Mighty No. 9 - What the Hell Went Wrong?! (An Analysis)

[@Shlooomth]

you need bad games to really learn game design. Thank you for these analysis videos. I feel like I've learned a lot

[@SendyTheEndless]

In that sense, MN9 has done a great service to the industry simply by showing almost perfectly not what to do.

[@ag2023en]

I'd say that's a basic concept of life, and that, though not impossible, it is unlikely for people to understand why good is good and bad is bad.

[@schwarzerritter5724]

+SquareWaveHeavon It also taught the industry that people will give you money if you have a big name.

[@rrteppo]

the enemies act like they were designed for melee combat, then the levels were designed for ranged combat. then they give players a ranged weapon without mobility, and a melee weapon with forced mobility. it is just clunky.

[@williamberends4735]

ToeKnee0126 yep a 4 million dollars budget bad game

[@KTSpeedruns]

I've seen so many videos giving their thoughts on why this game failed. And i think they are all right. - Gamers trusted someone who was not the creator of Megaman who claimed to be the creator of Megaman. - Mechanics do not compliment each other and therefore punishes the player just for trying. - Inafude was focused on money and nothing else which is why he is already kickstarting a load of shit-looking projects. - Graphics didn't meet up to expectations - The development was spread too thin (across 10 consoles, what the actual living fuck?) - Flow doesn't match up to a stable difficulty curve and doesn't stick to a clear concrete set of rules. - An absolute fuck-ton of arbitrary difficulty. - A dev team that didn't know what the hell they were actually doing or what made megaman a good game. They thought running, jumping, and shooting made a megaman game.=

[@chestbumphero]

The hell, I can't even name 10 consoles in my head

[@GameSoup]

Really great points here. If you tried to explain the Mega Man formula to somebody who had never seen a Mega Man game before, and then you asked them to make a similar game, this is the kind of game you might end up with.

[@popehentai]

Part of the issue with the dev team was the "community manager" who blocked out almost any feedback, caused a lot of kickstarter backers to demand refunds, and did everything they could to get the team to change things to cater to an ideology.

[@xMasterSparku]

To be fair even Mega Man's team often didn't know what made a good Mega Man game.

[@AidGum]

From what I looked up, Akira Kitamura was the guy who created the character at least. Remember that name.

[@SuperKeyifier]

This game makes me cry like an anime fan on prom night

[@nemesis041]

13:18 "Bass-ackwards." Well played, sir.

[@dmas7749]

Holy crap I didn't catch that, only that he said "bass" and that "Bass" is a MM char

[@MrHatoi]

Oh, I thought I heard him wrong. XD

[@PHYTO18432]

i thought it was some sort of pig latin way of saying that phrase

[@brianli6562]

I thought he said Bass- awkward

[@timmyreobed5043]

As someone who wants to get into game design, I feel like watching this kind of thing is important for me to do. If I want to actually make something that can be enjoyed, I need to learn why it is that other games failed.

[@GameSoup]

It's definitely important, good luck with your games! -Joe

[@flameshana9]

Absolutely. You need to play both good and bad games to really get a feel for it. Else you might believe it's just fanboys vs. complainers fighting each other blindly. I myself regret buying this game, but now I know for sure why.

[@McSquidification]

In addition, It would probably be to your benefit to actually play bad games and try to iron out what makes them bad and how you could have fixed/avoided that issue.

[@ScribeAwoken]

Oddly enough, Inti Creates used a similar "tag and zap" system in the Gunvolt games, but rather than a dash, the finishing move took the form of a force field. Instead of weakening enemies one by one and dashing through them, you hit one enemy and let the DoT from your basic attack do the work while you take care of everyone else, and then finish everyone off with your force field.

[@victorhugocosta1127]

Funnily enough, Gunvolt 2 introduced Copen as a playable character, and his entire gameplay is focused on dashing through enemies. The difference, though, is that Copen bounces off enemies and let's him hover while giving an opening for the finisher. It's amazing how pretty much the same team could implement the same gameplay style so in such different ways.

[@1997811isaac]

It seems that Mighty No.9's intro stage has became like Megaman X5 in a bad way

[@GameSoup]

Definitely reminded me of that. -Joe

[@ShinoSarna]

Megaman Zero (personally, my favorite Megaman series) was based on close quarters combat, by necessity, because of small GBA screen, but mechanics/levels were designed for it - very little focus on instadeath hazards, minimal flinch from being hit, focus on melee weapons like Zero's iconic sword and e.g a shield allowing you to get in close safer, and strong focus on dashing and walljumping, and in MMZ4 Zero Knuckle allowed you to steal enemies weapons, rewarding you for melee combat. This? This looks like a step backwards, which is funny considering that Inti Creates, with Inafune, was also responsible for Megaman Zero series. So it's not like Megaman formula can't be done for dashing and close quarters - it has been done before, and even *by the exact same people* - which makes this result all the more baffling.

[@adrianfranks2267]

shinobody The Zero series is the best example to point to for how to translate Mega Man gameplay into close quarters. The bosses in that series were incredible

[@4ltis]

I really wanna see a series where someone who hasnt or rarely plays games play this game blind.

[@GameSoup]

Would be interesting! -Joe

[@mrgameandpie]

It sounds like one thing that could have helped this game would be something akin to Mega Man 5's Charge Kick, where the dash itself is an attack that allows you to be invulnerable for its duration. This would allow for dash chaining through multiple enemies with no powerups a viable option, as you wouldn't have to methodically damage and dash through each one individually.

[@DarthEnderX]

How about not having absorbing enemies tied to Dashing at all. Make it so that you absorb a stunned enemy by touching it, regardless of whether you're actually dashing or not. And then also make it so your shots travel through already stunned enemies.

[@flameshana9]

But then who will help those poor, poor speed runners who represent 99% of all gamers? Clearly everyone wants to speed through Mega Man games. After all, that's why he can shoot things from across the screen. Bullets are for close combat! Precision jumps and instant death traps? I bet they'd go great with time limited power ups! Hahah. That must have been what the developers were thinking.

[@DarthEnderX]

I don't doubt it.

[@hi-i-am-atan]

+flameshana9 I dunno why you phrase it as though being able to absorb enemies without losing the ability to optimize movement and being able to take down several enemies in a row efficiently would be something speedrunners would be _against_. But then again, you seem to think speedrunners are some sort of toe fae who keep stealing your pennies, so, I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

[@thrillhouse_vanhouten]

(bwoop) MEGA MAN MEGA MAN THOSE ARE CALLED HAMMER JOES

[@akerguido9399]

THEY SWING THEIR MIGHTY HAMMER AND-

[@cursedex]

It's even more tragic when you consider that Megaman clones is one of the most common themes in fan or "doujin" games, along with Metroidvania style. So technically the game style is not that hard to make for those versed in game design.

