This is another game I’ve had in my sights, and even owned, since last year’s Mega Man Mega Marathon. In all but name, it’s a Mega Man game to me, so I figured it was only appropriate to include it. A friend of mine had an extra Steam key for it lying around, and she was kind enough to give it to me so I could finally experience this controversial title. I had heard all the hate for it back when it came out and since then, but I’d also heard several people I trust say it’s pretty decent, so I went in not really knowing what to think but being pleasantly surprised with what I found. It took me around 4.5 hours to beat the English version of the game.
The game followed our titular Mighty No. 9, Beck, as he tries to get his rampaging fellow Mighty No.’s under control after they suddenly go berserk. There’s a fair bit of intrigue between stages around the reasons why the robots went bad and who was involved, and it all has a very Saturday morning cartoon-vibe to it, right down to the voice acting. I know some people really didn’t care for how the Mighty No.s are characterized and found them annoying, and while I think that’s a fair opinion to have, I really enjoyed their banter, especially for the one who constantly talks like he’s a traffic helicopter XD. The whole game gave me vibes very similar to something like Vanquish but a bit more kiddy, and I really dug it. I understand not vibing with it, but I think the story fits its purpose just fine. The gameplay very much feels like its made by Inticreates (which it is), as it really does feel like a lost Mega Man X or Mega Man Zero game. Beck controls very much like Mega Man, even down to how he can absorb weapons from defeated bosses and can’t fire up or down, but with the extra addition of a charge move much like Bass or X can do in their Mega Man games. If you weaken an enemy, you can charge through them to destroy them and absorb a temporary buff from them (from more speed to more damage to E-tank fuel), and this is also how you deal permanent damage to bosses (as otherwise they’ll just heal the damage back). That last point isn’t actually properly explained to you, for whatever reason, and that lack of explaining is probably one of my main presentation complaints with the game. I don’t think it works perfectly, but the quick, hit and run style that it encourages was a quite fun way to approach one of these games, and between the stage design and the boss design, I thought this fit right into the quality of Inticreates’s more mid-range titles (right down to the final stage that’s a bit too hard with the final boss that’s a real battle of attrition). The presentation is just fine. I’m not exactly in love with the 2.5D design of everything, but I don’t dislike it nearly as much as some people. Compared to another Kickstarter 2.5D action game like Bloodstained, I’d say this game’s aesthetic is pulled off much better than that. The music is also by and large just fine, although there weren’t any particularly memorable tracks to me. Verdict: Recommended. While it’s hardly the best Mega Man-like game and certainly not Inticreates’s best title, by the time I was done with Might No. 9, I really didn’t understand the hate pile it got. With how badly the Kickstarter was run, I can certainly understand people being set up to dislike it, but the actual quality of the game just doesn’t reflect that at all to me. As a big Mega Man fan, I quite enjoyed it, and if you’re someone who enjoys Mega Man or Inticreates games too, you will likely have quite a good time with Mighty No. 9 too~.
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AuthorI'm an avid gamer who likes to detail their thoughts about what they play in the hopes it might aid someone else's search for a game to play. Archives
April 2024
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