Mighty No. 9

 PlayStation 4
User Score
3.6

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 369 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 84 out of 369
  2. Mixed: 52 out of 369
  3. Negative: 233 out of 369
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  1. stamito
    Sep 28, 2017
    6
    First of all, I want to say I’ll try and give this game a review as a game, without taking into account what happened with the developers etc.

    This game is a decent megaman spiritual successor and I mean decent in the full meaning of the word. Meaning I don’t think it’s a bad game, but it’s not also good it’s just decent and a lot of things about it will make you go meh… Let’s see    First of all, I want to say I’ll try and give this game a review as a game, without taking into account what happened with the developers etc.

    This game is a decent megaman spiritual successor and I mean decent in the full meaning of the word. Meaning I don’t think it’s a bad game, but it’s not also good it’s just decent and a lot of things about it will make you go meh…

    Let’s see gameplay wise, which is the most important part it feels a lot like a megaman, but with a couple of changes that make it feel faster paced. In terms of playing, it is decent fun. They’ve made a good job a making the different stages feel different, the problem is that they’re kind of simple, you won’t see anything that stands out. Difficulty is kind on normal-ish, maybe hard for some of the younger or less experienced players. In terms on length, the game is short but its replay value is quite high, the same as in the old megaman games.

    In terms of sound the game is quite good, music is good and it fits the style of the game very well, voice acting is all right for this kind of game etc. Graphically speaking, the game is well below average in my opinion. Although it’s not horrendous at all, they are a lot of things that feel a lot like a ps2 game, which considering the year is shameful. Not that you need photo realistic graphics in a game like this, but taking a look at things like for example “dust: an elysian tale” or other games like that you can actually create gorgeous, distinct graphics without them needing to be awesome.

    So summarising, it’s not all bad, but I believe this game has a lot of “meh…” things that will let you feeling that it could have been awesome, but it just turned out very average or even below average in a lot of things. If you’re a megaman fan or enjoyed the megaman games, I still think you’ll have decent fun with this (if you keep an open mind), but it won’t feel like megaman is back. You might want to look at spending your money with a megaman collection rather than this, but if you’re looking for something new within the “megaman” genre I think you’ll have decent fun with this. The overall feeling is that, this game could have been a lot more, and they made something cheap and fast to try and make some money.    … Expand
  2. MayFlower10196
    Jul 3, 2016
    6
    I don't usually write reviews for games, but after seeing the massive critical backlash this game has gotten, I felt the need to have my opinion heard. Every other review I see mentions either all the delays this game got, the bad marketing, or both. I can't just believe that they didn't consider that when scoring the game, which is unfair to me. Those factors don't impact the qualityI don't usually write reviews for games, but after seeing the massive critical backlash this game has gotten, I felt the need to have my opinion heard. Every other review I see mentions either all the delays this game got, the bad marketing, or both. I can't just believe that they didn't consider that when scoring the game, which is unfair to me. Those factors don't impact the quality of the game.

    Please do not mistake the score of 6 as some instant sign of failure. A 5 is a good score even if it means just average. When I give this game a 6, I mean that it has all of the core mechanics there and functions as well as it should while doing a few cool things here and there. At its best, Mighty No. 9 is a fresh take on the classic Mega Man formula. At its worst, it feels like nothing we haven't really seen before with some new mechanics that feel horribly underutilized.

    Graphics: The game can feel like it belongs on PS2 at times. You can only really appreciate the graphics when you're speeding through levels at a smooth framerate with no drops that I could notice. That said, I really feel this game could've handled better graphics, but I'll assume that's to help with the 3DS/Vita ports. Bland overall.

    Sound: The music here does the job well enough, but the only memorable track is the title theme. Everything else is okay but forgettable.

    Gameplay: The saving grace for a lot of people when playing this game will definitely be the gameplay. A fast-paced sidescrolling 2D shooter action at its finest. The controls are basically Mega Man but with a few things replaced. For example, wall-jumping from the X series is gone in favor of being able to grab ledges. The only thing that I felt hindered my gameplay was the weapon switching. In the Mega Man games, it was as simple as hitting one of the shoulder buttons to cycle through weapons. Now you cycle with L1 and R1 and press Triangle to select, which makes it frustrating trying to navigate in the middle of a heated battle. Other than that, you'll have only yourself to blame for every other death you encounter in the game.
    The biggest addition here being that you have the ability to dash through weakened enemies to gain various boosts. In addition to boosting your score that goes towards your grade at the end of each level, dashing through enemies provides you with the Mighty No. 9 equivalent of Sub Tanks, as well as some combat boosters such as being able to shoot through multiple enemies or having stronger buster shots. This addition adds a little more strategy to the game and honestly never got old for me. My only gripe with this feature is that while in their weakened states, enemies still take several shots more to kill. It'd have made for more interesting gameplay if there was some benefit to just killing enemies rather than dashing through them to absorb them, or letting the enemies die quicker after being weakened so you have to count your shots.

