About This Game

A 4-player Marathon Game inspired by the diverse sights and sounds of Japan and Japanese TV. Nippon Marathon 2: Daijoubu is the ultimate blend of physics chaos and skill. Collect unique weapons, dodge, duck, and dive through hazards and race for the finish line.

If you’ve ever wanted to be chased through town by shiba-inu while wearing a lobster onesie and holding oversized fruit… your wish has finally come true!

You thought we were joking?

• 1-4 players

• Chaotic marathons across wild Japan-inspired stages

• Ridiculous fruit weapons (cucumbers, melons, bananas, pineapples, mushrooms)

• Unpredictable hazards (carp, deer, forklifts, balloon men, giant octopuses)

• Create your own contestant with trillions of possibilities

•  Photo Mode to capture and share the chaos

• All-new soundtrack and commentary

 Typical Versus Mode Madness

• Run, jump, duck and dive through bizarre obstacle courses

• Collect fruit weapons and use them to help yourself or hinder your opponents

• Contestants who fall too far behind are temporarily eliminated

• The last contestant standing wins a star and a new round begins

• The winner is declared at the end of race score tally

We built this sequel from the ground up, giving us the chance to prioritise game controls for better precision and more reliable/responsive movement, platforming is a key part of the game and we want you to have fun leaping and diving from ledge to ledge.

NM2’s brand new stages feature multiple paths and shortcuts.

Do you take the scissor-lift to the high ground, take the low route and full of spinning sailors or risk instant-death by diving across octopus filled jetty? It might depend on your skill level, which items you're carrying and what your opponents are doing but it's always your choice!

Each marathon features tons of variety

There are many ways to use items — offensively, defensively, or even eat them for a speed boost.

• Pineapples – Float over hazards or make brand new shortcuts shortcuts

• Bananas – Drop them strategically to ruin your rivals

• Melons – Heat-seeking chaos; blow up gas-tanks, hazards, or unlucky spectators

• Cucumbers (New weapon!) – Spin attack that clears opponents and lets you control the flow of play

• Mushrooms – Leave behind a smelly purple cloud that drains popularity

• Eating items – Speed boost when you need it most

• Blaming Others - Hit spectators with a melon and they'll automatically blame the closest contestant!

• 4 more items are in development (see our roadmap!) ---< link to the roadmap

Yolko Harbour

Navigate your way through a bamboo forest, past the high-speed 'Bromance Car' scenic train and through the revered Shikakuji Temple, watch out for the deer, they are easily startled and when they kick, they really mean it!

Shika Shika Deer Town

Navigate your way through a bamboo forest, past the high-speed 'Bromance Car' scenic train and through the revered Shikakuji Temple, watch out for the deer, they are easily startled and when they kick, they really mean it!

Let’s Go Ramen Museum

Explore the history of this cup-noodle company through their multimedia museum installations while dodging mascots and hordes of school-children. Navigate behind-the-scenes where noodle broth is made in giant vats. Make your way to the finish line through the packing area but pay attention to the conveyor belts and machinery, it might be deadly!

“Hey, do you guys know where sailors might hang out?”

How to Win a Marathon

Winning isn’t just about finishing first — everyone gets a chance to play the game their own way and every action contributes to the final score. Do you throw caution to the wind and play for Stars, or do you take every detour possible to wave to the crowd? It’s up to you!

 Stars – Earned or lost when eliminated (35 pts each)

Finishing Position – 1st = 100, 2nd = 60, 3rd = 30, 4th = 10

Popularity – each percentage is worth 1 point

Badges – Special awards like “Most Bitten” or “Smelliest Player” (5 pts each)

Early Access incudes brand new gameplay as well as revamped features from Nippon Marathon:

Single Marathon Versus– Play with humans or CPU and race to the finish-line, this is the core Nippon experience

Cup Versus – Play multiple stages back-back while accumulating total scores and popularity, perfect for game-night!

Stamina (New Feature!)

Stamina is lost each time you are hit by an opponent's item or a dangerous hazard (an explosion or a Shiba Inu bite). Stamina is also gradually drained when a contestant is sweating. When a contestant runs out of stamina, they become exhausted and for a short period their abilities are nerfed. Stamina is automatically regenerated when the player is safe and can be replenished by eating most items.

