Mighty No. 9

Gameplay

Mighty No. 9 is focused on 2D platforming with a blend of 2D and 3D artwork and animation. Players control a robot named Beck (Mighty No. 9), who is able to run, jump, and shoot projectiles at enemies he encounters. Furthermore, the player is able to acquire both weapons and abilities from enemies they defeat. The game features an intro level followed by the eight main levels, which are freely chosen in any order by the player. At the end of each stage, Beck must face one of the other eight "Mighty" units in a boss battle. A final set of levels are unlocked at the end of the game, leading up to the final showdown. An additional level starring Beck's partner, Call, is also available at some point.

In addition to jumping and shooting, Beck's main ability is what the game calls "AcXelerate" (pronounced like "accelerate"), which can be used to move quickly and cross large gaps. Upon weakening enemies by shooting them, Beck can AcXelerate through them in order to absorb a substance known as Xel (pronounced "Cel"). Absorbing Xel from enemies grants Beck temporary enhancements, which are increased power for his attacks and the ability to shoot through walls (red), increased speed that allows Beck to run faster (green), and increased resistance to damage (yellow). There are also enemies that when weakened, turn blue. These enemies will refill the player's AcXel Recover 1 (AcXel Recover 2 is filled only at "Patch" checkpoints), which can be used to heal Beck. By defeating bosses, Beck can obtain new transformation forms, giving him new abilities such as magnetic limbs that can be used in various ways to deal with the enemies as well as traversing the levels. Conversely, Call can't absorb Xel but can boost further than Beck and can use "Patch service bot" that can activate a shield that reflects projectiles and slows her fall.

Raychel's (DLC) gameplay is also largely similar to Beck's gameplay, but with a few notable differences. Her default attack is a melee attack. She will instantly absorb any enemy whose health becomes too low (even if it isn't destabilized) to finish it off. Her counterpart to Beck's AcXelerate doubles as an attack and bounces off an enemy if they are not absorbed. Her health operates similarly to the way boss health works. She also earns different powers than Beck called "Variation Codes" from the bosses she defeats. The layouts of certain stages are altered to reflect this.

Plot

Mighty No. 9 centers around an android named Beck (Yuri Lowenthal / Ayumu Murase), the ninth unit in a set of advanced combat and utility robots called the Mighty Numbers. A computer virus unleashed by a mysterious hacker suddenly corrupts the programming of the eight previous Mighty Numbers and hundreds of other machines across the world, causing them to turn on their human creators. The player, as Beck, must eliminate the other Mighty Numbers and uncover the identity of the villain who threatens the fate of the planet. Alongside Beck is his partner, Call (Julie Nathanson / M.A.O).

The game begins with a sudden massive countrywide robot uprising. Mighty No. 9, Beck, is one of the few robots unaffected. He is reluctantly tasked by the chief creator of the Mighty Numbers, Dr. White, to hunt down his siblings. Beck possesses a unique ability that allows him to assimilate the "Xels" of other robots when they have sustained sufficient damage. By assimilating the Xels of the Mighty Numbers, Beck is able to restore their original personalities. Assimilation also allows Beck to send data to Dr. White, who tries to find the cause of the robots' violent behavior. He also solicits the aid of White's bumbling colleague Dr. Sanda and his unaffected creation Call. Gregory Graham (Scott Whyte / Takehito Koyasu), president of Cherry Dynamics (the world's largest supplier of robots, also called "CherryDyn"), publicly denies responsibility for the current disaster and blames White's estranged mentor, Dr. Blackwell, despite the latter being in a maximum-security prison.

As Beck saves more of his siblings, White finds among the affected Xels traces of code from his abandoned project, "Trinity", a robot that can learn and grow infinitely by assimilating other robots. As Trinity was funded by CherryDyn, White decides to visit Graham while Call and Sanda go to Blackwell for a direct explanation. While infiltrating the prison, Call questions why White would make Beck a battle robot when he was primarily designed as a symbol of peace. Upon meeting Blackwell, Call and Sanda learn that the real cause of the countrywide uprising is Graham's failed attempt to reverse-engineer Trinity's design for military applications. Trinity can reprogram, rewrite, and assimilate other robots effortlessly; thus, she posed an incalculable danger to all of humanity and Blackwell, recognizing this, forced White to shut down the project. He was subsequently framed for terrorism and imprisoned, enabling Graham to bring White under his complete control.

Meanwhile, White confronts Graham about the latter's decision to restart Trinity, for which he again tries to deny responsibility. White mulls over how, despite Trinity being his greatest failure, he had taken what he had learned from her creation to perfect Beck, implying that Beck's aversion to combat is the only difference separating his fate from Trinity's. Graham then realizes that White is actually Blackwell's illegitimate son, Bill.

