Mighty No. 9, from Keiji Inafune

I dunno what exactly to recommend. Of the different Sigma fortress bosses in Mega Man X, that one was not one of the harder ones for me to figure out. If anything, it's the one that splits in half that is still troublesome for me.

Just have patience and stick to the walls?

I beat Bangda. I was having such a hard time with him because I hadn't found the body parts. Once I got it he was a piece of cake. I've made it Sigma.

Is this considered a good MM game? It's the first one I've played through. Is X5 good?

X is considered one of the high points of the Megaman franchise. I recommend X4, but I'm biased towards Zero's brawly gameplay. It's interesting to navigate the same space as a platform shooter and as a brawler.

LarryC wrote:

X is considered one of the high points of the Megaman franchise. I recommend X4, but I'm biased towards Zero's brawly gameplay. It's interesting to navigate the same space as a platform shooter and as a brawler.

I would take X4 over X5 as well. X5 I think is when they really grafted too many things onto the framework. You still get to play as Zero in both, so you're not missing out on Zero's gameplay if you choose either one. I just feel that X4 is the strong of the two.

X6 is right out. Not to mention the story was intended to end after X5 anyway.

Xeknos wrote:

X6 is right out. Not to mention the story was intended to end after X5 anyway.

X6's level design is downright spiteful and hates you for playing it. Seriously.

shoptroll wrote:
Xeknos wrote:

X6 is right out. Not to mention the story was intended to end after X5 anyway.

X6's level design is downright spiteful and hates you for playing it. Seriously.

It's true. X6 is simply not very good. I'd say the last good X is 4, but X5 makes a decent attempt. X7 and X8 didn't really impress me, either.

We finally have a release date!!!!!! September 15th on Xbox One, PS4, Wii U, PC, Mac, Linux, Xbox 360, and PS3 with Vita and 3DS versions later.

So this just went out to backers:

More details coming on the 4th. By all appearances seems to be something Mega Man Legends related.

Annnnd I am suddenly motivated to get back to my Legends 2 play through. Anyone want my children for a couple of days? ;p

Oh yeah, Mega-Ran announced this week that he'll be doing the song for the credit roll at the end of the game!

Red Ash backers (and MNo9 as well, I assume) just got an update indicating the game is now delayed again. The wording implies that they hope to release in Q1 2016.

Wow!

I can confirm that No. 9 backers got the email as well. Sounds like it's mostly related to the online features, so I'm guessing it's the co-op and race mode stretch goals being more work than they expected. Given the single-player is supposed to be content complete (and quite playable based on what I've heard coming from some of the expos where they've shown it) it's a little weird that they'd rather delay than patch those features in later.

I like how retailers knew about the delay before the backers and Inafune decided to officially announce it after the Red Ash Kickstarter ended. And the delay is for online features.

I used to think Capcom gave Inafune the shaft but now I'm not so sure it wasn't he other way around.

BNice wrote:

I used to think Capcom gave Inafune the shaft but now I'm not so sure it wasn't he other way around.

The shaft gave Inafune the Capcom?

Can you dig it?

BNice wrote:

I like how retailers knew about the delay before the backers and Inafune decided to officially announce it after the Red Ash Kickstarter ended.

Don't retailers know about release dates well in advance of the general public anyways? As a backer I don't think it's a huge deal that the game was delayed (with the original release date they'd be shipping closer to their original target than the vast majority of projects I've backed) or that we weren't told in advance. Honestly, I don't know what I'd even do with that information aside from scratching the game off my list of upcoming release I'd need to schedule.

I wouldn't put it past them to withhold announcing the delay in order to prevent scaring off people from Red Ash, but it's also likely a combination of them being busy with getting the Fuze deal done and trying to size up the amount of work that's needed for fixing the remaining bugs in Mighty No. 9. Given that they're announcing the delay now would suggest that the game failed the certification process with at least one of the consoles. It's also possible that maybe Comcept was negotiating with their publisher to see if they could push out the digital version before the physical version instead of launching everything all at once.