Contestant Stats (New Feature!)

Not only are our cast of characters unique in looks and style, they each have subtle stat differences too, ideal for advanced players who want to find the extra depth in gameplay:

Acceleration –Affects speed boost at the start of each round and from eating items

Recovery –Determines the stamina regeneration time

Acrobatics – Affects the height of jumps and dives

Stamina – Determines the amount of punishment before becoming exhausted

Contestants have individual stats

Waving to the Crowd (New Feature!)

Popularity can be gained by waving to the crowd or performing popular actions (such as releasing water from a fire hydrant) Your popularity percentage meter translates directly to your final score, so if you're 99% popular you'll get an additional 99 points (plus a warm fuzzy feeling that people like you). Popularity is the only score that carries over to the next stage in a cup too, but remember, as in life, popularity can be lost just as quickly as it is gained!

Now you can showboat as you run past the spectators!

Posing (New Feature!)

You're on the finish podium so why not strike a pose? Each contestant has a unique set of poses you can strike and told tell anyone else but if you input the following command on the podium, you can truly 'free yourself'.

⬆️⬇️⬆️⬇️  ⬅️➡️⬅️➡️  ⬆️⬆️⬇️⬇️  ⬆️⬆️⬇️⬇️

Bust some moves!

Contestant Creator (New Feature!)

Trillions of possible combinations: heads, bodies, hair, moustaches, eyebrows, hats, clothes, backpacks, tails, and even voices. Save up to 20 contestants, synced via Steam Cloud. From cute kawaii mascots to utter nightmare-fuel, let your imagination run wild!

These contestants were created in the brand new Contestant Creator mode!

Photo Mode (New Feature!)

Pause the game and get up-close to the action, frame your favourite moments however you like and share the chaos online. We're letting you get super-up-close-and-personal so you can see every model and every texture we've been hard at work making. Why not use it to get a closer look at the posters, signs and easter eggs littered throughout each stage? Or you know, just take screenshots of Shiba Inu.

Screenshots taken using the in-game photo mode

Super Hazards (New Feature!)

These hazards are like mini boss-fights, can you survive an attack from a flying yokai crow-person? How will you deal with the giant octopus when he comes out to play? We don't want to give too much away so here's a word of advice, be ready for anything!

Remote Play Together

Yes, we want to implement a full online multiplayer mode, but that might take some time, so for now we've made sure that Remote Play Together works as well as possible, so go ahead and try it out, the only thing missing is the 'punchies' you normally get from your friends IRL!

[image of controller assign screen, caption: assign any controller to any player slot, then simply play!]

Sound & Commentary

• Soundtrack – Fresh, original tunes by returning composers.

• Sound Effects – Anime-style crunches, booms, and whacks (inspired by One Piece, DBZ, Pokémon).

• Sora Returns – The troll commentator is back to lay down some truth bombs! What will he say next?

What does ‘Daijoubu’ 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!

What's with the Weird Signage?

Japanese writing (Kanji, Katakana etc) 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 humour within the game! 

What's the Design Philosophy?

We’re a team of two (one game developer and one “everything else”), and we make games anyone can enjoy. We aim for depth that rewards skill while still giving new players a fighting chance.

We respect your time: our content is designed to be fun, not boring; challenging, not frustrating.

Finally, we listen. We read every post and request, and act on as many as humanly possible, your feedback is already shaping Nippon Marathon 2: Daijoubu

Is there a Demo?

There sure is, the Nippon Marathon 2: Daijoubu demo features 4 playable contestants, the contestant creator mode, an in-depth tutorial, versus mode, photo mode and the Yolko Harbour marathon!

You can find the link to the demo on the store page. 

Please also leave a review once you've played the demo, as it would really help us appease Steam's algorithm and boost visibility. 

How Can I Get Involved?

Of course you can!

• Join our discord where we chat, host remote play sessions and other fun stuff

• Post in the Steam discussion forums

• Follow us on Social Media

• Post photo mode screenshots on your own socials and tag us!