Keiji Inafune's Mighty No. 9 [KICKSTARTER]

Walter

Walter

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http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mightyno9/mighty-no-9

Keiji Inafune has announced his next project, a Mega Man inspired side scrolling action game called Mighty No. 9. Watch the video to learn a little more. Basically, sincec Inafune left Capcom, he can't make another Mega Man game, so he did the next best thing. Make one anyway, just using original intellectual property.

I backed it already at the $20 level. Hey, I'm up for more Mega Man.
 
'Kotaku' said:
In an interview conducted at PAX this morning, Inafune said that the Japanese publisher hasn't been in touch with regard to Mighty No. 9. The close resemblance between Mega Man and Mighty No. 9 is the kind of thing that companies go to court over. I asked him what he thought about a possible legal showdown and his answer—which came through a translator—follows:P
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'Inafune' said:
"We haven't heard anything from Capcom at this point. If it turns into a legal battle, then obviously it'll be lawyers that hash out what the solutions are. However, from my perspectiv, Mega Man is something that I created. It would be like having a child, then having somebody adopt that child and then saying that child isn't really yours. That child has your DNA in it, no matter what anybody says. So, since my style, my spirit isn't something that I can't change as a human being, if I create anything and it's something that looks like [Mega Man], well, it was created by the same person, me. To say that Mighty No. 9 looks like Mega Man is to say that my work looks like my work.

But we have been careful. The base gameplay is not the same as Mega Man. The naming, the character, all that is not the same. The details are very different. Personally, I've gone out of my way to make sure that this is something original. And if Capcom does come back and say something, I would be surprised."
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This game looks pretty neat, but I don't really trust Inafune. Can't say I like the way he's portraying the situation either.
 
I like the name, I like the design, and I love Mega Man, so it looks pretty cool to me. Of course, clone titles, even spiritual sequels by the original team, don't have a great track record of recapturing the glory of their predecessors, and I am concerned about them getting the mechanics and look just right (I really hope it's not in the style of this picture). I do appreciate that they aren't trying at all to hide the fact that it's Mega Man (check out the 4:30 mark of the video!), even ripping off Hard Hat with... Cone Head? =)

Aazealh said:
This game looks pretty neat, but I don't really trust Inafune. Can't say I like the way he's portraying the situation either.
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Like how Mega Man, character and game, was actually created and designed by Akira Kitamura (A.K.), who I am sorry to see is not involved with this project (if Inafune had gotten him back then this would really be exciting, and I wish someone would ask Inafune about it). Inafune has been open about this in the past:

http://www.gamespot.com//news/tgs-07-mega-man-celebrates-20th-anniversary-6179759? said:
"I'm often called the father of Mega Man, but actually, his design was already created when I joined Capcom," he explained. "My mentor [at Capcom], who was the designer of the original Mega Man, had a basic concept of what Mega Man was supposed to look like. So I only did half of the job in creating him."
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http://www.gamespot.com//news/tgs-07-mega-man-celebrates-20th-anniversary-6179759? said:
I'm often called the creator of Mega Man or the father of Mega Man, but it's really the Mega Man series that created me."
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He elaborated on this further in Mega Man: Official Complete Works.

Inafune said:
"The guy who put the whole project in motion was my mentor. He began his career as a designer, and he was the ones who created the original forms of Mega Man, Roll, and Doctor Light as dot graphics. I then took those images and turned them into illustrations, giving them motion and making adjustments to the designs."
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He goes on to designate Elec Man as the first Mega Man character he actually created. So, it wasn't exactly his DNA that created Mega Man. Also, the whole legal question that spawned his response is a bit unseemly. Those questions are best answered by saying little to nothing at all (the way he states it is almost like a challenge). Of course, I'm hoping Capcom responds by putting another Mega Man game into production immediately. If nothing else, Inafune should be commended for giving them motivation to stop neglecting the franchise out of spite or whatever (they should bring back A.K. and go out of their way to promote him as the true creator of Mega Man, portraying Inafune as a fraudulent hack they created =). Anyway, they have until 2015 to make a counter move and then it's Mighty No. 9! :daiba:
 
Griffith said:
Like how Mega Man, character and game, was actually created and designed by Akira Kitamura (A.K.), who I am sorry to see is not involved with this project (if Inafune had gotten him back then this would really be exciting, and I wish someone would ask Inafune about it).
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Yup. Plus the fact his game really just is a Mega Man clone, and the video isn't exactly subtle on that point. There's another game largely inspired by Mega Man that interests me ten times more than this: Shovel Knight.

