Mighty No. 9 (was "Mega Man Creator starts kickstarter for a possible Mega Man spiritual successor game.")

[Greg2600]

There's other ways to get funding than begging to your fans for support. These aren't some small indie devs. These are some pretty high profile developers so you know they've got the money. Why is it they don't put forth their own cash to fund the game? Maybe because they're not confident that the game will sell. Instead, let's just give our money to them on a game that may or may not be good, they'll profit from the Kickstarter money alone, and the game will still be released in the future for them to profit even more from it.

Look how many indie devs have developed multiple good games and haven't used Kickstarter. Some have, sure, but Kickstarter wasn't even a thing when the indie scene first got big. Studio Pixel, one person, developed Cave Story and released the game for free and people could have given him donations. No begging people for money to help him develop a game. He released the game and the option was there to donate or not, and only later was the game officially released to the market. It's still free to download if you don't want to buy the plus version though.

I've already said prior, last week actually, that I don't purchase digital unless it's cheap. I'd rather never play a game regardless how good it is if it meant paying more than $10 for it digital because regardless of how good it is, I will never own the game as a digital copy, DRM free or not. For some reason I'm not a fan of playing digital games regardless of the system it's on and it'll take me a long time to actually download a game and play it. I have over a hundred digital titles on PSN thanks to PS+ and game sharing, I've played less than 10 unless I own the physical copies. I have over 100+ titles on Steam, I've played less than 10 of them. I have over 30 titles I've purchased on GOG which I've played around 20 of those, but not the GOG versions. I've never played any of the games I've purchased on GOG. I purchased them so I'll have them on there as they're some of my favorite PC games, and it was when they were on sale for 75% off. More than likely it's going to be a very long time before I play it, on top of the fact that I don't actually own it. I'm not as interested in starting up a game that's not a physical copy.

The reward for a physical game copy in box is $60, which is basically what a brand new retail game in box costs! To assume that these "big name" developers have the money is a stretch. They are Japanese devs, which means they could have gotten the shaft when it came to big salaries, and selling percentages. Also "begging for money" is not quite accurate. If the reward is valid, you're NOT begging. You're providing something in return.

PS: I have no issue with your Digital stance, I too am not big on that. Backing the project is about making a statement to the industry more than anything. In this case, it's really the core gamers who have to provide the funding, because the industry will not.

I really wish this game was being released on a console. If it's a spiritual sequel to Mega Man, then wouldn't it be on a console?... I mean, I understand Capcom may have rights to the PS3 and Xbox or whatever, but what about XBLA or PSN?

Their last stretch goal for that release is $2.5 million. I expect that means a retail release but I'm not sure. You cannot just release on those consoles for free, there are a lot of licensing costs.

Back on topic, personally I'd like to donate, but can't see myself giving more than $5 at this point since I'll have no way of playing the game when it's first released (don't have a windows PC).

Fair point, I would prefer android, but I do have a PC. There is a MAC/Linux stretch goal which I am pretty sure they will reach (1.35 million).

As of writing, they are probably hours away from passing $900K goal.

[JakeM]

I really wish this game was being released on a console. If it's a spiritual sequel to Mega Man, then wouldn't it be on a console?... I mean, I understand Capcom may have rights to the PS3 and Xbox or whatever, but what about XBLA or PSN?

[Bojay1997]

The reward for a physical game copy in box is $60, which is basically what a brand new retail game in box costs! To assume that these "big name" developers have the money is a stretch. They are Japanese devs, which means they could have gotten the shaft when it came to big salaries, and selling percentages. Also "begging for money" is not quite accurate. If the reward is valid, you're NOT begging. You're providing something in return.

Incorrect. For $60 you get a printed box and manual, but the game copy is still digital. Having said that, a 2D game of this type wouldn't sell for $60 if it was commercially released. This would probably be a $20-$30 release. I don't know the financial situation of these developers, but they obviously have been living off some kind of capital for the 3 years the company has been in business. There are still opportunities to sell stock, get a loan, get an advance from a publisher or otherwise raise capital. Kickstarter is only one way to fund game development. Begging is a charged term and not exactly accurate, but this is a request for donations in exchange for the promise of various premiums. Like I said, I personally supported this effort, but questioning anyone who doesn't share my view that it is worthy of backing would be really inappropriate.

[Greg2600]

Like I said, I personally supported this effort, but questioning anyone who doesn't share my view that it is worthy of backing would be really inappropriate.

As I recover from falling straight back off my chair....you didn't actually just say that? On almost any crowd sourcing that gets discussed here, your pastime seems to be critiquing/bashing to the point of questioning why the project should even exist let alone be funding! Oh my, neither Tommy Lee Jones or Aaron Eckhart have anything on your crowd funding positions.

[GREEN00]

I messaged them saying that if they could promise a disc release for consoles I'd back it at the $60 level, otherwise I wasn't supporting them.

It's interesting that in the KS video Inafune goes into a retro game store to find famicom copies of classic MM games, yet this game as proposed in this KS won't be available in 20 years as it's currently digital only.

