Ok, you may think its impossible to suck at this game. All you do is roll stuff up. If that is your mindset, this post is not for you. If you like playing the game, but keep getting insulted by the King of All Cosmos as he abuses you, here are a couple of tips.

1. Non-stop Rolling.
Try to never stop moving. even if you are rolling up little things, it’s better than rolling up nothing. Aim for always hearing the pluck of new items on your Katamari.

2. Find a Path.
If you do a Prince Look, you will often see that the level is laid out in a pattern or path. Once you understand the paths, you don’t need to prince look to find them every time.

3. Stay in Your League
Try to stay around things you can pick up. Don’t wander too far away where everything knocks you around. You’ll loose a lot of time, and possibly shrink your Katamari in the meantime.

4. Look for Hidden Spaces.
Often there are doors that open to reveal a hidden space filled with things to roll. (In Beautiful Katamari, there’s a room filled with gold bars or Xboxes.) When rolling outside, look for shops or restaurants you can enter. Usually they are packed with easy to roll items. These places have a dual purpose: you quickly grow your Katamari and leave with a more complete collection.

5. If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try Again
Familiarity with the level is a huge bonus in Katamari. You learn what you can roll up and when, so you can have a mental game plan about which areas to tackle first. For example, in indoor levels, I try to stay on tables or shelves as long as possible, because items are often bigger and closer together than on the wide open floor. And, once on the floor it’s hard to tell where you are and what’s around you without taking the time to Prince Look.

The katamari games, albeit a bit redundant, are among my favorites on any system. I usually don’t buy a new (non-nintendo) system until there is a Katamari game for it. I know that sounds strange, but they never have multi-platform releases, and it so happens that the price has often dropped by the time it comes out.