The Namco Digital Hollywood Game Laboratory came up with this bizarre idea at first for Sony's then-latest home console, developed for less than $1 million. And what a plot it had! Due to some binge drinking, the King of All Cosmos accidentally destroyed the Milky Way's stars and constellations (with the Moon as well). In order to set things back to normal, he sends to Earth his 5-cm-tall son, the Prince, asking him to recreate all the stars by sticking as many things as he can with Katamari balls.
The series is almost universally praised for its unique gameplay and quirky story telling, and received many videogame-related awards in its lifetime. It gained enough popularity to earn a small place on Taiko too, even if each song's tenure is criminally short.
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Katamari on the Rocks～Main Theme Katamari Damacy
塊オンザロック～メインテーマ／塊魂
塊オンザロック～メインテーマ／塊魂
| Game | Genre |
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|
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
PS2 4 |
 |
★4 (224) |
★5 (298) |
★5 (461) |
★8 (577) |
- |
| TDM (US only) | |
★3 (224) |
★4 (298) |
★4 (461) |
★9 (577) |
- |
| NS1 (DLC) NS2 PTB xBox RC |
 |
★4 (224) |
★5 (298) |
★7 (461) |
★8 (577) |
- |
| All (2P) | / |
- | - | - | ★8 (409/409) |
- |
160
kata (Katamari) / kat [(Katamari) (TDM-only)]One of the series' ingredients for success lies in its wacky soundtrack, which isn't just infectious and upbeat, but also features an entire list of contributions by artists outside of Namco. Even its main theme, Katamari on the Rocks; featured in the Katamari Fortissimo Damacy soundtrack, this single is composed by Yu Miyake (優三宅) - responsible for the majority of Tekken and Ridge Racer's tracks - and sung by Masayuki Tanaka (田中雅之), from many Kamen Rider and Ultraman OP themes. The lyrics were arranged by the director of the game himself, Keita Takahashi (高橋慶太).
As pointed out briefly in the beginning, the title of the game and the series as a whole uses two very similar kanji (塊魂), differing only in the left radicle, which can be confusing. Confusing enough to lead Namco to a spelling error while porting Katamari on the Rocks to the PSP, using the 'tamashii' (魂) kanji instead of the first one, turning it into 'Soul of the Rocks' instead. The song remains the same obviously, it's just a simple mistake on Namco's part.
The song is one of the longest 8* Oni tracks in Taiko of the 2nd arcade generation, and features clusters and notes typical of your average everyday 8*, with lots of twos and threes. The duet notechart, made exclusively for the sole US release of Taiko Drum Master has one more star added to its difficulty, although both players have reduced total max combos when compared to a solo play.
La Morena Kumonai
ラ・モレーナ・クモナイ
ラ・モレーナ・クモナイ
| Game | Genre |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AC 8 |
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★5 (180) |
★6 (267) |
★7 (459) |
★9 (613) |
- |
| ACN (Y4) PS4 (DLC) NS2 (MP) Plus/STH RC |
|
★4 (180) |
★5 (267) |
★7 (459) |
★8 (613) |
★10 (1119) |
196-223 kahim (Katamari Damacy no Himitsu; see below)Never expected this to be here, huh? An arcade Namco Original that seems random at first but is actually tied intricately to Katamari Damacy. Composed and sung by Yuri Misumi (みすみゆり), La Morena Kumonai was actually used as the background music for the Japanese demo of We Love Katamari, the direct sequel to the first game (of which we'll talk later for the next song). It was a strange genre experimentation, with random sound effects and a fictional French/Japanese language used for this song. Click here to listen to the original version.
However, La Morena Kumonai seemed to have been completely forgotten upon release date; neither We Love Katamari nor its soundtrack album, Katamari wa Damacy (塊は魂), have any traces of Misumi's then nameless composition.
