Nippon Marathon 2: Daijoubu

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• Announcements·16 Sept 2026Official

  「NIPPON NEWS DAIJOUBU」ISSUE #8

  HELLO DEAR READERS!it's Reiwa Man here with another issue of 「NIPPON NEWS DAIJOUBU」!Yesterday it dawned on me that it's been six weeks since issue 7. After I stopped crying I decided I'd try to use my journalistic skills to find out why that was, so I hopped in my Kei Van and headed for Onion Soup HQ. I arrived to what looked like an abandoned building. After several minutes of politely knocking I decided to force open the door using an discarded oden skewer. Once inside I realised it was not abandoned, but that the developers hadn't been outside for what seemed like decades.Initially they were unresponsive to my prods and pokes, but after tearing open a fresh melon-bread I brought with my as a snack they began to animate much like the undead. Finally, after an hour or so of gentle coaxing and nibbling on Pocky Sweets, Andy had the following surprisingly energetic things to say:Hey everyone!You might have noticed we've been a little quiet lately. Don't worry—we haven't been carried away by a troublesome yōkai, and we certainly haven't evaporated in the ridiculously hot summer...We've simply been working really hard implementing online play.I really want to make sure it works well and feels great to play, so I've ended up refactoring far more of the game's code than I originally expected. To make online play as responsive as possible, we're implementing a full rollback networking system. In simple terms, every interaction is simulated locally so your inputs feel instant, while the host continuously checks everything and corrects any differences between players.Another surprisingly time-consuming challenge has been synchronising the game's ragdoll physics. Since ragdolls are such a huge part of Nippon Marathon, we want them to behave consistently for everyone online, so it's been well worth the extra effort.Thankfully, we're getting closer and closer to our first beta test! The initial test will let players host or join a four-player multiplayer playground where we'll...
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• Announcements·5 Aug 2026Official

  「NIPPON NEWS DAIJOUBU」ISSUE #7

  HELLO DEAR READERS!Sorry for shouting, I just got excited! I have another update for you today, don't worry though - it's a very DAIJOUBU update and I, Reiwa Man am here to guide your through it using my words and my GENKI!MAGNETIC PERSONALITYToday Nippon Marathon 2 was updated to v0.45a, there's loads of new features but the one I find most interesting is the new item, the CABBAGE MAGNET!Here's what the developers have to say about it:"Contestants release The Cabbage Magnet into the air, the glowing vegetable then starts pulling toward it any physics objects within a certain radius, it doesn't matter if they're dogs, children, spectators, mascots, fences... anything not nailed down will be pulled toward the Cabbage Magnet creating a terrifying obstacle for any contestants unlucky enough to be in the way" Andy Madin, Onion Soup"I'm happy that the Cabbage Magnet has been able to surprise me, I thought I was being clever by dropping it at the edge of the Shiba Park section but I didn't expect the chain-link gates to suddenly swing inwards from the magnetic force and hit me in the face knocking me all the way back into last place!"Amy Madin, Onion SoupMy goodness, that sounds like one dangerous health-food! I can't wait to see some screenshots of Cabbage Magnet related shenanigans! Before we dive into more detail, here are the patch notes...NM2 v0.45 Patch NotesAdded a new weapon - Cabbage Magnet! When released the cabbage magnet draws objects toward it to block the path behind you or squash opponents within the physics mess!New feature - If the final two players are eliminated at the same time the round now ends in a DRAWMelon explosions now do damage to nearby breakable objectsPowerful Water hazard now dies off after a few seconds and is slightly less powerfulMouse pointer is now captured during photo modeFixed some dry ramen blocks not being walkableRemoved the Depth of Field effect from the factory section of Let's Go Ramen Museum as it was clashing with the fog ef...
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• Announcements·17 Jul 2026Official

  「NIPPON NEWS DAIJOUBU」ISSUE #6

  Hello and Happy DAIJOUBU to you!It's me, Reiwa Man! As usual I've got all the info on the latest developments from Onion Soup Interactive! ¡Hola! A New Localisation Appears!First up is the great news that NM2 is now available in Spanish. Here's what the devs and the translation team have to say about it:"We're really happy to announce that Spanish localisation is now available throughout the game, many thanks to tama2477 - Haveidy Yeizyre Moreno and Neolaris - Jeremy Yeraiser Chacón Telles, for the localisation. We're happy to be bringing our Spanish speaking friends along for the NM2 ride!"Andy Madin, Developer - Onion Soup InteractiveONLINE MODE Progress Report!You know what I get asked most? No, it's not got anything to do with my hair and no it's not about my stupid name either! Nope, it's about NM2 and the promised Online Mode, so I cornered Andy Madin, Onion Soup Monkey A who had this to say for himself:"Work on the online mode is progressing well, it's going a little slower than I'd like but I'm still happy. I've been concentrating on making sure the foundations are really solid so that we end up with the best experience possible."Players can host a public or private session (PIN protected)Players can display their Steam friends list inside the game's UI and invite online friends to the session and Steam will boot up the game and join the session automaticallyPlayers are spawned in a testing stagePlayers movements, rotations and animations are so far fully synchronised!Simple Physics objects are synchronised and can be interacted with by any playerThe codebase I'm creating is platform agnostic so cross-platform play will slot right inMultiplayer is being implemented using the latest version of Photon FusionI've also begun to map out the requirements for a ranked modeSoon we will share with you details on the online beta testing!Other ContentBut wait, what's going on with the rest of the content?We've got a lot of new Character Creator stuff that's almost fini...
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• Announcements·7 Jun 2026Official

