A Tale of Mismanagement and Mediocrity | Mighty No. 9 Retrospective

It raised $4 million dollars on Kickstarter, it was being led by Keiji Inafune, and it promised fans that it would give them the Mega Man experience they wanted. And yet, Mighty No. 9 failed. What's the story behind the Mighty No. 9 Kickstarter controversy, and is the game that resulted from it worth anything? Today, we'll explore Mighty No. 9's development and how the side-scrolling retro-style shooter stacks up three years after its release. #MightyNo9 #MegaMan #KeijiInafune
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Sources/Recommended Reading
Mighty No. 9 Kickstarter Pitch (bit.ly/2WrBxd5)
2PlayerProductions: Mighty No. 9 Documentary Episode 0 (bit.ly/2WPM4Ox)
2PlayerProductions: Mighty No. 9 Documentary Episode 1 (bit.ly/31b5Lj4)
Studio 4°C: Red Ash Magicicada Kickstarter Pitch (bit.ly/2JZmY9V)
Comcept: Red Ash Interview with Yanagihara-san (bit.ly/2QQQAXS)
Kickstarter: Mighty No. 9 (www.kickstarte...)
Uproxx: Mighty Big Mess: Charting The Rocky Development And Release Of ‘Mighty No. 9’ (bit.ly/2JZVDoc)
Gamasutra: Inafune: Japanese Publishers Turning Creators Into 'Salarymen' (ubm.io/2HZ3UGL)
Kotaku: The Story Behind Mighty No. 9's Shady Delay (bit.ly/2WrCUbM)
Intro Resources:
Mighty Gunvolt Burst Beck Sprite (www.spriters-r...)
Mega Man 2 Introduction Tileset (www.spriters-r...)
Bulby: Mighty No. 9 Theme 8-Bit Remix ( • Mighty No. 9 Theme 8 B... )

[@CloudConnection]

What are some of your favorite spiritual successors to beloved video game franchises? Or games that you were excited for when they were announced but were disappointed with when they arrived?

[@GumshoeGamer]

Bruh I thought Battlefront 2 (EA) was gonna be awesome but well....

[@CloudConnection]

Yikes. The less we talk about EA'S Battlefront 2, the better.

[@nicholaskling2425]

I didn’t hear about it until after it released, but Yooka-Laylee has turned out to be a great successor (imo) to Banjo-Kazooie and DKC. I loved both games in the series so far and excited to see what else Playtonic does

[@agreedboarart3188]

Well there's Gunvolt which is a spiritual successor to Mega Man Zero. I hear nothing but good things about it.

[@OverdriveGamesAnime]

Kingdom Hearts is the spiritual successor to Brave Fencer Musashi. I love both franchises.

[@al271987]

If nothing else, Mighty No 9 did get folks Mega Man 11, so in a roundabout way it somehow succeeded at its goal despite itself.

[@fl21id]

Well there's Shantae: Half-Genie Hero, Axiom Verge, Freedom Planet, Shovel Knight, and the Bloodstained series that have better success stories.

[@CloudConnection]

All good examples of crowdfunded video games ending up as a success. We should definitely be more cautious of crowdfunding than we are now, but we shouldn't immediately dismiss a Kickstarter project just because of games like Mighty No. 9.

[@uwechipuazo739]

Don’t forget spark the electric jester

[@updown948]

I like this video, I feel a lot of the things were tackled except for 2 things, one is the fact that it had 3-4 kickstarters for the same game and the other is that even though the voice acting kickstarter failed, Inafune went out of his way to use money from the first kickstarter to fund the voice acting because he thinks it is necessary (which is funny looking at the end result). Overall though, great job and I hope to see more cool content.

[@vanesslifeygo]

This game should have been on the GameCube.

[@DarkZerol]

It should have been on the GBA.

[@aidanhever3369]

Spiritual Successors ? More like shallow ripoffs ! Seriously, I don't want to see a so-called spiritual successor of Star Fox, F-Zero, Mystical Ninja: Goemon, Conker's Bad Fur Day, or even Earthbound/Mother.

[@bonehead8803]

What about games that are INSPIRED by those games?

