Roll a katamari withtwo Joy-Con 2 mice

Two Joy-Con 2 controllers can become the rollers beneath a katamari. That is the most curious part of Once Upon A KATAMARI's Nintendo Switch 2 arrival on 8 October: Bandai Namco is adding mouse controls to a game already available on Switch and other platforms. The Prince's usual job remains wonderfully odd. Roll up small objects, grow large enough to collect bigger ones, and repair the sky after the King of All Cosmos has wrecked it again.

This game sends that expanding ball through the Jurassic Period, the Ice Age and historical Japan. The base game includes a magnet that pulls nearby objects towards it, while KatamariBall gives up to four players a competitive mode. The Switch 2 release is therefore a new way into an existing adventure, rather than a new campaign. Its attraction for returning players rests chiefly on the controls, smoother presentation and how Bandai Namco handles the move from Switch.

Rolling with the Joy-Con 2 mice

Bandai Namco says the Switch 2 version adds mouse controls, a smoother frame rate and improved graphics. The publisher has not attached a precise frame-rate guarantee to that announcement. The control idea is easy to picture, though: instead of steering only with sticks, you can move the Joy-Con 2 controllers across a surface to push the katamari. It sounds like a rare console feature that suits the action rather than merely advertising the hardware.

In its hands-on preview, Thisisgame SEA describes placing both Joy-Con 2 controllers vertically and moving them back and forth. Moving them together advances the Prince; alternating them can produce a boost, and pulling back stops him. The outlet found the method amusing and workable after some adjustment, but said the surface underneath the controllers affected comfort. That is a useful caution for a game you might otherwise expect to play entirely from a sofa.

The same preview reports a stable 60 frames per second during its session, an observation from that demonstration rather than a verified performance target for every level or mode. Bandai Namco's own wording is simply "smoother framerate". Even that narrower promise makes sense for Katamari: objects become collectible as the ball grows, and the player is constantly turning to find the next cluster. We will have to wait for the released Switch 2 version to know how consistently it delivers.

A free update and a separate paid pack

There is a practical detail for people who already own the Switch game. Bandai Namco says Switch owners playing on Switch 2 will receive a free update that improves performance and unlocks mouse controls. It also says Switch save data can be transferred, unless a save is already present on the Switch 2. The announcement does not clearly explain every difference between that updated Switch copy and the separately sold Switch 2 edition, so it would be premature to call the latter a free entitlement.

Rolling LIVE Highlights is another purchase. Bandai Namco says the DLC brings ten quests and their soundtracks from the Apple Arcade game Katamari Damacy Rolling LIVE, with some content possibly differing from that version. It launches alongside the Switch 2 release but will be sold separately on every platform where Once Upon A KATAMARI is available. The Rolling LIVE Highlights Edition bundles it with the base game; the standard edition contains the base game alone.

Thisisgame SEA played two of the DLC quests. Its account describes one in which the katamari cleans stains from a bathroom, then has to be washed when it gets dirty itself; another has players collecting glow sticks at an idol concert. Those are small, specific twists on the usual growing-ball objective. They also give a better sense of what the extra pack offers than the word "highlights" does, although two sampled quests cannot establish the quality of all ten.

The appealing part of this launch is how plainly its two additions fit Katamari: moving your hands to roll and giving the ball strange new jobs. Existing Switch owners have a free control and performance update to look forward to on 8 October. Anyone considering a fresh Switch 2 purchase should keep the paid Rolling LIVE quests separate in their head, and wait for release to judge the full version's performance beyond one outlet's session.