Mighty No. 9 Reviews

For years, fans of the Mega Man franchise have dreamed of a new game in their beloved franchise. However, with Capcom seemingly uninterested it fell to others to create a game that captures the classic series, while also making a series to call their own.. Enter Mighty No.9, with the simple promise of capturing the spirit of Mega Man this game saw a huge success on Kickstarter, but in the end where does it stand? Well, for the most part it manages to capture the essence of Mega Man, but it does not escape mediocrity and it struggles under the weight of its own pedigree.

“It raised nearly $4 million on Kickstarter, yet Mighty No. 9 offers little but nostalgia.”

Regardless of how much you like the Mega Man series, in Mighty No.9 you're unlikely to find a game that comes close to that legacy.

Classic Japanese Side Scrolling Action --- Transformed?

Almost wholly described as ‘not Mega Man’ *wink*, Mighty No. 9 is a throwback side-scroller attempting to cash in on Keiji Inafune’s success with the franchise, which is owned by Capcom. But can the soul of a beloved manga and game hero really be transplanted into an off-brand run away hit 25 years later? I’m gonna go ahead and say no.

Mighty No. 9 is a tedious and bland platformer and while I have never played a Mega Man game before, I have a feeling that this game does little to live up to the legacy that those games had.

It has been almost a decade since Capcom has released a new Megaman title in any capacity. Comcept and Inti Creates look to fill that void in the hearts of fans all over the world with Mighty Number 9. While the game attempts to innovate the tried and true formula to one of gaming’s most popular characters, it ultimately cannot get passed the shadow of the Blue Bomber.

Is Mighty No. 9 a worthwhile platformer you should play?

Even with dull visuals and a little too much reliance on the past, in a world where Capcom has seemingly forgotten that the Blue Bomber exists, Mighty No. 9’s enthralling boss battles make it an okay substitute to fill that void for the time being.

This is not the Mega Man successor you are looking for.

If nothing else, Mighty No. 9 mostly functions in its role as a reminder of how much we used to love Mega Man games. There are eight enemy robots to battle against, and they look vaguely like (but different enough from) the Robot Masters that Mega Man fans remember fondly from the past three decades. There are kindhearted scientists and brave robot boys and girls who want to rid the world of simple, clearly defined evils. Beck shoots his arm cannon just like Mega Man. He climbs ladders just like Mega Man. Squint your eyes hard enough you might be convinced, for a passing moment, that Mighty No. 9 makes good on its promises. But when you open your eyes, it plays like an answer to the question "Why doesn't Capcom make Mega Man games anymore?"

PS4 version reviewed. Copy provided by publisher.

Mighty No. 9 had an incredible amount of potential. The pedigree of talent behind the project justifies fans’ expectations for a platformer that is full of personality and high-quality action. This game has neither of those things; sure, it works, but the game feels completely lifeless. Characters lack the charm and depth that they need to be memorable, and the story is underdeveloped and plain. Platformers require complex and stylish level design to succeed, and Mighty No. 9 fails on both fronts. If you’re looking for a 2D platformer that carries with it the charm and intricate level design of the classics, save yourself some disappointment and go play Shovel Knight instead.

Inafune's Mighty No. 9 succeeds in capturing some of the magic of old school 2D platformers, but doesn't provide an engaging and interesting enough experience to lead to the kind of replay sessions that Mega Man or the other classics did. The core mechanics are all there, but the game lacks the polish and world-building that made its inspirations so memorable.

All in all, this is a very enjoyable title. It does not deserve all the negativity it’s been getting on sites such as Metacritic. Sure, Keiji Inafune and Comcept dropped the ball on this game. Delay after delay and broken promises mixed with a horrific and laughable trailer really painted an ugly picture for this title, but if you set all of that aside and just played the game, you would realize that it’s not the disaster it was made out to be, but don’t misunderstand my words as this game isn’t perfect either.

Mega Man may not be around much anymore, but a new blue robotic hero is here to save the day. Beck sure has some enormous shoes to fill so let's see how Mighty No. 9 holds up to the classics.

This boring and bland game isn't the spiritual sequel to Mega Man we were hoping for. Mega Man is dead, long live Mega Man!

No summary available

How the mighty have fallen.

Uneven in tone and execution, Mighty No 9 is equal parts fun and frustration. Inafune won’t reignite the fire of his famed franchise with this initial effort. We can only hope that subsequent attempts to reboot the blue bomber turn out better.

Mighty No. 9 is one of the most hateful experiences we’ve had playing a game. It wants you to die. It wants you to fail. It rewards you for rushing through levels, but if you do rush through levels you’ll have to repeat the same damn tests over and over again. It’s a mixture of being intentionally hard and absurdly designed - and the result is infuriating.

Despite its pedigree, Mighty No. 9 doesn’t seem to have a good sense of what was fun about Mega Man, or 2D action-platformers in general. There are brief moments where its pieces come together, but even then it’s hamstrung by its visually joyless art and animation. The soul of the Blue Bomber just isn’t here, and worse yet there’s no endearing personality of its own, and as a result, Mighty No. 9 feels much more like a second-rate imposter than a spiritual successor.

From the moment that the Kickstarter for Mighty No. 9 was announced, there were enormous expectations placed upon it, and it was always going to be impossible to live up to them. The hype came from Keiji Inafune and a team of Mega Man veterans being at the helm of what appeared to be a spiritual successor to the classic games in the Mega Man series. However, while Mighty No. 9 shares much in common with the critically acclaimed Mega Man games of yesteryear, it suffers from shortcomings that prevent it from ever reaching those lofty heights.

Mighty No. 9 went through a tough development and was rightfully scrutinized but it’s a challenging game with great controls. The graphics could be better and the framerate doesn’t stay at 60 but those problems don’t ultimately hurt the game. What hurts Mighty No. 9 is that it’s not Mega Man. So if you want Mega Man, you’re better off playing Mega Man. If you want a game in the spirit of Mega Man, Mighty No. 9 will satisfy you.

Those few points of praise aren't enough to recommend it, however. In its day, Mega Man went from a pioneering force in action game perfection to the poster child for redundant, cookie cutter sequels that failed to push the genre forward. Mighty No 9 does present a few concepts that feel like they could have been the next iterative step. Even if it had avoided its many pitfalls and baffling design choices, though, it's likely a few decades too late for such minor improvements.

Mighty No. 9 is a serviceable callback to the original Mega Man that is brought down by baffling design decisions and a strict adherence to mechanics that were phased out for a reason.