Line #39 VideoGame/KatamariDamacy


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/katamari_cover.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:[[RoyalWe We]] are [[ManlyTears moved to tears by the size of the thing]].]]
3	->''"My, Earth really is full of things."''
4	-->-- '''[[KingOfAllCosmos The King of All Cosmos]]'''
5
6	The KingOfAllCosmos gets [[AlcoholInducedIdiocy drunk one night]] and accidentally destroys all the stars in the Great Cosmos. The following morning, he assigns his son, the Prince, to make new stars by collecting random objects from the Earth to be turned into stars. The Prince, who had been treated rather badly by his father up to now, [[SnowballingThreat does this by running the objects over with a big sticky ball that makes bigger and bigger clumps of objects as it collects them]]. The Prince starts by collecting ants and thumbtacks, and eventually moves on to whales, jumbo jets, office towers, and sports stadiums... and so begins the first ''Katamari Damacy''.
7
8	One of the most well-known [[QuirkyWork oddball video games]], this item-collecting PuzzleGame franchise was created with one idea at the core: series creator Keita Takahashi wanted to bring silly, colorful, and simple fun back into gaming at a time when the industry trend was to be mature and serious. And the games certainly live up to this idea, the horrified screams of the countless people you're rolling up to eventually ignite into a star notwithstanding.
9
10	[[folder:Games in the ''Katamari'' series]]
11	* ''Katamari Damacy'' (Platform/PlayStation2, 2004): The introduction to the series, following the above-mentioned plotline of the King of All Cosmos enlisting the Prince's help in recreating the stars after destroying them. Cutscenes between levels follow the Hoshino family, some of the few people to take notice of the mess caused by the King. Levels follow one of two styles: "Make a Star", where the Prince makes progressively larger stars by rolling Katamaris to a specific diameter within the King's designated time, and constellation levels, which revolve around collecting specific objects (either collecting a lot of said object or collecting a single object with the goal of getting a large-sized one).
12	** ''Katamari Damacy REROLL'' (PC and Platform/NintendoSwitch, 2018): An [[UpdatedRerelease HD remake]] of the first game. The Switch version allows you to use two separated Joy-Cons to roll the Katamari with motion controls, and features HD Rumble support and multiplayer with single Joy-Cons.
13	* ''We ♥ Katamari''[[note]]''Minna Daisuki Katamari Damacy'' ("Everyone Loves Katamari Damacy") in Japan[[/note]] (Platform/PlayStation2, 2005): Mixing in a bit of meta-commentary, the success of ''Katamari Damacy'' has led to the King gaining a massive fanbase with their own requests for him, which the King fulfills by sending the Prince (or his cousins, who are now playable in single-player) to roll up more Katamaris. This time, the Katamaris are transformed into planets or satellites to fill the (still fairly empty) Great Cosmos; the ultimate goal is to make enough planets to fulfill one fan's request of making a Katamari big enough to roll up the Sun. This time, the cutscenes focus on the King's life growing up with his own strict father, and how he met the Queen of All Cosmos. Levels tend to be based around specific themes this time, with a wider range of goals besides size and object count.
14	** ''We ♥ Katamari REROLL + Royal Reverie'' (2023): An [[UpdatedRerelease HD remake]] of the second game with additional content, most notably the aforementioned ''Royal Reverie'' mode, a harder version of the main campaign that offers additional insight into the King's childhood.
15	* ''Me & My Katamari''[[note]]''Boku no Watashi no Katamari Damacy'' ("My My Katamari Damacy") in Japan[[/note]] (Platform/PlayStationPortable, 2005): A pleasant Earth vacation for the royal family goes sour when the King once again causes unnecessary destruction, this time destroying an entire island full of animals with a tornado. As usual, he sends the Prince out to roll up new Katamaris to form into new islands for the now-homeless wildlife. The first game in the series to not feature any involvement from Keita Takahashi.
16	* ''Katamari Damacy Mobile'' (Mobile devices, 2007): A port of the original game for the Mitsubishi P904i. It received mixed reviews due to imprecise tilt controls.
17	* ''Beautiful Katamari'' (Platform/Xbox360, 2007): The King undoes his previous repairs by creating a black hole during a game of tennis gone wrong, which sucks up most of the Great Cosmos; yet again, the King has the Prince and his cousins roll up more Katamaris to restore celestial objects and eventually plug up the black hole. The first ''Katamari'' game to include DownloadableContent for extra stages.
18	* ''Rolling with Katamari'' (Mobile devices, 2008): A top-down, isometric, pixel-art game using the basic premise of the first game but with a more mobile-friendly design. It used simple direction controls due to a fixed-angle camera and had a choppy frame-rate. No longer available.
19	* ''I Love Katamari'' (Mobile devices, 2008): A smaller ''Katamari'' experience designed for phones, with the Katamari being controlled with tilting instead of analog sticks. No longer available for download as of 2015.
20	* ''Katamari Forever''[[note]]''Katamari Tribute'' in Japan[[/note]] (Platform/PlayStation3, 2009): After the King gets knocked out cold by a bonk from a meteor, the Prince and his cousins build a robotic replica for him in the form of [=RoboKing=], who goes on a star-destroying rampage after being activated (and, unlike the real King, feels extremely guilty about it). The game alternates between restoring the King's lost memories to wake him up and helping [=RoboKing=] repair the Great Cosmos. Introduces the Prince Jump to the rolling moveset and adds special heart items that attract objects to the Katamari. Additionally, [[MegamixGame nearly every level in the game is taken from previous installments]].