[Bojay1997]

As I recover from falling straight back off my chair....you didn't actually just say that? On almost any crowd sourcing that gets discussed here, your pastime seems to be critiquing/bashing to the point of questioning why the project should even exist let alone be funding! Oh my, neither Tommy Lee Jones or Aaron Eckhart have anything on your crowd funding positions.

I assume you didn't bother to read my comments here or in other Kickstarter threads as you would realize you have your facts wrong. It's always appropriate to raise questions and express concerns about someone or some company asking for money on Kickstarter. There have been some straight up frauds and some projects that just didn't make sense and couldn't deliver what they promised and had people not asked questions and spread the word to others, the projects may have been funded and stolen from the donors. On the other hand, it is never appropriate to attack someone for failing to support a Kickstarter regardless of the reason. It's exactly like a charity in that sense. People can choose to support something or not, but not supporting it doesn't make them a bad person or "part of the problem".

[JSoup]

So anyway, looks like console releases are now a viable stretch goal. If it gets to that point, then I'll toss in a donation.

[Nz17]

Some news I thought the Digital Press denizens would be interested in hearing:

Mighty No. 9 will be available on 15th September 2015 in the Americas and on 18th September 2015 worldwide as a digital download as well as a physical retail version for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Wii U, Windows, Linux, and Mac as well as digital only on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Portable versions for PlayStation Vita and Nintendo 3DS will follow at a later point. (No information is known about physical releases on these portable platforms.)

There will be Japanese, French, and English voice-overs. There will be English, Japanese, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Russian, Polish, and Brazilian Portuguese subtitles. The entire Ray (Mighty No. 0) DLC set composed of an extra level, boss, and playable character has been added at no extra charge to the backer and physical releases of the game.

Source: http://www.mightyno9.com/en/20150429

[The 1 2 P]

I want a physical copy so it looks like I'll be picking the XBO version over the 360 version. I might double down on the 3DS version if it turns out to be a physical copy as well.

[Niku-Sama]

man that took for ever

[Tanooki]

I thought the 3DS version was a physical release? I hope it stays so, otherwise I guess the PS4 would be it as the PC one which I'd prefer would be SteamDRM crippleware.

[Graham Mitchell]

I've played the 3-level demo. It's really fun. Can't wait to see how all the mechanics play out in the end. For better or for worse, it's basically a Mega Man game. There is a cool new "dash" mechanic where you can build up combos for increased score, but there were times I swear I was seeing a Bubble Man level remake. Personally, I like that, but a lot of naysayers may slam it for lack of innovation.

But whatever. If this is successful when it's released, it may send a message to the big guys that sometimes these kinds of projects are worth investing in...

Now we have Bloodstained Ritual of the Night to look forward to...

[The Adventurer]

man that took for ever

Not... Really?

Game development takes a good chunk of time.

[JSoup]

Not... Really?

Game development takes a good chunk of time.

If anything, they came in under projection.

[Nz17]

FYI, there is now an official Mighty No. 9 live action movie in the works.

[sfchakan]

I'm glad they're sorting that out. It truly is the most pressing concern for the game.

[Nz17]

Awhile ago, it was officially confirmed that Mighty No. 9 has been delayed to work on bugs and the online multi-player. Do you think the delay of MN9 to 2016 is a good thing?

Personally, I'd rather have a delay than to have a buggy & incomplete game. Sure, the multi-player could be shoehorned in later, and bugs could be patched along the way, but I think it is better to have it "complete" and functioning properly at launch to ensure the best scores for reviews and the best gameplay experiences for players. Plus with the physical copies of the game, I'd rather have those be as complete as possible to avoid having to patch if we want to play it 10 - 20 years in the future.

[Tupin]

This entire game has been a mess in so many ways from day one. I'll only ever end up picking it up when it's 90% off on Steam sales in a few years.

[JSoup]

It's almost certainly going to be in a cheap Humbe Bundle or a PSN+ freebie.

[Tanooki]

Awhile ago, it was officially confirmed that Mighty No. 9 has been delayed to work on bugs and the online multi-player. Do you think the delay of MN9 to 2016 is a good thing?

Personally, I'd rather have a delay than to have a buggy & incomplete game. Sure, the multi-player could be shoehorned in later, and bugs could be patched along the way, but I think it is better to have it "complete" and functioning properly at launch to ensure the best scores for reviews and the best gameplay experiences for players. Plus with the physical copies of the game, I'd rather have those be as complete as possible to avoid having to patch if we want to play it 10 - 20 years in the future.

Same here. Want it on 3DS. Do not want to have this game need stupid patches sent to my handheld over wifi. It just needs to work and correctly, like games did for a very long time before harddrives caused the cancer of releasing beta games and using day one suckers at guinea pigs to iron out their bugs instead of paying more people to do that internally. I'm shocked why few ever call out companies for stuff like that and still reward them with praise and high scores only to complain about it after the fact.