Development

Mighty No. 9 was announced in a conference at the 2013 Penny Arcade Expo by Inafune and his team. The Kickstarter campaign for the project launched on August 31, 2013 and met its US$900,000 target only two days later, on September 2. 8-4, a localization company, handled the Japanese-to-English translation work for the project in addition to consulting and PR work. 2 Player Productions produced a four-part documentary series during the game's development, detailing every aspect that has gone into the creation of the game as well as providing developer commentary from Inafune and his team.

Mighty No. 9's concept was initially widely acclaimed for its return to the genre of Mega Man-styled games, going against the alleged neglect of the franchise by series owner Capcom. The game has been noted as one of the first crowd-funded video game projects launched in Japan.

Inafune had promised to provide "unprecedented access to seeing [his] team at work" over the development cycle of Mighty No. 9. In the video promoting the Kickstarter, Inafune stated that he wanted to make the project one where he could get the fans involved, following the cancellation of Mega Man Legends 3 which similarly sought to get fans involved with the game's development process. On September 4, 2013, it was announced that the two mystery stretch goals that were previously announced were to be pushed back in favor of attempting to release the game on consoles quickly. The mystery goals were still retained, and later revealed once funding reached the $2,200,000 goal and beyond. As each particular stretch goal was attained during the month of September, additional stretch goals were announced, pushing the final goal to the $4,000,000 mark. The first of the documentary series by 2 Player Productions was released on September 26.

An opinion poll was launched on September 27 to choose the design of Call, Beck's partner. The poll asks voters to choose among nine design choices labelled from A to I, all drawn by members of both Inti Creates and Comcept. The poll was closed and the result was posted on the evening of October 1, with designs E, F and H winning out. The game's soundtrack was composed primarily by Manami Matsumae, of Mega Man fame, with sound direction and additional compositions by Ippo Yamada. A single track each was also contributed by Takashi Tateishi of Mega Man 2 fame, and Masahiro Aoki.

Release

Digital copies of the game were guaranteed on release to those who pledged $20 on Kickstarter. An additional game manual, artbook/strategy guide, and the original soundtrack were guaranteed on release to those who pledged $40. Physical copies of the aforementioned rewards packaged inside a box adorned with art of the backer's choosing, alongside a playable golden version of Beck, were available to those who pledged $60. Further donations were given access to special items like extra bonus content or exclusive merchandise along access to beta versions and other collaborations with the game's development. Backers who donated at least US$10,000 earned the right to attend a dinner with Keiji Inafune.

The game originally was in development exclusively for Windows, but ports for Linux, OS X, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita were confirmed after the funding reached previously established stretch goals. In regards to the Nintendo 3DS release, the co-founder and director of Renegade Kid, Jools Watsham, publicly offered to assist in development. However, Comcept confirmed that it officially arranged to work with Abstraction Games on both portable versions of Mighty No. 9. In an unannounced move, the studio left the project in 2015, as development duties on the handheld builds quietly shifted to Engine Software. Abstraction would later say they got "involved very late" and exited "due to the risk involved."

An additional copy of Mighty No. 9 was made available to purchase as physical distribution, along with a backer's digital version. The physical copy was manifested in one of two forms of the backer's choice. The first was a DVD-ROM adorned with the game's illustration, available after the addition of $26 to the minimum pledge. The second was a USB flash drive also carrying the game's illustration, but molded in the appearance of either a Nintendo Entertainment System or Family Computer cartridge, available after the addition of $36 to the minimum pledge.

The game was originally scheduled to be released in April 2015. However, on April 28, 2015, Comcept announced that the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U and Windows versions of the game would be released on September 15, 2015 in the Americas and September 18 worldwide, for both public retail and download (Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions do not have a physical release however), so as to allow the company to take further time and resources to polish the game and to add Japanese and French voice-overs. The Vita version would be released at a later date. They also announced that they had partnered with Deep Silver to distribute the retail version of the game.

Reception

The PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One versions of Mighty No. 9 received "mixed or average" reviews, while the Wii U version received "generally unfavorable" reviews, according to review aggregator website Metacritic. After the game's launch, the Kickstarter backers reportedly received broken codes and mismatched rewards. Due to the game's multiple delays, mediocre reception and an array of communication problems, many backers expressed their disappointment with the final game.

GameSpot awarded it a score of 5 out of 10, saying "Mighty No. 9 is an inoffensively average game sprung from the memories of the past, with little to show for its position in the present." IGN awarded it a score of 5.6 out of 10, saying "Charmless and full of poorly-executed ideas, Mighty No. 9 fails to entertain despite its legendary pedigree." Game Informer reviewer Andrew Reiner gave it a score of 6 out of 10, stating that "Too much of the content feels recycled, from enemies with shields to weapon designs coming close to being copied wholesale" and that "Unfortunately, none of the familiar content is as stylistic or lively as it once was. Mega Man's characters and artwork were consistent and unified; Comcept's take is largely pedestrian." The Wii U version also suffered from different technical issues. Polygon awarded it a score of 5 out of 10, stating that "This feels like an answer to why Capcom isn't making Mega Man games anymore."

Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu gave a more favorable view, awarding the game a score of 30 out of 40.