    Fun: Definitely. This game is good for the same reasons the classic Mega Man games are good. The game is fun to experience leisurely at first, then on subsequent plays on harder difficulties or while speedrunning. The dash-to-absorb ability particularly makes this a fun game to speedrun, as enemies are incredibly satisfying to defeat and absorb. It feels very much like an arcade game in that respect. The platforming and bosses provide a good challenge, especially on harder difficulties for those who are veterans of the genre.

    Overall, I feel this game was a nice experience. I really want this game to get a sequel if only so it can show us what Mighty No. 9 can do that Mega Man can't. The most disappointing thing about this game is that there's so much unrealized potential. I understand that the whole goal was to provide the spiritual successor to Mega Man, but without the Mega Man license and everything that comes with it, we simply aren't getting that. I want to see what new things this can bring to the table. That said, the game is fairly cheap as is so I'd definitely check it out if you've been remotely interested in it. The main campaign is fun and there are plenty of challenges and optional things to keep you invested afterward.    … Expand
  3. TitaniumDragon
    Nov 18, 2017
    5
    Mighty No. 9 is an okay but unremarkable Megaman clone. You play as the titular Mighty No. 9, AKA Beck, who is very blatantly Megaman.

    As is usual in a Megaman game, the robots of the world have gone crazy and you, as Mega-er, I mean, Mighty No. 9, must confront them. You have a handful of allies: Dr. White (really?), Dr. Sanda, and Call, Beck’s female counterpart (who is definitely not    Mighty No. 9 is an okay but unremarkable Megaman clone. You play as the titular Mighty No. 9, AKA Beck, who is very blatantly Megaman.

    As is usual in a Megaman game, the robots of the world have gone crazy and you, as Mega-er, I mean, Mighty No. 9, must confront them. You have a handful of allies: Dr. White (really?), Dr. Sanda, and Call, Beck’s female counterpart (who is definitely not Roll. And yes, Beck and Call. Like Rock and Roll). You must beat the other Mighty Numbers, #1-8. #7, Brandish, is a red robot with a sword who is definitely, definitely not Zero, and several of the other characters are reminiscent of Mega Man characters as well, at least in terms of the powers they give you.

    Because, yes, when you beat each of the robot bosses, you absorb their powers, and gain a new weapon you can use. And, yes, exactly like in Megaman, each of the bosses is vulnerable to the attacks from one of the other bosses, in a cycle of 8.

    That being said, this is an original game, and the bosses are not copy and paste jobs, and feel somewhat distinct from those in a Megaman game. Indeed, the game itself does have one real distinguishing factors – Mighty No. 9’s ability to dash through injured enemies to absorb them. While it is possible to kill an enemy simply by shooting them (apart from the bosses), they take a huge number of hits to kill; however, it takes fewer hits to put them into a semi-stunned state, which you can dash through and absorb. This absorption will, in the case of some enemies, give you one of three temporary power-ups (faster speed, better defense, or stronger attacks that go through enemies and walls), and will always slowly fill up a healing tank which, when full, can be used to completely restore Mighty No. 9’s life. If you die, however, your tanks all get emptied, and they don’t carry over between levels – thus, it behooves you to beat a level without dying and without having to spend your healing to have it for the boss.

    This dash can be done on the ground or midair, and gives Mighty No. 9 an even greater amount of mobility than characters like Megaman X; however, it also means that you have to put yourself at risk to absorb enemies. At the end of every stage, you are graded based on, among other things, how fast you absorbed the enemies, and absorbing enemies very quickly or during a continuous air-dash earns you bonus points and extra healing. These points are, ultimately, pointless, but hey, you want a high score, right?

    The biggest catch about the dash comes against the bosses. The bosses, unlike normal enemies, will regenerate out of the hitstun state; the only way to deal them permanent damage is to dash through them quickly. Thus, you want to deal them damage AND be able to dash through them safely all at once, when they are damaged enough to go into a hitstun state. Bosses generally take 3-6 of these states to be killed, and of course, a couple late-game bosses have multiple forms.

    The game itself is fairly standard as far as Megaman games go, but honestly feels slightly uninspired. None of the levels are particularly exciting environments, and none of them feel like they have particularly interesting layouts or mechanics. Most of the difficulty of the game’s levels comes from deadly spikes or instant death pits, which some levels have in abundance and other levels have little, if any of. The levels are not necessarily easy (some are, others aren’t), but they always feel a bit meh, and the only potentially cool one (one where you are jumping on top of cars in traffic) feels kind of cheap as you “go into a tunnel” via an area transition rather than actually zooming into one, and then out the other side. There was one level which was a kind of neat idea – an enemy sniper robot is attacking you from a distance, and you keep chasing them around the level – but the level itself is quite dull.

