Mighty No. 9 Reviews
The biggest takeaway I have from Mighty No. 9 is that it was such a letdown.
Mighty No. 9 has all of the annoying traits that buried the Mega Man franchise, but none of the personality or charm that made it so beloved in the first place.
After several years, delays, and missteps, the Kickstarter-funded Mighty No. 9 is here, and believe me when I say that the supposed spiritual successor to Mega Man is a Mega Bust.
Mighty No. 9 is a forgettable attempt at cashing in on people's nostalgia and love of Mega Man.
Mighty No. 9 has a strong gameplay core that isn't better or worse than Mega Man—it's just different. The further the game deviates from that core, however, the worse it becomes.
Comcept and Keiji Inafune didn't knock it out of the park with Mighty No. 9, but they damn sure took a good swing at it. If people can pull their heads out of a certain part of their body and judge the game for as it is, I'm sure this game could, in the long run, be successful enough for a sequel and if that day comes, let us hope and pray that Comcept has learned many valuable lessons from this endeavor and do Mighty No. 9-2 the right way.
9 fits that bill, and you're probably better off with Shovel Knight or Freedom Planet's oldschool-yet-new sensibilities. Every time I try to think about what the motivator for playing this game would be, I immediately dismiss it. I repeat: I have no idea who this is for.
If you've got a hankering for old-school platformers (albeit ones bastardised by a few modern conventions) Mighty No. 9 is a game for you. If you were going to pick it up on a whim because you fancied a taste of Capcom's golden age, you're better off looking elsewhere. Hardcore gamers eat your heart out, but don't expect to sleepwalk through this one.
There aren't enough delays to save this game
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.
Mighty No. 9 began life as one of the most anticipated concepts in recent memory. While there is fun to be had – especially where boss fights are concerned – there is an overall lack of fresh ideas to bring it all to life. Frustratingly the game also has underwhelming graphics and perhaps the coldest and most awkward story I've ever played. Instead of the love letter to fans of Capcom's blue bomber the game was meant to be, the cynically average final product is a sad example of potential well and truly squandered.
Mighty No. 9 is a game hamstrung by its own hubris. By choosing to rely upon archaic design decisions and outdated level design it fails to achieve the level of success so clearly desired by the developers. The passion behind the project is clear to see, even if one can't shake the feeling that a few too many shortcuts were taken in order to release on multiple platforms, but the legacy of the Mega Man series looms over the game and it's unable to pull itself out of its shadow. If Comcept hadn't so stubbornly adhered to the source of its inspiration and were willing to take more risks with the title then maybe it could have been something really special but at the moment it's let down by some baffling creative decisions.
The phrase that best describes Keiji Inafune's infamous spiritual successor to the classic action-platforming franchise is "aggressively mediocre." In fact, Mighty No. 9 is such an average video game that reviewers could give future mediocre games a Mighty No. 9 out of ten and it would serve as a perfect indication of their quality.
With the lack of tight controls, an honest challenge and the addition of a generic plot and characters we're left with a totally average action platforming game that promised the world.
Mighty No. 9 is a disappointment. As I went through the game, I saw all the things going wrong and began going through possible corrections in my head. It should have looked like the original prototype. The character designs and lighting were better there. The dialogue and story segments should have been more engaging and dynamic. The special abilities needed more heft. Some last minute polish could have fixed these framerate issues. That made me mad, because if I could see all of these issues that needed to be addressed, why couldn't the developers? With all of the delays this game has seen, why do these problems still exist? Mighty No. 9 isn't a terrible game, but it isn't a good one either. With an end result like this, I feel pity for every person who backed it.
Mighty No. 9 is not a good video game. It's is loaded down with lots of cool ideas that it never fully explores, and frankly it feels unfinished, unpolished, and unplaytested. It has potential, but right now this game serves as a warning about the dangers of stretch goals and crowdfunding, and only the most die-hard Mega Man fans will find something worthwhile here. Everyone else is better off sticking with the Blue Bomber.
It's a toughy but once you've repeated each level 50 times you'll get there...
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!
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.
Mighty No. 9 melds the old with the new, ends up with the worst of both