  「NIPPON NEWS DAIJOUBU」ISSUE #5

  Big Fat Juicy Update - NM2 0.42fHey everyone, it's-a-me... Reiwa Man! Wait, can I say that? ... probably not right?Today a brand new update has been applied to Nippon Marathon 2: Daijoubu and there's so much to cover I'm going to close my mouth and let you dive right in...NEW! Dedicated Native Linux Version and Optimisation!Our goal is to make sure NM2 can be enjoyed at 60fps by as many players as possible, with that in mind we've taken some time to fully optimise the lighting, memory handling, texturing and more. We've coupled that with a Linux dedicated build too, here's the effect:Steam Deck Users: Now get a better looking game at TWICE the framerate of a solid 60fps!All users on all graphics settings should see a performance increaseLinux users are now welcomed into the Nipponverse!LOW and MEDIUM graphics settings have more consistent environment lightingThat's a pretty big visual improvement and performance is better too!NEW! Each Contestant Now Has Multiple Colour Choices Available!We know you wanted it, so here it is! Every contestant now comes with a minimum of 4 colour choices, we'll be adding more in the future too.I think the new black and red Zenbei is my favourite - moe moe kyuuuuu!NEW! Try out Cup Mode and Feel the Real Marathon Experience!Finally we're all able to enjoy a 3-stage marathon! Scores and popularity are carried across to the next stage, this is the best way to enjoy NM2The cup's emblem features elements from all three stagesNEW! Contestants Now Have Fully Animated Facial Expressions!Each main contestant now reacts to their current situation with unique facial animations. For example they grimace when hit, look down upon the world with awe when flying a pineapple balloon and grin like Cheshire cats when waving to the crowd. Check it out:(`･ω･´) It's nice to see the contestants being so expressive now （´∀｀） NEW! Snapshots and Photos are Saved to COLLECTIONS For Later Enjoyment!A brand new feature where every snapshot is saved to the COLLECTI...
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• Announcements·29 May 2026Official

  「NIPPON NEWS DAIJOUBU」ISSUE #4

  KONNICHIWA!Did you know the number 4 is considered unlucky in Japan? The word shi (四) sounds like shi (死), meaning death. Well, not here at Onion Soup HQ, because Issue 4 of 「NIPPON NEWS DAIJOUBU」 is alive and slurping with flavour. Today, we’re talking music through the analogy of an imaginary ramen excursion. THE RAMEN OF DESTINYSo it might be because I’m hungry, but game development seems a lot like cooking: the devs are taste-testing a recipe for fun gameplay while an angry chef (dog) yells about table orders. So if Nippon Marathon was a bowl of ramen:Gameplay would be the unpredictable broth, sometimes spicy, sometimes salty, always surprising.Obstacles - the homemade noodles, springy, weird, and occasionally airborne.Contestants - the juicy slices of meat (or tofu), full of personality and flavour!Stages - the warm bowl holding the madness together which you sometimes fall out of.And the soundtrack? That’s the nori topping. The thing that transforms “pretty good ramen” into “I will think about this for the rest of my life.”And that’s what we’re diving into today: the music behind Nippon Marathon 2: Daijoubu. THE SOUND OF SLURPINGIt seems, when i comes to sourcing the right music for NM2, the Onion Soup devs have a few methodolgies they rely upon:The "Always‑Simmering” Method: Approximately 60% of the dev’s brain, when away from the desktop, is permanently dedicated to Nippon Marathon 2. This means anything; a TV show, a song, a passing pigeon, can suddenly become the inpiration for a game feature or a new song for the soundtrack.The “Perfectly Seasoned From the Start ” Method Some stages arrive with their flavour already locked in. For Shika Shika Deer Town, the devs wanted festival vibes: percussion, shakers, and spcifically an old-school synth vocal to make it feel like the deer are an intelligent community. So he sent musician Robert Ruby a reference from Pilotwings (SNES), (tell me the weird vocal intrument from 0:25 aren't familiar!). The “Please help, It...
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