Katamari Damacy is a series of games where you roll a ball around and pick stuff up. The first game was developed and published by Namco, with Ketia Takahashi creating the original concept and directing the development, and it was released in 2004. The sequel, We Love Katamari, was released in 2005, and was the last game to involve Takahashi.
My experience with the series started when I was really young, probably under 10 years old. I had Katamari Damacy, the first game, as well as We Love Katamari on the PS2. It was very fun and I don't think I ever truly forgot about it, even after I switched completely to playing games on the computer. My brother also had Beautiful Katamari for the 360 but I didn't get to play it much before he got a red ring.
I was able to emulate the games on PCSX2, just not very well as a result of my computer not being very strong. However, in 2018, Katamari Damacy Reroll was released on Steam. That might have been what got me thinking about emulating the game, but either way, I didn't buy it until December of 2020. It's a pretty good remaster. Somewhere between my childhood and then, I guess I forgot what features and levels were introduced in WLK. It made me want to play WLK again, and just experience the original games again.
I believe mid-2021 I got a CRT television from my uncle which works very well, and I got a PS2 slim and KD + WLK off Ebay in October of 2021. Replaying the games on original hardware made me very nostalgic, maybe the most nostalgic I've ever felt in my life.
Then in June of 2023, We Love Katamari Reroll came out. It's a better remaster than KDR, with actual QoL improvements and new content in the form of Royal Reverie. In both of the remasters I think the models for the cousins look worse than in the originals, and the physics might be a little off. Also in WLKR there's some sound pitch/speed issues with some of the pickup noises.
