TL;DR - It's not as horrible as some people would have you believe, but it's a far cry from being a good game. It's okay at best, bad at worst, thus the negative recommendation. It has too many bad design choices to make me consider it anywhere near good.


I say this as a Megaman fan, I say this as a backer (Mighty Number 66298), and I say this as a gamer. This game suffers so much from trying to emulate Megaman, and trying to be it's own thing. Let's go over the three main design decisions that hurt this game way too much for it to be considered good:


This is fine, except that the game isn't well designed around it. Consider other platformer games that include dashing or airdashing as a core gameplay mechanic - there's either obstacles or some form of limit to how much you can dash in midair, so to prevent you from bypassing stages almost entirely.

The game isn't well balanced around the dash. You have unlimited dashes midair, plus you also can just bypass scores of enemies by dashing through them altogether. There's also the option of fighting enemies in the way, but I'll cover that in the below point.

To MN9's credit, the obstacles come in the form of instant death spikes or enemies, but the enemies are mostly bland and the spikes can range from being obnoxiously placed (Dyna and Cryo's stages come to mind) or negligible.

The enemies point is important, because...


In game design, there's a point to be had with viscerality. What I mean by this is that impacts or hitting enemies should feel satisfying and thus have that extra "oomph" or juice to it. I have a link below to demonstrate what I mean about this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=216_5nu4aVQ

Why am I pointing this out? Not only does Mighty Number 9 lack the said viscerality that I mention that most games do have, the sounds that do pop up are either annoying or not very satisfying. Having "good moments" in the game end up being rather mundane and boring is not fun. The sound effects and the particle effects for eliminating enemies are not satisfying.

This isn't even getting into the fundamentals of the combat itself. The dash centric gameplay means that enemies must have enough space to avoid dashing into one (unless you want to shoot an enemy enough until it disappears, not even explode), or you'll hurt yourself by dashing into the enemy behind the one you absorb, unless you have the red Xel powerup. But even then, the dash centric gameplay means that - unless you're playing for score, which seems odd considering this game seems catered toward speedrunners - you'd be avoiding combat unless you love this style.

That also doesn't include the many instances in the game where you're locked in a room and are forced to eliminate enemies before being allowed to proceed. I'd forgive this lazy attempt at padding the game's length if the game was well designed around combat...

...but it is not. The combat is dull for all the reasons I mentioned above and I made every effort to look for ways to avoid it after the first hour.


What I mean here is that aside from the tutorial - which seems odd considering this is on the heels of games like Shovel Knight - the game's stages do very little to teach you about the obstacles or gimmicks and how to get used to them, then be challenged with them.

Instead, the game expects you to be able to react to them the instant they appear without any learning curve. Let's go over a few examples from Megaman, since it's a relevant franchise to cover regarding this game, for examples of what I find Mighty Number 9 is lacking:

• Guts Man's stage with his infamous moving platforms are designed in such a way so the second platform will demonstrate how it dips on the path before you even have a chance to drop down on top of it. This shows you what the obstacle is, and the danger around it.
  
• Heat Man's disappearing blocks are introduced in a relatively safe area with an enemy that kills you in around 10 hits (haven't checked in a while) that you can avoid, to punish you if you fail. This leads to another obstacle course where you have to use smaller sets of disappearing blocks to climb walls with slow drones to punish you if you're too slow, topping off with a lengthier but straightforward disappearing block segment at the end.
  
• Spark Man's stage has these platforms that rise up when you stand on them. The first one you see tries to put you into spikes, but you have enough time (2 seconds) to see that the platform is going to rise up and send you into spikes. If you feel unsafe when you're rising up, you can run off to the left and be completely safe. This tops off later near the end of the stage where you're going across a lengthier set of these platforms alongside enemies.
  
• Dive Man's stage places you underwater and has you go with water physics alongside platforming. This gives you enough time and room to navigate through enemies and spikes at the bottom. The game increases the challenge later in the stage by adding spikes near the surface of the water and having the water level rise/lower.

There are multiple other examples of gameplay design like this in Mario and Metroid.

