Full transparency, I was literally at what I understand to be the very end of this game when I noticed my Switch battery getting puffy. I already clocked in 35 hours so considering I don't have a good way to play anymore I'm just marking it done. I really liked this one though. My experience with Pikmin prior was playing 3 over a decade ago, so I can't speak to the minutiae of this as a sequel. But as a standalone thing it really blew me away. There's a ton of content here and it almost always feels fresh and unique. The gameplay isn't overly complex and never feels very challenging, but it plays into this just being a slower paced game to relax and explore in.

The biggest flaw in my eyes are that the characters and dialogue border too hard on Nick Jr Baby Cartoon vibes. That's subjective so more power to those who could look past it, but I would've loved to see more personality in the Rescue Corps. The last area also weirdly feels like nothing to me. By this point the game has shown all the tricks up its sleeve so it just feels a push to give this game it's "one final area". The caves I was able to do played like lazily reskinned jumbles of the previous ones. There's so much you can do other than that though, I'm bummed out I won't be able to cut my teeth on side quests and unlockable content that randomly pop up left and right. Amazingly good value here. I should be recommending this for how boss Oatchi is alone.

Long Version: Exists at the intersection of simultaneous insane visual, game, and narrative design. Every inch of this project feels completely effortless and authentic, in a way that I would’ve never been able to predict going in. I think it’d be a disservice to Heisei Pistol Show to compare it against other games, especially with the level of transparency there is for its message and development within its text. I don’t think you end up making something like this without having some sort of deep connection to the subject matter, and so I think it’d be disrespectful for me to approach it with a coldly analytical review. So, let me just urge anyone reading this to play the game and see it through. It’s like, around two hours. Someone even made an excellent playthrough you can follow. This is the most a video game has resonated with me in a really long time, I think it’s a special thing that I got to play this.

https://patchy-illusion-team.itch.io/heisei-pistol-show

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTvwlBeNzxs

Short Version: I Get It

If you’re looking for just the “remaster” part of this, We Love Katamari Reroll is probably the definitive way to play the game now. There are a few areas where I feel the original PS2 version edges it out, like the audio could absolutely use some improvement. But the simultaneous authenticity of the port paired with the QOL improvements make this version the winner. I wish it wasn’t $30, but if it’s anything like the first Reroll it’ll get pretty frequent price cuts. Royal Reverie, for the ten minutes you actually spend in it, is a collage of some of the worst levels in the entire Katamari series. It’s such a minor part of the game that I don’t think it positively or negatively affects the entire package, it’s just a thing that’s there if you want to play it. But as someone who hoped this would give us a taste of a New Next-Gen Katamari Title, I’m pretty disappointed. Oh and also, the classic graphics mode is a nice addition. They should’ve made the music DLC part of the base game. Buy On Sale. Katamari Forever.