[@manuelalbertoromero9528]

No shit. Just look at Gunvolt and Freedom Planet for prime examples.

[@akirabaes4644]

This video makes some good points on the gameplay mechanic decisions they made in the game. I actually saw several let's plays of Mighty9, and a number of them had the problem of not getting the dash mechanic and instead shooting the enemies until they broke.

[@Bladebrent]

Honestly, I clicked on this vid cause I didnt think Mighty No. 9 was as bad as people make it out to be. It can be frustrating, but it was fine. I saw he had 5 videos talking about Number 9's bad design which came off as following a trend of "everyone hates this game, lets rant on it", but he's is actually talking rather intelligently about it (so far) and isn't just saying everything about it is horrible unfixable. He's focusing on the flaws and I'm buying into his explanation of gameplay not working with level design . Really looking forward to when (and if) he talks about the Ray DLC.

[@LiPolygon]

I played the game up to the final level but stopped there and I suppose I had some fun, but what fun I had was sandwiched between a whole lot of frustration and annoyance at the problems you outlined in this video. Also what the hell is alternate fire? I didn't know it existed until this video

[@JRokujuushi]

What they're calling "alternate fire" here is what the game calls "action shift". If you hold the right trigger (default mapping) while you jump or shoot, you'll perform an alternate maneuver. Shooting causes Beck to jump backward and fire three shots down at an angle, while jumping causes Beck to do a back-jump with invincibility frames. The in-game (or rather, in-menu) tip for the back-jump says you can "slip through enemies and their attacks," which I initially thought was referring to if you timed it properly to dodge them. It wasn't until someone posted about it on Miiverse that I learned it straight-up gave you invincibility frames. You know, because the visual for the dash makes Beck look like he's breaking apart and reforming but he's completely vulnerable during that, while the visual for the back-jump keeps Beck completely intact but lets him pass right through enemies and attacks. Because who needs meaningful visual cues in a visual medium?

[@LiPolygon]

I've played and beat shovel knight, its soo good, far better than this game.

[@gamer_x403]

Call of Duty 1 and 2 managed tutorial levels really good. They taught you how to move around, how to sit, lay down, stand up, they showed diffrent weapon types and how to change between them and they showed how to interact with level design. After tutorial you have all the knowledge you need to beat the game. And if you already know how to play, you can just run through obstacles, without having to listen to stuff, that you already know. It makes the game very replayable.

[@dannieltaylor5833]

Honestly, I think what went wrong with this game was a new developer trying to make everyone happy by trying (and failing) to be Classic Megaman and Megaman X all rolled into one, and it's worse for it. Think about it; Megaman Classic had fewer mobility options, and was based on a more puzzle-like experience; each screen doesn't scroll until you beat the platforming challenge. Meanwhile, Megaman X is a more run-and-gun type of platformer, with longer levels that auto-scroll to compensate for the extra game speed. Mighty Number 9 tries to do both, but fails them both. It's a crappy Megaman Classic continuation, because the auto-scrolling screen keeps them from having so much control over progression. You can easily see how this messes with the game design, as you can skip entire sections of a level by dashing over it, and the game won't stop you; it has no tools to stop you. However, Beck's lack of ability to wall-jump or wall-slide drastically hinders the level design and knocks it out of the running as a Megaman X continuation as well. Most of these blind drops would not be so bad if he had a wall-slide like in Megaman X. What we get instead (that doesn't help at all) is a wall-hang, which stops you from going anywhere; you have to halt any momentum you had to hang onto a ledge, and you can't really move up or down. The movement speed is too slow and the weapon change system is too clunky as well, meaning that the game doesn't play like a dynamic run-and-gun like Megaman X, even though I get the distinct impression that that's what they're going for, with the infinite air dashing making beck somewhat mobile. Also, why is there a crouch-dash? This really bugs me; in Megaman titles before this, sliding and dashing both caused your hitbox to function as though you were crouched. Why does this change now? What is the point? I bet it would make Trinity's Grey Devil Phase a lot less annoying and painful if it were like the old way. Xel absorption powers are also mostly pointless; they serve a purpose in about one level, and I believe it was the mine level. It was the red Xel power, and that's the only one that actually does something noticeable. Everything unique from its predecessors that Mighty Number 9 has, it fucks up. Why am I not surprised?

[@endertrot9998]

8:20 "And ten seconds of experimentation with your controller will teach you there is a way to dash, and then your brain will tell you to string a jump into a dash." Now see here, this is how you can tell this video was made before the Cup Head tutorial.

[@xedusk]

I feel like they should have had you start with Brand's blade if they wanted you to play in close combat.

[@queenluci6664]

I pre-ordered this piece of crap a year before it released. I can't even describe how that feels: waiting a year for a highly anticipated piece of shit.

[@marlonyo]

never preorder anything

[@viyhexe131]

Live and learn my friend.

[@Stratelier]

@10:00 - About the shoot-dash mechanic: Maybe if they made it so your shots BOUNCED OFF of weakened enemies this could have helped players discover it better? Nothing encourages you to stop shooting like a bounced shot. Alternately, instead of a pit you have to dash-jump across, they could have made a gap that you must dash underneath to teach you there's a dash. Plus an already-weakened enemy on the other side (so you will automatically dash INTO it) to show you that the dash is used to defeat weakened enemies. Third, maybe some small enemies should have been weak enough BY DEFAULT that you can simply dash into them immediately. Another game where you're supposed to combine two actions to defeat enemies is Azure Striker Gunvolt, which unlike Mighty No.9 actually did it mostly well.

[@biscuiteaterelliott6367]

What's funny is that plenty of let's players knew about dashing into enemies and they still got wrecked by the first boss because they let it heal.

[@jasonslade6259]

Shots should pass though dissabled enemies. There I fixed the broken dash capture mechanic.

[@GameSoup]

Yup, that'd help a lot. -Joe

[@flair541]

I like how the bosses look. That is all I can say as I have yet to play it

[@TheAmishStig]

Having just watched this game run as part of AGDQ 2017, something to consider: The game is tuned for high-level speedrunning...and if I had to guess, that comes from years of backers having access and demanding more and more as their own skills progressed right alongside the game's development. The biggest fault to be assumed is that the developers didn't stop to get the feedback of new players anywhere near often enough. Protip to game developers: Players with hundreds of hours in the game and a solid mastery of its mechanics are not who you want to be asking about intuitiveness or the new player experience...they've already got enough experience to be able to play around the game's existing faults, you need fresh players with fresh eyes.

[@GameSoup]

Good advice! -joe

[@TheAmishStig]

It's kinda sad, really...crowdfunding is cool [I've contributed to more than I care to admit], but so often ends in 'game design by committee' / 'game design by fanboy'...it's pretty telling [and condemning] that they had to add a 'pity mode', where when you die too many times that funky phone-charger looking thing starts showing up at pre-set points to drops powerups. Being a lover of Mega Man, that mode wasn't helpful...it was insulting. In doing so not only did they acknowledge that they made it way too difficult for first-time players, they consciously chose not to fix it, and to band-aid over it instead.

