We Love Katamari coming to America… with bad box art!

We Boycott KatamariPuzzle game may seem like a strange genre to squeeze junk-rolling oddball Katamari Damacy into, but I guess that's the closest approximation to categorizing the most lovable (yet darkly foreboding) game I've played. Well, the sequel, We Love Katamari, is finally making it to American shores next month, and I'm sure you're joining me in holding your breath until the day it's released, too. The only thing I'm not waiting for is the currently planned U.S. box art. One word: UGH! Compared to the original's surreal Western packaging (or the serene version of the Japanese CD soundtrack), this version actually cries out for some focus-group testing (on an almost original Xbox-controller level). Compare this with even the sequel's Japanese (or even Korean) covers in this preview from early August (see the actual art planned there), and I think you'll agree that something's amiss with Namco's American marketing team. People are angry, and they aren't gonna take it anymore! Considering all the speaking engagements Katamari's creator has had since the release of the original, it's hard for me to believe this relative artistic stinker made it through the publisher's approval process. Personally, this illustration belongs on the back of the game case, not the front. Can anyone throw together an insert mod for me?

[UPDATE: Hopefully, you didn't mistake the joke image I found online and included with my post above with the genuine article that can be found below. Just in case you didn't take the time to examine it, the joke image reads: "We Boycott Katamari.") If you missed it in my post, take a look at the officially planned, but still atrocious image ripped from GameFly below, and feel your raw hate begin to rise to new heights (don't say we didn't warn you): http://www.1up.com/do/imageDisplay?id=2176237]

[via gewgaw]

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(Page 1)

1. Me?

ANGRY?


No... not this guy....
*continues vomitting*

Posted at 5:36PM on Aug 29th 2005 by joystickz 0 stars

2. Wow... that's disturbing boxart. It looks like some crap I can throw together in 5 minutes on MS Paint.

Posted at 5:38PM on Aug 29th 2005 by Kendal 0 stars

3. As far as I am concerned, 95% of the people that buy this game already know exactly what it is. Box art won't help sell this game. The fact that the art is so strange and bizarre will make it that much easier for me to find on store shelves. If the cover were any less strange or disturbing I would be dissapointed. I don't see how making simple cover graphics for a simple game is such a bad thing.

Posted at 6:08PM on Aug 29th 2005 by Mike 0 stars

4. It's not great, and definitely not up to the standard set by the original game. However, it's also a whole lot better looking than the earlier versions depicted in the link, which look like, respectively: the cover of a game exclusively for toddlers, a class picture taken by a really sh!tty photographer, and one of the crappy wallpapers that are installed by default with Windows.

Really, when it comes down to it, this isn't a bad cover. It's calm, it's minimalistic, it's simple... and it's unique. Just. Like. The. Game.

Posted at 6:11PM on Aug 29th 2005 by Andy S. 0 stars

5. such vehemence, wierd.


I think it looks great. beautiful even.

but hey, maybe that's just because i'm a professional graphic designer.

Posted at 6:15PM on Aug 29th 2005 by finefine 0 stars

6. Actually, Andy S., take a look at that "cover of a game exclusively for toddlers" again, because that's the planned cover for the game! Hopefully, you didn't mistake the joke image I found online and included with my post with the genuine article. (The joke image reads: "We Boycott Katamari.") Take a look at the image ripped from GameFly one more time and feel your raw hate rise to new heights:

http://www.1up.com/do/imageDisplay?id=2176237

Posted at 6:18PM on Aug 29th 2005 by Dan Choi 0 stars

7. Except for the font, both me and my wife actually like the design. The Prince looks kind of timid, coming out to play, and considering the content ("story") of the second game it makes sense.

All the cousins with the Katamaris looks neat.

Posted at 6:29PM on Aug 29th 2005 by Karmakin 0 stars

8. Ooh, the cows, it has a nice Dutch touch! I like it :).

~Grauw

Posted at 6:53PM on Aug 29th 2005 by Laurens Holst 0 stars

9. It could be packed in a cover that looks like a paper shopping bag and has the title written on it in a Sharpie. Doesn't matter given I look at the box for a grand total of 8 seconds before opening it to take out the disk.

Posted at 7:49PM on Aug 29th 2005 by LaughingTarget 0 stars

10. Why not look at this box art as another innovative addition by Namco to the world of video games... A world where creativity is usually stifled by publishers in order to rake in the mainstream cash. What is wrong with everyone? Something is different than you expected and it immediately gets trashed? Maybe they should have put a bunch of anime-style adolescents with lightning bolts going through their gravity-defying spikey, shiny blue hair, DDD breasts, and wielding giant swords six times their size? That would have been "normal."

Games like Katamari Damacy and Nintendogs cast the conformist approach aside and are wildly popular. Their innovation broadens the variety of games we have to choose from and will hopefully lead to more interesting games in general. I'm glad there are things put out that "we" never thought of, otherwise everything would be boring and predictable. And speaking of "bizarre"-- the game is bizarre, and I love it. Is this now the WRONG kind of crazy? Will someone please give me the list all the 6th graders are passing around the lunchroom so I can be current on what is "cool" bizarre and what is not?

There's nothing technically wrong with the cover; if you don't like the box art, prove it matters and is worth all this whining by not purchasing it. It's ART by an ARTIST, and I find it irritating people are capping on it hardcore.

