Katamari Damacy REROLL was one of the easiest no-brainer purchases of 2018 for me. The original Katamari is in my opinion a perfect game, with maybe the only issue being that it could use a little more horsepower than what the PS2 could bring to the table, so a remake on modern platforms would be perfect. And it was! All the charm of the original, quality of life changes, but it effectively looks like what a visually perfect version of the game would be, which simply couldn’t have been delivered via S-VIDEO from a PS2.

Despite the cumbersome official name of We ❤️ Katamari REROLL+ Royal Reverie, this remake was again a complete no-brainer purchase. We Love Katamari was a lightning-quick followup to the original (apparently shipping to North America 364 days after the original release). It had a modest engine revamp to improve visual quality, plus just . . more everything. More levels, more level types, more environments, more environment variety, more cousins, more presents, more music. Everything. It maintained all the charm of the original, didn’t overstay its welcome, and managed to not just feel like “all the scraps from the cutting room floor of Katamari Damacy”.

We Love Katamari REROLL is a little less than I expected. Yes it’s all the same visual fidelity updates as the first Remake, but they didn’t attempt to fix the mid-level load transitions that the original had . . which seemed like something you’d try to remove in a remake on modern platforms.

Unlike Katamari REROLL, they did straight up add some content this time around! It’s . . not amazing, though. In addition to cousins and presents, every level now has at least one “sticker” to find, which you can apply to the in-game photo-mode. They also added a handful of alt-modes to levels, where you play as a young King.

So it’s good, definitely worth the cheap price to not have to drag out a PS2, but I think the original remake is still a better game.