My latest for @pastemagazine.bsky.social is up, and it's on the 20th anniversary of Katamari Damacy. Specifically, how this game that was unlikely to even be made still managed the feat, and how it fit Namco's decades-spanning design philosophy for unconventional simplicity.
Katamari Damacy might be the least likely videogame hit ever. 20 years ago it reminded us that games could be cute, fun, and mysterious.
Gonna open this tab for later. I loved playing this with my daughter when she was pretty young. Still remember her chasing after something in the game to roll up and saying "Come here you little bastard". Unsure where she picked up such language though.
Yeah I like Katamari Damacy a little bit.
I wanna wad this up into my life
First saw it when a friend pulled out their JDM import copy of the original, and knew I had to get it. Still a sucker for it all these years later.
some of the best game moments of my life were had here (a single tear falls from one eye)
This was a great read! I played the original Katamari for the first time this year, such a pleasantly simple and fun game