[@flameshana9]

EXACTLY. The game doesn't reward slow careful exploration, _nor_ does it reward reckless fun. It just punishes all but speed running styles of play. "Here, have a pity power up" was stupid. Just let me mess around please.

[@hero3bash]

Channel got potential

[@glenndeH]

Here's a thought: Slippery ledges, how to teach the player. You see, in the ice stage, there are ledges you cannot grab. However, there are quite a few problems: - Grabable and non-grabable are mixed randomly - Non-grabable ledges don't look any diffrent - The first time you encounter them is above spikes. So, first things first: make them...diffrent. Add something to make clear that it's a ledge you can't grab onto. Next, add a segment to the beginning of the stage. There's a large gap. The player jumps, dashes and...doesn't grab on. Then, at the bottom, there's a button to raise a platform to the middle of the gap, so the player can pass. From this, the player learns A) Non-grabable ledges look diffrent and B) You can't grab onto them, so be carefull This way, the player knows, when they see an odd-looking ledge above spikes, to look out and not rely on grabbing it. Boom. Fixed. Done. By someone who isn't even a game designer or anything...gg...

[@Pensive_Scarlet]

Haha, I remember getting pinned under that giant bee once. XD That menacing blob enemy you drew was cute, especially in "the blue cube-y weakened state".

[@TheAgentGold]

Looking forward to seeing the rest of this series. I don't have much incentive to try this game myself (unless it gets a killer Steam sale down the line), but I was very interested in analyzing it and seeing how it compares to classic Megaman games (and maybe Shovel Knight). This might help me learn a good deal and give me an idea of what to look for if I ever do get a chance to try it myself! Keep it up!

[@willplaygames3407]

That rebound-off-of-enemies thing is what they did with Beck's dash in Mighty Gunvolt, but they screwed it up there by making you have to charge your attack to dash, removing your ability to shoot until you use the dash.

[@NiGHTSnoob]

Speaking of the E-Tank system. I didn't even realize I had it until I was reading through the guide information on a whim right before the final level... I just assumed the game didn't have them like Megaman 1. I'm sure it probably mentioned them at some point, but for some reason I just didn't notice, probably because the tutorial prompts had already bored me to death because they had no idea what they were doing with that first level.

[@JSlayerXero]

Do I have a thing and-a-half to say about MN9. Grab some popcorn, this is going to be a long one :P Have you ever played Mega Man X8? Because it has its own set of pitfalls, but the entire time I was playing MN9 it just made me feel like Inafune tried to copy X8 without realizing what made X8 work. X8 is a mess with its two vehicle levels and even the some of the boss weaponry, but it knows how to make every character feel like an unstoppable killing machine with the only thing holding them back being the player's ability to utilize them correctly. Axl is by far the best character to rack up a combo as while his hits are weak, he shoots them at lightning pace. With some of the boss weapons he goes from being slightly weaker than the other two to on par in terms of ability to wreck the place. X's charge shot is the ultimate argument winner and once you get his armor parts you can destroy many of your enemies before they even have a chance to scroll on screen. Zero's always been amazing with his air control and he still is. With some of his new weapons he can kill most enemies before they remotely get close enough to become a threat. MN9's mechanics are built around being slow and methodical, but its levels are designed around the fast-paced run 'n' gun unstoppable rampage of explosions that X8 was. You know what X8 has that MN9 doesn't have? Satisfying kills. X8 you blow something up it feels good. MN9 you absorb something and eh? Even the boss finishers could've been something better in MN9. I would've loved to see three streams of Xels converge from the boss into Beck as you see both. Some cuts between seeing Beck charge up from behind him, and from behind the boss. In the end, you see Beck fire a huge bursts of Xels at the boss. It still would've felt better than what we got. X5 introduced Alia who would stop all momentum and nail your feet to the ground to tell you things you should already be able to figure out. X6 of all things, knew better. MN9 also doesn't nail your feet to the ground, but it offers you no way of turning your help off. X8 finally figured out that players should be given an option to turn off the Navi. MN9 lets you turn off the tutorials, but one of the problems is how crouch dashing exist. A handful of times it matters that you hold down to lower the height of your dash, probably most often in bosses. However normally when you would need to, the game automatically adjusts your height to fit under the gap you're dashing into. Then there's Dyna's stage where if you forgot that exists, you'll dash right into an insta-kill, and without the game explicitly remind you it exists, you may never remember it exists, and quite frankly, it's the only time where you actually need it. Even worse the game doesn't tell you about it until you're really close, which means odds are you've already killed yourself from not realizing that dashing doesn't automatically crouch all the time. Continuing what I was saying about boss weapons, X3 I believe started to introduce weapons where the only time I used them was the boss fights, though now I like to go back and see if they have uses in the main levels. Even as far back as MM1 we had the Super Arm: a weapon so situational it almost never got used. I mean you could break Guts Blocks with other weapons so why would you need the Super Arm? Oddly enough, X8 actually put me in a place where I found Axl to be the better boss killer than X or Zero if they used the boss's actual weakness. Because the Ray Gun and Ice Gatling hit as hard as they did, and as fast as they did, they would rack up 8 damage long before a boss could recover from the 4 damage it would take from getting hit by its weakness, should Axl be the one using the attack. The only time I used a boss's proper weakness was Burn Rooster due to how much more powerful he got if you didn't use it. The strangest thing though, is that for MN9, probably the best weapon is the Mega-XEL, which is a DLC weapon. I can actually forgive a single weapon outclassing the rest because I like in X8, but it's DLC in MN9. As for the actual boss weapons, they're a mixed bag like many of the MM boss weapons. Pyrogen's weapon charges too slowly to be useful. Cryogen's weapon is a God-send, but it feels like it's a soft fix for an inherently flawed mechanic. Dynatron's weapon is interesting in how it lets you absorb enemies by dashing when you are tethered to them, but then why not make it so that you automatically absorb enemies when it's destabilizes them? Battalion's weapon was used for some puzzles. I actually like that. Otherwise, it's a standard Crash Bomb like weapon. I don't mind it. Aviator's weapon is garbage. The zig-zag motion sounds fine on paper but the execution leaves MUCH to be desired. I would rather it freeze in place where it first hits an enemy than what it currently does, or move to hit other enemies once you're destabilized the one(s) its currently eating at, and furthermore, not accidentally kill enemies. Seismic's weapon really should've just been an upgraded dash, but instead it's something that makes you continuously move, but it needs some time to build up momentum. Fighting with it feels awful. Brandish's weapon should've worked like Raychel's default and let you absorb enemies as you destabilized them. Countershade's weapon is a good idea, but it doesn't seem to reflect between enemies or back at enemies as quickly as it could've. Mega XEL feels too abuse-able. Sure, I like it, but I wish this was a boss weapon, not some DLC thing. The combo system for both X8 and MN9 are basically superfluous and are just there to rack up points of some sort. While X8 keeps most of that stuff in the background, MN9 explicitly gives you a points counter. Either game uses these arbitrary points to determine your arbitrary rank, and both emphasize a focus on speedily destroying as many enemies as possible while avoiding damage and killing enemies as close together as possible. X8 focuses its combos on the number of times you hit your opponents, which makes Axl the king of combos. MN9 focuses on absorbing enemies within the same dash. You already highlighted much of the problem with trying this, however. X8 features the chip system which encourages exploring a level more than once and gives some of the levels replay value. MN9 doesn't do any of that. Upgrades that X would get with his armors, Zero would get with a new weapon or Axl would get from a boss ability, are temporary power-ups that Beck must pick-up from dashing into an enemy. Were it not fort he rare times the game gives you a red power-up for sections where it is basically mandatory, I'd say they didn't put them in places to utilize them. Sure, enemies with red power-ups are usually followed by enemies in a line, but I would rather Beck have the option to permanently choose between Red, Green & Yellow at the start of the level than what they did in MN9. Additionally, despite bosses turning purple, it did nothing to absorb it. Why not make it refresh all of your power-ups? X8 had almost zero health pick-ups, like MN9, but X8 had mechanics typical of fighting games of all the genres to borrow from. Damage you take is partially converted into red-health that you can recover from damaging an enemy with your other character. However, red health would slowly drain if you did not switch. Plus, if you swap to a character with red health, you lost all of it. Furthermore, most levels only had one or two full-health capsules, but you could use your Life Tank(s) to heal your character, then pick it up to fully recharge the Life Tank. Even if you didn't fully charge the Life Tank, you can charge it between levels. Plus, energy that wasn't used is still stored in your Life Tank. I did like the concept MN9 was going for with being able to pick up and carry two full heals, but the fact you lose them when you die is infuriating. They even made an option to get some stuff back when you die, but I would rather I consistently get a Red power-up and an E-Tank as my pity powers than to randomly get three things that I probably don't care for after long enough. Heck if you must give a third, guarantee a 1-up if you've used a continue already. Continuing from the bosses turning purple, why not make that give you an E-Tank, or even just HALF of an E-Tank? That would make the slog of fighting bosses easier. Plus, why is it you can only have one you absorb on your own and one you find? I'm fine with there only being two energy recharges, as X8 did something similar, but could they have no given us something similar where you don't need to burn the whole E-Tank at once? They could've made it so that blue enemies inherently heal you if you had both recovers, and that you can store two, regardless of how you got them. They could've even implemented the red-health thing and made it so that some of the damage can be recovered each time you absorb a blue, and that your read health just builds up over time. While I've gone on this long without addressing the dash, it's partly because you addressed it already, however, I do still have things to mention. I feel like Beck's dash could've been a dash attack that, should it destabilize, would absorb the enemy on contact. If you're going to make dashing into enemies such a huge though, that would be something I would naturally want the dash to do. X5, for as much as I can't stand Alia, when it upgraded Zero's air dash, it made it an attack that actually killed things. I also really like the idea of his dash sending out a shock wave so that he can chain dash through huge groups of enemies. It could've felt really good if it were actually executed correctly. This is just Beck... I have more but it won't seem to post for how long the comment is.

