Katamari Forever – The Music

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Hello everyone, I’m Kazuhito Udetsu, the producer of Katamari Forever for PS3 at Namco Bandai Games. For those asking, “who?” let me introduce myself a bit further. I joined Namco in 1996 as a game designer. I worked in various departments including marketing and promotions where I worked on the original Katamari Damacy. I’m here today to give you a peek into the music of Katamari Forever. As always, Yuu Miyake was in charge of sound direction and he did a wonderful job. What’s so great about his work is that it’s always beyond my expectations. However, because he was also simultaneously working on Noby Noby Boy, I was a bit worried he would tire himself out with his crazy schedule! Anyway, he managed to survive and both games turned out to be in the so-called “what hath God wrought” caliber.

Since his job has finished, and he has so much free time now, I thought I would let him take over for the rest of this post. Enjoy reading his profound comments.

Hi everyone! Having a good time? I’m Yuu Miyake, the sound director for Katamari Forever.

Katamari Forever’s soundtrack consists of remixes of past Katamari songs. Let me briefly talk about why this is. Since the first game, Katamari Damacy, was originally only released in Japan, we wanted Japanese singers who were well-known in Japan but nobody had heard from in awhile for whatever reason. For the second game we wanted to do the same thing but with foreign artists. However, this didn’t happen because of our lack of foreign friends and ability to negotiate. For this game we thought it would be a good idea to have those tunes remixed or arranged by Japanese and non-Japanese artists as sort of a musical trilogy (Oh, did you notice that Katamari Forever is the third title for a PlayStation console? Not that it really means anything though.).

The most important thing about the remixed music is that it’s clearly meant to be for a Katamari game. That includes Katamari-themed lyrics and an overall Katamari feeling. We selected fan favorite tunes and ones that we have special feelings for, and started to narrow down the most attractive singers for each remix. All the artists I asked to remix the songs for in Katamari Forever were ones I listen to, know and respect. I wish we could have artists from all over the world take part in the game but I only have Japanese friends, so most artists are Japanese. Professional musicians and sound experts in the US, please be my friends!


What I think is important in this consuming society is not to stick to one genre. I maintain this philosophy throughout the entire Katamari series. Since Japan has a long history of games I included chiptunes like YMCK. I also added “organic” tunes like SOFT’s remix of “You Are Smart.”

As a result of the tune selection, Katamari Forever has two streams of music, “electric” and “organic.” I guess if I had one more thing to say it would be…maybe…Check out Noby Noby Boy, too!

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68 Comments

  • the price will be the deciding factor.

    Noby Noby Boy is so damn weird and aimless but for some reason i keep coming back to it in small patches. Probably the awesome soundtrack

  • will the music and/or sound effects be 24-bit lossless audio? this and the pricing will determine if this is a day one purchase for me.

    thanks!

  • I have heard about this game over the years but never been able to play it. I will definitely have to check it out this time. Interesting to hear about the music choices too.

  • Namco, I am so happy we finally get another great Katamari game! Just PLEASE make sure to include Trophy support, In Game Custom Soundtracks support (even though your remixed soundtracks will be awesome!), 7.1 Uncompressed PCM support and DTS 5.1, Rumble Support, and please make sure to release it on BLURAY DISC!

    If you meet these expectations I will buy it on day 1 AND I will actually forgive you guys for spitting in my face by giving the 360 Beautiful Katamari and Ace Combat 6.

    Sounds like a good deal huh? Bring us a full blown, top notch, PlayStation 3 quality Katamari game, and all will be good again between us.

    Just don’t skimp out and give us garbage like no trophys, no custom soundtracks, no rumble, Dolby Digital only and PSN digital download only. Something like that would just upset me even more TBH.

    I expect 5.1 DTS at the very least.

  • lol they said domo arigato… nice one xD

  • Thanks for your work on the original and this new project. These games are as fun as they are weird. The original is definitely in my top ten games of all time list.

  • Katamari Damacy is one of my favorite game series for Playstation and I’m really looking forward to this one… one question, though:

    Is this like a port of Beautiful Katamari except with extra stuff… and if so, is the awesome supermarket level that was a downloadable for that game going to be available somehow?

  • Hmm interesting…but where’s Vesperia Namdai?

  • theinfamousjaywe

    Awesome! Man, I have always loved the music for the Katamari games. I got soundtracks from a friend of mine and drive my wife crazy with it in the car. Lol. If you ever want a keyboardist/singer from the states, you’ve got one right here!!!…

    …though nobody really knows of me…

  • I find my self a little disappointed with the price. Gamestop has in in their book of new upcoming titles for ether 49.99$ or 59.99$ can’t remember which. Which if that price is accurate I think it’s a little steep.

    I realize that they’ve added a lot of new features and some new levels, and the development for ps3 is harder then ps2, but common the original was 20$ launch and this is mostly a fancy remake.

    Really hope that gamestop’s listed price is wrong.

  • please tell me you guys are putting the OST trilogy on the ps store.

    the idea of having both electric and organic mixes sounds great too.

  • This “Middle-Aged” Prince, is ready for more Katamari mayhem! Bring it on!

  • Dear Namco,

    The US PS3 fans want Tales of Vesperia, will you please localize it?

  • Thank you for bringing Katamri back where it belongs, on the PS!
    Katamari Damacy and We ♥ Katamari had fantastic soundtracks, but the music for the others in the series has been less than stellar. I hope it’s mostly songs from those…

  • Best game soundtrack ever remixed? Sounds cool!

  • The original Katamari soundtrack was incredible and has remained one of my favorite things to listen to.

    The remixes on the subsequent releases were pretty mediocre though…

    I was really hoping for a brand new soundtrack for the new Katamari, because the musicians and songwriting were so awesome on the first game, it just doesn’t feel the same with remixes… :/

    Please release a new Katamari Soundtrack one of these days, I would love to hear these musicians get together again and make such wonderful tunes!

  • Great music! I’ve been a Katamari fan ever since the first release. :)

    I’ve been wondering though, since you’re in Namco Bandai, will there be an English version of Tales of Vesperia for the PS3?

  • Like others have mentioned, it would be great if we could get a soundtrack for Katamari Forever that we could either purchase (maybe through PSN) or as a preorder bonus!

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