    The bosses are somewhat more interesting. They are decent enough on average, and have reasonable patterns on the whole. A few of them are a bit boring, and one of them is repeated twice (though the second time, as a midboss), along with a few other midbosses that are kind of mediocre, but the end-level bosses are mostly decent enough, though not especially memorable. One kind of neat thing is that the bosses stick around after you beat them and purge them of the infection, and give you minor assistance in the stage of the boss who is vulnerable to their attack – something that the game helpfully marks for the player.

    The voice acting is rather mediocre, though, and never really engaged me; it felt very phoned-in, and the script wasn’t anything to write home about, either. It was a pretty generic Megaman-type plotline, and in the end, I doubt I’ll remember anything about it.

    All in all, this is a game that is okay, but nothing more. If you want a mediocre Megaman game, then this is that. If not... then keep on looking.    … Expand
  4. Mefuki
    Jul 6, 2016
    7
    *"Questionable level design"*- Blind jumps resulting in instant death? I can't think of any spots like that. Checkpoints that have you replay easy sections to get to the section you're struggling with? Like previous Megaman games (and even well received modern games like the Souls series). Environmental objects whose functions are not obvious? The only object I can think of that had an*"Questionable level design"*- Blind jumps resulting in instant death? I can't think of any spots like that. Checkpoints that have you replay easy sections to get to the section you're struggling with? Like previous Megaman games (and even well received modern games like the Souls series). Environmental objects whose functions are not obvious? The only object I can think of that had an unclear function were the purple cell blocks in the last level. So I concede in that one instance.

    I've been seeing really silly complaints under this category, including but not limited to, "What's with all the instant death spikes everywhere!?" or "Everything about Pyrogen is artificial difficulty!" These complaints feel like they're from people who've never played a Megaman game before. At this point I'd like to mention that some of the level designers were people who worked on previous Megaman games, most notably Megaman 1 and 2(you know, the game that many people feel is the epitome of classic Megaman platforming?). People complaining about the vertical drop in Cryo's level with the spikes lining both sides, "Artificial difficulty!", I heard some shout...So they've never played Megaman 2, 3, 4, etc?

    As for Pyrogen's level, it features the level design that people applauded past Megaman games for. You encounter 3 "gimmicks" in safe environments (The platforms that fall away when stepped on, the background enemies that shoot fireballs into the foreground and the towers that fall into the foreground) then, at the end, all 3 of these elements are combined in a challenging but not in a blindsiding fashion. As for Pyrogen's fight itself, unlike many past "Megaman" genre games, he actually has really obvious physical tells before he does any attack. You just have to pay attention. People were actually saying he was "cheap", then when I explained the tells to them, the problem became he was "boring"...

    *"Mechanics"* - Being such a huge fan of the X series, I naturally got used to dashing past enemies after destroying them. So, it felt very good and fluid to dash past enemies as they became destabilized. Dashing can be controlled if you're having trouble with lines of enemies. The dash actually can be stopped sooner. You can double the distance covered by hold the dash button instead of pressing. If you haven't mastered the distance that a short dash covers, you also can choose to dash downward if you're really concerned about knocking into an enemy behind the one you just destabilized. As long as you're close to the destabilized enemy, you'll absorb it fine.

    Beck's default weapon does peirce destabilized enemies as well as the Acxel Shoot buff allowing for a passive Pen. Shots trait. If you're having a big issue with it, you can also choose to use a different weapon (I'll get to that.) Having trouble dodging you say? I'm assuming you didn't use Action Shift Back-Jump. It gives you Souls-style i-frames during the first half of the jump and can be dash-canceled out of at any time. Really cool mechanic.

    I'd say MN9 has one of the most useful sets of special weapons in the "Megaman" genre. I was watching a friend play who knew next to nothing about the game or all the controversy. We made a series of observations and had a lot of, "oh, that's cool" moments that really varied up the gameplay. We found it really cool that there seems to be multiple solutions to the same problem. Some examples:

    -We got stuck on how to deal with Aviator since he was always flying around. Tried Battalion's form and that worked ok but was taking too long. We eventually tried Dynatron and that worked great, shot him as he'd swooped down. Couldn't reach him with our weapons most of the time? Didn't matter. So we had to kind of "puzzle out" the best strategy for our play style.

    -Pyrogen's is basically the, to use a Dark Souls analogy (sorry, I've played ALOT of Dark Souls recently), Ultra Greatsword build of the game. High damage, slow attack speed, long reach. My friend was really bad at fighting the pong minibosses in Cryo's stage but found it much easier to focus on dodging, occasionally attacking with the AoE. Also was useful for enemies that were out of reach. (Watched a streamer complain that some enemies in Cryo's stage, Cryo and Dynatron are always just out of reach of Beck's blaster...when he had Pyro form available. He'd make things harder for himself then blame the game's "poor enemy placement".)

    -Seismic form turned enemy rush rooms into Mario fighting Koopas. Destabilize one by attacking in mid-air and run into them again to knock them into enemies behind them. Totally changed the gameplay in a satisfying way.

