A closer look
Keita Takahashi created the bizarre masterpiece Katamari Damacy essentially as an art school protest against the mainstream video game industry, which he felt was completely devoid of creativity and entirely too focused on violence. He pitched Namco a game where a tiny green prince rolls up household objects, screaming humans, and eventually entire landmasses into a giant adhesive ball to appease his perpetually disappointed father. The executives gave him a pathetic budget and a tiny team of students, fully expecting the incomprehensible fever dream to fail miserably. Naturally, it became a massive cult classic, proving that the gaming public will always embrace aggressive surrealism and catchy jazz music over another generic military shooter if you just give them the chance to roll up a cow!