[@JSlayerXero]

Continuing from my other comment, here's me rambling about the other two playable characters. Raychel, however, is a complete other monster to handle. Unlike Beck, her mechanics seem to have been built around running and slicing opponents. Her boss weapons have questionable usefulness, but at least her default weapons feel good. Most enemies you can dash into to kill off in one hit. The third hit of her standing combo does enough damage to one-shot just about ALL the basic enemies. I do wish her health mechanic was altered, but not too much. Problem is that bosses turn into not getting hit at all, but her level gameplay is a lot more fun and frantic. I just wish taking damage reduced Raychel to whatever her red health had drained, then, if she has no red health, did regular damage to her. That way you'd at least have two hits against the bosses. Her finisher against the bosses at least felt okay, unlike Beck's. However, despite there being enough minimal effort to make her work in the stages, they do not feel like they were designed with her in mind. As for Raychel's weapons, I'm not sure of entirely because I haven't tried to use them as much. In fact, frequently I find it's easier to fight the boss by just using her regular attacks. Seismic giving you a grappling hook, though. That actually was a neat idea, and I do kind of like how it's implemented. Brandish's weapon, however, feels like a downgrade, because you can't absorb the moment you destabilize. Dynatron's weapon is a neat idea but I wish you didn't have to be near to make it work. Plus, it runs the risk of killing things when you didn't mean to, which is a common problem with this game. The rest I won't comment on because I rarely used them IF I used them. Then there's Call. The entire time I played Call's stage I couldn't help but feel like it was a tech demo. Here's a segment where you crawl, a segment where you hover for a bit, the whole thing felt like it was a tutorial for her, but it was made early on to test her, and not meant to be the final product. Except, it somehow IS the final product. I do like that the large enemy was built with Call in mind, but it feels like the other enemies you fight were not, which means they take way too many shots to kill, and one enemy just has to explode on its own. To further add to frustration, Call can only have one shot on screen at a time. I've played this in Mega Man Powered UP! where Protoman only has one shot on screen, but that thing guard breaks and does boosted damage. Call's doesn't feel any stronger and yet she is gimped for it. If she's going to have that gimmick I was hoping it would at least destabilize in one hit then kill on the next so that it doesn't become a total slog, given she lacks Beck's ability to dash into enemies to absorb them. Then there's her energy shield. This really makes me feel like I'm playing Protoman, as he's always had the shield to block projectiles. Except, Call's runs on a power meter that doesn't recharge, which means if you use it up too quickly during her boss fight, you can't get it back and are very vulnerable. There exists the technology to have a dynamo that runs on kinetic movement to recharge a battery. Make it so that Call moving around would power it. That tech already exists so why not use that? That said, her dash feels less janky than Beck's. Something about the exact speed he goes through has him just suddenly be somewhere else without it being a teleport, and it's rather jank. Call's dash and hover feels like it was successfully ripped from MMX games and while her hovering over instant-death section had one really annoying dash at the end, it felt that it was an okay tutorial for Call's hover. It would need some minor tweaking, but it could work. Yet, despite basically being a tutorial stage for a completely new character, Call's level is introduced during the last 1/4 of the game where a tutorial level feels incredibly out of place. Plus, as best as I can tell, the only time you can play Call is that stage or multiplayer. I wish she had more because while her limited ammo that doesn't recharge IS annoying, she feels better to play as than Beck. It seems to be a theme that Beck feels worse to control than everybody else does. I have more to say on the individual levels themselves, but I think I'll stop for now. If you want to take anything I said and re-write it into a script that flows better, by all means, you have permission to steal my rant. :P

[@pyroknighthayes9486]

You expect me to read this 😑

[@danmacho31]

To quote a very sad man: YOU WERE THE CHOSEN ONE!