21	* ''Korogashi Puzzle Katamari Damacy'' (Platform/DSiWare, 2009): A falling block puzzle game akin to ''VideoGame/{{Columns}}. It was released exclusively in Japan.
22	* ''Katamari Amore'' (Mobile devices, 2011): A {{freemium}} game where the King requests that the Prince bring him interesting Earthly objects by rolling them up in Katamaris. Also no longer available as of 2015.
23	* ''Touch My Katamari'' (Platform/PlaystationVita, 2011): The King becomes distraught after overhearing a family discuss his decreasing coolness, so he recruits the Prince and his cousins to roll up Katamaris for him to eat so he can get back in shape. In addition to supporting the Vita's front touchscreen for touch rolling, the back touchscreen can be used to squash and stretch the Katamari for various purposes.
24	* ''Tap My Katamari'' (Mobile devices, 2016): A spinoff title that takes the form of an IdleGame. The player taps to roll the katamari and collect money, which is used to purchase upgrades. Cousins will automatically push the katamari, while special abilities can be activated to roll faster or earn extra coins for a short time. Once the Prince is reaches level 600, the katamari can be turned into a start to earn Star Tokens and reset to the start of the game. Star Tokens and Candy, which can be purchased or earned through normal gameplay, can be used for permanent upgrades like Special Cousins and Presents which allow faster completion and make getting to higher stages easier. No longer available as of 2019.
25	* ''Amazing Katamari Damacy'' (Mobile devices, 2017): Another spinoff title, this time converting the ''Katamari'' formula into an EndlessRunningGame. The Prince rolls the katamari forward automatically and is moved left and right to collect objects and avoid obstacles. Cousins give short term effects like invincibility and shrinking to collect coins. Collecting Rainbow items allows the player to fire rockets that can collect rubies and coins, which can be used to upgrade Cousins or continue after failing.
26	[[/folder]]
27
28	In September of 2012, a short-lived {{Webcomic\|s}} based on the series was launched on Platform/ShiftyLook, titled simply ''Webcomic/{{Katamari}}'', which was later made available in a physical paperback collection. In 2018, a remaster of the first game, titled ''Katamari Damacy Reroll'', was released on Platform/NintendoSwitch and Steam, with a 2020 release on Platform/PlayStation4 and Platform/XboxOne. On June 2, 2023, a remaster of the first sequel titled ''We ♥ Katamari REROLL + Royal Reverie'' was released on Platform/NintendoSwitch and Steam.
29	----
30	!!The series provides examples of:
31	* ADogNamedDog: In the English version, some of the "named" items are the same as their generic names, e.g. a pigeon named Pigeon, a bar of chocolate named Chocolate, etc.
32	* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: Both kanji in 塊魂 (Katamari Damacy) have near-identical right-hand radicals; to a casual observer, the entire kanji appear almost identical.
33	* AerithAndBob: The Cousins' names are. Ichigo and Marcy, Shikao and Nickel, Foomin and Dipp...
34	* AIIsACrapshoot: Played with in ''Katamari Forever'' with [=RoboKing=]. He goes on a star-destroying rampage when activated, but he regrets it afterwards and works to restore space with help from the Prince. Aside from being a nervous wreck, he's generally nicer than the King of All Cosmos. Too bad that doesn’t stop the King from ordering him to be dismantled anyway.
35	* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: Ironically, given how brightly he dresses, the King has grey skin. Cousin Opeo, meanwhile, has [[BlueWithShock blue skin]]. The colorful clothes everyone wears also invokes this, mainly since that's the easiest way to tell most of them apart aside from shape.
36	* AndYourRewardIsClothes: Presents, which you can equip in all sorts of combinations. In a nice touch, most presents look different depending on which character/cousin you're playing as. The cousins themselves count as well, seeing as they all play the same.
37	* AntiFrustrationFeatures: ''We ♥ Katamari REROLL'' streamlines the navigation on Select Plaza (Select Meadow in the original) by giving the player a dedicated button to access a list of all fans available in the game so the player does not have to walk and change screens to find them.
38	** Also from the same release, when the game requires the player to roll up something to progress (min. size cones barricading the next available area) or end the level (for example, a fan), the game's HUD will helpfully direct the player to its location, in case the player is getting lost.
39	* AntiPoopSocking: Starting with ''We ♥ Katamari'', the King will tell the player to "play in moderation" to avoid getting bored. [[http://www.upontherainbow.com/games/katamari/songforking.html The credits song]] also tells the player to stop playing and go outside.
40	* ArtEvolution: The models of the cousins for ''Reroll'' have round edges and happier facial expressions, keeping them more in-line with Keita Takahashi's current art style.
41	* ArtisticLicenseGeography: When rolling up the world, placement of real-world locations is... fairly arbitrary. (For example, Easter Island is right off the coast of India, while the White House is directly adjacent to Hollywood.)
42	* ArtisticLicenseSpace: The final challenge of the first game, and the Katamari with the biggest size requirement, is the Moon. That said, not only is it not a star, it's, realistically, magnitudes smaller than the sun (an actual star). This is because it’s based on the apparent size of the Moon in the sky, and not its actual size.
43	* AssShove: Referenced in the thermometer item description: "Used to measure your temperature. Put this in your mouth, armpit, or..."
44	* BigNo: To quote the King when faced with the prospect of helping a teacher in ''We ♥ Katamari'':
45	-->'''King of All Cosmos:''' Students? At Earth schools? Noooooooooooooooo!!!
