When it comes to classic game series, Mega Man (along with Mega Man X) is considered some of the best and most challenging platformers around. A brand that has gone through numerous transitions: From Mega Man Legends, the Battle Network series, the recent 2D retro revival and more.
And now one of the co-creators behind Mega Man and veteran designer — Keiji Inafune has decided to take his latest idea and company to kickstarter and you can certainty bet that it has my attention.
Mighty No. 9
Mighty No. 9 as Keiji explains in the video is a return to classic action game roots with a modern twist on design and aesthetics for a new generation.
The classic design is pretty evident by the description up on the kickstarter: Players will control a robot named Beck who must save the world from robots that have gone berserk. For now, players have six levels to go through (with two more as stretch goals) in any order that they choose while picking up new powers by defeating enemies.
The twist is that now you can absorb powers from certain minor enemies to upgrade Beck for a limited time. From the kickstarter page you could transform Beck’s arms into a grappling hook, gain the ability to double jump and more.
Other than that, not much has been revealed about Mighty No. 9. They are aiming for a PC release with gamepad support and console versions as a stretch goal.
This is one of those kickstarters where the pedigree of the designers behind it has me interested. While many people only know Keiji from the Mega Man series, he has also been a part of the development behind Dead Rising, Onimusha and the recent Soul Sacrifice game for the Vita.
Another major part is having Manami Matsumae who did the soundtrack and effects for the original Mega Man on board. The Mega Man series as a whole has had some iconic music and I still get the Mega Man 2 opening theme and Protoman theme stuck in my head.
Mega Man is one of the series that holds a special place in my gamer heart and I own the Mega Man, X and Zero collections and like to replay them occasionally.
I don’t doubt that the team will be able to craft a well designed action game, but the only problem I can see is Capcom pulling the copyright infringement card as the design and art aesthetic are very similar to previous Mega Man games, no doubt as Keiji and art director Shinsuke Komaki have of course worked on the Mega Man series.
With Capcom apparently going dark when it comes to Mega Man, I’m glad that Keiji Inafune has a chance via kickstarter to get his studio off the ground with a game that he is passionate about. At this point, the Mighty No. 9 kickstarter is off to a great head start and hopefully they will be able to earn enough to do everything that they want to make Mighty No. 9 a true spiritual successor to Mega Man.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PX1o0so4anc[/youtube]
