Katamari Damacy creator has started Twitter’s cutest new game

Keita Takahashi’s introduced us to many of our favorite friends over the years. As the creator of Katamari Damacy and Noby Noby Boy, he’s populated our lives with the King and Prince of Cosmos — and that alone warrants our eternal gratitude. But now he’s giving his Twitter followers a chance to invent their own Takahashi-style friends, kicked off by one sweet and simple tweet.

“I found a new creature at the campground,” Takahashi tweeted earlier this week. Attached was a picture of a curiously shaped green balloon, which he immediately gave a face and some limbs.

He’s a cute little guy, gangly like the Prince of Cosmos and almost as weird as Noby Noby Boy. (Takahashi wanted to name him Gwab, but Urban Dictionary turned him off that idea.)

Later that day, he posted the unedited version of that picture. “I’d like [to] give you original one to let you make new friend,” he wrote with a smile at the end.

Takahashi’s got a talented group of artists and creators among his Twitter following, so the cast of green balloon characters is great so far. Here’s one from Ricky Haggett, designer on stylish games like Loot Rascals and Takahashi’s Tenya Wanya Teens:

KC Green, whose iconic “This is fine” comic made him one of the internet’s best-known artists, jumped in with a more ... aggressive balloon friend, one that reminds us a lot of the absurdist Adult Swim cartoon 12 Oz. Mouse:

There’s a slightly sadder, unarmed version of this guy out there, too:

Mary Cagle illustrates adorable manga-inspired web comics, so of course her version is the cutest thus far:

Now, this one just makes me mad — sorry-not-sorry, Helix apologists:

The thread keeps on going with nearly 100 fantastic, creative replies. Artists should keep ‘em coming — this Twitter fun is as close to a new Takahashi game as we’ve gotten in years.