Nippon Marathon 2: Daijoubu launches in Early Access on April 17

Nippon Marathon 2: Daijoubu will launch in Early Access for PC via Steam on April 17, developer Onion Soup Interactive announced.

The game is expected to remain in Early Access for 12 to 16 months, while introducing a variety of new content and features including new contestants, marathons, and outfits, expanded create-a-character options, a fully-fledged online mode, and the return of the turn-based party game “L.O.B.S.T.E.R. MODE” from the original Nippon Marathon.

Here is an overview of the game, via its Steam page:

About

You could say that Nippon Marathon 2: Daijoubu is like running a marathon while wearing a lobster onesie, dodging exploding melons thrown by other contestants, avoiding ravenous Shiba inu dogs, and being featured on a bizarre Japanese TV gameshow—all at the same time. If you did say that, you’d be absolutely right!

Versus Mode

Choose from the lobster-man J. Darwin, the horned-hoodie Elizabeth Nishibori, the old-man-sailor Zenbei or everyone’s favorite dog-person Snuguru Maestro or create your own crazy character! Once all four humans or CPU are ready the marathon will begin!

Get to the finish line by diving, dashing, dodging though the crazy obstacle course. Who will make it through the cup-ramen museum unscathed? Which one will duck though the docks in one piece? Use weapons such as the brand new Whirling Cucumber to slap your opponents silly or take crucial shortcuts using the inflatable Pineapple Balloon to leave them for dust!

Scoring

When a contestant falls too far behind they’re temporarily eliminated and the last player standing gains a star! All contestants re-join the race and the madness resumes until the finish-line is finally crossed.

A winner is declared after the judges total-up each contestant’s score taking into account their use of weapons, audience-popularity and the number of stars they gained along the way.

This bizarre scoring mechanism allows for strategic and tactical gameplay while further enhancing that feeling of “what is happening here?” that we all get when seeing clips from those crazy game-shows!

Marathons

Early Access launches with three playable marathon stages.

• In Shika Shika Deer Town contestants navigate their way through historic, hillside temples filled with hangry deer and maze-like bamboo forests.
• Yolko Harbor features urban city streets, a weird and wonderful cup-ramen museum and a dangerous shipping yard. Is someone looking for sailors here?
• Poodle Hill Zone is the place to be for cute dogs in push-chairs, artisan coffee, old ladies fighting over fresh bread and an up-market super store!

Contestants

Choose from four contestants each with subtle statistical differences such as recovery speed, acrobatic ability and acceleration. Most of all though, they are all totally weird!

J. Darwin has returned from travelling the world yet remains as timid as ever. Nishibori remains incensed when mistaken for a unicorn (it’s a narwhal horn, people!), Snuguru follows his nose to wherever melons may be and Zenbei’s identity has been stolen!

Weapons and Items

The Nippon Marathon doesn’t simply require you to get from start to finish in one piece. You also need to master the use of the in-game items:

• Use a Banana Peel to trip up contestants behind you or force them to take a more dangerous route.
• The explosive Heat-Seeking Melon will aim for the contestant in-front and send them flying in an explosion of tasty chunks.
• The Pineapple Balloon allows you to float high above hazards for a brief time, use it to take a sneaky shortcut… but watch out for over-head electrified power-lines!
• The Stinky Mushroom creates a trail of noxious gas forcing contestants to keep their distance.
• The all-new Whirling Cucumber lets you directly whack nearby contestants or obstacles sending them flying in all directions!

Physics

Nippon Marathon 2: Daijoubu features wonderfully diverse physics interactions that result in laugh-out-loud moments, unlimited replayability and cringe inducing gameplay. The in-game snap-shots really help the physics-madness stand out.

Create-a-Contestant

Create-a-Contestant aims to let you live out your dreams of making whatever kind of insane creation you can think of. Faces, costumes, hats and additional placeable pieces let you get creative.

So What Does “Daijoubu” Actually Mean?

“Daijoubu” can be used in many situations, but it essentially means “OK” or “I’m OK.”

• For example if a store-worker asks if you’d like a plastic bag you could politely decline by saying “Daijoubu desu.”
• If you fell over and only hurt your pride you could say to a concerned passerby “Daijoubu” (“I’m OK”).
• How’s the weather today? “Daijoubu” (“OK”).
• Are you worried? “Zenzen Daijoubu” (“I’m perfectly fine”).

Maybe we’re saying that Nippon Marathon 2 is OK? Maybe we’re saying that Nippon Marathon 2 is a game where you fall over and get back up again. Who knows?! We want you to think of Nippon Marathon 2: Daijoubu as whatever you like as long as you’re feeling Daijoubu about it!

Kanji, Kanji Everywhere

Japanese writing (Kanji, Katakana) is featured in the game’s UI to really give a sense that you’re a part of some insane gameshow or obscure videogame. No matter what language you select you’ll still see plenty of Japanese text, this forms a vital part of Nippon Marathon‘s visual identity and as we continue to develop the game you can bet we’re watching countless hours of bonkers Japanese TV (which we like to call ‘research) to continue adding more and more!

All this flashy Kanji also creates a really fun “meta-game,” where players have been known to grab screenshots and use smartphone phone apps to decipher the hidden layer of humor within the game!

Watch a new trailer below.

Early Access Release Date Trailer

English

Japanese