However, the 8th Taiko arcade gave the song a name and a second shot: a portion of the song was cut from the original for use in Taiko and given a 9* Oni chart. The high speed and inexplicable beats/lyrics of the song made the 1/12 rhythm difficult to follow. Its songID, kahim, hints at the real nature of the song, as it is read as an acronym for Katamari Damacy no Himitsu (塊魂
の秘密), meaning "Secrets of Katamari Damacy".
After a good 8-year absence, La Morena Kumonai was put back on the Donder radar as a DLC song for the PS4 Taiko no Tatsujin, despite no confirmed PS4 Katamari games as of the DLC's release (Katamari Damacy Reroll/Encore was only for Nintendo Switch and PC, at the time of release). The inclusion updated the ratings for the original notecharts, and added this tricky menace as an Ura notechart that seems to be trying to encode every possible sound the original composition has.
Katamari on the Swing Minna Daisuki Katamari Damacy
塊オンザスウィング／みんな大好き塊魂
塊オンザスウィング／みんな大好き塊魂
| Game | Genre |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
PS2 6 |
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★4 (148) |
★6 (234) |
★7 (436) |
★8 (533) |
- |
204 kata2 (Katamari Damacy 2nd song)Two PS2 versions later another Katamari Damacy song made its way into Taiko, this time from We Love (♥ in the gamebox) Katamari, known in Japan as Minna Daisuki Katamari Damacy (みんな大好き塊魂).
After restoring the Milky Way to its original form, the King of All Cosmos and the Prince acquired a supportive fanbase who is requesting them to make more new stars, and they have to satisfy their fans by rolling up more Katamari. This time, players may control the Prince along with his 40 cousins, all using different spherical objects as their base like giant snowballs, burning katamaris and sumo wrestlers.
We Love Katamari's main theme is simply a swing arrangement of Katamari of the Rocks, made by the same team who made the original tune. But this time, the composer and lyricist are completely different: both roles are assumed by Shigeru Matsuzaki (松崎しげる), a very tanned Japanese artist who has provided his voice to all manner of things; TV drama series, albums, anime, you name it.
Katamari on the Swing's Taiko journey starts and ends with the 6th PS2 game, where its unconventional mixture of high BPM and 1/12 spacing became a source of inspiration for future Namco Originals, like the remake chart of Off Rock for Taiko Wii 3.
Katamari on the Wings Katamari Damacy TRIBUTE
塊オンザウィングス／塊魂TRIBUTE
塊オンザウィングス／塊魂TRIBUTE
| Game | Genre |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AC13 |
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★3 (126) |
★5 (211) |
★7 (342) |
★8 (533) |
- |
106 kata3 (Katamari Damacy 3rd song)After two unpopular console releases and four whole years of waiting, another Katamari tune is used for Taiko, and this time it's an arcade exclusive! Too bad it seems destined to stay that way, as an obscure unlockable of Taiko 13.
Skipping the Katamari game for XBox 360, this song comes from the PS3 videogame Katamari Forever, known in Japan as Katamari Damacy TRIBUTE (塊魂TRIBUTE) and published in July 2009. As the title suggests, this is a remastered update for this strange puzzle-action series, by packing together old and new levels, now with online score challenges and two parallel stories: while old stages from the prequels will be played in order to restore the King of All Cosmos's memories, there are brand new levels to create stars replacing the ones destroyed by RoboKing, a robot version of the King of All Cosmos created by the Prince's cousins.
Like with We Love Katamari, Katamari Forever's theme song is another remix from the first song, this time with a lively ska rhythm, and with a single katakana moved from the front of 'Swing' and tacked onto the back to make 'Wings'. Katamari on the Wings is sung by Takuya Ohashi (大橋卓弥), the main vocalist of the jazz fusion duo Sukima Switch, and it shares composers and arrangers with the two previous theme songs.
On Taiko, the note clusters are made up of 2 and 4, the bane of the newbie player, and is of very high density, however the very low BPM makes it good practice for those patterns. It isn't rare to see this song being played on double speed, just to underline how slow it is! The only thing it's faster than are some of the slowest ballads in J-Pop and Anime genre like Ketsui no Asa Ni, which has a BPM of under 100.