My point is that Mighty Number 9 fails at doing this (and the Megaman series has been consistent with this sort of game design since it's inception!), and instead wants to fill the game with pointless chatter that I don't care about for the most part, almost like the characters are just talking to fill in the dead air (especially looking at you, Sanda).

How does Mighty Number 9 fail at doing this, you ask? Two immediate examples come to mind, assuming you're tackling the stage without using any powerups (as well designed Megaman games have it so that you can beat any of the starting 8 stages first):

• Power Plant stage. You're expected at the end of the stage to use a crouching dash to avoid the low hanging instant death rotors. This would be fine, except I had no reason to use the crouching dash before, and the game suddenly expects me to space it perfectly twice in order to avoid instant death. Having a tutorial segment of it earlier in the stage where, I don't know, across an area where you don't instantly die before throwing you into this would have helped so much.
  
• Mine stage. You're expected to take the red Xel powerup from the not-Sniper Joe enemy to go through an obstacle course where the red powerup is mandatory. There is no prior buildup to this obstacle course at all, and having that available would have made this a lot more forgivable.

This isn't even going into other bad design decisions such as, off the top of my head:

• Multiple boss fights have the characters talk more of the aforementioned pointless chatter over the actual gameplay noises. This is mostly notable in fights like Pyro's, where I need to hear his voice cues to avoid instant death and these idiots are talking over the said voice cues.
  
  
• Fighting bosses without their weaknesses (and sometimes even with their weaknesses) are exercises in monotony. Bosses take way too many shots to finish a phase, and with the limited attack patterns the bosses have, the bosses never really change things enough to make things interesting.
  
  
• Beck's voice clips when you absorb an enemy becomes very annoying and repetitive. This is supposed to be a core element of the gameplay, and should feel satisfying, not annoying.

I'd put more but I'm approaching the character limit. I'll just add that if your fast paced action platformer feels dull and monotonous, it failed in QA. I don't care if it's "indie" or not.