And the delay is for online features.

Which were stretch goals. If they shipped it as is people would complain about not having the stretch goals they were promised. They can't win either way, and this is a good example of why stretch goals can be very dangerous for a project.

Saw that backers are going to get a demo on Sept. 15. I am not a backer, but look forward to hearing your impressions.

I've not been keeping a close eye on this as a backer, but I'll definitely be giving the demo a go when it arrives. Will gladly post some impressions once I get my hands on it.

Zoso1701 wrote:

Saw that backers are going to get a demo on Sept. 15. I am not a backer, but look forward to hearing your impressions.

Alright, now that the demo is finally out here's some impressions/thoughts/rambling. Apologies in advance for the length.

Gameplay-wise the game is fine. It doesn't play like an evolution of Mega Man, but more like a lateral shift that takes some cues from classic Mega Man and the X series while mixing in some new elements.

For example, there's no charge shot but you have a dash/air-dash move like in X. New movement options come in the form of a ducking dash which allows you to get lower to the ground to get under some attacks/ceilings (similar to the classic slide), mantling (grabbing the edge of a floor when you don't quite make a jump) and some evasive maneuvers that cause Beck to jump backwards at a 45 degree angle with a brief period of invulnerability at the start (I only used this once effectively and it feels awkward to use).

In addition, the objective is not to kill enemies, but to get enough hits on them to "de-power" at which point you can dash into them and absorb a temporary buff and earn points based on how quickly you absorbed them. There's a limited number of buffs (increased armor, increased damage/shoot through walls, increasesed speed, and credit towards an E Tank for sorts) but by chaining absorbs together you get a score multiplier and continue your combo. You can still outright kill the enemies but you really don't want to. This absorption mechanic is also part of the boss battles where they will de-power during the fight after repeated damage and you have to dash into them in order for your damage to stick. Otherwise, they'll slowly regain health and undo the damage you caused.

Boss fights felts appropriately Mega Man-y and the 3 bosses available put up a fairly good fight (Pyrogen gave me the most trouble). They're also doing the thing from later Mega Man/X games where the boss powers up when they've lost around 50% of their health.

Stage designs feel closer to X series (specifically the PS1 games) than classic. There's a sense of the stage being designed around a specific location rather than something more abstract that goes thematically with the boss (ie. you're not going to find the equivalent of Snake Man's stage here). There's also less emphasis on platforming like you find in some of the X stages, but with some set pieces that require either some really precise movement to get past (the turbines in the electrical stage for instance) which also feels very X-ish.

Graphics I believe have been the most controversial part of the game, and while I think the game looks serviceable in motion, they're a bit bland. I'm not sure if this is due to the budget or they're trying to keep things simpler due to the 3DS but this definitely isn't a game that's anyone is going to want to use as a way to show off their new hardware to say the least. It's also possible they were attempting to keep the visual cartoon-ish or taking a lot of cues from the style of Mega Man Powered Up

Sounds are fine. The stage music feels very muted compared to the rest of the audio which is a disappointment. Didn't notice anything particularly bad with the SFX so let's call it ok. However, the voice acting is... well it's something. Let me put it this way, if you're not a fan of 80's children's cartoon style voice acting (with an extra helping of cheese/camp) you're going to want to either turn off the voices or switch to the Japanese audio track. It does feel like at times the writing/VA is trying too hard to be cartoonish especially with Dr. Sonada, which is ultimately why I just switched to the Japanese voices.

Overall I'm pleased with this. I wish I had been playing the full game, but sh*t happens in development. This probably isn't one of my "must play" games next year, but I will definitely make time for it.