46	* BizarreAlienBiology: Some of the Prince's cousins have some pretty wonky biology, from Velvet being able to tuck in her legs and float at will, to Drive apparently being a sentient car (complete with wheel), to Nai-Nai having a box-shaped body and containing ''an entire universe'' within her.
47	* BlackBeadEyes: The Prince and his cousins.
48	* BlatantBurglar: Lampshaded in ''We ♥ Katamari''. The description for "Burglar" in the collection of items you have rolled up is "He wants to be stealthy, but he looks so obvious."
49	* BluntYes: In ''We ♥ Katamari'', it usually takes the King some convincing (typically in the way of a compliment) for him to agree to help the mortals. However, when presented with the opportunity to roll up some [[SweetTooth candy]], he immediately jumps on the wagon.
50	-->'''King of All Cosmos:''' What? Sweets? Sweets?? You want to eat sweets?? Ooo, We want to eat them too. Really and honestly, a good idea. Now, let's go eat.
51	* BodyHorror: In the original game and ''Touch My Katamari'', cousin Opeo has a gaping hole in his stomach.
52	* {{Bowdlerization}}:
53	** The English version of the first game omits the detail that the King was drunk when he broke the stars.
54	** Also in the first game, some items labeled "chocolate" are very obviously packs of cigarettes. However, the item descriptions are so tongue-in-cheek about it that it actually fits with the tone of the game:
55	--->''It says "Light". [[BlatantLies But since it's actually chocolate]], it doesn't matter.''
56	* BrutalBonusLevel: The Royal Reverie levels in ''We ♥ Katamari REROLL'' are best for challenge seekers. It is already telling that the first challenge available requires going from around 9 to 13 cm in ''1 minute'', and the player is expected to super clear them, considering the King's dad's harsher standards.
57	* TheCameo: Various characters from ''VideoGame/TheIdolmaster'' sing the ''Beautiful Katamari'' song "Unity" (''Danketsu''). They basically give quick self-introductions, argue over who gets to be the leader, and sing the choruses together. That actually works both ways, since the main theme on ''Videogame/TheIdolmaster2'' is "Unity".
58	* CampStraight: The King. He dresses flamboyantly, and his Japanese dialogue is written to give him a feminine speech pattern, which you can hear it in his voice when he sings "A Song for the King of Kings" at the end of ''We ♥ Katamari''. That said, he's HappilyMarried to the Queen of All Cosmos.
59	* CartoonCreature: No one knows what the Royal Family and Cosmic Cousins are, even though they do [[HumanAliens look humanoid]] they are vastly different from the game's humans and have some rather [[BizarreAlienBiology abnormal biology]].
60	* ChargedAttack: The aptly-named Charge N' Roll technique, done by revving up the Katamari by jiggling the control sticks. Use it carefully, however-- it's all too easy to slam into a much larger object and lose items off your katamari.
61	* {{Cloudcuckooland}}: Earth is a odd place in the ''Katamari'' universe. Nobody will notice your Katamari until it grows big enough, and even then, the inhabitants of each level ''really'' like odd arrangements of their items.
62	* CollectionSidequest: One of the underlying goals of each game is to roll up at least one of every single distinct object in the game. Considering how many are unique and/or hidden in extremely obscure locations, [[GuideDangIt this is much harder than it sounds]].
63	* CompletionMockery: Upon completing every other level in ''We ♥ Katamari'', [[spoiler:a talking rose will appear in the Select Meadow to give you one more challenge: rolling up a million red roses. After spending a long time and getting a million roses, the King responds by congratulating you and calling your time spent a pointless exercise. At the same time, however, he states he came to realize it was meant to teach you to never give up and face a challenge head-on.]]
64	* ConnectedAllAlong: The ''Go! Jumbomen!'' cutscenes from ''Forever'' seem to be a ridiculous and nonsensical story about the titular Jumbomen, but the finale reveals [[spoiler:they were accidentally the cause of the spiky object that caused the King to fall into a coma.]]
65	* ConsoleCameo: In ''Beautiful Katamari'', the Cool Planet stage has many Platform/Xbox360 consoles and controllers in the house and around the pool, including a collection of controllers arranged that spell out "360".
66	* ConstellationsAsLocations: Constellations are physical groupings of stars, until they were all destroyed by the King of All Cosmos on a drunken bender, and your job is to build new ones to place back in the sky.
67	* ConvectionSchmonvection: The Prince doesn't seem to mind rolling around Katamaris that are on fire, and at one point the entire solar system is rolled into the ''Sun'' without any harm.
68	* CosmicHorrorStory: The game's story certainly skirts around the concept but you play as an alien entity who annihilates half the planet (Including some living people) with a sticky growing ball of destruction after the stars vanish by the actions of your father, a planet sized god of 'All Cosmos'. The silly tone is the only reason the Prince, let alone the King, isn't an EldritchAbomination.
69	* DeliberatelyMonochrome: The King's levels in ''Forever'' are monochrome at first, to signify the haziness of his memory of the place; individual objects become colored in one you collect one of said object, and everything goes back to normal once the level ends, to show he's regained that memory.
70	* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: One of the songs on the ''Katamari Damacy'' soundtrack is entitled "The Wonderful Star's Walk is Wonderful".
71	* DestructiveSaviour: The Prince restores the night sky at the cost of property and eventually continental damage. Fortunately for him, [[UnexplainedRecovery everything goes back to normal by the time he returns to a level]].