[@dataecto6135]

Great video! My only gripe is your gameplay example for fixing the dash (dont know if anyone else has commented about it) mostly because it has the same problem as the level in game where the player can just simply shoot the enemy from a safe distance. Though, your example could simply be fixed by making the enemy out of firing range. also, the fact that you get double knockback from dashing into an unweakened enemy suuuucks. like, why???

[@Requiem100500]

That's a long and elaborate way to say "this game sucks!"

[@GameSoup]

It gets even more elaborate, we made 4 more videos like this... >_> -Joe

[@FinalStarman95]

Being elaborate is very helpful to both potential customers and aspiring game developers. Simply stating that "this game sucks" doesn't teach you much. It's better to pinpoint the problems with MN 9 so that future level designers know what constitutes good level design and bad level design.

[@Msungo123]

The question answered by this video is not "does this game suck?" but rather "why does this game suck?". Videos title also exactly posits that question, it presupposes that something went wrong, and asks what that was. In other words, your comment is a short and unelaborate way to say that you don't think at all before you write something.

[@AndrewTurpel8LivesVideos]

Those aren't blind drops, there's just a constant text box banter blocking your view of the bottom screen at all times. From what I've seen of playthroughs, the dialogue during the levels was likely added in at the last minute.

[@AdrianLeeGod]

I just stumbled into your channel by chance and have seen a couple vids, and so far, I'm impressed with your cool-headed and analytical approach to these things. #9 is a terrible game, and rather than just saying so, you're explaining *why* and *how* in a concise and enjoyable format. I'm subscribing and look forward to seeing more of your work.

[@omerozel4716]

Talking about flow of games. Alright time to analyse Flow.

[@alduintheanti-dragonborn]

They should've made the dash ability do a little bit of damage to enemies who are in your way save for a few. Take the game Freedom Planet, it currently has 3 different characters with many different attack combos, with the main buttons being the arrow keys and the Z, X, and C keys. You will quickly find out that the up arrow key will not let you jump, so you experiment with the other keys, until you find out which key it is. The up arrow key is still important though as it allows you to look up, catch onto ladders if you are in the air, and climb up the said ladders. You are allowed to find this out for yourself without too much danger as the current enemies shown are those who walk and collide. (Note: Most enemies do not have collision damage, and if they do have such damage, it is usually done in a certain attack). All 3 characters have different speeds, damage, and abilities, so you often find yourself changing tactics for each one. For example, Lilac can use dragon rush to make herself temporary invincible and dash in any direction except for directly up or down, doing light to mid damage to all enemies who are in her path and significantly increasing her speed. Carol doesn't have such ability, however she can do a series of kicks which does heavy damage to any enemy who is caught, stunning most enemies as well so they cannot escape. Since Carol cannot go as fast as Lilac can on foot, she can summon her motorcycle if she finds gasoline just lying around, enabling her to double jump and allowing her double jump to deal damage. She can also do what Megaman does and climb walls. Milla is by far the weakest and slowest of the group. However this doesn't make her useless, far from it. She has the ability to create shields which she can then either use to block, or use as an attack. She can also create blocks which she can use as either a projectile, weight, or even as a larger/heavier shield. Most of the bosses you will be facing in the game you would have to use the other characters. To make up for her slower speed, she has the ability to temporary fly. You will be able to find this and other abilities they have either in relaxed environments, or while you are busting through a large amount of enemies.

[@dricsi07]

The only game where I can accept a long wall of text that explains the gameplay to me are RPGs and JRPGs. And only because how complex those games can be.

[@TheFinalHazard242]

I know I'm late to say this but great video. I learned a lot and it was entertaining

[@jojodelacroix]

I think a really elegant solution to the problem of dashing through multiple enemies is found in shooting enemies. Allow the player's charged shots to pierce enemies. The charged shot can then do more damage for each enemy it has pierced, which means there would be a smaller chance of killing the enemy that is in the front of the chain and a larger chance of significantly weakening the enemies that are further back in the line. You could also play around with a charged shot that explodes on hit, then dealing damage to nearby enemies. It wouldn't be perfect, but we aren't looking for something that makes dashing through multiple enemies ALWAYS easy. We are looking for something that gives the player a way to actually strategically get through enemies. Giving the player the tools necessary to set up chains is enough, so long as those tools feel balanced and substantial. As is the player feels like there is this mechanic that asks them to chain dash enemies, but that they are given no or few useful tools to do such.

[@kylianos3907]

This will probably be put into the next video already, but i hate how poorly the damage-locking (dashing into a boss to make your damage permantent) is implemented. There are no clever mechanics introduced here. Every boss is the same: shoot them while dodging and then just sprint up to them and dash. There is not a single time that the dashing is actually implemented in the design of the boss, such as creating interesting scenarios involving the dash, maybe by adjusting the boss patterns or something.

[@alunbuss7877]

The thing with Beck rebounding is that can work, and in fact it DID work with Copen in Gunvolt 2. Though a possible factor in that is how that game handled rebounding and allowed you to follow up attack.

[@GameSoup]

Thanks for the info! -Joe

[@alunbuss7877]

No problem. I just found it odd you considered bouncing off the foe to be a "pretty bad" option even if better than what Beck already has, and yet I loved how Copen worked with it in Gunvolt 2.

[@alunbuss7877]

And with Specter of Torment, Specter Knight provides another example - if he doesn't finish a foe or if the dash point he targets is bouncy, he'll bounce off of it just like Copen did. This too could improve the dash system here, by granting Beck some form of protection if he dashes into a foe he didn't weaken.

[@calemr]

The suggestions you made for the dashing could have led to some REALLY fun and challenging level designs. Add in multipliers or something for if you can keep chaining dashes for those aiming for score attack style runes. Create tunnels where you can dash a really long distance via enemies like in sonic adventure. Even the lose all momentum idea, you could use Dash stopping to give yourself a moment to check your surroundings, and dash without losing height, before you fall, making challenging areas where you have to get through a tunnel of spikes more feasible.

[@aidanpina1182]

0:00-0:03 EVERYTHING

[@streled5361]

Hey, there's something even more frustrating about the blind drop. Even if you had landed on the platform, you would had been crushed anyway...

[@GameSoup]

Yeah! It's like the devs just really hate you and want to make you rage just a bit. There is a way to make games challenging but this is definitely not it :-p

[@SladeBallard]

The "Sequelitis" route of explaining how the controls work is undeniably great, but we all know we feel like that because we're "old school". If a game tries that these days, it would get panned by Kotaku/Polygon and other shitty sites over "the game expects you to know what to do!!! It's too hard!!! 2/10".