Tsuki to Oji [Tatsunoshin Remix] Mitsuki Seto (CV: Sister Claire)/Denonbu×Katamari
塊オンザウィングス／瀬戸海月(CV:シスター・クレア)／電音部 × 塊魂
140-150
katato (Katamari Damacy - Tsuki to Oji)
塊オンザウィングス／瀬戸海月(CV:シスター・クレア)／電音部 × 塊魂
| Game | Genre |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
NS2 (MP) |
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★4 (110) |
★6 (234) |
★7 (426) |
★9 (590) |
- |
140-150 katato (Katamari Damacy - Tsuki to Oji)Just like its musical representation in Taiko no Tatsujin, the Katamari Damacy series fell off and stayed dormant for a considerable number of years; not the same, however, can be said about its everlasting impact on the gaming scene... especially considering how the same developing house was just as adamant as the series' fans!
The year 2023 has been a turning point to have a comeback for the series in the ongoing times, with the two PS2 Katamari games being remade for PCs and modern systems by developer MONKEYCRAFT (the 'REROLL' titles) and Bandai Namco hosting a couple of time-limited pop-up stores in the wake of the franchise's 20th anniversary celebration. The first of those has also revealed another inhouse collaborative project for 2024: a music remix project for inhouse label ASOBINOES's Denonbu multimedia franchise, culminating in the Katamari DJ Damacy (塊DJ魂) concert of March 14th, 2024. Eventually, these songs would pop into other BanNam properties with time, with Taiko no Tatsujin managing to snag a couple of those simultaneously!
The first of the two is a trance remix of the song known in the English version of Katamari Damacy as "The Moon and the Prince", originally composed/arranged by Akitaka "AJURIKA" Tohyama (遠山明孝) and sung by Kenji Ninuma (月と王子). Composed by Tatsunoshin (of RAINBOW★SKY fame, in Taiko grounds), the singer we got this time around is the Nijisanji-affiliated Vtuber Sister Claire, voice actress for Denonbu's Seto Mitsuki of the Shibuya area's Teion International High School music club.
The pure 1/16 charting approach that leaves little to no room for resting draws many a parallel with the Oni mode for the Ps Vita Must Songs games' more trance-affine tracks like Next Life, only with no surprise 1/24 speedy cluster to gatekeep Full Combo attempts. Pretty noteable the solo Kat portion of the song, for having many a slight BPM fluctuation within the two extremes the song offers!
LONELY ROLLING STAR [picco Remix] Shian Inubousaki (CV: Rena Hasegawa)/Denonbu×Katamari Damacy
犬吠埼紫杏(CV:長谷川玲奈)／電音部 × 塊魂
犬吠埼紫杏(CV:長谷川玲奈)／電音部 × 塊魂
| Game | Genre |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
NS2 (MP) |
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★3 (139) |
★4 (196) |
★5 (453) |
★9 (765) |
- |
176 katars (Katamari Damacy - LONELY ROLLING STAR)The other track ported over from the Katamari/Denonbu cross-project is a remix from independent denpa artist picco of a song by a name shared across all versions of the game, originally composed by BNSI's Yano Yoshito (矢野義人). Instead of the original tune starring J-Pop singer Saki Kabata (椛田早紀), the remix's vocalist is Hasegawa Rena (長谷川玲奈) of the Crocodile ltd. talent agency, reprising her role as Denonbu's VA for Inubosaki Shian from the Harajuku area's Jingumae Sandou High School. Both this and four other remixed tracks from the concert (the aforementioned Tatsunoshin remix included) have had their first album release at the same day as the Katamari DJ Damacy event, via the digital-only Denonbu Katarespect (カタマリスペクト) Extended-Play release. Over time, the two Taiko-transplanted songs have actually made their way into one of the later-released new Katamari titles, with 2025's Once Upon A Katamari for modern systems!