[@robertlauncher]

I still don’t get half of those stretch goals. Who plays classic Megaman style games for online multiplayer or the voice acting?

[@GamerArtTv]

The concept art was better looking than the final product. The anime look they had originally would’ve been better

[@justice7788]

Wow, your channel is a true hidden gem

[@CloudConnection]

I accidentally said that Red Ash raised $520 million out of its $800 million goal, but I meant to say thousand. Oops! Goes to prove I can't math.

[@Elayzee]

LOL! I was about to point that out :D But either way, I totally saw your point in that part. :)

[@AbbreviatedReviews]

It's weird that even seeing this game I get a sense of disgust. I've never even played it. I think if the game had nothing else around it, no hype or marketing, I'd probably just see it as a mediocre sidescroller. I bet it would have made a small wave in the indie circuit and maybe even landed on a few "hidden gem" lists. Strange how that works.

[@CloudConnection]

It would have made so little impact if it wasn't directed by one of the original Mega Man designers, or if it wasn't funded by such a successful Kickstarter campaign. The game may just be underwhelming, but the situation behind its development and mismanagements elevates its notoriety all on its own.

[@Zubatticus]

It'll be interesting to see what Inafune does after this failure, if anything. He sounds like the type of producer who all the employees work around because he doesn't know what he's doing.

[@CloudConnection]

His production style is certain in question right now, that's for sure. Maybe not enough to call him a scam artist or con man like some people have, but I think we'll all be very cautious when (if) he announces his next project.

[@kira-dk2mx]

@@CloudConnection I wouldn't call him a scam artist or a con man. That seems like a bit much. He's a really bad business man who thought he was top shit when he really was sub-tier at best when it came to making games, riding on a title that wasn't even his to begin with and thinking he was a revolutionary when really he was only kept safe by Capcom's protective shield, which fell through when he left the company. He got low tier cocky and stretched himself too thin.

[@metazoxan2]

@@kira-dk2mx Actually what I think the real issue was is Inafune was largely a concept artist. Most of the Megaman series characters were designed by him including Zero. Most of the Mighty No.9 characters and enemies are fairly well designed and don't dissapoint on paper. What this says is that Inafune's main talent was designing the LOOK of games and not so much the level design, gameplay, or actual graphics of said game. None of the talent he brought together were especially skilled at 3D modeling either apparently which further hurt the look of the game despite great concept artwork. Inafune is a talented man but he made the mistake of missunderstanding what that talent was.

[@kira-dk2mx]

@@metazoxan2 That makes sense. He sounds like he's out of his element making this game, or at least partly.

[@LeafRazorStorm]

Even bad games can have a meaningful purpose. I can't help but think the only reason we have Mega Man 11 is because someone at Capcom asked "Hold on, they paid HOW much for that kickstarter?!?"

[@gamerd9271]

Funny how that works, its like 'they' released a product to see if megaman was still a profitable franchise.

[@vanesslifeygo]

🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@jacobs.9661]

I just realized something while watching this: the Mega Man stand in for this game is named Beck, while Roll's stand-in is named Call, referencing the phrase 'at you beck & call' and possibly referencing how Mega Man's real name, Rock, and Roll can be paired to make the phrase Rock n Roll. ...I'd love to be able to quantify how much useless gaming trivia I know...

[@THEATOMBOMB035]

I actually played Rays story cuz I hoped it would be the glimmering gold in this pile of garbage. But the ending of her story is so lame and not even worthy of being cliffhangery, I legit started at my TV screen, said "That's It?!" And uninstalled the game from my Xbox one

[@RobLoach]

Great coverage!!! Quick note, 8:15 That's thousands, not millions ;-)

[@CloudConnection]

Thanks! Yeah, I can't believe I didn't catch that :P

[@numatruehome100]

The dash is utterly broken, I’ve beaten certain levels in less than a few minutes. It is one of two games I jumped the gun on and bought at launch, the second was security breach

[@residenthazard5]

Almost choked when ya said millions instead of thousands. lol Imagine if their goal really is that bloated.....

[@AnotherLynce]

Dude, I was searching for a documentary of this game (for some reason) and your video did not dissapoint. You did really good job at explaining the dumpster fire that was this Kickstarter.

