It comes as no surprise that We Love Katamari is my all-time favorite game. While the novelty of the original Katamari Damacy will hold a place in my heart, the sequel is where the series was at its peak in terms of level design and overall content. While 2018 had Katamari Damacy Reroll, this year brings us We Love Katamari Reroll+ Royal Reverie, a remastered version of the classic PS2 title. With a fresh coat of paint and some more missions, this is the definitive way to play the game.

We Love Katamari is part sequel, part meta commentary about the series in general. (In fact, this is the last game the original director, Ketia Takahashi, worked on before leaving the franchise entirely.) Due to the success of the first game, fans all across the world ask the King of All Cosmos for more; while reluctant to do so, he gives the public what they want and tasks you, the Prince of All Cosmos, to fulfill the requests of the people in the hub world. The fact that this game is a sequel is a meta plot point too. Many of the stages have requesters talk about how a loved one enjoyed the last game, and they would want to experience "the joy of Katamari" as well. It’s an interesting narrative structure that works well, especially in 2005 when the meta angle wasn’t overused. In addition, cutscenes in the middle of the game highlight the King’s childhood when he was the Prince’s age in the hands of his father (the former Great King). Players will get to see a more human side of him as a small child as he grows up and falls in love with the future Queen of All Cosmos.

The game is simple to control, as it only requires the use of the analog sticks (with optional pressing of the shoulder buttons for camera controls). You’ll need to push both sticks the same direction in order to move your character’s katamari (a ball that clumps up various objects). Alternating stick directions will cause your character to position the katamari somewhere else, clicking the sticks will cause you to turn around, and constantly spinning will charge a dash move where you can ram into objects. While at first, your katamari can only grab small items, as you pick up more things, you can eventually roll up bigger objects. From thumbtacks to humans to even entire land masses, there’s a stark variety of things you can obtain by rolling things together.

It’s a game that anyone can pick up and play because of how simple it controls (I’ve given the controller from everyone to my parents to Sunday school kids, and they didn’t have any trouble with it at all.) For those that want to play together, there is a co-op mode available where two characters share one katamari and will need to coordinate their movements. While it’s a bit frustrating for high level play, this is great for casual gameplay and a fun exercise in teamwork. (There’s also a local versus mode for those that want to try their hand at rolling each other up).

While Katamari Damacy introduced the concept alongside themed stages (where you have to pick up certain types of items), We Love Katamari expands this concept to the katamari as well. Some of my favorite stages come from this change, from a racecar katamari that cannot stop (meaning you’ll need to have to think on your feet on what you want to roll) to a fire katamari that must constantly consume things to burn a campfire; touching water will extinguish your flame. Sometimes you don’t even roll a katamari, like a stage where you have to roll up a sumo wrestler to eat food in order to bulk up and beat his opponent, or a stage where you just roll up a snowball. This game takes the concept of the first game and stretches it to the absolute max, which makes for dozens of unique experiences that are new each time. The game is also much harder to get a high score, as you’ll only get slight praise (and some passive aggressive disappointing comments) if you barely pass the size or item requirements. This game encourages numerous replays and will satisfy high score chasers.

We Love Katamari Reroll+ Royal Reverie updates the game to adapt to modern consoles, with a lovely art style that upgrades the original to a cartoony look that still adheres to the original 2000s series. However, for those that want the old look just upscaled to HD, there’s an option to switch to the regular graphics. It’s crazy to see how well the original graphics have aged, and I hardly noticed any differences. The game also includes some quality-of-life changes, such as the addition of eternal mode for certain stages (where you can roll up a katamari with no time limit, a feature missing from the original release).

The game’s soundtrack remains intact, with instantly catchy bops that you’ll hum long after you finish. After nearly 20 years, I still have the J-pop/rock song “Everlasting Love” in my long-term memory, and the acapella version of Katamari on the Rocks is a runner-up. The soundtrack is wacky and infectious. For those wanting more, an additional music DLC (included with the pricier Digital Deluxe version or a separate purchase) includes highlights from the other games, which is a must have for veterans that have played any previous entries.

Finally, the newest addition to this remaster is the Royal Reverie campaign, which are five altered stages in the main game where you play as the younger King of All Cosmos. These are glorified reskins of previous levels with harder conditions (rolling up a katamari in merely a minute’s time) or revamped rules (my favorite stage takes place in a classroom at nighttime where you have to dodge touching ghosts while collecting instruments). The new content isn’t groundbreaking by any means, but it’s a nice treat for series veterans that want a little more challenge after beating the rest of the game.

While We Love Katamari Reroll+ Royal Reverie is an amazing upgrade overall, the Switch version is inferior to the other console and PC versions. I had some time to play the PlayStation 5 version, which supports 60 FPS and looks much smoother. The Switch version does have the same graphical style, but is locked at 30 FPS and has some minor stutters in undocked mode. That said, I think the lower framerate does feel closer to the original game and I prefer this when playing a long session.

Morally, We Love Katamari Reroll+ is a very tame title. However, as it does highlight facets of Japanese culture, there are references to ghosts such as yokai and Buddha; you can also roll them up, but they’re only used as props rather than actual supernatural characters. The game does have some silly toilet humor as well, with one example being a cousin that is described as being naked and having a tan during the snowball level. The cousin is dressed as nondescript as the other ones and is fully colored tan (compared to the Prince, who is fully colored green).

Lastly, the flashback sequences depict the former King of All Cosmos being strict with the little King, whipping him as punishment for not achieving perfection. However, I’m awarding bonus points for this situation as scenes later in the game show the former King being remorseful for his actions and asking for forgiveness. The game continues to show the importance of family, as the current King grows up to be a responsible family man with the Queen of All Cosmos and the Prince.

We Love Katamari Reroll + Royal Reverie is the best way to play one of the PlayStation 2’s best games, and with some extra content and improvements, I would recommend it to nearly everyone.