For this Nam-Combo Oni treat, how the note flow follows the revers trend of another Nam-Combo adiacent song's Ura Oni setting; unlike with Angel Dream Ura where thre song's scrolling pace becomes faster and faster in the song's last stretch (provided you stay on the Master forked path), the ROLLING LONELY STAR remix offers its pure-1/16 charting blend with a progressive scrolling slowdown, up to go as low as half the base BPM's value. A couple of curve balls are there to throw a wrench into careless plays such as the really long note stream in the Go-Go Time portion and the faster-scrolling, final Kat note, so make sure to mind those as you play!
Katamari on the Dream Katamari Damacy Rolling LIVE
塊オンザドリーム／塊魂 Rolling LIVE
塊オンザドリーム／塊魂 Rolling LIVE
| Game | Genre |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
NS2 (MP) |
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★3 (126) |
★4 (211) |
★5 (342) |
★7 (533) |
- |
178 kataod (Katamari on the Dream)The year 2025 has been a really powerful one for the Katamari series, considering it housed the launch of two brand-new entries at once, It makes sense that Taiko no Tatsujin also followed suit with another couple of tunes specifically made for one of these, coming on the Taiko Music Pass just a couple of months after the Denonbu remixes!
What we have here is the theme song of the Apple Arcade-exclusive entry known as Katamari Damacy Rolling Live, released on April 3rd. The game's plot sees the return of the King of All Cosmos on Earth in the midst of the digital age of livestreaming. Saddedned by his lack of popularity due to such a rising competition, he decides to open a streaming channel himself, with the Prince being relegated to do all content-creative duties with the 'standard' Katamari-rolling routine, with additional channels unlocking as the King's channel grows in popularity.
Rolling LIVE's music direction as a whole was regulated by Shogo Nomura (野村渉悟), in his last year working at Bandai Namco as an inhouse musician. This extends to composing duties as well, with the theme song being no exception in the face of the manpower required for its performance. On the instrumentals side alone, we have Koichiro Muroya (室屋光一郎ストリングス) at the strings, Hiromasa Hayashi (林広真) for the flute/piccolo performance, trumphet and trombone playing respectively by Tatsuhiko Yoshizawa (吉澤達彦) and Amane Takai (高井天音), guitar dual performance -electric and acoustic- by Sho Horisaki (堀崎翔) and non-disclosed involvedment from Yukiko Miyagi (宮城裕紀子) and steμ for the song-making process. For the vocals, however, we got a helping hand outside of BNSI pastures with the voice of Cassie Wei, vocalist for the independent unit Mili.
'Katamari on the *****' songs have never been a hallmark for hair-pullingly trickery on the Taiko chart side of things, with Dream being no exception. Try to play the song by the ear and catching those off-pause note markers will be a breeze!
Suteki-nanoka de Parade Katamari Damacy Rolling LIVE
ステキナノカデパレード／塊魂 Rolling LIVE
ステキナノカデパレード／塊魂 Rolling LIVE
| Game | Genre |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
NS2 (MP) |
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★3 (113) |
★5 (177) |
★6 (331) |
★9 (656) |
- |
140 katas7 [(Katamari Damacy - Suteki-nanoka de Parade (with 7= 'nana' in JP)]The same instrumental ensemble (minus flute/piccolo duties) also brings us the other song from Rolling Parade to grace Donderful/Rhythm Festival players via Taiko Music Pass. It's also noteable for being the first song in 7 years to be composed from scratch by Yuji Masubuchi (増渕裕二), with Shogo Nomura co-arranging the final product and Linda AI-CUE penning its lyrics.
As revealed by the same Shogo Nomura on social media (link), the idea for the song came from the same Shogo, asking Masubuchi to create a song in the style of his former Taiko tunes starring Mika Sato as the singer. In line with Rolling LIVE's livestream-theme setup, we've Sana Natori (名取さな), an independent Vtuber, as the vocalist for Suteki-nanoka de Parade.
More than the usual observations about 1/16 clusters action with denser 1/24 portions spliced in, what might get some to mistakes is the song's length, yeaving you pounding the drum most of the times with little to noi respite. Look for repeating note stanzas to ease you on chart-reading duties!
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