Katamari Damacy composer overjoyed at soundtrack’s 20th anniversary digital release
Katamari Damacy celebrates its 20th anniversary this month. That’s right, the addictive and quirky puzzle game where you play as a tiny prince who rolls up an increasingly big ball of stuff originally hit PlayStation 2 consoles back in 2004. To mark the occasion, Bandai Namco is releasing special merch and even issuing the original game’s soundtrack digitally for the first time. The latter piece was retweeted by Katamari Damacy’s sound director and main composer, Yuu Miyake, who took to X to express his joy at the release.
In Katamari Damacy, the aim is to roll stuff into a huge ball to please your eccentric King of the Cosmos father who accidentally destroyed most of the universe. No problem though, the balls of stuff that you roll up on Earth can be used to replace stars and celestial bodies in the solar system. As your main character is tiny, you start off collecting small items like pencils, oranges, cans etc. As your mass of assorted stuff gets bigger, you can pick up all kinds of large items and creatures including tables, trees, cows, buildings and just about everything you can think of. The game’s puzzle mechanic, colorful and blocky graphics and wacky characters won the hearts of many players- leading to various sequels being made. But it’s the catchy music of Katamari Damacy that will stay in your head forever if you have heard it once. Eclectic electro-pop combined with catchy bright vocals and lashings of jazz and samba- it fits the bright, quirky and mad world of the game.
The original 2004 game’s sound director and lead composer Yuu Miyake recently took to X (formerly Twitter) to reminisce and express joy at the soundtrack’s release on global streaming services and digital music stores on March 25, 2024.
Katamari Damacy’s music was the result of a collaboration between seven composers. It was previously released on CD in Japan back in 2004, but this is the first time it has been made available to digitally purchase or stream, making it easier for international fans to enjoy the iconic soundtrack legally. On March 17, Yuu Miyake appeared at a special DJ event at Namco Tokyo to mark the anniversary.
Katamari Damacy (Original Soundtrack) – Katamari Fortissimo Damacy can be found on Itunes/Apple Music, Spotify and Youtube Music depending on your country. For more information, please see Bandai Namco Music’s website.
Katamari Damacy REROLL is available on PC (Steam), PS4/PS5, Nintendo Switch and Xbox One/Xbox Series S|X.
Added this on Spotify and had to lookup Bandai Namco Sound Team to get to it. I am so glad everyone remembers these games and they have been remastered recently. Hopefully Katamari Forever can be released in the future as a remaster.