[@jojodelacroix]

This tho. I love when a game tells me how to move the damned camera and move my character-- big surprise, you use the right and left analog stick respectively-- but doesn't tell me how to execute complex aspects of the game. I also love when a game will tell me how to shoot after the first enemy encounter. Like, wtf you guys? How do you think I got past that last encounter and to this point anyhow?

[@dmas7749]

+Mickael Chiasson And if you don't feel like doing that you can also double tap a direction to dash.

[@dmas7749]

Mickael Chiasson Yeah, ever since playing the _Zero_ games I prefer Dash on 'L'.

[@jojodelacroix]

D MAS Much agreed. Once I realized the majesty of L dashing I could never go back. To be fair, it is really hard to time double directional dashes in time to do wall kicks, which means the game was nearly impossible to play without L-dashing. At least for me.

[@dmas7749]

John Edwards I have the opposite problem; double tapping is too easy for me.

[@TheLegoMaster261]

I'm in an airport watching this, and your echo at the beginning of the video made me think is was the airport's speakers 😂

[@antares9601]

ez sub dude, seriously... I'm considering making a Megaman inspired game, and even if I don't, I love the videos, lots of practical tips!

[@Asterra2]

I still haven't played this game. My greatest shame is that I funded this game, personally putting money in the pocket of that horrible, horrible community manager.

[@CMSonYT]

I always wanted a video like this...

[@MrSerenitykid]

You should be a level designer. Seem to have a good understanding about the nuances.

[@closecrowd23]

I have never heard if this game and im glad

[@austinb.1837]

I STILL LOOOOOOVE THIS GAME

[@flameshana9]

First time we got a clear explanation of why the dash mechanic sucks. Thank you. We all knew it but now I can point to this video to explain it for me.

[@Kousaburo]

Antepiece is the most important concept in game design.

[@Karanthaneos]

You know what I've realized after so much thought? Nothing in Beck's design or actions tells you that he can absorb enemies by dashing into them, they need to explicitely tell you with text boxes that you can do that. When you play a kirby game there's a button that makes Kirby inhale, you can even see the particles going into it. Since it's practically the only button you have appart from jumping and moving, and jumping on enemies doesn't kill them you naturally gravitate towards trying to use the ability on enemies. Why does beck assimilates enemies? What in his robotic, rigid, metallic design tells you that he should be able to do that? Nothing about the dash tells you it should absorb enemies, it's just a dash! And what's even worse, why would you have a ranged weapon to dispose of enemies, when the actual way of doing that is to be as close a possible to them!? Your primary way of fighting should be close range, like a sword or something. Your assimilating ability should be something that conveys that ability and not integrated into the dash, since it foces you to move in a set direction, and the dash should be it's own thing without the assimilation thing. Everything in this game is so poorly designed it makes me incredibly mad. What were they thinking!?

[@galmorzu]

Finally beat this game. I could not just let this one go until I finished it, and now I can put it behind me. Everything is pretty well spot on that's said here. Although I think there is a good game in here. It's just buried under layers and layers of crap and poor design. There were a few moments I was enjoying myself, but usually those were quickly dashed by insanely mind boggling cheap deaths or barely avoidable damage or cringe-inducing fight mechanics. I more or less enjoyed the bosses, and I legit loved the moments (especially near the end) when all the bosses are coming in to help you, interacting with each other and the level. It kind of reminds me of where I think Powered Up wanted to go with the MM1 bosses, and I would have been out of my mind giddy to have seen that with Megaman bosses. Unfortunately, those are really the only moments I liked here and they are barely gameplay related. So sad that this went the way it did. Indeed, it feels like way too many people were working on too many areas of the game's development so that none of it really came together as a satisfying whole, instead coming across like every aspect was working against every other aspect to create an infuriating and frustrating gaming experience. Too bad.

[@brazencoronet17]

1:20 why did I see NB in a Mega Man helmet? My life will never get rid of that picture

[@MoeMoeJoeJoe]

Bass-ackwards?! Lol I love that!

[@90lancaster]

"Bass ackwards" I see what you did there... very meta.

[@wrath_the_bloody]

As a long time game tester and game developer, I agree with a lot of what you say, but at the same time the game plays a lot better and smoother once you can play all the stages with all abilities. It's still a bit clunky, but it flows better once you understand how each weapon works and can use them in your gameplay to fly through each stage. Though it does take a bit of skill and memory to get to that point.

[@JRokujuushi]

Wall of text incoming. Short version: I think it's fun, but it's definitely flawed. Looking at the game on its own merits, I like it for the most part, but I also recognize that it's highly flawed. To me it feels more like a first draft than a final game, with some elements of greatness, but tons of garbage and rough edges that still need to be fixed up. One of my biggest criticisms of the game is how little actually gets explained during play. Yeah, you can go to the Tips menu and read about stuff, but there's a huge difference between reading and doing, especially when it comes to getting a feel for a new mechanic. The action shift (or alternate fire as you referred to it) is never mentioned outside of the tips menu, and its wording is so vague that I didn't realize it gave you invincibility frames during the back-jump. The crouch-dash is implemented horribly. There's no indication that pressing down does anything unless you happen to dash while pressing it. Any time Beck comes to a narrow passage, he will automatically duck down to squeeze through it, and will keep low until he's successfully through, but when faced with a low-hanging instant-death turbine he's more than happy to dash face-first into it, or stand up before successfully clearing it. I got to play the beta and there was no text prompt at that part. Lots of people had a hard time figuring out what to do there, so their "fix" was to put a text prompt on the screen. Considering I can't think of any time when a standard dash would be more beneficial than a crouch-dash while on the ground, they could have easily just made the crouch-dash the default. The way to access Ray is super obscure. When you're at the level select screen, you press up to highlight the Beck icon, then select Ray from there. There's not really any indication that you can do that, and while that would be totally cool for a secret in the base game, it's not cool for DLC that you pay for. The levels have some bizarre design decisions at times, like in Cryo's stage when you enter the first large underwater area and can just dash to the right and completely avoid everything below. It doesn't feel earned so there's no sense of accomplishment in pulling it off. Compare that to Super Mario Bros. 1-2 where you can get up top and run past everything, but you need to find a mushroom, avoid enemies to maintain super form for a bit, and break bricks in such a manner that you can use them as stepping stones to make your way up to the top. The localization... I honestly feel like they were trying to make it intentionally bad in an attempt to emulate the feel of older games. The problem is, when you try to make it intentionally bad, you miss out on a lot of the unintentional greatness that made it fun in those older games. Plus these are reasonably well experienced voice actors that they hired, not just some random nobodies. There's also stuff that gets mentioned that seems completely irrelevant, like Dr. White telling Beck to calculate the fastest route to the lab when there's only one way to go, or Dr. Sanda telling Beck not to get sucked into the turbines when they don't do any sucking. And who the hell is Tyson? Looking at the game as a backer, I feel like it missed the mark. They touted the ability to transform as the thing that would make the game different, but it really isn't - the dash and assimilation mechanics are. The way they described it made it sound to me like there would be a bit more reason to use transformations as tools outside of combat, but that's pretty much absent save for some rocks in Mic's stage and a few forced areas in the Robot Factory. There's even a page that's still up on the MN9 site that describes transformation as being way cooler than it is in the final game - www.mightyno9.com/en/game-description-3 I feel like the transformations in the final game are little more than a re-skin of Beck, and there would be little to no functional difference if you put Mega Man in there with his basic palette swaps. Avi's prop allowing Beck to slowly descend is about as unique as it gets. Mic's bulldozer form is debatable since you could give Mega Man some kind of shield and make him run fast and it'd be about the same. The rest are pretty much just different weapons. As for positives, I think the game controls pretty solid, and the different mechanics work pretty well once you actually learn them. I think Ray's a lot of fun to play as, too, easily beating Beck as my preferred way to play (not being regularly interrupted by comms chatter definitely contributes to this). While I'm not a fan of the way they regenerate health if you don't dash into them quickly enough, especially when they can fly or hide out of Beck's reach, I thought the boss battles were pretty fun. I know it seems like the negatives outweigh the positives here, but I'm really not upset that I own and have played this game, and I still come back to it from time to time because I do get some genuine fun out of it. However, I am upset that I gave in to the Kickstarter hype and paid as much as I did.

