It's been 14 years since we got a traditional Katamari Damacy game on consoles, but publisher Bandai Namco is putting things right with a brand-new entry in the series. Announced during today's Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase, Once Upon a Katamari is a time-traveling adventure set to launch this October.
If you've played any Katamari game, the basics will be familiar here – you'll still be pushing a little ball around, rolling up progressively larger objects as that ball increases in size. This time, the King of All Cosmos has accidentally destroyed Earth, so you'll have to travel through time, from the Jurassic period to historic Japan, to sort everything out.
There are 69 cousins this time around ("how nice," as the trailer puts it, a line that shockingly didn't make it to the Partner Showcase), and you can customize both the Prince and the cousins however you want. That'll help keep things distinct in the online multiplayer, where you can "battle with friends" in a four-player mode called KatamariBall.
Perhaps most importantly, the game features a fresh soundtrack featuring both new and returning artists from throughout the history of the series. I'm particularly thrilled to see a track in here from chelmico, a Japanese rap duo who I fell in love with after they provided the opening song to the banger 2020 anime Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken, and that song is featured in the full trailer.
The Katamari series has been pretty much dormant since the launch of the Vita game, Touch My Katamari, back in 2011, as it's been nothing but remasters and mobile titles since then.
Admittedly, Katamari Damacy Rolling Live was a full-featured series entry that launched earlier this year, but it remains trapped in Apple Arcade jail.
Once Upon a Katamari is set to hit Nintendo Switch (1, not 2), PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC via Steam on October 24.
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