There was an update on the official Mighty No. 9 website (that has apparently been taken down) that showed off the first screenshots from the alpha build of the game. For those of you who have been completely out of the loop, Mighty No. 9 was a Kickstarter project by Keiji Inafune, who directed several games in the Mega Man series (but is not the original creator, contrary to the popular misconception). The project raised about $4 million (USD) during the funding period. Based on the description, this game appears to be the spiritual successor to the Mega Man games, mainly the side-scrolling ones. You can check out the first few screenshots below:
So far, the game appears to be a 2.5D platformer similar to some of the later Mega Man games, particularly Mega Man X8, Maverick Hunter X and Mega Man Powered Up. Based on the screenshots, there are 3D models, but the movement is restricted to a 2D plane.
Main character Beck can run, jump and dash, as we would expect, but he can also apparently grab onto ledges. This was something that you could never do in the other Mega Man games, with the exception of games in the Mega Man Legends series. This is particularly interesting because the other side-scrolling Mega Man games were designed without that feature in mind, which put more of an emphasis on your position and timing when jumping from platform to platform. This became part of the challenge in the classic series (Mega Man 1–10), especially since many levels featured bottomless pits.
The wall climbing introduced in the X series made the platforming much more forgiving than the classic series, so being able to hang from ledges could potentially reduce the challenge even more, or in a worst-case scenario, it would flat-out eliminate it. To be fair, that would be assuming the game is being developed exactly like the old games, which it probably is not. Mighty No. 9 will hopefully incorporate that feature and use it in the level design to create a different flavor of the classic jump-and-shoot formula we all know and love. In any case, the game is still in its early stages, and we have yet to see how the levels will be designed or even much of the gameplay. Mega Man fans and newcomers, this is a game to keep your eye on!
Mighty No. 9 is said to be released in 2015, but no actual release date has yet been specified. It will be released for the Wii U, 3DS, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Windows, Mac OS, and Linux.
