Mighty No. 9 - Kickstarter Project by Mega Man Creator Keiji Inafune

Keiji Inafune, father of Rockman/Mega Man finally announced a new game that he and his new company Comcept is working on. What most people and even Inafune himself is saying as the spiritual successor of Mega Man, Might No. 9 looks like something to get excited about.

Announced at PAX this past weekend, Mighty No. 9 is a Kickstarter project by Inafune. With a goal of $900,000, Mighty No. 9 is said to be the classic Japanese side-scrolling acount we all loved but evolved.

From Kickstarter Page:

Classic Japanese side-scrolling action, evolved and transformed by Keiji Inafune, an all-star team of veteran Mega Man devs...and YOU!

Mighty No. 9 is an all-new Japanese side-scrolling action game that takes the best aspects of the 8- and 16-bit era classics you know and love, and transforms them with modern tech, fresh mechanics, and fan input into something fresh and amazing!

You play as Beck, the 9th in a line of powerful robots, and the only one not infected by a mysterious computer virus that has caused mechanized creatures the world over to go berserk. Run, jump, blast, and transform your way through six stages (or more, via stretch goals) you can tackle in any order you choose, using weapons and abilities stolen from your enemies to take down your fellow Mighty Number robots and confront the final evil that threatens the planet!

Every aspect of development—art, level design, music, programming, etc.—is being handled by veteran Japanese game creators with extensive experience in the genre, and with Mega Man in particular, all the way up to and including the project’s leader, Keiji Inafune himself! Backers will have unprecedented access to seeing this team at work through blogs, podcasts, videos, concept art—the works!

Mighty No. 9 is being developed for the PC with gamepad support (of course!), and will be made available through Steam and DRM-free digital distribution methods. Other platforms, including home consoles, Mac, and Linux, are a high priority, but only if we can afford them via stretch goals. Should we reach those goals, anyone funding the project will be allowed to choose which version of the game they would like to receive. The estimated release date is spring 2015.

Crowdfunding is the new thing with developers right now. But even this still falls in with the old tradition of Mega Man game development where in people would send their robot designs to Capcom to be added into the games. In all shapes and forms, from the art design, supposed gameplay style and audience involvement, this could very well be a true spiritual successor to the blue bomber. As of this post, they have reached $981,184 and with 29 days to go. I am very excited for this.