Thursday, May 3, 2012

Katamari Damacy New Ideas

Hey y'all.  Hm.  I was just watching a bunch of let's plays on youtube of Katamari games.  It turns out there's a crap ton of them.  I've watched Katamari Damacy (the only one I've actually played), We Love Katamari, and Katamari Forever.  The first is excellent, and the second brings in a lot of originality -- though the second one lost points with me because it made it look like humans actually like it when the Prince rolls a katamari.  If you're being rolled up into a ball and turned into a star, I doubt you'd like it.  Then the second game makes up those lost points by its ending credits sequence.

The general plot of the game is that the King of all Cosmos has gotten like...drunk or something, and has accidentally destroyed all the stars in the sky and also the moon.  His teeny tiny son, the Prince of all Cosmos, has to go roll up all the Earth items he can to make new stars.  Basically all the games go on this model, though the cause of the loss of stars varies somewhat per game.   The point of all the games is to create more stars and planets out of random stuff on Earth.

These are great games.  You'd be surprised, but it is.  What with gathering up a bunch of random objects (mainly weird Japanese stuff), the King's random and derogatory quotes, ridiculous music, and the ability to roll up people, cars, and even buildings and giant squid as you get bigger, this game can be ridiculously addictive.

But the problem with the game is, it's pretty simple.  Even fans of the game have to admit that it's pretty repetitive, and if you have one of the better games, there's usually no need  to get another unless you're really obsessed.  So that's why Katamari needs some new ideas!




That's right.  They need new gameplay mechanics.  It's nice and all to be able to roll up stuff, but there's no reason to continue the game series unless changes are made to insure further fan interest.  Even Mario has to change up his game every so often.  That's why he's the biggest game character there is.

I was really expecting a lot from Katamari Forever.  Unfortunately, Katamari Forever is essentially a compilation of the other two games I mentioned, albeit with a new plot involving "Robo King" and a least a couple of new levels.  One of those levels is a really short and really disappointing "boss fight" with Robo King, who goes haywire in the end.  Not really a spoiler.  You know the game developers are going to get rid of him once the real King regains consciousness.

That brings me to my first idea: bring in a boss fight.  Katamari is known for not being a fighter game, and that's why it's so popular.  However, it's really strange that the Prince is tearing up Earth and nobody bothers him.  Also, it's strange there's no fight against Robo King.  Isn't the guy going to stop you from turning him into a katamari?  If he's haywire, why would he just lie there and let Prince roll him up?

So there should be a boss fight.  The Prince has to roll up a bunch of little stuff, all while dodging Robo King's giant legs and the lasers he shoots from his eyes.  The lasers destroy smaller items and blow up larger ones, and break you if it hits.  You have to get big enough to roll up his legs and stop him.  Then you finish rolling him up from there, starting with the inner workings that control his laser eyes.  And then you roll up all his spare parts.

Another idea I had was actually for other games.  In the game Silent Hill, you can earn access to weapons to use during your second playthrough.  One of these weapons for a sequel (or perhaps another game entirely) is a katamari.  That would be a great way to get rid of those horrible zombie dogs.  To limit the probably overpowered katamari, they could make it get too heavy to push after a certain while.

But back to the actual Katamari games.  Another way to make them varied?  More Queen of the Cosmos.  I mean, she's there, but most of the time she does very little.  I imagine her as a very polite lady that would rather watch her husband's and child's antics than participate in them.  Of course, I could be wrong.  We never see her, that's the problem.  Maybe she could have a special set of levels or something to complete.

Another idea would be to have some platforming.  Not like, difficult platforming or anything, because a katamari doesn't control very well, but maybe like a bonus area you get into where you gain ridiculously important items by being in a little narrow pathway in the sky.  The longer you stay on, the bigger bonus you get.  When you fall off, you just go back into the normal level and continue from there.

I was thinking about a nice underwater segment for katamari.  Maybe the King could have dropped his royal crown into the ocean, and the Prince has to go get it.  The Prince starts at the higher level, with coral and all the surface dwelling fish.  The bigger the katamari gets, the further down it can go, and start rolling up things like whales, goblin sharks, and shipwrecks.  The final part will be really dark, and you can get deep sea anglers and stuff of that nature.  The crown is on the very bottom, and it shines light so that you can see it.

So that's all I got for the moment.  Anybody else got some katamari ideas?

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