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The video game industry isn’t always a perfect world where developers have every opportunity to follow their dreams and succeed.
The video game industry isn’t always a perfect world where developers have every opportunity to follow their dreams and succeed. The market is driven primarily by money, and even the most famous directorsaren’t safe from developers deciding their time is up. Whatever the circumstances, sometimes developers aren’t able to directly pursue sequels to the games that made them famous. Even then, when that happens, gamers are treated to an exciting new possibility: spiritual successors.
One of the most notable spiritual successor projects currently in development is the product of a massively successful Kickstarter campaignand a beloved industry veteran. Keiji Inafune’s Mighty No. 9 is the Mega Man creator’s take on how he would’ve developed the franchise that Capcom currently owns, and it has gamers excited about some classic, Mega Man inspired action for the current generation of consoles and PCs.
Unfortunately, Mighty No. 9 has been hindered by constantly shifting release dates and multiple delays in development, which has played a part in quelling some of the initial excitement surrounding the game. For those fans still eagerly anticipating Inafune’s new project, Comcept, the studio in charge of the game’s production, has once again given Mighty No. 9 a target date for release.
Comcept announced today thatwill be coming to consoles and PCs on February 9, 2016 in North America, with a worldwide release to come a few days later on February 12. The game will be available on virtually every platform currently seeing game production, due to a stretch goal incentive that Inafune and Comcept listed in their Kickstarter campaign. Mighty No. 9 reached its funding in under 48 hours once its project page went live, so it’s safe to say the ambitious release plan isn’t just bravado on Comcept’s part.
Mighty No. 9 is, of course, followed ubiquitously by mentions of the Mega Man series, a byproduct of Inafune’s ties to the beloved platformer. The constant comparisons aren’t unjust, either: the game is very similar to the Mega Man games of old, with some modern twists on the classic formula. The most notable differences are the game’s difficulty, which is scaled back relative to how punishing the older Mega Man games could be, and its speed, as the pace of Mighty No. 9 is much faster than its inspiration.
Alongside the different mechanics and quirky character design, Mighty No. 9 looks to make just enough tweaks to an already successful outline to create a new niche in the gaming world. Given his track record with past games and the promise Mighty No. 9 shows, as long as the February release date sticks, Inafune should find plenty of forgiveness from a fanbase ready to see what he has to offer next.
Did you back Mighty No. 9 on Kickstarter? Do you believe this release date is the final one? Let us know what you think in the comments.
Mighty No. 9 releases for for Linux, Mac, PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii U, 3Ds, and Vita, finally, on February 9, 2016 in North America. A worldwide release will follow on February 12.