    TL;DR- It's a solid Megaman genre game with a fair amount of new and very welcome game mechanics. I would have liked upgrades or armor pieces to find, the ability to charge my special weapons and maybe a wall jump but all said, I enjoyed the game and I'd love to see a sequel with performance issues ironed out.    … Expand
  5. GuywiththeGames
    Jul 26, 2016
    5
    Please note: This review will not be influenced from the following:
    - The delays, scam rumors, the second kick starter, stupid drama, "Its better than nothing.", the marketing, the 4 million/ 2.6 million dollars (Not all the money directly went in the game, so they lied to the backers), the problems with the DLC codes, and the poor ports.
    These things should not be ignored, Concept    Please note: This review will not be influenced from the following:
    - The delays, scam rumors, the second kick starter, stupid drama, "Its better than nothing.", the marketing, the 4 million/ 2.6 million dollars (Not all the money directly went in the game, so they lied to the backers), the problems with the DLC codes, and the poor ports.

    These things should not be ignored, Concept should be held accountable. However, I will be focused on the actual game.

    The Beginning: I paid 20$ of of the PlayStation store. The 2 GB game took over 3 hrs to dowload. I wasn't my internet. I made sure I had a good connection. The download also crashed twice, which is pathetic. I have never had any problems with downloads before, and Mighty no. 9 somehow does.

    Pros (with some minor complaints):
    It's a mega man rip off. So, that translates to good old fashioned jumping and shooting action. The movement in the game is smooth. Becks running could be faster, but its not that big of an issue. Assimilation (A dash that finishes off any enemy) feels nice. However, this can also lead you to being hit by a different enemy, because you don't receive enough invincibility frames to go right through.
    When you defeat a boss, rather than killing them, they join you in the fight. They will help take down some stage hazards. However, the most of the time they actually don't help. They just make it look like they just saved you. Speaking of robots, the designs themselves are either hit or miss. Many of them do look cool, but are rip offs from mega man. Beck and Call are based off Rock and Roll, Dr. Blackwell is a copy and paste of Dr. Willy. It's ridiculous how much it takes from mega man.

    Cons:
    The problems that the game has range from small to large, but they pile up over time. But was obvious, is that the game looks awful. At best, it looks like a game cube game. The character models look like plastic, the explosions look like pepperoni pizza, and many of the backgrounds look extremely similar. The frame rate also drops, which is shocking because of how low quality the game looks. The cut scenes are very bland. The cut scenes use 3d models that barely move and do not even have lip syncing. They should have been drawn, still pictures if it was a budget issue. The seven day build of Mighty no. 9 looked so much better.
    The story of Mighty. no 9 is uninteresting, the characters are one note and annoying, and nobody cares about it. The story leaks in during game play. The characters talk during certain boss fights, and turns of the auto ques that bosses give in order to dodge them. The ending of the game is awful, it is abrupt, does not explain anything, and is not satisfying at all. Especially, after a cheap boss fight that glitched out for me multiple times, causing me to replay that level over and over again. The ending is insulting to the backers.
    Now for the game play. The weapons you receive from the robot masters are a mixed bag. Some of them are extremely useful, like Cyro's weapon, the sword, and the crash bomber. The other weapons are too situational, or useless. One weapon has you run into the enemy, does pathetic damage, and you get hit by the enemy. It takes forever to switch to other weapons. This is not Mega man X where when you press the bumper the game automatically scrolls through all your weapons. It is extremely clunky. You can't equip your weapons while hanging on a ledge, which can screw you in some of the games cheaper sections. I already talked about how Assimilation is a hit or miss. But one thing your dash does do is neuter platforming. You can skip over so many enemies just by dashing over them. It ruins a lot of the challenge in the game. The game play overall is solid, but uninteresting. (I forgot to mention the soundtrack, so this seems abrupt. I just wanted to say that it is forgettable.)

    Conclusions:
    The game is not worth the twenty dollar price tag.The game lasts only four to five hours at most. At it leaves a empty feeling for all mega man fans out there. This game lacks reapply value, or you will not want to replay it. I want to compare this game to Shovel Knight, which shares similar designs. Shovel Knight cost 15$, has great music, great level design, tons of replay value, is longer than Mighty no. 9, and has an extra story campaign for free, which adds even more to the overall value. This is my longest review because of how much I cared about this game. I just wanted to give my honest opinion. The scariest thing is that Capcom is our only hope for a Mega man game now.    … Expand
  6. Brotein
    Aug 8, 2016
    5
    Mighty No. 9? More like Mediocre No. 53

