Keiji Inafune gave us all an update on the progress of his latest Mega Man clone platformer project, Mighty No. 9 at GDC. The team is still hard at work getting the game off the ground, but off the ground it is as Inafune was proud to show us a video of the game in motion.
On the surface, Mighty No. 9 plays a lot like Mega Man , as you would expect. However, there are a few differences. First of all, shooting an enemy puts it into a temporary stun state where it won’t move or attack. When stunned, you can either continue to fire at it to finish it off, or you can dash through it in order to absorb its power. Doing so grants you a temporary bonus, such as an increase to your weapon power, health upgrades, damage reduction, speed upgrades, double jumps and more.
Beck has a lot of abilities that Mega Man does not. For one, he can jump in a direction without turning that way. This allows him to jump backward and fire at enemies pursuing him. He can also aim his shots downward while in the air. It’s unclear whether or not he is also able to aim up while standing on the ground.
Becks energy dash acts a lot like a combination of the slide from Mega Man and the dash from Mega Man X. It keeps him low to the ground, like the slide does, however it can be used mid-air, like later versions of the Mega Man X dash. In addition, dashing off a platform doesn’t make Beck fall down. Instead, he simply flies across it as if he air-dashed in the first place. He also appears to be able to air-dash multiple times in a row, keeping himself airborne as long as he is moving, and can directionally air-dash as well, though the only direction shown was straight down.
Back cannot wall kick, as X and Zero were able to do, however, he does have his own platforming tools that no other Mega Man characters have had so far. For example, Beck can grab onto ledges if his jump was short. This will allow him to save himself, especially during tricky platforming segments. Beck can also grab onto rings and other handholds posted into the background of the stage.
The video also shows off the other Mighty Numbers that you will be facing. Most of them are your generic Fire, Ice, Water, Wind, and Electric enemies, although some other ones have some interesting designs, like the Military Robot, the Sniper and the Ninja.
We will bring you more information on Mighty No. 9 as it becomes available.