He said no to the sequel — then he saw what 'yes without him' looked like, and changed his mind.
Keita Takahashi told Namco's executives several times he wouldn't make a Katamari sequel. He believed the industry's focus on sequels killed creativity. They told him they'd make one anyway — with or without him. So he looked at their plan. It was a Christmas graphics swap. Barely different. 'That went against everything I wanted to do with Katamari,' he said. So he took the job. He built We Love Katamari as a thank-you to the fans, led a team of thirty, and made sure it kept the original's spirit while feeling new. Sometimes you take the work you never wanted, because letting someone else do it badly is worse. You might have done that once yourself.
— inspired by Keita Takahashi
About this game
Released in 2005, We Love Katamari is the sequel to Katamari Damacy — and a game its creator never wanted to make. Director Keita Takahashi opposed sequels on principle, believing they stifled creativity. When Namco told him they would make one with or without him, he saw their plan: a Christmas graphics swap, barely different from the original. He took the job to prevent that. The result became a love letter to the fans who made the first game a cult success, expanding the katamari-rolling concept with new stages, objects, and requests from the King's fans themselves.
The Story Behind
We Love Katamari was developed by a team of 30 — three times the size of the original's makeshift crew of students and a few staff. Takahashi mandated that it retain the first game's spirit while feeling fresh, turning fan service into the game's thematic core. The first Katamari had cost less than a tenth of Namco's typical budget; this sequel received more resources, but Takahashi's disillusionment with the industry's sequel culture deepened. He would later leave Namco.
Tricks & Tales
The game's title — 'We Love Katamari' — reflects its theme: fan requests. Each stage is framed as a fan asking the Prince for a specific kind of katamari. Takahashi told interviewers he agreed to direct the sequel only after seeing Namco's initial plan, which he said 'went against everything I wanted to do with Katamari.' The original game had been rejected by European publishers as 'too quirky'; this sequel saw a wider international release.
Collector's Guide
Region & Compatibility
The PS2 is region-locked. A machine and a disc must belong to the same region to work together: NTSC-J (Japan and parts of Asia), NTSC-U/C (North America), or PAL (Europe, Australia). A Japanese console plays Japanese games. It is also Japanese 100-volt hardware — a fat model used in North America's 120 volts or Europe's 220–240 needs a step-down transformer; the slim models use an external adapter that can be swapped for the right one. DVD films carry their own separate region code, fixed to the console as well.
Maintenance Tips
The PS2's most vulnerable part is its optical drive. The laser pickup weakens with age, producing the famous Disc Read Error — discs that load slowly, read intermittently, or read games but not DVDs (or the reverse). Keeping the vents and internal fan free of dust matters, especially on the larger 'fat' models, which run warmer. Replacement laser units are still made, but match the part number to your exact model before buying, as several incompatible types exist. DualShock 2 controllers commonly develop sticky or drifting analog sticks with age; the rubber and contacts wear, and both are repairable.
What to Watch Out For
Before buying, these are the points worth knowing — from someone who handles original Japanese We Love Katamari copies regularly.
Will a We Love Katamari disc still save my progress?
Yes. Unlike Game Boy or Game Boy Advance cartridges, PlayStation 2 games save to a memory card — a separate 8MB card you insert into the console — not to a battery inside the disc. The disc itself holds no save data and has no battery to wear out. As long as you have a working PS2 memory card, your progress will be kept safely.
Can I play a Japanese copy of We Love Katamari on a North American PS2?
No. The PlayStation 2 is region-locked: a Japanese (NTSC-J) copy will only run on a Japanese PS2 console. If you have a North American or European PS2, you'll need the region-matching version of the game. The disc won't even boot on a console from a different region.
My We Love Katamari disc won't load — what's the most common cause?
For PlayStation 2 discs, the trouble is often not the bottom (data) surface but the top (label) side. The data layer sits very close to the label, and if that layer is scratched or peeling — even slightly — the laser can't read it, and the damage cannot be repaired. Before buying a used copy, check both sides: the label side matters more than you'd think.
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