    It's average. It's just average. All of the funding, all of the buildup, all of the hype, all of the endless comparisons to old-school Mega Man, and in the end it was all for nothing.
  7. consolfreak1982
    Jan 22, 2017
    6
    As a huge MegaMan Fan I give this one a 6, I really like the game Overall but cant really recommend it to anyone thats not a huge Fan of the MM Series.
    The graphics are not all that bad but a huge disappointment after all, especially the occasional slowdowns/framerate Drops are bothersome. The Level Design is also pretty generic and sometimes just plain bad - either its too    As a huge MegaMan Fan I give this one a 6, I really like the game Overall but cant really recommend it to anyone thats not a huge Fan of the MM Series.
    The graphics are not all that bad but a huge disappointment after all, especially the occasional slowdowns/framerate Drops are bothersome. The Level Design is also pretty generic and sometimes just plain bad - either its too Standard/straightforward or just plain bad to a Point where its unfair/causing Frustration. The Soundtrack is pretty lame as well, a few cathy tunes here and there and the Option to turn it into chiptune provide at least somewhat of a Fitting Musical Score.
    The Overall gameplay and controls are good - its responsive and fast paced.
    But, all in all, MN9 is an Overall mediocre game. And this hurts really bad because of the huge Kickstarter Success and Support and also the fact that the MegaMan Mastermind Himself developed it.
    Graphic, Story and Gameplay are all in all a huge letdown.
    If youre a MegaMan Fan and you get this on a Sale you cant really go wrong with that one - just dont expect a successor to those glory MegaMan Epics like 2 and 3.    … Expand
  8. Karma1233
    Jul 6, 2016
    7
    Mighty No. 9 is a very fast paced spin-off of the Mega Man games. It's really fun and exciting when the assimilation mechanic becomes second nature. There are, of course, the frustrating aspects. The level design, hit-boxes, and final boss battle are all major contenders to being the worst I've experienced this year so far.

    The game is difficult not in challenge, but the design of the    Mighty No. 9 is a very fast paced spin-off of the Mega Man games. It's really fun and exciting when the assimilation mechanic becomes second nature. There are, of course, the frustrating aspects. The level design, hit-boxes, and final boss battle are all major contenders to being the worst I've experienced this year so far.

    The game is difficult not in challenge, but the design of the levels. The bosses and enemies' attacks do very little to telegraph their moves and give you a fair chance to react. Trial and error design can be rewarding, but Mighty No. 9's core game mechanics, stage checkpoints, and instant death segments hinder this experience, and in some cases make the game semi-unplayable.

    The music is fantastic and I love the ability to switch to 8-bit renditions of the soundtrack. The graphic design is really neat, even if most people tend to disagree - graphics don't make a game great, the game itself does. It's fun, but challenging. Veteran Mega Man players and hardcore action platformers won't see this as a huge problem, but for new players this game can and will be extremely frustrating. Play with moderately low expectations, and you'll have a lot of fun.    … Expand
  9. GamingTreeHouse
    Mar 30, 2017
    5
    Mighty No. 9 may be one of the most disappointing games I’ve ever played. At the start, we were promised a spiritual successor to Mega Man and we didn’t get that. Gameplay wise, Mighty No. 9 isn’t a bad game, it’s just muddled down with bad design, poor characters, and other technical issues. My thoughts on the game may have been different if this wasn’t marketed as the next Mega Man. IMighty No. 9 may be one of the most disappointing games I’ve ever played. At the start, we were promised a spiritual successor to Mega Man and we didn’t get that. Gameplay wise, Mighty No. 9 isn’t a bad game, it’s just muddled down with bad design, poor characters, and other technical issues. My thoughts on the game may have been different if this wasn’t marketed as the next Mega Man. I really wanted to love this game, but sadly, Mega Man fans have to keep on waiting for hope. Just buy the Legacy Collection people.

    Continue reading more at our website Gaming Tree House.    … Expand
  10. Eyeofwolf
    Jul 21, 2018
    7
    This game isn't so bad. The gameplay is solid and the music very cool .The problems essenciallyare 3: bad graphic (ps2), level design usually boring (with some exception) and a story that isn't so cool. You'll appreciate it if you came from old school gaming or your like megaman. The others should try it before buy.
  11. Jadeh3x
    Jun 22, 2016
    7
    Mighty No. 9 is the Nickelback of Video Games: A lot of memey, undeserved hate for an otherwise average experience. Yes, the development has been super shady and it obviously hasn't lived up the insurmountable hype that it generated three or so years ago (shocker), but if you look at it as a game, it's totally fine. Its about on par with a Mega Man 8 experience, complete with the 2.5D andMighty No. 9 is the Nickelback of Video Games: A lot of memey, undeserved hate for an otherwise average experience. Yes, the development has been super shady and it obviously hasn't lived up the insurmountable hype that it generated three or so years ago (shocker), but if you look at it as a game, it's totally fine. Its about on par with a Mega Man 8 experience, complete with the 2.5D and Cringey AF voice acting. Its not an amazing game by any means, as it definitely has its issues, but overall its harmless, especially for $20.… Expand
  12. 8BiTninja
    Jun 21, 2016
    7
    I give this game a 7 out of 10. It is fun and reminds me of old school platformers. I am disappointed with the frame-rate drops but other than that I am having a lot of fun with this game. I don't understand all of the hate. I was never die hard into mega man though, and haven't played mega man in years, so maybe this game is a disappointment for mega man fans. It was well worth the $20 II give this game a 7 out of 10. It is fun and reminds me of old school platformers. I am disappointed with the frame-rate drops but other than that I am having a lot of fun with this game. I don't understand all of the hate. I was never die hard into mega man though, and haven't played mega man in years, so maybe this game is a disappointment for mega man fans. It was well worth the $20 I spent on it. Much better than $50 ninja turtles game haha. I would give this game an 8 if it ran better, but there is really no excuse for a game that is not graphic intensive at all to run like this, especially with all the time they had.… Expand
  13. Zidane_Mina
    Jun 22, 2016
    5
    Not the worst game ever. But that's it

