it all has a purpose and a draw. I at least felt very inclined to look for these collectables in each level and made a beeline to get my Katamari as big as I could to reach them. The new power ups make this much easier too, especially the magnet reducing the tedium of rolling small objects. It’s super satisfying.
Also, surprise surprise, the music is INCREDIBLE. Skyscraper(s), Yangyang, Katamari Time, Diver, Katamariism, Katamari on the Doun, and Suisei Biyori are all amazing. The latter especially made me legitimately hoot and holler as the singer on that track is from the band Yorushika, who made one of the openings to the Frieren anime adaptation which is a banger too. Shit is just too peak, man.
Wish it was easier to access the Japanese dub, and wish there was more to unlock with the King tokens. Emotes and facial customizations just didn’t do it for me as I don’t really care about the online multiplayer that’s here. Not sure if there’s a single soul who plays the online stuff if they’re not trying to 100%.
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