Roughly twenty-one years ago, I was simultaneously bamboozled and bemused by a strange little game I'd plopped into my PlayStation 2. A fifth grader at the time, I'd been tasked with putting all the stars back in the sky alongside a tiny fellow simply known as the Prince...and we were going to do it with something called a “Katamari.” I had a bit of trouble wrapping my young mind around the tank-style controls used to this ball, but after renting the game a few times, I found myself rolling with the best of them. It wasn't long after that that I became mesmerized by the title's eclectic soundtrack and retrofuturistic visuals. Oh, the name of this game? Katamari Damacy.

A slew of sequels, a couple of decades, and a handful of remakes later, that tiny fellow rolled up on me with Once Upon A Katamari. This is a new spin on the delightfully strange game I remember from all those years ago...and then some. This time around, the King of All Cosmos goes a little too ham with his spring cleaning and ends up wiping out the entire universe. Thankfully, the King has a time-traveling tchotchke up his sleeve that sends the Prince on an era-spanning adventure to roll up a solution to this catastrophic blunder.

Much like the original Katamari Damacy, Once Upon A Katamari starts the player with a simple task—roll up the Prince's Katamari up to a certain size before time runs out. Oh, and they're not just rolling up anything, oh no. Snacks, people, buildings, dinosaurs—as long as the Katamari's big enough, it can be rolled up. The controls function the same as in previous titles, but there's also a simple one-stick option available for players having a tough time with the standard controls.

Oddly enough, I tend to liken the Katamari gameplay loop to the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series as it encourages players to revisit levels for high scores, hidden collectibles, and progression. Both series have this ability to put my brain into a flow state, allowing me to laser in on the goals and put my noisy brain to rest for a moment or two. Though I did occasionally feel my flow broken by sections in which the player is asked to collect medals from previous levels to progress.

However, I understand the presence of these progress gates as players could probably fly through the various eras without exploring the game's most exciting spins on the core Katamari concept. Need to fatten up a young feudal lord? Roll him into every scrap of food in sight! A prehistoric creature needs to dig out a new home? Dig deep into the bedrock! Want to race some pirates? Get rolling! There's a wide variety of silly and satisfying challenges to take on over the course of the game.

Not to mention that the player is also given a handful of useful power-ups. A magnet, rocket boosters, a clock-stopper, and a simple radar become critical tools in routing out paths through each stage. While I enjoyed this addition, I found myself wishing that there were more and weirder power-ups that drastically affect the Katamari's physical properties or how it interacts with the environment. Another shake-up is the introduction of a multiplayer mode known as Katamari Ball. Outside of a tutorial match, I didn't return much to this mode. The game feels better suited to the individual sessions I mentioned earlier, instead of trying to collect the most points among players. I finished the main story in about eight hours, but went right back to roll up anything I missed earlier and unlock additional levels.

Once Upon A Katamari's visuals ooze the quirkiness one would expect to see from the series, but its soundtrack left me conflicted. The atmosphere that surrounds songs like “Lonely Rolling Star”, “Katamari on the Rocks”, and “Que Sera Sera” is just as key to the foundation of Katamari just as its visuals and gameplay are. While these classic tracks are featured as DLC, Once Upon A Katamari's original songs have been slow to win me over. But to the soundtrack's credit, a track featured in a particularly rosy stage had me holding back tears.

At an MSRP of US$39.99, Once Upon A Katamari is perfectly priced—it won't break the bank for fans of the series or parents looking for a stocking stuffer to go along with that Switch 2 they just bought. However, I believe the deal will become even sweeter over time once the title goes on sale alongside the excellent Katamari Damacy and We Love Katamari remasters. Once Upon A Katamari is sure to become one of those games I find myself returning to over and over again when I need to relax. But even more than that, I'm curious to see how the team at Bandai Namco takes this rock-solid foundation and rolls it into a follow-up! Because let me tell you, I love Katamari.