The guy at EB who sold me my copy this afternoon had no idea what it was. He asked me about it and I did my best to explain.
Katamari Damacy does paint itself a weird picture of Japan. I’m particularly fond of the “build the moon” level, where there are animals in the streets, a giant squid in the harbor, and a giant robot fighting Godzilla on the outskirts of the city… and no one really seems to take notice of it at all.
Cool. Hopefully if it sells like crazy over there it will be released over here. You fuckers all better buy two copies each. I want to see receipts.
I just ordered it. You guys better be right. :-)
Dude, I bought three.
Picked up a copy tonight at the local EB, their last. I’m glad I made sure to try to pick up a copy today. It’s very, very weird but fun. I like the music. I hadn’t expected cut scenes. Tomorrow I think I’ll go to the space mushroom and try multiplayer out.
Based on the reports here, I went to two of my local GameStops. When I asked the clerk at the first, he looked at me like I was some kind of crackhead who had wandered in. At the second, the manager was there and knew what I was talking about because she’d played it at some meeting. So I bought it, and like others here, I think it was the last copy.
Anyway, it’s great! We’ll see if it has lasting appeal, but right now I can’t help but smile when I plough through the park grabbing playing children, sunbathers, and the occasional sheep.
LOVE the music. There’s multiplayer? Holy crap, I need to try that. I didn’t get to play much tonight, but I’m really glad I didn’t waste any money on Battlefront. Damacy rocks, I’m going to bring it to people’s houses and just put it on when they’re not paying attention. Then when they’re rolling shit up I mention that it’s only twenty dollars. Hell, I got my friends to buy like 10 FFXI + HDD bundles, this will be cake :D
The item descriptions are the best! “A green crayon, great for drawing frogs”! Is this the cutest game ever or what?
Maaaaaagic pencils swirl in the aftertaste of silvery, silvery rabbit fromage!
-Kitsune
It’s only $15 at Fry’s until Tuesday. Can’t resist that.
The word of mouth on this is really exceptional. I wasn’t able to get a copy at my local EB because they were sold out. I had to go to a different EB and they only had one copy left. Granted, most stores are only getting 3 or so copies it seems.
EBGames.com and GameStop.com were both sold out, as of yesterday.
Namco will be quiet please me thinks. Will they run another printing of it or it this doomed to be an instant Rez?
That’s definitely an apt comparison. I feel as though the designer must have been watching a show about Dung Beetles on the Discovery channel, all the while on LSD.
Overall, the game is great, I’ve been looking forward to it for a while and am very pleased. The music is excellent and the gameplay is totally unique and enjoyable. And $20!? It’s one of the best values you can get.
The only thing that I didn’t like were the controls. Took me quite a while to get used to using UP on the left stick to turn left and DOWN to turn right. Wtf? That doesn’t feel intuitive to me at all. Is there any option to change it?
Has anyone spotted it at Bestbuy or any other non-software store? (No Fry’s in B’ham)
Yeah I’m digging around Vegas for it myself.
I normally resist the urge to buy console stuff (DDR excluded).
Just read this, I’ll see if they have it at the Fry’s here in town. If they have multiple copies and people are interested, I could pick up extras.
Of the stores in my area (2 EBs, 1 gamestop, best buy, circuit city, Toys r Us, and Walmart) only one EB got it in. They received two copies. So I snapped up one of them.
Thanks for the Fry’s tip. $14.99, plenty of copies on the shelf.
Weren’t any at the Gamestop in Olympia, but found one at an EB in Kitsap.
Edit: Okay I played this while I installed my Rome: Total War. I love this game! Unwieldy, but awesome.
Not at my local Best Buy, but got the Gamestop to pricematch Fry’s so I didn’t have to make an hour round trip. Just shows what happens when you ask.
Got it at EB’s, no problem, in central Indiana. I was going to be nice and check out other stores to see if maybe just certain chains were having problems securing copies, but I’m too busy playing the game to bother now.
I do feel sorry for those of you having problems getting a copy, because Kitsune’s first post here describes my feelings towards it perfectly after only a few hours. Hell, every jaded bit of my gamer persona was immediately killed the moment I saw the game’s cover, which depicts a katamari with ferris wheels, baseball stadiums, ocean liners, whales, hot air baloons, satellites, rockets, skyscrapers, what looks like Golden Gate Bridge, giant mushrooms, and an octopus stuck to it. My father figure, The King Of All Cosmos, won me over the moment he began bitching that the sky wasn’t delicious enough, not to mention all the times he’s been the most charming-yet-patronizing fuck I’ve ever seen in a game. The game is easy in the sense that you can accomplish the missions with almost no difficulty, yet I can’t imagine how hard it will be to attain truly impressive scores because, true to form, The King Of All Cosmos will not shut up about how awful a player I am despite winning everything on the first try. The soundtrack is ten million different kinds of awesome.
Speaking of which, Kitsune, yes we’re going to need translations for the songs. I have only heard one with English lyrics thus far. I think it was a love song, and I’d accuse it of being incredibly out-of-place if I didn’t love this game.
Wait a minute. You mean there’s a deeper meaning under the “Na-na-na na-na-na-na” theme?