72	* DevelopersForesight:
73	** In ''We ❤️ Katamari'', you roll up cousin Ace in the tutorial level. If you decide to replay that level as Ace, [[OddballDoppelganger Slip]] will be there in Ace's place.
74	** Also in ''We ❤️ Katamari'', if you manage to clip out of bounds, the King will have special EasterEgg dialogue describing the glitch as "the Royal Warp", saying that it's kind of embarrassing that it happened but wasn't it fun?
75	* DiminishingReturnsForBalance: The bigger the katamari gets, the less smaller objects will contribute to its size when rolled up (to the point that items that could add 5 cm single-handedly will eventually not even be enough to add an extra millimeter.) Eventually the smaller objects disappear completely, both for this trope and to save on memory.
76	%%* DisneyOwnsThisTrope: The core gameplay mechanics of ''Katamari Damacy'' are protected by [[http://www.google.com/patents/US7402104 US Patent 7,402,104]], so don't expect to see too many clone games.
77	* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: You can roll up a kraken, several giant-sized superheroes, angels, mermaids, and the King and Queen themselves.
78	* DoomDoors: [=RoboKing=] makes this stock sound in an early ''Katamari Forever'' cutscene after smashing through the Prince's home..
79	* DownloadableContent:
80	** The last few stages of ''Beautiful Katamari''. The last few achievements require at least one to be downloaded before they can be unlocked. There is also debate on if they were on-disc already due to the small size of the files.[[note]]Each of the DLC levels was about 100 Kb in size, but given the game's modular design (using a small number of maps with only the item placement changing), it's possible they were just the geometry data and King's dialogue which wouldn't require much space.[[/note]]
81	** DLC returned for ''Touch My Katamari''. The extra levels are free downloads, and after downloading them, you have to find "Fan Damacys" in the game to unlock them; alternatively, you can buy Fan Damacys with real money to unlock the levels early. You can also purchase music, which isn't required to clear the game.
82	* EasyAmnesia: The King in ''Katamari Forever'', after getting hit in the head by a meteor. One half of the game is helping him regain his memories so that he can wake up again.
83	* ErmineCapeEffect: The King wears his fashionably ridiculous outfit at all times.
84	* EverythingIsAnInstrument: "Sun-baked Savannah" from ''We ♥ Katamari'' is a medley of songs from the first game done with animal noises.
85	* EvolvingTitleScreen: ''We ♥ Katamari'' has a title screen that changes if you manage to [[MarathonLevel roll up one million roses]] in a bonus level.
86	* ExcusePlot: The plot of most games boils down to "the King breaks something, put the blame on the Prince, and orders him to fix it by rolling up Katamaris".
87	* ExtremeOmnivore:
88	** ''We ♥ Katamari'' has a stage that involves helping a jonokuchi sumo bulk up for a match against an opponent he shouldn't have challenged. The Prince rolls him around to eat whatever he can find, from normal things like rice, bamboo shoots, and hibachi to treasure chests, [[IAmAHumanitarian Royal Cousins, bystanders]], and eventually arcade cabinets and vehicles with enough persistence.
89	** In ''Touch My Katamari'', the King tasks you with rolling up Katamaris for him to eat to trim the fat off of the royal belly. Naturally, this means that he'll eat Katamaris made out of whatever junk you find lying around and somehow create a star (tastefully mind you, no ToiletHumour involved here) in the process of doing so.
90	* FlashbackBPlot: ''We ♥ Katamari'' has the main plot of the Prince and his cousins rolling Katamaris for their fans on Earth, but all of the cutscenes involve flashbacks to the King's troubled childhood.
91	** ''We ♥ Katamari REROLL'' actually lets you play through those flashbacks, giving you control of the young King as he goes through hardcore versions of normal levels.
92	* FoeTossingCharge: Mobile items that are just barely big enough for you to pick up will go flying the first time you hit them before you can roll them up. Combine a large number of such items with a charged roll and you can send an entire line of creatures/humans flying.
93	%%* FranchiseZombie: Keita Takahashi only reluctantly agreed to help with ''We ♥ Katamari'', and had nothing to with any of the other games past it.
94	* FungusHumongous: Mushrooms of all sizes can be rolled up, the largest covering a quarter of an island. There's also the Space Mushroom, a BabyPlanet-sized mushroom [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin that floats through space.]]
95	* GameMod: The [=PC=] version of ''Katamari Damacy [=REROLL=]'' has one that [[https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1586689748 restores the English Dubbed cutscenes]], for those who would prefer the dub over the sub.
96	* GameplayAndStorySegregation: Supposedly you're on Earth with the addition of the fictional Sunflower Continent. However, the first two games in the series seem to point away from this outside of the credits of the first and a bonus level on the second. The largest level in ''Katamari Damacy'' ends with the prince inside of a bounded, bowl-shaped ocean while ''We ♥ Katamari''[='=]s has you literally rolling over the surface of the whole world without any of the traditional continents in sight. Also, the Sunflower Continent doesn't show up in either games' Roll Up Countries stages. ''Beautiful Katamari'' was the first to finally put the two together, with the Sunflower Continent somewhere south of Japan.
97	* GenreBusting: The series' gameplay is vaguely close to a 3D puzzle-platformer - but not many puzzle-platformers focus on collecting things and gaining mass to roll things up, but even then the ability to jump wasn't introduced until ''Katamari Forever'', so it's largely in its own genre.