Posted at 8:09PM on Aug 29th 2005 by PEZinvaders 0 stars

11. As alluded to in the Gaming-Age forum posts, there is probably a deep and significant meaning behind the We Love Katamari cover art. The problem is that it just doesn't look very good, whether due to the obnoxious color scheme or the lack of any interesting visual interplay for the eye. I love Katamari, and I will buy this game as I did the first. But Nintendogs has a hell of a better looking cover (all three of 'em) than what you see here/there.

Posted at 12:30AM on Aug 30th 2005 by Dan Choi 0 stars

12. I think that it's funny that not too far down from this post is a painting by Duchamp in an attempt to relish art misunderstood in its time.

Posted at 1:40AM on Aug 30th 2005 by R. Mutt 0 stars

13. God, can the people over on Gaming-Age bitch any more? There's nothing wrong with that cover, and it CERTAINLY doesn't begin to get close to the US box art tragedies that have plagued many a game in the past.

Seriously, get over it. But this is the internet, where people love getting all worked up over nothing. I think the cover is funny, and is certainly NOT the type of cover art you'd expect to see on a US game, which is exactly the type of cover art I'd expect to see on this game.

Posted at 2:28AM on Aug 30th 2005 by shidoshi 0 stars

14. Upon closer inspection, the box art's not as bad as I thought. The thing that bothers me is the giant, solid purple roof - if that was toned down a bit or less glaring, the cover'd be fine.

Believe me, this is far from bad, when you consider what Tecmo did with the US version of Kagero: Deception 2. That cover makes Janet Reno look like a Playboy bunny.

Posted at 2:38AM on Aug 30th 2005 by Big Jim Slade 0 stars

15. you guys are IDIOTS

the box art is a FAKE JOKE!!!

Posted at 6:55AM on Aug 30th 2005 by Alex K. 0 stars

16. Wow, I guess I'm not being clear enough about the joke art: the real art is linked in the body of the text. For those who don't catch on, I'll add an update to the post that says pretty much what I said in comment #6. Hope that helps, but I must say that the officially planned art is still pretty bad.

Posted at 7:06AM on Aug 30th 2005 by Dan Choi 0 stars

17. Why do people care so much what the box art looks like? Were any of you planning on buying, then decided not to based on the box art? This game will sell to people who played the first game, and spread by word of mouth.

As far as I'm concerned, they could put a picture of a steaming pile of cow dung on the front, and I'd still buy it.

Didn't your parents ever teach you that it's what's on the inside that counts? :)

Posted at 8:46AM on Aug 30th 2005 by John Opager 0 stars

18. i think the box art is amazing, i too am a designer and animator. the only problem is the font, other wise. AWESOME.

Posted at 9:05AM on Aug 30th 2005 by craigily 0 stars

19. Original is fine. Screamingly painful color schemes are not. I just hope the spine doesn't look too bad - if it is like the cover, I won't be able to look at my game shelf without sunglasses.

Posted at 9:23AM on Aug 30th 2005 by White Rose Duelist 0 stars

20. Dan, dammit. You fooled me. :)

Yeah, if the cover linked to in your update is the planned cover... man, that's atrocious.

I'd *much* rather have the cover image be that which you included atop this post.

Posted at 10:32AM on Aug 30th 2005 by Andy S. 0 stars

21. If the roof were a different colour, this would be a cute cover. I was hoping for a tie-in with the first cover. I would have had basically the same cover, but with the katamari at the "front" right, where the cows were, and have the cows visible on the Katamari. It'd be like an in-joke for everybody.

Posted at 11:51AM on Aug 30th 2005 by mousch 0 stars

22. If the roof were a different colour, this would be a cute cover. I was hoping for a tie-in with the first cover. I would have had basically the same cover, but with the katamari at the "front" right, where the cows were, and have the cows visible on the Katamari. It'd be like an in-joke for everybody.

Posted at 11:51AM on Aug 30th 2005 by mousch 0 stars

23. For your brief information, i distinctly remember Microsoft proclaiming they had developed the original Xbox controller with input from 5000 'hardcore' gamers in focus groups ... which is funny.

Posted at 3:21PM on Aug 30th 2005 by elmer 0 stars

24. Well, when I get the game, I'm just going to find a high quality scan on the Japanese or even the Korean cover, and replace it. I hate the US cover.

Posted at 3:38PM on Aug 30th 2005 by Trixie 0 stars

25. Yeah, I remember those reports of Xbox focus groups, too, elmer. Hope you liked my great solution to bad design! =) But seriously, I have to wonder if they had a decent cross-sampling of gamers in their testing groups. A few too many men with big, beefy hands, perhaps?

Posted at 5:42PM on Aug 30th 2005 by Dan Choi 0 stars

26. I like it. Is it as good as the original? No. But is it bad? No damn way. Please, people. It's not that bad! It doesn't make the game any less enjoyable.

Posted at 2:44AM on Aug 31st 2005 by Jason Anderson 0 stars

27. Wow.

I mean wow. I'd actually prefer the fake one at the top of this page. Or the Japanese one. Or even the Korean one.

Amazing. What are they thinking? Oh well, will it make me enjoy the game less? No.

Posted at 2:55AM on Aug 31st 2005 by Jason Anderson 0 stars

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