Apple and Bandai Namco have announced that the first Katamari Damacy game in almost eight years is heading to Apple Arcade next month, along with five other new titles.
Katamari Damacy Rolling Live is, as Apple puts it in its announcement post, “the Katamari franchise’s first original game in nearly eight years”, following the release of remasters Katamari Damacy Reroll and We Love Katamari Reroll+ Royal Reverie. It’s launching on April 3rd.
Just like other Katamari games, Rolling Live will see you taking control of the Prince as he completes a series of Katamari-based tasks given to him by the quirky King of All Cosmos. Apple says the series’ core gameplay idea of “roll, stick, and grow” is intact in Rolling Live.
It’s worth noting that while Apple and Bandai Namco haven’t confirmed this, Katamari Damacy Rolling Live is unlikely to boast the involvement of original Katamari creator Keita Takahashi.
Having left Bandai Namco in 2010, Takahashi hasn’t worked on a Katamari game since 2005’s We Love Katamari. Instead, he’s hard at work on the rather Katamari-esque adventure game To a T, which is launching in May.
As well as Katamari Damacy Rolling Live, Apple also announced five other games making their way to the Apple Arcade service. The first of these is Taito’s Space Invaders Infinity Gene Evolve, an honest-to-goodness new entry in the Space Invaders series.
It’s joined by Puffies, a game by Lumen and Stitch developer Lykke Studios, as well as the Atari remaster RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic+, which Apple says has been “enhanced for iPhone and iPad”.
Rounding out the new Apple Arcade collection are Marmalade Game Studio’s The Game of Life 2+ and STEM educational game Sesame Street Mecha Builders+, which, contrary to its name, probably isn’t about Big Bird wrecking puppets with a giant mech.
All of these games join the Apple Arcade service, which is available on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV, on April 3rd.