98	* GimmickLevel: Quite a few stages have goals a bit different from "get as large as possible" or "get large as quickly as possible." In the first game, this mostly consists of rolling up items of a specific type to make a constellation (e.g. birds for Cygnus or twins/pairs of objects for Gemini), but there are others, like having to make a katamari as close to the target goal with no HUD measurement, forcing you to estimate the size, or the infamous Taurus and Ursa Major levels, which end as soon as you roll up a cow or bear (or even cow and bear-themed ''objects'') with the goal being to roll up the biggest one possible. Subsequent installments add more. For example, ''We ♥ Katamari'' has stages with the goals "get as large as possible by picking up a limited number of objects", and "make a snowman with no time limit and no metric for success or failure."
99	* {{God}}: The King himself, of course, considering he apparently rules over the entire universe. The ikebana level of ''We ♥ Katamari'', however, features a lady holding a [[HonestAxe gold and a silver axe]] in the lake, which the game refers to as "God". She was renamed to "Lady" in ''Touch My Katamari''.
100	* GoldenSnitch: The minimum requirement in second-to-last level is 30m. The minimum requirement in the final level is ''300m'', with the final [[EndlessGame Eternal Mode]] map being unlocked at ''800m''. Needless to say, completing the final level severely skews your combined diameter records. Some future games have even larger versions of this, with ''Katamari Forever'' having one [[ExaggeratedTrope so ridiculous]] that an achievement requires you to reach '''''2,000,000 kilometers in size.'''''
101	* GospelChoirsAreJustBetter: The closing theme to ''Me and My Katamari'' is the gospel-inspired "Shine! Mr. Sunshine".
102	* GuideDangIt: None of the tutorials or hints let you know that the katamari can climb walls. Using this, depending on your current size, can let you take shortcuts and access walled areas early. Further, if a wall has a ladder or steps on it, you can climb it indefinitely, which is the only way to get certain objects and presents. The trouble is that the game's physics consider touching the wall under any circumstances to be a collision, which is something you ''don't'' want. The game almost seems to be ''discouraging'' trying this - no matter how slowly you roll up to the wall, so much as bumping it will cause a crash and likely a few objects knocked loose, making rolling forward against the wall feel counter-intuitive. (Though ''We ♥ Katamari's'' tutorial makes it mandatory to climb walls to complete it, and tells you how to do it safely)
103	** Just try to roll up every item in the game on your own. We ''dare'' you. With how many items there are only ''one'' of, not to mention how deviously hidden they tend to be (one item is literally submerged in a completely random spot in the ocean, with absolutely no indication whatsoever that there's anything even there), you'll be running to a walkthrough soon enough.
104	* HappilyMarried: The King and Queen of All Cosmos. They're frequently shown dancing together in the intros.
105	* HappyEndingOverride: A mild example between the first two games: at the end of ''Katamari Damacy'', the King announces that the Great Cosmos is complete, but ''We ♥ Katamari'' reveals that actually only the stars immediately around Earth were restored, and there's still a lot of work to do.
106	* HeroicMime: The Prince and his Cousins never speak up during gameplay, though some shriek if you pick them up in single player. In ''We ♥ Katamari'' and all games afterward, most Cousins' roll-up chattering consists of [[PokemonSpeak repeating their names or parts of them over and over again]]. In cutscenes and in conversations with the King, neither the Prince nor the Cousins are heard speaking, but the King sometimes responds to them, making it clear that they can speak-- it's just that the player can't hear it.
107	* HollywoodAtlas: Once you get big enough to roll out into the world in later games, you'll notice that countries are represented by stereotypical trappings and tourist locales. In the original games' credits, you can ''roll up the entire world'' as well.
108	* ImAHumanitarian: Not the Prince himself, but in ''We ♥ Katamari'', there is a mission where you have to help a Sumo Wrestler bulk up for his match. After you reach a certain point, you can pick up people, who scream before slowly vanishing into the Sumo Wrestler's body. Get big enough, and you can even pull this on the sumo wrestler's opponent, which is required to get the best score for the stage.
109	* ImportantHaircut: The King suffered one, as depicted in his flashbacks, when his pompadour got sliced off as a teenager.
110	* ItRunsInTheFamily: The Prince's large collection of cousins, who combine all sorts of strange shapes and behaviors in addition to rolling Katamari themselves. Inasmuch as a group like this ''can'' have a normal one, it's suggested that the Queen Of All Cosmos is the "sane" one.
111	* ItsAWonderfulFailure: Getting a game over in later titles will lead to a scene where the King punishes the failing character rather violently. At least things are back to normal when you retry the stage.
112	* KingOfAllCosmos: The King of All Cosmos is naturally the TropeNamer, and he fits the definition by being quite the casual, attention-loving showoff despite having the whole universe in his hands.
113	* LampshadeHanging: In ''Katamari Forever'', [=RoboKing=] openly wonders about the physics of turning katamaris into stars.
114	* {{Leitmotif}}: Many items have distinct sounds associated with rolling them up (and some have sounds for crashing into them before you're large enough to collect them). After a short time playing, you'll come to recognize when you've rolled up a particular item by sound alone.
115	* LevelOneMusicRepresents: [[http://youtu.be/ekOqgknkVN4 "Katamari on the Rocks"]] is possibly the best-known song of the franchise, appearing in all games either in original form or as a RecurringRiff in other songs.
116	* LivingStatue: It's amazing how many of the inanimate objects can move-- and flee in terror when you try to roll them up.
117	* LoomingSilhouetteOfRage: The King at the game over screen in most titles, should you fail an objective.