    Kickstarter controversy appart, Mighty No. 9 is a throwback to the Classic Megaman videogame series, but it has a lot more on common with the Megaman X series rather than the classic blue bomber games. That is not a bad thing, but the way the gameplay feels is somewhat clunky. There's emphasis on speed on Mighty No. 9 that somewhat mixes things up    Not the worst game ever. But that's it

    Kickstarter controversy appart, Mighty No. 9 is a throwback to the Classic Megaman videogame series, but it has a lot more on common with the Megaman X series rather than the classic blue bomber games. That is not a bad thing, but the way the gameplay feels is somewhat clunky. There's emphasis on speed on Mighty No. 9 that somewhat mixes things up a little, but level design makes out of this a chore sometimes.

    Mighty No. 9 production values are dissapointing: the game suffers from noticeable frame rate issues that should not by any reason be there, specially given the lackluster graphics and uninspired cholor palette and level size. A game like this in 2016 should not have any excuses to run smoothly, yet Mighty No. 9 fails in that regard.

    Gameplay wise it feels solid, but it lacks the balance and pin-point precision of its source material (You know, Megaman). Weapons collected from Bosses are a mix bag of either really useful or downright useless (In this regard i see no difference with many weapons of the Megaman Series, truth be told). The combat is frantic and fast paced, just above the average expectations from this kind of game, not too shaby. But it does not make a name for itself nor it stands above any other game of the genre.

    The worst aspect of this game is the way how it presents its story: boring cutscenes with dialog so uninspired and slow paced you have no dessire to watch them and listening to them again. Characters are dull, annoying at worst: bidimensional at best.

    It's kind of easy to see the missed potential of this game, but in the end Migthy No.9 ends being a slightly below average game, with some interesting design choices and some terrible ones. It's dissapointing at best, bad at worst.    … Expand
  14. MrBlue65
    Jun 21, 2016
    6
    Watching this game throughout the development process we were all excited,"They're making a true to roots Megaman successor?!" then the midnight release hit and we're greeted with a Megaman want-to-be with Mii's for characters and underwhelming graphics and level design, the enemies are easily dispatched, bosses included, only presenting a challenge when you're just out of dash rangeWatching this game throughout the development process we were all excited,"They're making a true to roots Megaman successor?!" then the midnight release hit and we're greeted with a Megaman want-to-be with Mii's for characters and underwhelming graphics and level design, the enemies are easily dispatched, bosses included, only presenting a challenge when you're just out of dash range and/or you take collision damage, falling into a pit or other environmental obstacle. The levels themselves are short, often times ending suddenly (definitely not a trip to Dr. Wily's castle on a rocket sled.) However, even with these disappointments it still plays and feels like a Megaman game and is worth picking up by fans of the genre, I just wouldn't expect it to scratch the itch left by it's predecessor despite first level impressions.… Expand
  15. DameonLG
    Jun 22, 2016
    6
    This game's entire development process was a train wreck. With over hyped pitches, concepts that would never be properly emulated, the delays were continuous and repeated (To the point that it felt like the studio didn't ever give themselves wiggle room with any dates) and it over reached to an insane degree.

    This is a clear example of TOO MUCH money. If this title had a smaller budget,    This game's entire development process was a train wreck. With over hyped pitches, concepts that would never be properly emulated, the delays were continuous and repeated (To the point that it felt like the studio didn't ever give themselves wiggle room with any dates) and it over reached to an insane degree.

    This is a clear example of TOO MUCH money. If this title had a smaller budget, say 1.5 million, and was only released on PC, PS4 and XB1 I feel it would have done much better, but as is we get an average platformer with average graphics, fun controls, hit or miss level design, awkward pacing and a tantrum of bugs across it's many platforms. (Ranging from crashes, to place holder text remaining in the DLC)

    I've played the demo that was released a year ago, and this game remains very close to that demo, which isn't a horrible thing, but shows that not much feedback was taken into account when the game was played and users had things they wanted changed. If Comcept had said 'We're going to delay the game to make changes based on user feedback' they would have had a free pass for almost the entire delay they ended up having, but instead they remained mostly silent, only telling fans about delays right before (or sometimes after) they happened.

