Quick Review: Mighty No. 9

Deep down a part of me feels bad for Keiji Inafune. I want to honestly believe he started his kickstarter for a spiritual successor to Mega Man with a game that would finally give the fans with hunger pangs for new blue bomber adventures a healthy serving. Not to mention his wide eyed beliefs that this will spin into a major franchise with sequels and anime and more. But as delays and controversies arose, it just felt that the more the news came in about Mighty No. 9, the more that it felt like the four million dollars funded weren't going to end up going in the right places. It also didn't help that Deep Silver's now infamous masterclass trailer put a bullet to the back of the head of any good will the game had left with gamers.


I got the game pretty early, finding it at a game store that just happened to have it on its shelf, so I figured I'd give it a play and a quick review. Not going to talk about the story, even though it really is exactly like every other Mega Man game in terms of plot, only a lot more dull. I haven't completed the game, but have played through a little over half at this point, which is enough for my general consensus on the gameplay. It feels a lot like Mega Man without a lot of the flare in it. You have your basic blaster attack which you use on enemies. They'll be weakened after a few shots, which you can then dash into them to absorb their powers for a brief period. It's a neat idea, but gets boring to use pretty quickly. The dash is so broken that you can pass through a lot of areas without much confrontation with the rogue robots.

Other than that addition, it's Mega Man gameplay in every aspect. kill robot enemies through levels filled with cheap death traps, make it to a boss, defeat them with and absorb their power, lather, rinse, repeat until you finish the game. You get your basic boss types that feel similar to Mega Man bosses of the past. Although, they can be prone to cheap one-hit kill moves if you aren't well prepared. But if you have the right move, they are pathetically easy. You can just spam the move super fast, dash to do damage, and ultimately beat them within seconds.

Graphically MN9 is rather underwhelming. Levels all look similar with very dull looking color schemes. The Mega Man franchise was known for being very colorful and vibrant, while this feels washed out and bland. Most of the levels look too similar, being one dull factory stage after another. Enemy designs are lazy with very few variants. You'll face the same bunch of enemies over and over again in each stage. Cutscenes are bland and boring with characters not moving their mouths and being barely animated. Again, this game funded four million dollars and yet indie game designers with barely any money are providing games that look more vibrant and beautiful. On the music side, the music is terribly forgettable. The Mega Man series is known for some of the best music in gaming, and yet there's nothing that will stick to your ears by game's end. In fact, it sounds very quiet and unnoticeable.

In the end, I don't think this game is terrible. It does have some features like Mega Man that at least make it fun to play in that regard. But even then, you could just play something like Shovel Knight that does feel like a more inspired Mega Man tribute. Mighty No. 9 suffers from poor presentation, bland gameplay elements, a lack of an interesting story and just the feeling of being a cheap knockoff of the Mega Man series. Simply put, I'd say if you really want to give it a shot, wait for a sale, or just put your money into buying the much cheaper Mega Man Legacy Collection or Shovel Knight.