118	* LoveHurts: "Tough love" indeed. In any game, your father will mock you angrily for failing the level:
119	** In ''We ♥ Katamari'' he fires lasers at you.
120	** In ''Beautiful Katamari'' he tries to crush you with billiard balls.
121	** In ''Katamari Forever'' he throws bouncing meteors at you. If you like, you can try to dodge them for as long as possible, and the game will keep score. You can even get a trophy for reaching a certain score.
122	* LuckyCharmsTitle: ''[[HeartSymbol We ♥ Katamari]]'', read as ''We Love Katamari''.
123	* LyricalDissonance: "Bluffing Damacy" from ''We ♥ Katamari'' sounds like a pretty relaxing song... until you look at the translated lyrics. It's about a man trying to overcome his alcoholism, and how he's confident that this time, he can achieve great things and become a better person. Sounds uplifting, until you remember the song is called ''[[BelievingTheirOwnLies Bluffing]]'' Damacy.
124	* MeaningfulName:
125	** Several of the cousins have these, like the [[{{Kawaiiko}} strawberry-shaped Ichigo]], [[{{Pollyanna}} soup-bowl-headed Miso]], [[PurityPersonified cheerful and innocent June]]...
126	** Also the game's name. "Katamari" means a "lump" or "mass" and "Damacy" is a corruption of "Damashii/Tamashii" for "spirit" (as in "team spirit"). So it basically means "A love of rolling things into lumps".
127	* MixAndMatchCritters: The Cowbear, a gigantic cow-and-bear hybrid and thus the best object to pick up in any game with a cow/bear level.
128	* MundaneUtility: One ''We ♥ Katamari'' level requires the player to clean up a messy bedroom with the Katamari.
129	* MushroomMan: One of the Prince's second cousins, Kinoko, looks like a mushroom with arms and legs but no face.
130	* NakedPeopleAreFunny: Lalala, the only cousin who never wears any clothes
131	* NoAntagonist: None of the games have any prominent villains; the only real problem is replacing whatever the King destroyed in the game.
132	* NoFourthWall: The entire premise of the second game is that the first game was so popular that the King sends the Prince out to make more Katamaris for the fans.
133	* OldSaveBonus: All the planets and constellations from ''Katamari Damacy'' can be collected in ''We ♥ Katamari'' by transferring them from the save file. Unfortunately, the first game was never released in PAL regions, so in Europe the ''Katamari Damacy'' planets were replaced with new ones unlocked by collecting all the Prince's cousins. The feature is also not present in the remake.
134	* PaintingTheMedium: The King of All Cosmos ''loves'' doing this with his dialogue boxes.
135	* PanderingToTheBase: What the plot of ''We ♥ Katamari'' amounts to in-universe -- The King of All Cosmos & co. have gained a huge amount of fans ([[UniversallyBelovedLeader the entire world]], actually) since the events of the first game, and all the stages after the tutorial involve fulfilling their requests.
136	* ParentalBonus: The items and their animations are often rather... interesting. The descriptions of the items you've rolled up in the Collection screen are notably absurd. The King's descriptions for all the countries you roll up in Comet level in ''We ♥ Katamari'' in particular have jokes that would go over even adults' heads.
137	* PlayableMenu: The save game select screen uses the in-game controls, and while the Level/Character/Operation select systems (Select Meadow, Space Mushroom, etc.) do not, they are playable in their own way.
138	* PokemonSpeak: A lot of the Cousins' dialogue when being rolled up falls under this. Naturally, this becomes LostInTranslation for the Cousins who went through name changes between regions.
139	* PoliceAreUseless: The cops will do absolutely nothing as you roll up animals and citizens right in front of them. And when your katamari is finally big enough to roll ''them'' up, they'll start shooting at you -- the only attack in the game that does ''no'' damage to your katamari.
140	* PopularSayingBut: "Love makes the world go round... but manners keep you from getting motion sickness."
141	* PromotedToPlayable: ''We ♥ Katamari REROLL+ Royal Reverie'' adds new challenges where the player controls the young King of All Cosmos, who was only seen in flashback in the original version.
142	* PutOnABus: Out of all the many Cousins, only a handful made it into ''Touch My Katamari'', only one found in each level.[[note]]Specifically, Ace, Dipp, Foomin, Fujio, Ichigo, June, Lalala, Marcy, Miso, Odeko, Opeo, Peso, Velvet and the Prince.[[/note]] The King's official Twitter explained the others were on vacation.
143	* PuzzlePlatformer: At smaller sizes, the levels have ramps, bridges, and vertically-moving platforms (all built out of the same "ordinary" objects as the rest of the environment) that the player must carefully navigate to get to certain [[HundredPercentCompletion secret items]]. The classification becomes more obvious with the introduction of the ability to jump in ''Katamari Forever''.
144	* RageQuit: Apparently, while the King was [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething trying to roll up a Katamari for Ursa Major and Taurus]], the bear/cow that he rolled up escaped, prompting him to do this and have the Prince take his place.
145	* RandomlyDrops: There are some items that only occasionally appear on select levels, making OneHundredPercentCompletion something only for the truly dedicated.
146	* RecurringRiff:
147	** The famous riff from "Katamari on the Rocks" reappears in many other songs on the soundtrack.
148	** Most if not all of the lyrical songs in the games include some variation on the Japanese verb "katamaru" (which describes the game's featured action).