EDIT: Formating, proofreading

TL;DR - It's not as horrible as some people would have you believe, but it's a far cry from being a good game. It's okay at best, bad at worst, thus the negative recommendation. It has too many bad design choices to make me consider it anywhere near good. [h1][b]I don't like this game.[/b][/h1] I say this as a Megaman fan, I say this as a backer (Mighty Number 66298), and I say this as a gamer. This game suffers so much from trying to emulate Megaman, and trying to be it's own thing. Let's go over the three main design decisions that hurt this game way too much for it to be considered good: [h1][u]The game is too dependent on dashing as a core gameplay mechanic.[/u][/h1] This is fine, except that the game isn't well designed around it. Consider other platformer games that include dashing or airdashing as a core gameplay mechanic - there's either obstacles or some form of limit to how much you can dash in midair, so to prevent you from bypassing stages almost entirely. The game isn't well balanced around the dash. You have unlimited dashes midair, plus you also can just bypass scores of enemies by dashing through them altogether. There's also the option of fighting enemies in the way, but I'll cover that in the below point. To MN9's credit, the obstacles come in the form of instant death spikes or enemies, but the enemies are mostly bland and the spikes can range from being obnoxiously placed (Dyna and Cryo's stages come to mind) or negligible. The enemies point is important, because... [h1][u]The game's combat isn't fun.[/u][/h1] In game design, there's a point to be had with viscerality. What I mean by this is that impacts or hitting enemies should feel satisfying and thus have that extra "oomph" or juice to it. I have a link below to demonstrate what I mean about this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=216_5nu4aVQ Why am I pointing this out? Not only does Mighty Number 9 lack the said viscerality that I mention that most games do have, the sounds that do pop up are either annoying or not very satisfying. Having "good moments" in the game end up being rather mundane and boring is not fun. The sound effects and the particle effects for eliminating enemies are not satisfying. This isn't even getting into the fundamentals of the combat itself. The dash centric gameplay means that enemies must have enough space to avoid dashing into one (unless you want to shoot an enemy enough until it disappears, not even explode), or you'll hurt yourself by dashing into the enemy behind the one you absorb, unless you have the red Xel powerup. But even then, the dash centric gameplay means that - unless you're playing for score, which seems odd considering this game seems catered toward speedrunners - you'd be avoiding combat unless you love this style. That also doesn't include the many instances in the game where you're locked in a room and are forced to eliminate enemies before being allowed to proceed. I'd forgive this lazy attempt at padding the game's length if the game was well designed around combat... ...but it is not. The combat is dull for all the reasons I mentioned above and I made every effort to look for ways to avoid it after the first hour. [h1][u]The game doesn't teach the player very well.[/u][/h1] What I mean here is that aside from the tutorial - which seems odd considering this is on the heels of games like Shovel Knight - the game's stages do very little to teach you about the obstacles or gimmicks and how to get used to them, then be challenged with them. Instead, the game expects you to be able to react to them the instant they appear without any learning curve. Let's go over a few examples from Megaman, since it's a relevant franchise to cover regarding this game, for examples of what I find Mighty Number 9 is lacking: [list] [*][b]Guts Man's[/b] stage with his infamous moving platforms are designed in such a way so the second platform will demonstrate how it dips on the path before you even have a chance to drop down on top of it. This shows you what the obstacle is, and the danger around it. [*][b]Heat Man's[/b] disappearing blocks are introduced in a relatively safe area with an enemy that kills you in around 10 hits (haven't checked in a while) that you can avoid, to punish you if you fail. This leads to another obstacle course where you have to use smaller sets of disappearing blocks to climb walls with slow drones to punish you if you're too slow, topping off with a lengthier but straightforward disappearing block segment at the end. [*][b]Spark Man's[/b] stage has these platforms that rise up when you stand on them. The first one you see tries to put you into spikes, but you have enough time (2 seconds) to see that the platform is going to rise up and send you into spikes. If you feel unsafe when you're rising up, you can run off to the left and be completely safe. This tops off later near the end of the stage where you're going across a lengthier set of these platforms alongside enemies. [*][b]Dive Man's[/b] stage places you underwater and has you go with water physics alongside platforming. This gives you enough time and room to navigate through enemies and spikes at the bottom. The game increases the challenge later in the stage by adding spikes near the surface of the water and having the water level rise/lower.[/list] There are multiple other examples of gameplay design like this in Mario and Metroid. My point is that Mighty Number 9 fails at doing this (and the Megaman series has been consistent with this sort of game design since it's inception!), and instead wants to fill the game with pointless chatter that I don't care about for the most part, almost like the characters are just talking to fill in the dead air (especially looking at you, Sanda). How does Mighty Number 9 fail at doing this, you ask? Two immediate examples come to mind, assuming you're tackling the stage without using any powerups (as well designed Megaman games have it so that you can beat any of the starting 8 stages first):[list] [*]Power Plant stage. You're expected at the end of the stage to use a crouching dash to avoid the low hanging instant death rotors. This would be fine, except [b]I had no reason to use the crouching dash before, and the game suddenly expects me to space it perfectly twice in order to avoid instant death[/b]. Having a tutorial segment of it earlier in the stage where, I don't know, across an area where you don't instantly die before throwing you into this would have helped so much. [*]Mine stage. You're expected to take the red Xel powerup from the not-Sniper Joe enemy to go through an obstacle course where the red powerup is [b]mandatory[/b]. There is no prior buildup to this obstacle course at all, and having that available would have made this a lot more forgivable.[/list] This isn't even going into other bad design decisions such as, off the top of my head: [list][*]Multiple boss fights have the characters talk more of the aforementioned pointless chatter over the actual gameplay noises. This is mostly notable in fights like Pyro's, where [b]I need to hear his voice cues to avoid instant death[/b] and these idiots are talking over the said voice cues. [*]Fighting bosses without their weaknesses (and sometimes even with their weaknesses) are exercises in monotony. Bosses take way too many shots to finish a phase, and with the limited attack patterns the bosses have, the bosses never really change things enough to make things interesting. [*]Beck's voice clips when you absorb an enemy becomes very annoying and repetitive. This is supposed to be a core element of the gameplay, and should feel satisfying, not annoying.[/list] I'd put more but I'm approaching the character limit. I'll just add that if your fast paced action platformer feels dull and monotonous, it failed in QA. I don't care if it's "indie" or not. EDIT: Formating, proofreading