Griffith said:
Also, the whole legal question that spawned his response is a bit unseemly. Those questions are best answered by saying little to nothing at all (the way he states it is almost like a challenge).
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Agreed, he's pretty much taunting Capcom and that seems completely inappropriate to me. So we'll see, I sure hope his game ends up being awesome, and I hope it prompts Capcom to resurrect the Mega Man series too. I'm not putting money into it though.
 
Aazealh said:
Yup. Plus the fact his game really just is a Mega Man clone, and the video isn't exactly subtle on that point. There's another game largely inspired by Mega Man that interests me ten times more than this: Shovel Knight.
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Isn't that more Duck Tales than Mega Man, or at least as much? Coming soon too...

Aazealh said:
Agreed, he's pretty much taunting Capcom and that seems completely inappropriate to me. So we'll see, I sure hope his game ends up being awesome, and I hope it prompts Capcom to resurrect the Mega Man series too. I'm not putting money into it though.
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Well, looks like you won't need to since its already practically reached its goal, which is like 3 times the Shovel Knight budget. A nice showing for Mega Man (see that, Capcom), and it's like there's no limit to the amount of capital that can be generated by these crowd funding sites (they should have asked for more =).
 
Griffith said:
Isn't that more Duck Tales than Mega Man, or at least as much? Coming soon too...
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It's a mix of many things, Mega Man, Duck Tales, even some Castlevania and Zelda II here and there... But Mega Man is their main influence, what with the bosses for each stage and all that. They even got Manami Matsumae doing a couple tracks for them alongside virt.

Griffith said:
Well, looks like you won't need to since its already practically reached its goal, which is like 3 times the Shovel Knight budget. A nice showing for Mega Man (see that, Capcom), and it's like there's no limit to the amount of capital that can be generated by these crowd funding sites (they should have asked for more =).
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Eh, it's a pretty difficult thing to gauge in advance I think. The audience for these projects is very fickle and can put some into orbit as easily as it can let others hang dry. But of course, this particular project never ran any risk of not being funded.
 
Aazealh said:
There's another game largely inspired by Mega Man that interests me ten times more than this: Shovel Knight.
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Speaking of which, Mighty09 guys gave a shout out to Shovel Knight's team for helping them along the process:

" Let's kick this off with a great big nod to the Shovel Knight team at Yacht Club Games, who gave us loads of advice and encouragement on shaping our Kickstarter campaign! There's not many places you can go to find a good example of how to do a traditionally-console-centric genre on Kickstarter, much less how to do it right; these guys and gals not only nailed it game- and Kickstarter-wise, but were willing to answer about 10,000 email questions from us at all hours of the day and night. And yes, they were at work all hours of the day and night, 'cause that's just how dedicated they are to making their game awesome!"
 
Yeah and Inafune came to visit them at PAX Prime too. They also advertized his game in an email to their own backers, pretty nice of them I think.

SeanErinInafune.jpg
 
I'd love to have this USB for it haha:

f5OgxUn.jpg


As I type this it has ~12 hours left and ~150k$ to hit the 3.5 mil mark.

Griffith said:
(I really hope it's not in the style of this picture)
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Here's a test of the engine, doesn't look anything like that graphic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UXDiQrgI6M
 
Well it's comin to 3DS which I dig. ;D

Walter said:
That's not true...
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Perspective? When I look at that picture I think of those anime/comic inspired graphics in 2D games like this. Anyway, we also have to keep in mind that video is all placeholder and with only 7 days of work so I imagine the finished product will look a great deal better.
 
Deci said:
Well it's comin to 3DS which I dig. ;D
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I can't believe it made that much money in so short a time... people are crazy. Uh, I mean, great work!

Perspective? When I look at that picture I think of those anime/comic inspired graphics in 2D games like this. Anyway, we also have to keep in mind that video is all placeholder and with only 7 days of work so I imagine the finished product will look a great deal better.
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The video is a pretty accurate 3D representation of the 2D concept art presented earlier. That's why I called you out on saying it "doesn't look anything like that graphic."
 
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