[@CloudConnection]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching!

[@kokoro_gospel]

They really went all-out to make Mighty No. 9 a spiritual successor to Mega Man. They even included the Sigma Virus as part of the plot... but with no Sigma. 💀

[@ElfWhisper]

Great video. Thanks for your work. MN9 has been a sad moment for us. I still enjoyed it so much but I'd prefer another quality of game...

[@prismavoid3764]

The Red Ash disaster was so funny. Never before have I seen an actual company so blatantly rush something into production to ride the coattails of a disgruntled fanbase. The trailer on the kickstarter page gave literally no indication of what the game was, how it would've played, or what the story would be. The "demo" released was basically just a few days' worth of tinkering in Unreal Engine for the first time, look up a gameplay video of it if you want a good laugh. It has about three minutes of content if you're being generous and doesn't show how the actual game would've played. The anime short did so much legwork in establishing a world for Red Ash, which actually sounds really cool - the idea of people being born with superpowers, but those superpowers slowly killing them, forcing them to work dangerous jobs to get the money to pay for the expensive surgery to get them removed sounds really interesting. It's a shame that those ideas will never be in a game.

[@JT-xn9ei]

I was curious on this game since Mighty Gunvolt Burst is one of my favorite 3DS games. What a disappointing start, but some of the mechanics like the dash were good concepts that did need another chance.

[@bombs2848]

Actually they were working on some games after mega man 10 they just got cancelled, stuff like the maverick hunter reboot and mega man online.

[@SlamBolts]

Bad voice acting isn't part of the actor. It's the director's fault.

[@GamerArtTv]

Great 👍🏾 video. I still didn’t get my rewards from the kickstarter 🤦🏾‍♂️

[@speinz9430]

I hope Comcept is doing okay despite the massive backlash they’re getting

[@humbleheathen69]

You know you've fucked up when you can find countless better fan made megaman clones on the Internet for free.

[@maresomnia9185]

I don’t know if you said Yooka-Laylee was Bad or what but I Like the Game I think it’s a Good Nostalgic Game and that’s what it meant to be

[@CloudConnection]

My reference to Yooka-Laylee was more a jab at spiritual successors to beloved games relying too much on nostalgia when designing their main characters. While I like Yooka and Laylee as characters, it often feels too much like they're just copies of Banjo and Kazooie. It draws too many comparisons to the games that inspired it and hurts its ability to stand out on its own, and Mighty No. 9 has the same problem.

[@alexalexalex797]

Hahaha this guy is the biggest scam artist in the industry. He literally started kickstartes for a game, then another game, then another game, then an anime. And delivered 1 bad game, AND NOTHING ELSE 🙄.

[@khaosklub]

he wasnt' involved in the kickstarter for the anime, and we got an episode of the red ash anime

[@alexalexalex797]

@@khaosklub oh sorry guess it was a great success then. We got 1 episode, in 2016? 😂 Dont kid yourself if hes name is in these, he is involved.

[@khaosklub]

@@alexalexalex797 his name wasn't in the anime. He is involved in that he's the IP holder of red ash, and that's it. the anime kickstarter met it's goal, and an animation was made. the game's goal was not met and it was not made. simple facts.

[@alexalexalex797]

@@khaosklub dude it was a complete disaster. Both of them. Got the money, delivered nothing. And if he was not involved at all, HE WOULD HAVE SAID IT. Not let his name be completely tarnished

[@khaosklub]

@@alexalexalex797 there was no money delivered for red ash the game. are you not familiar with how kickstarter works? it's all or nothing. either you reach your goal, or the project doesn't get any funding whatsoever. As for the anime, he doesn't really say anything. aside from some promo videos where he directly speaks in japanese with subtitles, everything we're given informationwise was from judd or 8-4 ltd, both of which messed up a LOT during the whole mighty no. 9 saga. judd is famous for misrepresenting inafune by adding in his own "it's better than nothing" line which will be forever attributed to inafune, and 8-4 ran the community forums, caused a lot of controversy with backers and went ban-happy on the forums for anyone who dared criticise the suggestion to make beck female. Inafune didn't scam anyone, he just mismanaged the project. that's how kickstarter goes, you are backing a product, not pre-ordering a gauranteed game. He had an idea, he presented the risks, and he failed. He started another kickstarter for red ash because Comcept is an idea house, not a dev. they had inti-creates working on the game and inafune would check in and direct the project. It was tone def, but neither a scam nor greedy. But certainly a bad move if there ever was one.

