3 years ago Keiji Inafune the spiritual father of the hit franchise “Mega Man”, started a Kickstarter campaign to raise money for a new game called: Mighty No. 9. It would be a side-scrolling action game with many similarities to the classic Mega Man franchise. Everybody got super hyped and the Kickstarter campaign raised more than 3.8 Million dollars. Now 3 years later, after a few delays, Mighty No. 9 finally is here.
Gameplay:
Mighty No. 9 is just like you expect it to be, it’s a side-scrolling platform game where you shoot your way through 9 different levels ending with an epic boss fight. The levels each got a different theme but they all feel and play almost exactly the same apart from the ice and underwater level. The duration of the levels are longer than average but Mighty Number 9 is still a pretty short game
After you defeat the boss you get a new form and you’re able to use these powers in other missions. The order you play the levels is totally up to you, so if you get stuck during a level you can just play the other level and get stronger forms to clear other levels easier. If you unlock a power you can use it at any time during a level. The powers you gain sound very good on paper but most of them feel sloppy to use or are not even good to use. While playing this game it felt like only two powers were good to use. I stick with them and rarely used others because unfortunately, the level design does not force you to use your newly obtained powers. The best use of the powers is while fighting a boss. If there were more puzzles where you have to use the powers it would result in a more exciting gameplay, which this game lags.
The game makes use of a dash mechanic, this can be used to finish off low health enemies by dashing through them. This can be helpful to make bigger combos and absorb some power of your enemies to gain stronger attacks. At first this seems like a fun way to mix up a platform game but in reality, this completely destroys the challenge of timing the perfect jumps because if you miss your jump you can simply dash an unlimited amount of times in order to make it. The powers you absorb are mediocre and last too short to really make a difference. The only good part of the dash mechanic is that you’re able to combo string your enemies which gives a better score at the end.
The enemies in Mighty No.9 are cool at first sight but get repetitive after a while. Every level has almost the same enemies you fight. I found out that most enemies are there just to annoy you instead of actually killing you. The boss fights were nothing special as well. Most of them could just be killed by shooting them and juke their projectiles. So defeating a boss did not feel that rewarding.
Graphics:
The biggest problem with this game are the graphics. Ok I get it, it is just a platform game but it is just so awful. I loved the design of the game but the quality is really bad. Mighty No. 9 feels more like a Nintendo 64 game than a Wii U game. The colors, the design, the graphics everything looks very cheap but the worse thing is that this game does not even run smoothly on a Wii U. The loading screens usually are 2 minutes long before you can start a level and if you die you have to wait again to retry. On release, this was even worse and it even resulted in some Wii U’s crashing. Luckily the developers patched it so the biggest problems were fixed but it is still not how it’s supposed to be.
Verdict:
I would not say this game is the worst game ever, although this game is probably the most disappointing game ever. Everybody was super hyped for this game but it did not satisfy the expectations of all the Mega Man fans and all the people who donated money for the kickstarted campaign. This game feels more like a game that you play on your smartphone than a game you play on your Wii U. Mighty No.9 has a lot of good ideas but lags the Mega Man gameplay we all know and love. If you are a Mega Man fan, it’s better to buy the Mega Man Legacy Collection for less money and you get 6 great Mega Man games. To sum things up: “And at the end of the day, even if it’s not perfect, it’s better than nothing. At least, that’s my opinion.” – Keiji Inafune (=Creator)
4/10
Mega Man Legacy Collection Review
