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Hugh Likes Video Games: Katamari Damacy Rolling Live

October 21, 2025

hughjodonnell Hugh Likes Video Games, Review , , , , , Leave a comment

Katamari Damacy Rolling Live

Published by Bandai Namco

Released in Apple Arcade
Played on Macbook Pro

The Skinny: The Skinny: Still rolling along.

Released exclusively for phones, tablets, and Mac via Apple Arcade, Katamari Damacy Rolling Live brings back The King of All Cosmos, who is dismayed to find that time has moved on from his heights of popularity in the early 2000s. In order to regain the hearts of the people, he hatches a plan to become a hugely popular streamer. And by streamer, he means streaming the Prince taking on missions rolling up everything in his path.

Structurally, Katamari Damacy Rolling Live works in much the same way as every Kamari sequel since 2005’s We Love Katamarii. A line of fans will each give the King a request, which results in a level or a challenge for the Prince. In addition to the traditional challenges of growing to a certain size or within a given time limit, levels include trying to spend as much as possible in a convenience store, rolling up as many people as possible at an amusement park, and using the katamari to clean a bath house. As the game has been optimized for play on phones (with use of a wireless controller or backbone,) the challenges tend to be a little shorter and the levels are a bit cramped. But the game shares the same low poly aesthetic and jazzy electric J-Pop soundtrack that you remember. As the levels grow in complexity, you can go from rolling around a living room, to a shopping mall, to rolling up the whole world. There isn’t a ‘house’ to explore, but the levels, if a little small, are interesting. New levels unlock based on the number of ‘views’ your performance earns. Most levels will unlock eventually, but a better score unlocks them faster.

The game plays a bit too far into nostalgia. The central joke, the King becoming a streamer because nobody is paying attention to him, doesn’t really land. The joke’s fangs are blunted, mostly because the game doesn’t want to really say anything too mean about streamers, whom Bandai Namco presumably wants to push and market the game for them. So the story just kind of falls flat as a gimmick, and the satire feels toothless.
The Soundtrack is another standout, full of peppy, dancy, and occasionally downright weird J-Pop Jazz to roll along to. “Midnight Tryst,” “Parallel Damacy,” and “Starry Night Fever” are standout tracks for me. You can also spend Candy, the game’s in-game currency on unlocking extra cousins, personalizing your channel logo, and unlocking classic songs from previous games like Katamari on the Swing. As a part of Apple Arcade, there aren’t any cash micro-transactions so the unlocking experience doesn’t feel at all predatory.
Katamri Damacy Rolling Live is presented as a part of Apple Arcade, so it’s free with a subscription to the service, which makes it well worth your time if you liked the PS2 classics. Take it for a spin on iPhone, iPad, or Mac If you aren’t a part of the Apple grid, you can wait for Once Upon a Katamari when it launches for Steam and consoles later this week.

Hugh Likes Video Games: Mr. Driller: Drill Land

November 16, 2020

hughjodonnell Hugh Likes Video Games, Review , , , , Leave a comment

Mr.Driller: Drill Land
Published by Bandai Namco Games
Played on Nintendo Switch

The Skinny – Want to feel old? This is what Dig Dug looks like now.

Mr. Driller: Drill Land is an odd little puzzle game originally only released in Japan on the Game Cube in 2002. It received a digital rerelease in North America this year on the Nintendo Swith and PC. A mix of candy-colored puzzle game and old-school arcade style, the Mr. Driller series is a sort of sequel to the arcade hit Dig Dug. Placing the player in control of a little character drilling through colorful rock strata. Blocks of the same color will stick together and disappear once they’ve reached a certain size. The goal of the game is to drill down to a goal depth without getting squashed by destabilized blocks or running out of air, which continually ticks down.
Drill Land introduces further tweaks into the formula, while presenting the five different game modes as different attractions in an underground drilling-themed amusement park. By and large, these different modes are challenging, but clever. One has players attempting to gather treasure and avoid traps in an Indiana Jones pastiche that came out well in advance of Spelunky. Another mode has you fighting ghosts ini a Castlevania-esque Haunted house. There is also a brightly animated story mode that draws heavily on the same Astroboy tropes as Megaman, but doesn’t get too much in the way of the puzzle gameplay.
The game’s visuals are cute with a polished cartoon aesthetic, and being an early 2000’s Namco game, the soundtrack, composed by Go Shiina, is a breezy, jazz-inflected delight. The Switch release features the option to play with the original setting, or a more ‘casual’ difficulty setting. I picked the original, and despite the visuals and story, it is merciless.
Mr. Driller: Drill Land is an overlooked oddity from a venerable game studio. it’s a perfect stress-free puzzle game to chill out to, if you don’t mind a bit of a challenge. It is available for PC via Steam, and for Nintendo Switch via the eshop, where it’s currently on sale.