What Went Wrong With Mighty No. 9

If you're a fan of platforming games, chances are you enjoy the Mega Man series. It's a classic example of the genre that offers some intense challenge and exciting action. While it's true that there are plenty of Mega Man games you can play, there's always a demand for more titles like it. That's why Keiji Inafune, the Blue Bomber's creator, crowdfunded a new game that was much like the Mega Man franchise. Unfortunately, that crowdfunded project wound up disappointing everyone. It was a game called Mighty No. 9.

The game garnered a lot of attention, but it was an overhyped mess that ended up being quite terrible. It's likely that Inafune was more disappointed in Mighty No. 9 than any other project in his portfolio. It failed to meet deadlines, and the numerous delays upset fans everywhere. What went wrong?

This is what happened to Mighty No. 9 that made it a total flop.

According to Uproxx writer Nathan Birch, Mighty No. 9 didn't just have a rough launch: The game had a "rocky development" as well. Its Kickstarter campaign exceeded expectations, raking in a whopping $4 million and overpromising an abundance of lofty stretch goals.

What was originally slated for 2015 got pushed out over a year later, with a lot of ill will generated along the way. It started when the developers returned to their backers for even more dough. Considering how the project blasted its initial goal, such a request came off as greedy, and gamers weren't buying it. To make matters worse, Inafune launched another Kickstarter before completing Mighty No. 9 — an unfortunate move that pretty much doomed the project.

Regardless, development continued to the point where it was allegedly near completion and on track to meeting its projected launch date. Four delays and an awful trailer later, and the game released to paltry fanfare. The creators managed to do everything wrong they could have possibly done, delivering a game that wasn't even good.

When Mighty No. 9 finally landed, not only did it fail to live up to expectations, but it failed to stand out at all. In his review for IGN, Vince Ingenito said, "Mighty No. 9 doesn't seem to have a good sense of what was fun about Mega Man, or 2D action-platformers in general." Ollie Barder of Forbes found the level design to be incredibly flawed, the bosses too difficult to enjoy the core mechanics, and the visuals disappointing. GamesBeat's Mike Minotti called it "a bland, frustrating game that doesn't deserve to succeed Mega Man." The gameplay wasn't the only problem, however.

Things were bad for those who funded the project. Not only were some backers having issues actually getting the game upon release, but there was a problem with one of the rewards. For $60, fans could get a box and manual in the style of NES or Famicom packaging.

This item was delayed even longer than the game, and when it arrived, those who opted for the Famicom version found that the manual was bigger than the box. Mighty No. 9 was truly a disaster from the beginning to the bitter end.