[@xMasterSparku]

Yeah I liked it too, helps that I've played every classic and X game and love the franchise so this game's mediocrity didn't really bother me since well... a lot of Mega Man games are very mediocre and lacking in the fun department, I'd argue MN9's better than half the classic games, definitely not as good as something like 6 or 4 but definitely better than 5 and 8.

[@gaiamegu64]

Zettai Ryouiki never played the inticreatea game huh

[@xMasterSparku]

No, I don't see how they relate to what I'm saying since I'm strictly talking about MN9 and the classic and X series.

[@laharl2k]

JRokujuushi tl;dr i liked the game. yeah its not perfect and some parts could be better but the same could be said about most megaman games (except 3 and X4). i had quite some frustrating moments in the latests levels in mm2 and while the.mechanics were way more consistent the difference is that most megaman games were actually quite easy, most levels had nothing that could kill you, the dificulty is mostly repetition until you miss and get hit over and over until you die

[@CostaCostaCosta]

Wow, that is the longest youtube comment I've ever seen!

[@jaxdestroyer]

I would like to point out at 5:49 egoraptor grump is in the billboard in the background. Adding insult to injury that the person who had explained the subtle game mechanics is not only known to the dev team, but well enough to be put in the game. Unless there was some contest to be put in the game I don't know about. I find it amusing that is the first clip you show after elaborating on the contrast of the game design approaches. Not sure if it was intentional or not, but neat none the less.

[@MultiPugGamer]

He donated a specific tier to the kickstarter to be on that billboard.

[@ysmahelyfilho9998]

13:00 Or... he could dash like freaking Copen.

[@Ularg7070]

I don't understand how megaman became popular with those blind death pits and those auto-fall stages. That's so full of bullshit and people just ate it up and wanted a million more games?

[@jowysw]

That problem exist in the NES era, when games were made really hard on purpose. Since the SNES (Megaman X) you had an option to save you from bottomless pits (wall jumping, for example).

[@daisukedoi9284]

Yes, however, Megaman taught you how to deal with said obstacles. Megaman always had a "teach then test" design to it. Megaman games would teach you how a certain hazard works in a somewhat safe environment, but then, they'll test you on what you learned

[@SendyTheEndless]

When you fell down a screen in old Megaman games the action would freeze for a good second or so as the lower level portion scrolled into view. That, combined with the fact that tunnels would "funnel" you towards you needed to be, and how instakill spikes typically only advanced or changed position one block at a time from screen to screen, meant that when you died in these old games, it felt a lot less frustrating - even if in some cases there were blind deaths. It just felt like you plausibly had enough reaction time, as opposed to the instant and smooth scrolling in this game

[@fawfulmark2]

Megaman was built as a game that taught you to react to scenarios beforehand-maybe not as smoothly as Castlevania, but still effectively. it rarely ever crossed into the unfair theshold, unlike say...Ghosts n Goblins.

[@Gatesealer89]

I never even got the game. I backed it, and payed for the neat looking usb as well. Game came out and no code for me. I sent an email asking why and never heard back.

[@GameSoup]

wtf, sorry to hear that! -Joe

[@noisyether9211]

YOOO I really appicate these videos,Funnie and very informitive.Im working on a megaman type game.Im takeing notes on what is like and hated about mighty no9.I said to my self that as long as my game is better then M9 lol.Im watching now really good.I would like to communicate with u guy as my game gets deeper in devolopment.

[@NeatherBen221]

Mega Man 9 is considered by a lot of people to be one of the 'world's hardest games' and I had a lot more fun beating Mega Man 9 than Mighty Number 9

[@tenchimod]

This complexity reminds me of Gunvolt. While I'm a veteran of Megaman-style games, the opening level of Azure Striker Gunvolt confused the hell out of me. It wasn't until my second level that I decided to look through the complex help menu and got a better idea of what my basic abilities were and how game mechanics functioned. Not a fun way to get into a game if you practically need a strategy guide to get started. I'm not surprised that MN9 has the same confusing, convoluted gameplay.

[@kinnikudash385]

X5 had shit tons of level interrupting dialogue, it's just not voiced over.

[@GameSoup]

Yup, I traded my copy of X5 for psx away to a friend for a copy of Gungrave for ps2. Was a good trade imo. -Joe

[@GoeTeeks]

I enjoyed this game enough to play through it twice. But I definitely had issues with a lot of the mechanics and the level design had issues. The frame rate drop created some issues of its own, as well. I really enjoyed the story, and how the Mighty No.s would help you on subsequent stages when you rescued them (although I didn't really like how this would heavily hint you in the stage select screen who's weakness you just obtained).

[@tayl1r]

8:10 so how exactly are you stopping the player just shooting this and moving on?

[@Shawnoo7Fra]

The problem is that beck is ranged. But a wannabe zero in its place, and it would work wonderfully

[@GameSoup]

Wouldn't hurt. -Joe

[@Mr.man712]

They made that a dlc but with protoman double damage.

[@SeekerLancer]

The DLC Zero-clone, Ray, does work a lot better with the level design than Beck does. I had a much better time with this game playing through with her.

[@co81385]

Hey, I just watched and enjoyed your video. Something you had said piqued my interest. You had mentioned that Might No. 9 is a Mega Man game built on close quarters combat. What is your opinion on the implementation of Zero as playable character in Mega Man X4-8?