    This created a vitriol among the fans, especially those who had invested money in a game (and not understanding what kickstarter actually entails) felt like they had been personally 'conned'. This isn't a review of kickstarter, or the way Comcept handles buisiness, but I feel that it's relevant, to a degree, in trying to understand how a 5 to 7 out of ten game is getting called a 0/10 nightmare sin dumpster fire.

    The game has points where it feels fast, fluid and fun, but those points are broken up by tedium and slow paced 'survival' areas where you have invisible walls holding you in place until you kill a handful of slowly generating enemies. Visually Mighty No 9 isn't going to win any awards, but it DOES look better than any 3D side scrolling Megaman games Capcom has ever released (This includes Mega Man X7, Mega Man X8, Mega Man Network Transmission, Mega Man Maverick Hunter X and Mega Man Powered Up), the music is enjoyable both in modern and 8-bit variations, the English voice acting is just as terrible as I remember any of the other Mega Man games voice acting (Switch it to Japanese VA, it's much better when you barely understand what they're saying), the story is disposable and the boss fights for the most part are simplistic and enjoyable, just like Mega Man bosses in every other game.

    An experienced Mega Man (Or 2D run and gun platformer) player can beat this game in about 4 hours, and while that seems short most other Mega Man games can be beaten in less than half of that (except the ones with a lot of cutscenes). While you can clearly see where many of the bosses take inspiration from existing Mega Man titles, in many ways they fail to emulate. (Ex: A later boss mixes parts of Yellow Devil's principal playstyle with various Wily bosses) and while they succeed in some aspects (chopping off bits of a boss, using a shape changing stage to your advantage), they fail in others (Bosses that heal has never been something enjoyable in a game like Mega Man).

    This game will always be a bitter pill to swallow for anyone that saw the original concept piece, the pre-rendered animations, and the promises of Mighty No 9's transformations based on enemy pick ups.

    At the end of the day, the game is deservedly a 5 out of ten for anyone that picks it up and judges it on it's gameplay merits, and a 7 out of ten for people that still have some love in their hearts for the dream this game was pictured to be.

    I'd like to give this game a higher score, but even with all my love for Mega Man and my wishes that Inafune could have given Capcom the middle finger with this game, I can't. I just hope people judge the game based on it's own successes and failures, and not the internet drama and bandwagon mentalities.    … Expand
  16. renegadeexer
    Jun 27, 2016
    6
    Finally played it all the way through and the game is definitely working with good ideas, but that final stage and the limited health , boss difficulty and sloppy level design just made the game seem unfinished and unbalanced.

    As a non backer of the kickstarter I honestly feel that this is a good game. It's just not the great game that everyone wanted it to be. If you're curious about    Finally played it all the way through and the game is definitely working with good ideas, but that final stage and the limited health , boss difficulty and sloppy level design just made the game seem unfinished and unbalanced.

    As a non backer of the kickstarter I honestly feel that this is a good game. It's just not the great game that everyone wanted it to be. If you're curious about it give it a try at a discounted price    … Expand
  17. vask8219
    Jun 28, 2016
    6
    There are sooooo many problems with this game ....... i'm not gonna go deep into the story because it just.....sucks, youll be skipping cutscenes regularly because its boring and there is no life in anything this game has to offer.

    First off, the gameplay: Probably the only thing this game did right...Outside of the control scheme and playstyle it is not a mega man game.... It    There are sooooo many problems with this game ....... i'm not gonna go deep into the story because it just.....sucks, youll be skipping cutscenes regularly because its boring and there is no life in anything this game has to offer.

    First off, the gameplay:

    Probably the only thing this game did right...Outside of the control scheme and playstyle it is not a mega man game.... It "borrows" a lot of core mechanics that make it feel that way but that's really all it does. I do find it enjoyable, for what its worth, Mostly because i like playing games that emphasize speed runs and It encourages you to speed through with your dash move which you can do consecutively in the air or ground without limit. I know Inti-creates for emphasizing speed and platforming with their games with previous titles like Rockman Zero and Azure Striker Gunvolt as examples. I'm not necessarily surprised that it would be implemented in this game as well.However, some stages force you to pace yourself which takes away from the feel the game introduces you to initially so it loses its identity and feels like a mishmash of things that its either trying to or trying NOT to be..... Its not what mega man was known for and with the promise that was attached to this game it failed to meet that expectation.

    Second off, the visuals.....

    When the game was first pitched they presented this beautiful drawing of what looked like a platformer that utilized 2D high definition sprites, i was really hoping they went with this vision until they let my hopes up with the actual gameplay footage which shows that they gave it a 2.5D presentation.

