The Sequel That Is About Being A Sequel is something I'm familiar with, but I didn't expect We Love Katamari to be one of these. The title itself is a statement that is certainly true for the fanbase, for many of the people who made it, and for anyone who made money off of it, but for creator Keita Takahashi, the title was more of a question that needed an answer. Do we love Katamari? Why? Do we want more Katamari? Do I want more Katamari?
The game opens by summarizing the events of the first game, declaring that Katamari Damacy was beloved by all, so of course there had to be a follow-up. But The King of All Cosmos, the flippant and prideful figure who caused the catalyst for the first game, doesn't really get it. He enjoys being beloved, and he'll gladly take any opportunity to boss the Prince and his cousins around, but when it comes down to it, he seems to want to do anything else besides play Katamari. He only does it for the sake of the humans who loved Katamari Damacy, or are curious about why people love it.
These humans, while at first expressing their love of Katamari, also are very demanding and petty. The player is used to being insulted by The King on their first try in any level, but sometimes the "fan" is even harsher, and even when you do pretty good, they still never fail to throw in something like "Yeah, you could do better, but I guess I'll settle for this." While I'm sure exceeding at every stage will get you more unqualified compliments, the average player will often disappoint these fans, or see would-be fans says something like "Is this was Katamari is? Doesn't seem that good to me." The game is constantly referencing the first game, as The Prince is working entirely in service of people who are only thinking of the first game. The cosmos are just fine, exactly as you left them at the end of the first game, The Prince and The King are only doing all this because they've been asked to, because they feel the need to prove themselves to any naysayers in the world.
The unbridled joy and fascination with the world that was present in Damacy is still here in the art, gameplay, design, and music, but We Love Katamari also has a surprising cynical streak that it never really relents from. In the end it kind of suggests that no sequel is entirely uncynical, that revisiting the well will never truly result in something just as good, but it also ends up being an extremely fucking solid sequel to Damacy that rivals it in quality. I love the gimmick levels in this game, like the one where you're moving super fast on a race track, or where you're trying to search for every paper crane in a level, there's so much creativity in the variety of level types. I don't think it ever surpasses the original like some people believe, but it's a strong as hell follow-up.
It ends up making We Love Katamari bittersweet, it's incredibly fun to play, but it's a game that believes being "as fun as the first" isn't enough, and therefore no sequel to Katamari Damacy will ever be worthwhile, even the one you're playing. It especially becomes a bummer when you check the Wikipedia page for the "Katamari Series" and see that there's been around 4 different mobile games since We Love Katamari, along with countless other entires with no involvement from Takahashi. We Love Katamari was his way of expressing gratitude to anyone who enjoyed Damacy, while also being his way of letting them know that it's OK to let Katamari go, and that he'll be the first to do so.
The game opens by summarizing the events of the first game, declaring that Katamari Damacy was beloved by all, so of course there had to be a follow-up. But The King of All Cosmos, the flippant and prideful figure who caused the catalyst for the first game, doesn't really get it. He enjoys being beloved, and he'll gladly take any opportunity to boss the Prince and his cousins around, but when it comes down to it, he seems to want to do anything else besides play Katamari. He only does it for the sake of the humans who loved Katamari Damacy, or are curious about why people love it.
These humans, while at first expressing their love of Katamari, also are very demanding and petty. The player is used to being insulted by The King on their first try in any level, but sometimes the "fan" is even harsher, and even when you do pretty good, they still never fail to throw in something like "Yeah, you could do better, but I guess I'll settle for this." While I'm sure exceeding at every stage will get you more unqualified compliments, the average player will often disappoint these fans, or see would-be fans says something like "Is this was Katamari is? Doesn't seem that good to me." The game is constantly referencing the first game, as The Prince is working entirely in service of people who are only thinking of the first game. The cosmos are just fine, exactly as you left them at the end of the first game, The Prince and The King are only doing all this because they've been asked to, because they feel the need to prove themselves to any naysayers in the world.
The unbridled joy and fascination with the world that was present in Damacy is still here in the art, gameplay, design, and music, but We Love Katamari also has a surprising cynical streak that it never really relents from. In the end it kind of suggests that no sequel is entirely uncynical, that revisiting the well will never truly result in something just as good, but it also ends up being an extremely fucking solid sequel to Damacy that rivals it in quality. I love the gimmick levels in this game, like the one where you're moving super fast on a race track, or where you're trying to search for every paper crane in a level, there's so much creativity in the variety of level types. I don't think it ever surpasses the original like some people believe, but it's a strong as hell follow-up.
It ends up making We Love Katamari bittersweet, it's incredibly fun to play, but it's a game that believes being "as fun as the first" isn't enough, and therefore no sequel to Katamari Damacy will ever be worthwhile, even the one you're playing. It especially becomes a bummer when you check the Wikipedia page for the "Katamari Series" and see that there's been around 4 different mobile games since We Love Katamari, along with countless other entires with no involvement from Takahashi. We Love Katamari was his way of expressing gratitude to anyone who enjoyed Damacy, while also being his way of letting them know that it's OK to let Katamari go, and that he'll be the first to do so.