[@TheGameCreator13]

If anyone wants to play an actual good mega man game that people are saying deserved the hype more then #9 I've read a lot of good reviews for *20XX*. which can be found on steam, If this was helpful a vote up would be nice (So everyone like me who's itching for a mega man game can see)

[@idbuddy2184]

For megaman x style gameplay 20xx hits the spot but the rougelike elements take away any real sense of skill/achievement.

[@TheGameCreator13]

Have to play it for myself if I were to have an opinion on that

[@autobotstarscream765]

+Idbuddy Which elements?

[@idbuddy2184]

i believe the rng item aspect nulls it quite a bit. yeah i know rogue like but they can brick the challenge of the game moreso than it already is

[@autobotstarscream765]

+Idbuddy Do you mean Item Drops like in Metroidvania-style Action-RPGs?

[@ShaoKahnnor]

The arguments of this video are all over the place.

[@HYPNOGLANCE87]

Now i know and knowing is"Cut the G.I Joe segment" Half the battle G.I JOE!!!!

[@idbuddy2184]

damn beat me to it, but I will say on the dashing you can change directions fairly easily. I know when I played I had no problems changing directions. On the drop pit from mic there is a whole upscaling of difficulty with the drops that hammer caution with shaft drops. And on the one shown the moving platform is literally the first thing you see if you hang off of the handholds. If you are rushing or not paying attention then yeah you would totally ignore it, as well as the camera trick on the first drop, and the spike floor on the 2nd drop and thats more on the player than it is the game at that point.

[@Buster_real]

Everything considered, apparently Mighty no. 9 was supposed to cater heavily to speedrunners. Just look at infinite dashing, the whole mechanic of AcXeleration or boss design. Infinite dashing should be self-explanatory. I'll just note that it allows you to move horizontally while giving you barely any vertical motion, which is more or less as overpowered as I made it sound, pretty much regardless of level-design unless it's entirely vertically-oriented, which you don't get to see much in the game. While we're at dashing by itself, let's talk about downward dashing. It allows you to drop down at a constant speed. It might seem pretty useless if you're playing the game for the first time, but if you speedrun, you can plan downward dashes and horizontal dashes around level design for quicker (downward dash speed is faster than falling speed for a plenty of time) and more reliable (constant speed vs. acceleration) progression. Now absorbing weakened enemies, which allows for just a bit faster progression by itself. To begin with, common enemies take 2-3 times as much firepower to destroy than to allow assimilation. Then, it incentivises you to come closer to enemies which by itself encourages putting out more DPS (due to limited amount of bullets on the screen, coming close to enemies and shooting them cuts the "wait for the first bullet to hit/fizzle" delay therefore increasing DPS) as well as puts you a tiny distance further on in the level. Finally, after assimilating an enemy you're further on your path than you'd be if you shot them from a safe distance. Add to that the fact that Brandish's ReXelection is the best weapon in the game, other than maybe laser turret. Powerups. Namely attack and speed. No-brainer: if you get them by randomly defeating enemies while playing for the first time, they accelerate your progression by allowing you to defeat enemies faster or simply making you faster. The fact that certain powerups always drop from certain enemies is also a valid speedrunning hint, since you can plan around that by figuring out the most effective route to the first speed powerup to browse through the game. AcXel recoveries aka E-tanks. You get them filled by absorbing blue enemies. The thing that they vanish after you die was probably an incentive to carry on one life as long as possible. Finally bosses and their lack of i-frames. Obviously it was supposed to allow players to destroy bosses very quickly.

[@Zenocide]

It's funny how I was just having a discussion over this game Vs Mega Man X (or even Gunvolt) and then I decided to see if there were any new analysis videos and here we are. I agreed with mostly what you said. I really didn't like the level design of this game. Found myself running into enemies as well, even trying to hit the other ones but end up just hurting myself instead. The characters aren't really memorable or anything either. I'm just really disappointed. My friend on the other hand thinks this game is pretty good. He's known for liking a lot of terrible games. I wouldn't say MN9 is terrible but it isn't great. Good at most if you take out some of the technical stuff and maybe the story or whatever. He also didn't back the Kickstarter either so that's something as well. He didn't like the original Mega Mans as much and really didn't like Mega Man X at all (He's only played X1, and classic 1-3 + 9.)

[@GameAGuy]

everything

[@BainesMkII]

I wonder how much of the lack of integration of gameplay mechanics and level design was due to how the game itself was created, with Comcept doing design work and then handing it over to Inti Creates to create the game. If Comcept only did general design, then they might have handed a whole bunch of ideas to Inti Creates and left it to Inti Creates to figure out how to jam it all together (even stuff that Inti Creates wasn't necessarily fond of). If Comcept did more detailed designs, then they still might not have done enough iterative testing and modification *after* the initial designs were implemented. Regardless of how the work was broken up, it is the kind of process that leads to such gaps.

[@fendas123]

haha le epic prank at the beginning. you do know

[@hiddenhasuta]

I thought the game was unfair at times, but overall I had fun playing it.

[@andrewwestfall65]

Part of the issue with the dash is that they did fix it for the other character. The dash does small damage and you bounce back predictably and without damage on hit. He's melee based so this doesn't help him much

[@kushalneil6582]

If you place a weakened enemy at the other end,then won't a player just want to shoot it once to get rid of it ? How will the player learn that you can dash through an enemy at the weakened state ?

[@UnCreativeDeconstructionism]

"Bass-backwards" Ahhha

[@ronanriggs8307]

I think that when you dash through any enemy successfully than the very next should go through enemies without weakening them, but if you miss then you have to weaken the enemy

[@jasonalen7459]

"Bass-ackward" i just realized lol

[@tylercafe1260]

Egoraptor? I think you you mean what John told him and then regurgitated back at his audience under the guise of a "new" formula

[@jamespeters8710]

Egoraptor in the background at 5:49. I wonder how he feels about having his likeness in there now...

[@ronanclark2129]

But it's okay, no we have Mega Man Elevan!

[@ethanred338]

6:20. There was an alt fire? Really cause I slogged through the entire game and never once thought there was an alt fire

[@shecklesmack9563]

Seems like Keiji Inafune’s Influence was exaggerated, and his influence alone wasn’t enough to deliver a good experience.

[@ilovethelegend]

But why wouldn't you just shoot the already weakened enemy if it was there? Here's my idea; since a mid-air dash would have to be something learned after both jumping and dashing, make it so that during the dash tutorial, anything you have to dash through is highlighted somehow, then highlight the enemy in the same way. That way the player already looks at the enemy and goes "I can dash through that". Then, they start to realize as they shoot bigger enemies that they become highlighted this way once they've been shot a few times.

[@michaelalameda2002]

*_Don't say the infamy!_*

[@1gnore_me.]

good video, but I think that the complexity of buttons on modern consoles / pc means that they had to put button prompts in the game.