149	* RoyalWe: The King always speaks like this. Taken to its limit in ''Me and My Katamari'', where (in a loading screen) the King [[BreakingTheFourthWall breaks the fourth wall]] and says that the game should've been called "Us and Our Katamari".
150	* RottenRoboticReplacement: ''Katamari Forever'' sees the King of All Cosmos being knocked into a coma. The Prince and his cousins decide to make a Robotic King to replace him... and said Robotic King [[HereWeGoAgain destroys the stars]]. Robotic King does however feel bad about it and tries to help The Prince once again rebuild the cosmos.
151	* RunningGag: Most games have a cousin who looks like The Prince aside from one particularly glaring difference.
152	* SandboxMode: One of the rewards you can unlock for certain achievements is "Eternal Mode", where you can roll your katamari for as long as you want, without a time limit.
153	* SayItWithHearts: The King does this quite a lot, as does the title of ''We ♥ Katamari''.
154	* SchmuckBait: The hearts in ''Katamari Forever'' temporarily attract all nearby items to the Katamari. Good for increasing your diameter. Not so good in the Cow/Bear and Hot/Cold levels, where collecting a wrong item will either end the stage early or fail the objective.
155	* SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: The size of the stars are way smaller than they'd actually be, the smallest (from a minimum requirement standpoint) being ''10 cm'' in diameter and the largest being 30 m. For reference, your average neutron star (the smallest possible star) is about ''20 km''. Also the 200-300 m range is when you start rolling up islands and even entire continents, when 300 m is just shy of three football fields in length in real life (this last one can be justified with game balance, as the final level as-is already [[GoldenSnitch single-handedly overshadows all your other accomplishments in the total diameter records combined, and making the diameter scale up to kilometers would just exacerbate the problem.]]
156	** PlayedForLaughs in ''We ♥ Katamari'', when it's revealed early on that the stars made in the first game are nowhere near enough to replace all the immeasurable number of stars in the entire universe.
157	* SchoolSettingSimulation: Multiple levels take place in schools, with the goal of rolling up things like stationery, school supplies, and students. You can travel the entire school and go from classroom to classroom, and the planet comes out looking like school-related objects, such as a backpack.
158	* SecondPlaceIsForLosers: In the King's flashbacks in ''We ♥ Katamari,'' the King of All Cosmos comes in second place in a boxing tournament. His father is none too pleased with this, and takes his second-place trophy and chucks it into a nearby river. [[spoiler:Later on, he fishes it out of the river to show the King he truly does care for him despite his harsh mentorship.]]
159	** In a more generalized gameplay example, you can pass levels by meeting the bare minimum requirements the King of All Cosmos lays out for you, but unless you really go the extra mile and get an exceptional score, he'll be quick to mock, berate, complain about or downplay your efforts on the results screen.
160	* {{Sentai}}: Jumboman, in all colors and sizes. Royal Cousin Kuro also ''loves'' Sentai, and is known for striking poses.
161	* ShootingSuperman: Cops will shoot at your mountain-sized katamari to no effect.
162	* ShoutOut:
163	** Tons to ''VideoGame/PacMan'', another Namco property.
164	*** The LCD screen on Mag's face sometimes has a ''Pac-Man'' display.
165	*** The Cheesecake item description hints that its shape looks oddly familiar.
166	*** An arcade game machine plays the ''Pac-Man'' theme when rolled up.
167	*** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CavGSsyv2r4 Katamari on the Swing SEXY SYNTHESIZER ALL ABOUT NAMCO mix]]" incorporates sound effects and jingles from ''VideoGame/PacMan'', ''VideoGame/{{Galaga}}'', and other classic Namco arcade games into its melody.
168	*** One of the DLC stages in ''Touch My Katamari'' is "We Love ''VideoGame/PacMan''", and has the player roll around a classic Pac-Man maze inside a more modern Pac-Man maze, rolling up dots, fruit, and ghosts.
169	** In ''Katamari Damacy'', the description for the Taiko Drum reads, "Japanese drums and some sticks. Someone made a [[VideoGame/TaikoNoTatsujin really cool game]] with these".
170	** In the ''We ♥ Katamari'' collection screen, the King describes Pakistan thus: "There's a city here called Harappa. But there aren't any [[VideoGame/ParappaTheRapper rapping dogs]]."
171	** In ''We ♥ Katamari'', [[StringyHairedGhostGirl black-haired]], [[EtherealWhiteDress white-clad]] ghosts can be seen emerging from wells in some levels - an obvious reference to ''[[Film/TheRing Ring]]''.
172	** In one level, a Venus flytrap can be seen sticking out of a duct stuck in the ground, referencing the Piranha Plants from the ''[[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]]'' series.
173	** In ''Beautiful Katamari'', failing a level will cause the King to say: "Failure... Sorrow... Shame... Resignation... [[Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan Wrath! Khaaaaaan!]]"
174	** Whenever Michiru Hoshino says "I feel the cosmos!" she is paraphrasing ''Manga/SaintSeiya'', another series that plays off the Zodiac.
175	** In a couple of the ''Touch My Katamari'' DLC stages, a character referred to as an "Anime Store Manager" can be found. His appearance bears a striking resemblance to Animate's mascot Meito Anisawa, best known for his appearance in ''Manga/LuckyStar''.
176	** A few of the DLC stages in ''Touch My Katamari'' also feature [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toro_Inoue Toro the Cat]] and his friends.
177	* SickeninglySweet: "This is the happiest game I've ever played."
