The Katamari series has always thrived on chaos, and Once Upon a Katamari wastes no time reminding players why rolling up the world is still such a joy. At Tokyo Game Show 2025, Bandai Namco offered a hands‑on demo that felt both warmly familiar and surprisingly ambitious, with a new twist that sends the Prince tumbling through history itself.
The demo began with the King of All Cosmos, as flamboyant and careless as ever, accidentally tearing apart the stars with a magical scroll. To repair the damage, the Prince is tasked with rolling up objects across different eras, and the TGS build showcased three: a prehistoric plain scattered with dinosaurs and stone tools, a bustling stretch of feudal Japan, and a frozen Ice Age landscape dotted with mammoths. Each setting had its own flavour, but the through‑line was the same: start small, gather momentum, and watch as your Katamari grows from humble beginnings into an unstoppable force of absurdity.
Rolling itself felt instantly recognisable, but the demo introduced a few new tricks. A magnet ability allowed the Katamari to pull in nearby objects, which was especially handy in cluttered areas where precision rolling might otherwise slow the pace. There was also a subtle support system that helped smooth out awkward collisions, making the game more approachable without diluting the satisfaction of mastering its quirks. These additions didn’t overshadow the core loop, instead they simply gave it a little more elasticity, letting players focus on the joy of collecting rather than the frustration of getting stuck.
What really stood out was how seamlessly the presentation tied everything together. The series’ trademark soundtrack returned in full force, with playful vocals and eclectic rhythms that made even the most chaotic moments feel like part of a grand performance. The visuals leaned into bold colours and exaggerated shapes, and the sheer density of objects on screen was impressive. On Switch 2, the demo ran smoothly even as the Katamari ballooned to ridiculous proportions, without losing the series’ toy‑box charm. The effect meant a world that begged to be rolled up, piece by piece, until nothing was left untouched.
The humour, too, was intact – also highlighted by the people dressed up and dancing around the booth area. There’s something inherently funny about scooping up cavemen alongside giant eggs, or watching a samurai’s armour clatter into your growing ball of nonsense. Once Upon a Katamari doesn’t try to explain itself, choosing instead to simply revel in the absurdity, and the demo’s historical settings gave that absurdity a fresh stage. By the time the Katamari was large enough to roll up entire huts and mammoths, it is the sort of hilarity that has people around laughing just as much as those playing the actual game – a true family and friends experience!
