Konnichiwa! It’s been just over a week since we launched Nippon Marathon into Early Access and we’ve been blown away by the love out there for our game. So first of all, a big thank you to everybody who’s picked up Nippon Marathon, who’s played it, or who has simply watched one of the many videos and streams. It’s about time for our first developer update from Wedy Jones, don’t you think?
Right now we’re busy beavering away on a number of fixes and additions for Nippon Marathon in the coming weeks. Having now amended the Mac boot-up problem we’re looking into a hotfix for a controller issue some people have been experiencing, and we’re tweaking some settings to fix a couple of scoring issues (in particular involving the elevators on Super Ichiba Sweep!) as well. Content-wise, there’s a LOT on the horizon. Firstly, the support from Japanese gamers has been off the charts! Our first addition to Nippon Marathon therefore will be to add Japanese commentary and also localized text for Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese. You can expect to see this added in the coming weeks. That language update is then going to be very closely followed by our first Party Game! And we wanted to give you a peek right now.
Meet L.O.B.S.T.E.R Mode: think of it as a cross between Tony Hawk’s classic HORSE party game mode and the Super Smash Bros Melee sandbag-thwacking Home-Run Contest… with a Nippon Marathon-styled running twist. In L.O.B.S.T.E.R Mode you play as contestants in a Game Show hosted by 'Surfin' Jack Cactus. He just loves to pit people against each other and award letters to the losers: Don't let Jack spell out L.O.B.S.T.E.R for you or you're outta the game!
For now, feast your eyes on some early prototype screens (yes, starring some fresh characters) – it won’t be too long before we’ll be letting L.O.B.S.T.E.R Mode loose into the Early Access build…