[@TheJamesTheory]

this is your best video to date 10/10

[@CloudConnection]

Thanks man! Appreciate it!

[@Yoshinator]

I had played this game a while back for the Get Me Off The Moon campaign, and man it was just so overwhelmingly mediocre. I have played worse Mega Man games, mostly looking at X7, but this is a disappointing title in the very dark era of being Mega Man fan.

[@myrage8290]

Cool video I subbed and liked

[@CloudConnection]

Thank you very much!

[@HYPNOGLANCE87]

Keiji inafune:Is everyone enjoying their work?. "See's developers look dead ass depressed". Yup they sure are keiji.Look at their smiling faces.

[@icchampion5]

Damn, Inafune went out with a whimper. Selling his company to Level-5, then making a game for that publisher that I think no one played.

[@tonesdad0408]

Awesome vid bro!

[@mcmorky9704]

Mighty Grift No. 9

[@supermetroidzach1612]

at least capcom made megamn 11

[@uwechipuazo739]

The game isn’t that bad. I mean we are disappointed with the game but to be honest the game itself has some potencial but there still some ideas that are wasted and for me it’s not surprising that the game wasn’t well appreciated by the fans because we all know that inafune is not good in making 3D games like look how bad maverick hunter X was sold if they made it in 8 bits like the traditional Megaman games which we like it would be well received

[@arieldraws4829]

The problem of Maverick Hunter X was not being 3D, was because the franchise was being milked and it launched in a console that dind't do well

[@jonconnor0729]

Inafune: You want a spirit successor to Megaman? Then we give you Megaman game. Fans: This is an uninspired Megaman ripoff! Inafune: Make up your mind! To be honest that's what people asked Inafune for. I think the hype wasn't worth it but come on, if you actually read the kickstarter they actually planned Mighty No. 9 to be a Megaman ripoff. I don't think they failed to deliver.

[@arekmg0003]

It doesn't make sense for people hate Mighty No 9 because it's a Mega Man ripoff. Everyone knew since day one when the Kickstarter launched that Mighty No 9 was gonna be a Mega Man ripoff all except the title. That was the point, to create a spiritual successor. What made fans dislike Mighty No 9, was how poorly it captures what makes Mega Man great and beloved in the first place. If you look at it, Mighty No 9 mostly captures what fans dislike in a Mega Man games. The terrible voice acting, the poor and bad level designs, the forgetable and uninspiring soundtrack, power ups that are useless and are forgettable, instant death traps, bad boss designs, confusing and stupid story/plot...Mighty No 9 repeats those same mistakes. Compare that to Bloodstained Ritual of the Night, which is the Castlevania spiritual successor/ripoff. Bloodstained captures what made fans love about Castlevania by adding almost everything that fans loved with the Castlevania series. And by doing that...the game was well received and is doing well. Heck, Bloodstained IS the Castlevania game that fans got compared to the stupid Mobile Castlevania game that Konami is going to release soon.

[@ShadyEsper]

I wonder what he is working on now

[@thebravegallade731]

he helped the first gunvolt game, and he's back on that team now so at least there is that. he's a good dev, he just doesn't know how to work while in charge, it seems like.

[@metazoxan2]

Honestly rather than mentioning Megaman 11 I'd say the Gunvolt is more worthy of mention in terms of scratching that Megaman itch. It already has 2 main titles and one spin off title and a 3rd main title on the way. ESPECIALLY if you want the feel more of the X series rather than the classic series.

[@dave10097]

and its garbage

[@agreedboarart3188]

You're really suggesting that a game shouldn't have all of its features at launch? No. Just no. Good video though.

[@mopbrothers]

Inafune should’ve just used to money to buy Megaman from Capcom. Without him involved in Megaman games I’ve lost my interest in the series. MM11 included. They just aren’t the same anymore.

[@bonehead8803]

First stage of denial.