Katamari Damacy
The gloriously weird PS2 game where you roll a sticky ball that picks up thumbtacks, then cats, then cars, then whole skyscrapers. A candy-colored oddity with an unforgettable soundtrack that became an instant cult classic.
Katamari Damacy was developed and published by Namco for the PlayStation 2, created by first-time director Keita Takahashi, who came from an art and sculpture background rather than game design. It released in Japan in March 2004 and North America that September, and — oddly — never got an official European release. You play a tiny prince rolling a sticky ball (a katamari) that absorbs ever-larger objects to rebuild the stars and the Moon.
Made for about ¥100 million — well under a million dollars, about a tenth the budget of a major Namco title — through a program that paired staff with art students, it was a critical darling far bigger than its sales. It won a Game Developers Choice Award for design, became the first video game to win Japan's Good Design Award, and charmed players with its surreal premise and infectiously catchy J-pop soundtrack.
It actually undersold Namco's own modest estimates, but its reputation only grew. A sequel, We Love Katamari, followed in 2005, its influence turned up in later indie games like Donut County, and in 2012 Katamari Damacy was inducted into the Museum of Modern Art's permanent collection.
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