    I will be the first to say that although i don't particularly hate this style of visual presentation, it does require a heavy amount of attention to detail in order to actually bring the characters to life since at that point you have to blur the line between a cartoony world and lifelike visuals since now depth of field shading and texturing are now a thing to worry about, not to mention the flat lifeless animations that is very difficult to rectify without proper direction from a good animator and art direction. This approach if not done right would utterly destroy the first impressions made on the game which this game has successfully done, the character models still look as bad as they did when they first presented it, the animations are mediocre and do very little to bring the characters to life and a lot of the cutscenes and events were delegated to generic character models with simple standing/breathing animations with mild hand gestures or framed picture shots with voice overs. It should have been a sprite based games like the original megaman and X games and this game proves that.

    when they talk you cant even see their expressions the most you'll see out of these guys besides their looping breathing animations is a few arm movements and no actual facial animation. The characters are super low poly and appear as though they came out of an up scaled PSP game. Even some of the stages suffer from the laziness in design, for example, in the oil refinery stage the collapsing pillars that drop don't even create a hole after they fall, its as if the developers were too lazy to do that much. To add to the problem, the actual game struggles to hold a steady frame-rate (especially in the games Ice stage) and sometimes even crashes my PS4 after it dips low enough, this simply is unacceptable for a game of this caliber.

    Next is the music and voice acting:

    It's simply atrocious the game would have been better off without it, it really sounds worse than a bad saturday morning cartoon, and that still wouldn't be emphasizing how bad it is, the japanese voice acting is slightly better by comparison but it still doesn't do the game any favors.

    The music that is in the game sounds like something that would have come out of one of the PSX mega man games, which isn't particularly terrible but they never really held my interest to the same degree as the SNES versions did. So it really wasn't much of a seller for me. The option to go retro 8bit style music was pretty nice but didn't do anything for me in the long run.

    So Here's the thing, I'm not looking for a full blown AAA experience with this game, all i would have liked to have seen was a game on the same calibur as either one of the original Mega Man games or something in line with one of the Mega Man X games. Although it is a nice touch, It didn't need Co-op, it didn't need online, it didn't need challenge maps, and it especially didn't need the 3D graphics or the terrible voice acting.

    So why did i give it a 6? because this is game is a $20 game, with crossbuy across the PS3 and PS4 and eventually the PSVita (when it gets released) so it eases the pain of the purchase. If you are a hardcore fan of platforming shooters that are "kind of like" Mega Man or just like speed running games, it will be enough to get you through with just the gameplay alone.    … Expand
  18. Cracker1
    Jun 25, 2016
    6
    There are frame-rate drops, the bosses seem like they don't take enough damage and do too much damage, platforming is iffy thanks to that cute little animation whenever Beck falls from too great hights (bending through his knees when he falls and regaining his balance...by running, usually off of edges) visuals aren't always up to snuff and playing without voice overs still makes you waitThere are frame-rate drops, the bosses seem like they don't take enough damage and do too much damage, platforming is iffy thanks to that cute little animation whenever Beck falls from too great hights (bending through his knees when he falls and regaining his balance...by running, usually off of edges) visuals aren't always up to snuff and playing without voice overs still makes you wait for the duration of the voice clips instead of letting you manually skip through them although that usually isn't an issue.
    But! The level design is generally good and takes advantage in enough places of the air dash mechanic, the character designs are great, the music is fun and the world it all takes place in is great.
    This is a fun if very bumpy ride, salvaged by enough gold amidst the chicken feed.
    If, and that is an if, Inafune ever gets to make a sequel, I have every confidence he'll do much better, like megaman 2, if only for the fact he'll think twice about porting the damn thing to every available platform bar smartphones.    … Expand
  19. BananaReviews
    Jun 22, 2016
    5
    I saw four million being invested in the game, I saw a great project on Kickstarter, but in the end received a botched play and boring to play for a long time, too easy and graphics well below expectations, can you remember Mega-Man, but never It is the incredible classic.
  20. PissedOffWookie
    Jun 21, 2020
    6
    A passing grade. It's a videogame, nothing about it is particularly great. Gameplay is okay, but worse than Mega Man. Music is okay, but worse than Mega Man. You get the picture.
  21. DMJReviews
    Aug 1, 2020
    5
    1 unplayable
    2 terrible
    3 bad
    4 below average
    5 average
    6 above average
    7 good
    8 great
    9 excellent
    10 exceptional
  22. greninjaX
    Feb 11, 2022
    6
    eh, it's not THAT bad. sure it's disappointing, but it really is better than nothing

Awards & Rankings

37
#37 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2016
53
#53 Most Shared PS4 Game of 2016

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
52

Mixed or average reviews - based on 64 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 64
  2. Mixed: 39 out of 64
  3. Negative: 20 out of 64
  1. Easy Allies
    Dec 1, 2016
    40
    It's so pervasively dull. Where other prominent throwbacks have recaptured the beating heart of the games that inspired them, Mighty No. 9’s familiar pieces are thrown together without a driving vision. Hopefully the super fighting robot’s next successor is more worthy.
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  2. CD-Action
    Sep 17, 2016
    30
    Here’s an idea: let’s just try to forget this ever happened. [09/2016, p.60]
  3. Edge Magazine
    Aug 26, 2016
    40
    This is very much Inafune by numbers, a Mega Man game in all but name, and not a particularly good one. [Issue#296, p.118]
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