Zany Sports Title Nippon Marathon Sprints Onto Switch This Autumn

PQube and Onion Soup Interactive have announced today that the "multiplayer Japanese sports extravaganza" Nippon Marathon will be coming to the Switch later this year.

Currently available on Steam Early Access, the four-player racer tasks you with getting ahead of your rivals by any means possible while avoiding hazards and changes in the environment. It all looks a bit bonkers if you ask us.

Here's some PR:

San! Ni! Ichi! Hajime!!! Stretch your muscles and embark upon the ultimate marathon of Japan in a raucous ragdoll party multiplayer racer where anything can happen. Hurdle barrels, outrun Shiba Inu and dive out of the paths of bicycles - all while chucking fruit at your opponents and dashing across planks precariously balanced over waterfalls - in an unreal experience that must be played to be believed.

Four-player madness!
You can't spell Nippon Marathon without ‘P', ‘A', ‘R', ‘T' and *checks letters* ‘I', we suppose… Solo play is supported, but grab up to four pads and enjoy the supreme silliness of gaming's greatest marathon.

See all of Japan!
Cross the entirety of the land of Nippon in a series of creative courses spanning busy city streets, village lanes, bustling markets, mountaintop shrines, supermarkets and even unsafe sake distilleries! Four courses will be available at the launch of Early Access, with more being added on the road to completion.

Wacky characters!
Go toe-to-toe with some of the coolest contestants who ever did, er… contest! Lobster-man J DARWIN, onesie-obsessive Elizabeth Nishibori, school uniform fan Zenbei “Xen Bae” and the completely normal Snuguru Maestro are among the challengers vying for the podium!

Epic pratfalls!
Swinging poles! Giant face-slapping fish! Cyclists! Shiba Inu! Panes of glass! Traffic! False doors! Barrels! Rolling beams! Wobbly planks! Flying fruit! More Shiba Inu! EARTHQUAKES!!!!! Dodge and dive over the lot or suffer the painful and embarrassing consequences of physics-based collisions…

Tons of surprises!
You never know what will happen next in Nippon Marathon. Perhaps you'll find time for an impromptu spot of slot machine fun? Maybe a news anchor will jetpack in to interview you on the racetrack? Heck, anything is possible…

Drop-in/drop-out play!
Need a bathroom break to squeeze pineapple juice out of your foam lobster claws? Random pedestrian passing by your couch and wants to play? Whatever the cause, hop in and out for the ultimate, flexible party get-together!

Our friends over at Eurogamer played it recently and did a good job of communicating how utterly insane it all is:

Let us know if you've already played the game on Steam and what you think of it. The Nintendo Switch, PS4 and Xbox One versions are expected in Autumn this year.