5 years ago (yesterday), Namco released Katamari Damacy on PlayStation 2 at a mere $20. They weren't sure how well it would sell in the states, so they gave it a reduced "budget" price, and let the market take its course. Sales were slow, but word of mouth spread quickly, and fastly became a cult classic. In fact, the Katamari Damacy franchise is one of my favorite video games to date.
I don't think there's any game released in the last 5 years that's as upbeat and quirky as Katamari. A smile comes across my face every time I start a game. It's a very zen-like experience to roll around the world and pick up whatever you can.
There has seen been 4 sequels to Katamari Damacy. We Love Katamari is the PlayStation 2 follow-up released 1 year later, which polished gameplay and graphics, added variety, and has become the definite Katamari title. After We Love Katamari, creator Keita Takahashi said he was done with the franchise and started working on new stuff. That didn't stop Namco, which released a PSP game and then an Xbox 360 game. Both of which were rather lack luster.
Yesterday, on the 5th anniversary of Katamari in the US, Katamari finally returns home to the PlayStation console in Katamari Forever on PlayStation 3. Katamari Forever is part compliation, part remix, and upscale of all the previous releases. I think they said it was 10% or 20% new material, but it's all these levels in one disc! Plus, all the levels run in 1080p. Also, you can change the graphical representation of the levels with separate skins and models.
I'm a huge fan of Katamari, so it's already purchased and in the mail. To commemorate the new release, here's my favorite pieces of Katamari fanart I've collected over the past 5 years.
by Oekaki Pocket
After the release of Katamari Damacy in 2004, I came across this picture on the internet. Katamari's graphics are rather abstract, so it was interesting seeing a realistic approach to what a Katamari ball might actually look like. When I was doing the Katamari Tshirt design for SPAMM, I modeled some of my object after this picture.
I found the Oekaki Pocket website, but I was unable to find a larger version of the picture. He just has a bunch of loli drawings and sketches on his site now. Here's the link: Oekaki Pocket: Scribble Works Gallery
by Yuuku
Papercraft was becoming rather popular with nerdy folks on the Internet around 2004 and 2005, so a papercraft version of The Prince became widely linked picture very quickly. In Fall 2005, when carving a Katamari pumpkin, I finally printed, cut out, and glued together a papercraft Prince of my own, which has migrated from several computer monitors since.
Here's the original site for the papercraft Prince: å¡?é?ï¼?ç??åï¼?ã®ã??ã?¼ã??ã?¼ã?¯ã?©ã??ã?? (Katamari Damacy Prince Papercraft)
by Mac Hall
Many webcomics latched onto Katamari Damacy, the same way fan artists did. I like the Mac Hall entry the best mainly for the art. Mac Hall is a pretty damn good artist, and his comic doesn't overly shove the comedy of the game in your face that way almost every other comic did. It's subtle and clean.
Here's the link to the original: MacHall - Feb 21st, 2005
by Sudori
Otaku Planet is a much better rendition of the "roll of anime shit" idea that I used for the SPAMM shirt. The fun thing about Katamari fanart is the amount of detail and references put into the stuff already rolled up into the ball. You can stare at the thing for a while and continue to pick out new stuff. Otaku Planet is just that. Pikachu, Sailor Moon, Rurouni Kenshin, Naruto, Bleach, Domo-kun, Full Metal Alchemist, Card Captor Sakura, Totoro, CLAMP, Final Fantasy, so on and so on...
Here's the link to Sudori's DeviantArt page: DeviantArt - Sudori.
by Snake
Shadow of the Colossus is another cult classic Playstation 2 game that was released within the same month as the second Katamari game, We Love Katamari. Artist Snake marries the two games together with the Prince rolling up the first two Colossi.
Here's the link to the original on Pixel Joint: Pixel Joint.
by ???
I love the clean, stenciled look of this design. Unfortunately, I really don't know much about who actually made it. Links point here and there, but I came across this design way before I was ever able to find a Tshirt with the pattern. And now you can't find this Tshirt at all. Nor the original high quality picture of the artwork.