PlayStation 4 Critic Reviews

Don’t bother with Nippon Marathon if you don’t a have company to play the game with or if saying “keep it real, keep it Nippon” makes you irritated. Everyone else, though, forget cheap production values and throw yourself broad-mindedly into the craziness of Nippon Marathon!

Nippon Marathon is a ridiculous bakage game that's a ton of fun with friends but its annoying gameplay is only tolerable in short bursts.

Its party modes saves the day. [Issue#158, p.84]

There is a wacky, multiplayer racing game in there, but it feels more like a side effect of a notepad full of gags than a gaming experience that can entertain a group of friends long enough to make them briefly forget about Super Smash Bros., nor does the single-player experience do much after you understand what’s happening in front of you.

Nippon Marathon has the potential to be a fun party game, but its technical and design shortcomings prevent it from being a race worth running.

You should buy Nippon Marathon only if you are looking for something to play during an evening with your friends, and then forget about it.

With its Takeshi's Castle style, Nippon Marathon will delight those who enjoy the peculiar and ridiculously funny style of these contests, although neither technically nor playable is anything special.

Nippon Marathon is a curious multiplayer game that unfortunately falls prey to its own over the top nature. Some might enjoy the off-piste humour and Japanese influences, but it sadly limits the game's appeal, and at the end of the day, the presentation leaves a lot to be desired. The frantic gameplay feels too clumsy and disjointed to remain fun for very long. The janky nature of the game is part of the joke, but the joke isn't particularly funny in this case, and others have told it much better than this.

Nippon Marathon gets repetitive and boring very soon, is not fun, and is not executed correctly, and if not for its low price, no one would have paid any attention to it.