Preview

Mighty No.9 PS4 Hands-on Preview

Masterminded by the creator of Mega Man, Keiji Inafune, it’s no surprise that Mighty No.9 channels Capcom’s classic 2D platformer and harkens back to the early 90s glory days of pixel perfect platforming and brutal, trial-and-error gameplay. That’s no bad thing, mind, as our hands-on time with Comcept’s vibrant shoot-’em-up/platform hybrid left us more than satisfied that Mighty No.9 is shaping up to be one of the most enjoyable and challenging platformers we’ve got our mitts on in quite a while.  

Mighty No.9 plonks you in the role of trigger-happy Buck, a creation of Dr. White, as he’s guided through missions by his team back at HQ. Our preview time gave us a glimpse at some of the main campaign stags, which are all available to play in any order you so desire. In addition, we were also told that a Challenge Mode and Boss Rush Mode will be available to get to grips with in the final build. 

Inafune’s latest shares much of its core DNA with the Blue Bomber, and that’s no bad thing. You’ll run, jump, shoot, and probably die quite a lot through various stages, although Mighty No.9 manages to differentiate itself from the trappings of its Mega Man influences admirably during our playtime. The game is very much a fast-paced affair, with emphasis on racking up combos and traversing the environment in a seamless, effortless series of well-timed leaps. Chief among Mighty No.09’s mechanics is the dash move, which has two main functions; the first being to speed up traversal and circumvent traps such as mines and spike pits, while the other allows you to absorb foes, which adds towards your combo tally in the process. 


Enemies require a bit of softening up first however, so you can just mindlessly spam the R1 button to absorb them right away. However, I soon found myself getting into a satisfying rhythm of blasting foes with my standard firearm before quickly hitting R1 to dispatch an enemy cleanly and efficiently, and before long I was nabbing some impressive combos. Of course, given Mighty No.9’s roots in the retro platform space, there’s plenty of timing required for certain jumps as verticality comes into play throughout many of the stages, with the dash function helping to keep things flowing at a brisk pace. This also extends to boss battles, where you’ll need to use the dash to damage bosses when their health reaches a certain point.

Another key component in Mighty No.9’s arsenal are the power suites you get. Flicking through the L1/R2 button will allow you to select from a variety of different power-ups, including a Samurai outfit, a suite that allows you to lob high-explosive missiles (my personal favorite and an excellent boss-killer), ice-lobbing powers, and a bizarre helicopter-like suite that lets you slice up your victims with a health-draining blade. These powers are once again tied into the absorb function, as you’ll need to keep draining foes in order to keep your suite powerbar filled to the max. Needless to say, strapping on this new clobber keeps things fresh, and it’s fun to try out different suites for different stages, particularly when facing bosses, as some are more effective than others. While our arsenal was fully unlocked, you’ll need to earn new suites by defeating bosses in the final game.

Again, this all ties in neatly with the fast-paced nature of Mighty No.9. As you progress and unlock more suites, you’ll eventually be able to conquer stages and bosses in ultra-fast time, improving your score and rank—certainly better than the dismal ‘D’ I received from beating one of the stages, that’s for sure. Before long, you’ll be effortlessly gliding through each environment, raking in combos and navigating traps with ease, and scoring high as a result. In this respect, I can see Mighty No.9 offering a lot of replay value as you attempt to increase your rank and time through multiple playthroughs.

With its vibrant aesthetics, multi-faceted gameplay, and fast-paced platforming, Mighty No.9 is more than just a Mega Man clone; it stands firmly on its own two feet, and my hands-on time with Inafune’s latest project left me in no doubt that there’s more than enough here to keep both hardcore and casual fans of the genre hooked. It’s challenging but never to the point of being frustrating, and ultimately rewards your patience and skill as games should do: with an assortment of juicy power-ups ripe for the picking and the gratification of clobbering a hulking boss. It’ll be interesting to see how much content the final game packs in, but for now, Mighty No.9 looks sure to be a winner.