I have never been a victim of the dreaded “motion sickness” while playing a video game, but Katamari Damacy Reroll has put me down for the count twice this week.
I’m not a person who tends to get motion sick when playing games. While I’ve had my share of VR experiences that went wrong, and some attempts at GameBoy Color play in the car went bad 20 years ago, I generally have a good constitution when it comes to playing video games. Images that whiz around onscreen? In the past, I would have said no problem.
That was until I popped Katamari Damacy Reroll into the ole Switch on Wednesday and starting playing it on my television. At first I was going strong, and then about 45 minutes in I started getting that signature headache and queasiness that signaled the start of motion sickness. It felt like my eyes were floating into the middle of my head. Surely this cannot be happening to me, I thought.
It was, and it’s a bummer. I’ve been very excited for Reroll, and not being able to play it without wanting to hurl is no good.
I didn’t remember getting sick playing the original version of the game on PS2, and I even took a few minutes this week to dig out my disc and see if it would cause the same nauseous feelings. I played the first couple levels on that platform and, boom, no sickness. Armed with the sadness that if I want the Switch version of Katamari, then I will be sick, I did some research to see what I could do about it.
First, I could just take some dimenhydrinate, which I know by the brand name Dramamine. This is the kind of thing that you might take if you get sick on airplanes or long car trips, and it’s a nice over-the-counter solution to a gaming problem. But I don’t want to have to dose up to roll a ball around, dammit!
Second, a piece from Lifewire claims that I could just sit far away from the television, but I am already sitting far away from the tv. I can’t get any further away!
That same piece also gives the advice to simply power through it, explaining that my body might just get used to it. You know, like a hot tub or something. There’s nothing more empowering than sitting in my living room trying not to vomit and telling myself that I am becoming more and more powerful every moment. Ah, yes, what a great solution.
I’ve also seen quite a bit of advice that says that I should try to chew some ginger or grab some ginger chewing gum. Apparently ginger helps treat motion sickness, so when I have the chance to get some delicious spicy root I will try that out.
It’s a weird experience to be so completely knocked down by a video game that I want to play so desperately, so I am very willing to hear any and all folk solutions for treating motion sickness in games. As a first timer, this is something totally new for me, and I can’t say that I’m enjoying it.