Mighty No. 9 Takes A Critical Pounding
Keiji Inafune, creator of Mega Man, left Capcom a few years back to pursue his own projects. The most hyped of these projects, Mighty No. 9, was heralded as the return of Mega Man’s glory days, if not in name, than in spirit. Today the game was released, and yesterday the review embargo was lifted. …Do you really want to know how it turned out, or do you want to preserve hope?
This is one of the few games I’ve seen where nearly every critic was unanimous with their score: a 5 out of 10. Yes, even from IGN. They said “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.”
GamesRadar also gave it a 5 and said, “Frustrating to play and a pale imitation of Mega Man, Mighty No. 9 is unlikely to command the same reverence as its older cousin.” Game Informer added, “Mighty No. 9 was supposed to be the game that sated our long-starved appetite for a new Mega Man entry, but it instead just made me want to play the old games again.”
This may not be welcome news to backers of the project, but it hasn’t been unexpected. News of trouble surrounding Mighty No. 9 has been common knowledge for months, with a disappointing trailer and delay after delay. Inafune’s game was one of several projects launched by devoted fans through Kickstarter and crowdfunding sites like it. His was the first to get out, and I hope it’s not a prophetic sign for the others.