Former character designer and producer of Mega Man video game series (aka Rockman) Keiji Inafune is developing a new game called Mighty No. 9 with the help of Kickstarter crowdfunding project.
Mighty No. 9 is an all-new Japanese side-scrolling action game that takes the best aspects of the 8- and 16-bit era classics you know and love, and transforms them with modern tech, fresh mechanics, and fan input into something fresh and amazing!
You play as Beck, the 9th in a line of powerful robots, and the only one not infected by a mysterious computer virus that has caused mechanized creatures the world over to go berserk. Run, jump, blast, and transform your way through six stages (or more, via stretch goals) you can tackle in any order you choose, using weapons and abilities stolen from your enemies to take down your fellow Mighty Number robots and confront the final evil that threatens the planet!
Mighty No. 9 is being developed for the PC with gamepad support (of course!), and will be made available through Steam and DRM-free digital distribution methods. Other platforms, including home consoles, Mac, and Linux, are a high priority, but only if we can afford them via stretch goals. Should we reach those goals, anyone funding the project will be allowed to choose which version of the game they would like to receive. The estimated release date is spring 2015.
Overall, Mighty No. 9's concept and rough story line will sounds highly resembling to that of the original Mega Man - a 2D platform game where the protagonist robot will have to defeat rogue robots, obtain their weapons, and ultimately confront the one behind the chaos. In a way it will be a spiritual successor to Inafune's Mega Man series back in his Capcom time. What makes Mega Man memorable with fans was not necessarily the graphics or story, but rather the fast paced gameplay, easy control, and hard difficulty.
Within just 2 days of its reveal, the project already met its minimum funding amount of 900,000USD. Fans are really getting pumped for it, which is shown by how quickly the minimum funding goal is reached, and even breaking through some of the extended goals already! The game is only just in the planning stage, and is forecast to release in 2015, so we will have quite some time to look forward to.
Will we still get to see more Mega Man / Rockman from Capcom? Unfortunately as Inafune no longer works in Capcom (his latest works, including Mega Man Legends 3 / Rockman DASH 3, were cancelled against his wish, which contributed to him leaving the company), it's really hard to see what is up for its future there, but hopefully its ideas and features will be succeeded down to Mighty No. 9.
Website:
Kickstarter page
Japanese page
I am glad to see that his Kickstarter project is moving full speed ahead. It is a great way to get a project off the ground, but so may of them don't make it even though they have wonderful ideas.
ReplyDeleteThe funding for this project sure went really quick, at least for the minimum goal! The hardest part is the development, which will take more than a year, and there can be many unexpected hiccups here and there. It is always a pity when creative ideas don't get materialised due to funding or other development problems, but those do make through can make a whole lot of difference, as crowdfunding becomes more and more popular.
DeleteInafune and his colleagues are seasoned developers who have worked together before in many occasions. It was a pity that the latest Mega Man games were cancelled by Capcom much to their disappointment. Hopefully this will help free them from the restrictions and really make what they want.