178	* SixIsNine: The description of the 9 from the flower clock in the first game states that it can be turned upside-down to be a 6, "but nobody really does that". In the Gemini stage, there is instead [[ExactWords an upside-down 6 in place of the 9]].
179	* TheSlacker: Goro [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the Slacker]] from ''Touch My Katamari''.
180	* SoundtrackDissonance:
181	** Any relaxing, soothing background music becomes this as your Katamari becomes large enough to start absorbing people and buildings.
182	** A particular example is "Bluffing Damacy", played in ''We ♥ Katamari'' at a stage where you need to roll up fuels and light up a bonfire for the kids. Except the song is about an alcoholic man [[DrowningMySorrows drowning his sorrows]], a tragic song for a supposedly joyful festival event.
183	* SnowballingThreat: ''You are this.'' Also of course, literally true as your Katamari grows and grows.
184	* SpectacularSpinning: How the Charge & Roll technique, well, charges up.
185	* SplashOfColor: In The King's stages in ''Forever'', objects you have rolled up before in that run are in color; everything else is DeliberatelyMonochrome.
186	* StylisticSuck: The cutscenes in the first game have very LimitedAnimation.
187	* SuddenlyVoiced: The King, whose dialog had up until now been vocalized through record scratches [[spoiler:outside of a single spoken line in the final flashback]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M06aDKSgK5o sings a song for the player]] (in Japanese, of course) during the credits of ''We ♥ Katamari''.
188	* SugarBowl: The minimalist art style, with its low-poly models and bright colors, lends itself to this. Never mind that most of the levels are designed around cute and humorous situations.
189	* ThemeMusicPowerup: In the first game, "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMH49ieL4es Katamari on the Rocks]]" plays in the final stage as you recreate the Moon.
190	* TimedMission: After the tutorial level, each level has a strict time limit.
191	-->'''King of all Cosmos:''' [[WellDoneSonGuy We can believe in you for 3 minutes in Earth time.]]
192	* UnexpectedGameplayChange: The optional sequence in the ending of the second game, where the Prince tries to return to his home while the King rolls up everyone else into a katamari.
193	* UnstableEquilibrium: In the multiplayer modes, whoever builds their katamari even slightly bigger has the immediate advantage. Both players are capable of a charge attack to knock stuff off the other katamari, but the bigger one can throw his weight around much easier. After enough of a size gap, the bigger player can actually suck up the other player into his katamari as if he were an object. The smaller guy can technically break free after a while, but the game is as good as lost at this point.
194	* UnusuallyUninterestingSight:
195	** Why is it that no one notices a giant clump of rubbish rolling around until it's big enough to "collect" them? Or winged whales balancing on top of skyscrapers, grand pianos abandoned in the middle of the road, circles of dancing squid in the street, wrestling superheroes, volcano Gods, Buddhas, dancing vending machines, an elephant with afro'd musicians playing jazz on top of it, a hot air balloon dropping things, circles of dancing ''dead'' squid in the street, or a parking ''garage'' spinning on its own turntable?
196	** Only one of the Hoshinos (the son) notices the King of All Cosmos while they're flying to Top Shell Island. He's understandably surprised, and everyone else thinks he's crazy.
197	* UranusIsShowing: In the "Uranus" level of ''Beautiful Katamari'', naturally. The King makes a few (completely unintentional) Uranus puns, and follows with "Why are you sniggering?" to the player character's ([[HeroicMime unheard]]) response.
198	* VerbalTic: In the English version, the King always speaks in the RoyalWe, and has a habit of sticking weird adjectives into his sentences.
199	* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: It's surprisingly soothing to hear living beings scream upon being rolled up. And nothing can quite beat the sadistic glee of rolling up something that was smacking you around mere minutes earlier (especially if it actively chased after your Katamari and knocked several precious objects out of it, repeatedly).
200	* VocalDissonance: The King has a rather [[CampStraight campy]] voice that you wouldn't expect to come from somebody with such an intimidating face.
201	* WackyRacing: The F1 level in ''We ♥ Katamari'' gives the Prince and his cousins different bizarrely-shaped vehicles to ride in while they steer their self-rolling Katamari around a racetrack.
202	* WellDoneSonGuy:
203	** The King is rather stingy with praise throughout the entire series. In ''Katamari Forever'', he will only congratulate you for getting a score of 100/100 (or 120, if you do everything perfectly). A score of 99 or lower is treated as mediocre.
204	** This was also the relationship the young King and the Emperor had in the flashback reel of ''We ♥ Katamari''.
205	* WholesomeCrossdresser: None of the male cousins even blink at wearing a bikini. On the flip side, none of the girls ever mind wearing a mustache, or any of the other presents that one might associate with one gender over another.
206	* WouldHurtAChild: The newer the game, the worse the king treats his son when he loses.
207	* YouBreakItYouProfit: One level in ''We ♥ Katamari'' as well as ''Beautiful Katamari'' are scored by the monetary value of rolled-up objects instead of total size. This level in the later game takes place in a posh mansion and is filled with coins, jewelry, and lots of gold. The King says that life is priceless, so any people or animals you roll up are worth zero.
208	* YourSizeMayVary: While the Prince's height is given as 5cm, he and the other cousins can appear in various places in various sizes. {{Lampshaded}} in-game via their roll-up profiles, which never specify their exact height. The King's roll-up profile states that [[{{Sizeshifter}} he can change his size whenever he pleases]], "depending on (his) mood and atmospheric conditions," so presumably the Prince and the Cousins also have that ability.
209	----

Context VideoGame / KatamariDamacy