Stray thoughts/observations:

  • Another thing they're lifting from the PS1 X series games is trying to integrate plot into the stages with cut scenes and a support character commenting on the action. Unfortunately, the commentary is by Dr. Sonada which grated on me after a while.
  • I didn't played Powered Up, but there's a challenge mode in this game which is very reminiscent of the same feature in that game.
  • Stage designs felt so much like X I forgot I couldn't wall jump a couple of times
  • The game feels primed for speed runners.
  • For some reason you don't get powers from beating the bosses. I believe this is just a thing with the demo since that would definitely make this not a Mega Man style game at all (similar to A.R.E.S) and the powers were shown off in a video last year.
  • The tone of this game is weird considering the audience that backed this. I feel like the people who are backing this is an older generation who grew up with this type of game, but the tone is definitely aimed at a much younger demographic (kids who are of the same age that many of us were at when we first played these games). So the cartoon feel and writing style is going to be very jarring to a lot of people when this releases. I don't think that's necessarily a problem with the game since classic Mega Man has always skewed a lot closer to being a cartoon universe (especially 7 and 8) than most people remember. I believe Inafune has said that he originally wanted to work in anime or manga and that's very apparent between this project and the failed Red Ash pitch.
  • I would not be surprised if this eventually gets a "Director's Cut" edition like many Kickstarters have received a year or so after launch (and to coincide with a XO/PS4 launch). The graphics seems like the most obvious thing that could've used more budget, so that seems like a potentially good use of any sales money they get.
  • The core gameplay feels good and I would like to see where it could go if they had a bigger budget or more time to make the visuals more attractive. I really like that it's not completely rehashing old ground and is trying to be its own product.

Did you play Kid Icarus: Uprising? How would the voice acting compare there? Because I feel like the voice acting on Uprising was similarly Saturday Morning Cartoon, but not in a "let's try and be funny by over-exaggerating so hard".

I still haven't given Kid Icarus a go yet, so I can't really make a comparison for you. I'll have to think a little more about the specifics as to why I bounced hard off some of the VA.

So this was delayed again.

I'm not sure if I should start laughing or what.

Thin_J wrote:

I'm not sure if I should start laughing or what.

I'm not sure either. I think they bit off a lot more than they can chew, and I really think trying to deliver the stretch goals (all this online stuff) at launch (on multiple platforms) is biting them hard. Shovel Knight, by comparison, was a bit smarter by launching lighter and on a single platform.

I just took a look at the Bloodstained campaign and they're doing a lot more stuff asynchronously for connectivity features so I think the Inti Create's learned a harsh lesson from development on this project.

Eh. I'd have been okay if they released on a single platform on time. The goals were ambitious, to be sure. Overambitious, as it turns out.

LarryC wrote:

Eh. I'd have been okay if they released on a single platform on time. The goals were ambitious, to be sure. Overambitious, as it turns out.

Yes. It's also worth noting that there's plenty of Kickstarter games that slipped their original estimate by more than a year. Original release estimate here was April 2015.

Now, unlike most I am not that mad about delay. I am pretty patient on getting games generally. What I do not like is how late this delay has come. How do you not know it will be delayed prior to 2 weeks before it is suppose to be released?

The keep delaying it because of issues with netcode and multiplayer issues so I think at this point they should ship it single player only. Does anyone here even care about the multiplayer components? I just want the core game.

shoptroll wrote:

I'm not sure either. I think they bit off a lot more than they can chew, and I really think trying to deliver the stretch goals (all this online stuff) at launch (on multiple platforms) is biting them hard. Shovel Knight, by comparison, was a bit smarter by launching lighter and on a single platform.

I think this has been their core problem. I'm sympathetic towards them, but this is an on-going ****show that could've been avoided by better product management. I'm hoping they take these lessons to heart for the MML successor (Red Ash) or any sequels to MN9.

Perhaps it's because I am not a backer, but I actually don't mind the delay. It's not like I have a shortage of games, after all, and this actually helps clear my February up a bit better. The way I see it, people always Female Doggo about someone releasing incomplete games, and if they did hold back the multiplayer component until later, well, people would still Female Doggo.

What surprises me is that there are retail copies up for pre-order on Amazon, and typically a delay this close to release is unfeasible due to when you have to begin printing discs. I wonder if they've known about this delay for a while? Or perhaps they had to make the choice at the 11th hour when the final code was due and they weren't close enough to go gold and schedule a day one patch?