Katamari Damacy sequel details

Having vaguely told us some new things about Katamari Damacy's now-confirmed sequel last week, and given us a look at four of the smallest screenshots ever, Namco has this week detailed a few of the new locations, specific objectives, the plot (such that it is), and said some other things which we're about to parrot at you in a loving manner.

First off, the sequel (which is due out on PS2 in spring 2005 in Japan blah blah basic covered) will adhere to the same basic rules and controls as the original. You still control the Prince of the Cosmos, you still push a ball around, which gradually increases in size as different worldly objects stick to it like an urban snowball or something. In other words, Namco recognises it was fundamentally brilliant, and isn't doing anything too significant to upset that.

What it is doing is giving us some exciting new locations - Snacks (a house made of sweets), Race (a racecourse with vehicles and the like), Classroom (yeah, so...) and Zoo (...) - and giving us some more specific objectives to worry about, like only using a limited number of objects on the way to a target ball size, or aiming for certain objects (like the first game's crabs) exclusively. And so on. Use your imagination; that's what they're doing.

We're also told that you can still collect royal presents which can be worn by the Prince, like a rainbow, and that you can now wear two at a time as long as they're not meant to strap on to the same part of the Prince's body. The presents naturally come from the King, who is seen riding around on a horse this time (implying he's got his drinking habit in order), and the plot, such that it is or that we understand it, concerns honouring requests from the Prince's fans, which in turn prompt more fan mail requests, and so on. Presumably it'll make more sense when we're not getting it second-hand from people who were translating it from a difficult native tongue in the first place with varied results.

Whatever - we expect to hear more about Katamari Damacy's deserved sequel in the next few months, including the multiplayer action we've been craving, and then we expect to import it and feverishly tear it apart in the hope that it's just as good and slightly longer than its predecessor which, if you still haven't taken an interest in, is gushingly reviewed in its native Japanese form here.