TGS '14 - Feeling Fine with Mighty No. 9 - Preview
by VGChartz Staff , posted on 19 September 2014 / 4,859 Views
Mighty No. 9 is a passion project of Keiji Inafune, famed developer of the Mega Man series. This fan-supported project raised nearly $4 million dollars by the time its Kickstarter campaign ended in October 2013. I finally had a chance to play this anticipated indie game on the Xbox One at Microsoft’s booth at the Tokyo Game Show.
It's definitely simple to pick up and play, especially for anyone familiar with the original Mega Man games. Mighty No. 9 is a 2D side-scroller where your primary combat weapon is firing projectiles from your arm cannon. The controls are simple: you jump with the A button and fire with X. The only other button you will use frequently is RT to perform a dash. After immobilizing your enemies they start to radiate either red, green, or blue. The radiation means you can finish them off with a dash and also receive a small boost to your stats. Each color corresponds to a different stat boost. Blue will slightly replenish your health bar, which is located in the upper right corner of the screen. Green provides you with a short boost of extra speed. Finally, Red momentarily increases the power of your attacks.
Boosting turned out to a lot more integral than I expected, but it made Mighty No. 9 feel distinct gameplay-wise from its spiritual predecessor. The enemies I encountered included robots that could hide behind shields, stationary guns, and flying mechanical bugs. Timing during combat was vitally important. Taking unnecessary damage resulted in dire consequences when later confronted by swarms of enemies. The platforming is simplistic; the biggest danger comes from falling into pits of purple fire, which results in instant death.
The demo level seemed to be the interior of a factory or science lab of some sort. I climbed ladders, ran along conveyor belts, and destroyed many red barrels of explosives. I'm certainly now a fan of the 2.5D presentation. The game is bright and colorful, accompanied by a digitized soundtrack with a very 80s vibe. In the background of the level you seem to have an ally to help clear obstacles using ice powers. When I was assaulted by a stream of bullets from the background, I only had to dodge long enough for my comrade to freeze them.
At one point I entered on outdoor area with locked doors on both sides. Here I had to survive an onslaught of enemies, dying a few times in the process. Eventually I managed to escape and I thought things were progressing nicely until one mistimed jump led to a surprise Game Over screen. I had not even been aware up until then that the game had a lives system but it makes sense for what it is trying to do. I reluctantly relinquished the demo to the next person waiting but came away happy for having played it.
Another person who was all smiles was Inafune himself, who allowed me to capture this photo of him with the game and spoke candidly with one of his development peers.
Mighty No. 9 is planned for an April 2015 launch on PC, PS3, PS Vita, PS4, Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.
