Mighty No. 9

Oh boy... This one's a tough one to review. So, I can say for sure that if you are someone who despised the surrounding Development Story of Mighty No. 9 and hold a personal gripe due to Kickstarting it or your grudge for Keiji, then you can go ahead and skip this game as it's fairly average of an experience.
Me however? I played this at the request of a Friend who trolled me by purchasing this game as a Gift for me last year during a Mega Man X themed month of streaming. And I thought, "Eh what the hell?" Lo and behold, I actually came to... Enjoy this game. Why? Well...
For the past decade, I have only known everything bad about Mighty No. 9. The development history. The kickstarter. Keiji Inafune's attempts to bank on his Mega Man history to try and start a new franchise without any of the effort. All of that. Yeah, we all been there. And to those who haven't, hello! Welcome to a Mighty No. 9 2026 review! So, with all that under my belt, I was just thinking "Eh, I don't need to pay any mind to this since Mega Man was dead and the creator of MN9 just wanted to cash in on the drought."
Then I played the game. And, I can tell y'all. This game is MID (Good). Usually, we all like to correlate the word "Mid" to a bad experience. But, when your expectations for something has been battered to the ground, beit by hate of the surrounding context of this game or just how this game looks and presents itself in general, then you finally give it a shot at no additional cost. Well, yeah. This game actually kinda is a solid enough title as an Action Platformer. Sure, there's the hiccups and level design and boss pattern quirks that may piss you off, but as someone who's played many Platformers of varying difficulties my whole life, this is just the norm for me.
That being said, my personal enjoyment out of this game is the Ray DLC. This year for Mega March Zero (my current theme for a Stream month), I purchased the Ray DLC. And, just like the Speedruns I've seen with her, playing as Raychel is actually really fun for me. Her design? Looks like Zero. Her playstyle? The definition of a Spin Dashing Sonic on steroids. The potential for speedrunning (casual/serious alike)? Perfection.
I do hold an appreciation for this game for being a still solid enough platformer despite it's terrible hand it has been dealt. And I would encourage if you are willing to let past grievances go, give this game a shot. It constantly seems to go on sale for less than a Fast Food Meal after all.
VoDs Channel should have my RAY DLC Playthrough up soon! Otherwise, my Mighty No. 9 base game playthrough is up! Check it!

Expectations be damned, I have a freakin' blast every time I fire up this game. The challenge is great, the story is interesting; it's as good to me as Bloodstained is to Castlevania.

It's all right, and not terrible as some made out to be. That's probably because people expected a Megaman successor but ended up having an unrelated game inspired by Megaman. The game is okay as it is. Though, due to being an UE3 game, the native Linux version doesn't feel properly optimized despite being 64 bit. It runs okay.

well, the current state of this game is that it's an acceptable mid game, is not amazing, but it's not bad. if you like megaman and see this game on a discount you should give it a try, it might surprise you a bit.

to be completely honest, it isn't that bad?

just kind of a 2d platformer, some design choices are utterly baffling but i decided to get the game for £2 and doing my own experiments and having my own experience was fun. probably don't buy this at full price tho. the mixed reviews aren't just because of pizza, anime fans, and things being better than nothing, the game is seriously flawed, but is still decent fun.

I've first heard about this game when it was first announced on Kickstarter by the character designer of the Mega Man series. I got the Wii U version then got the PS4 and PC version years later, I've beaten both versions and sometimes play them when I feel going back to them.
Mighty No.9 is game that at first seems like a classic Mega Man game but it really isn't. The game requires you to make use of Beck's Xel Dash to go through the stages and damaging enemies after weakening them with your shots, the gameplay feels like its own thing because of this which is both good and bad.
For the bad, Beck is 2 dashes that only have one difference. There's the normal one you use on ground and in the air, then there's the low version of the dash that's only used in one stage. It doesn't really help or make sense considering when you're through a tight space with the normal dash, it automatically lowers Beck to go through it. I feel like this should've been part of the normal dash but isn't.
The weapons you get the Mighty Numbers range from either okay or bad, Dynatron's power is one of the bad ones. Unlike how it worked for the boss, Beck's version of the weapon is bad. It doesn't stick onto the surfaces and only works if it hits an enemy, its one of the those moves where it'll only work if it hits an foe. Pyrogen's power is also bad despite its strong damage, it relies on charging it up to increase its range and deal more damage. There's other weapons that do a better job that what Pryo's power can do. This is more apparent when you try to do damage against other bosses that aren't Cryosphere who is weak against it.
The stages range from either good or bad, some of them gave off Mega Man 2 vibes but not to the point where only one weapon can work. The ones that are bad are mainly those that have a lot of instant death spikes in some sections or enemies and hazards placed in that way where you need a weapon to deal and get around with them. Beck's Buster is good but doesn't have that effectiveness, he lacks not charge shot which is both disappointing and boring.
Call's stage is probably the worse one out of all of them. Through out the whole game, it was about using your speed and skills to get through the stage and take out enemies that get in your way. The Prison is stage where you're supposed to be "stealthy". you have to avoid the security robots as if they see you, they'll attack you. Despite this, there's no other punishment besides getting caught in their range of sight. There's no doors that lock up or enemies spawn when they see Call, your main way of going through the stage is collecting the keycards that open the door. This makes Call's stage least of a "stealth" level.
For the good, the controls feel nice and the game has a section where you can learn about the other mechanics and items you find in the stages. Beck's movement and abilities require a lot of knowledge and skill, making him seemly hard as first but he'll fun to play as when you understand and get used to how he plays. Mighty No.9 relies on you getting combos by finishing off enemies, these are done by using the Xel Dash on one that's weaken after using your buster or other weapons. If you dash into them early it'll be 100%, doing this against multiple enemies without hesitating or interrupted by attacks will increase the number of the combo, the higher your number, the better your grade will great upon beating the stage. This is what makes the game different from Mega Man, it relies on you using your speed and knowledge to get good combos instead of just causally going through it at a slow pace.
It's even more fun when trying to get every achievement and beating the game in every mode. I've enjoyed it a lot as I like the feeling of going through every stage and trying out different weapons that I can use to deal damage on the enemies and bosses, I've found 3 good weapons that are good for keep the damage going, Battalion, Cryosphere, and Brandish. These make the game fun.
If you're looking for a platformer shooter that relies on skills and speed, this is the game for you.

Mighty No. 9 is truly an amazing game. The unfortunate history of its launch, and Kickstarter will forever loom over what is a very fun title.
I can confidently say that this game lives up to, and improves upon what made the NES Mega Man games so great. The platforming is responsive, the bosses are great (with one major exception), the music isn't as good as classic MM, but it's still solid, and the dash is a really fun mechanic.
It does have some flaws. The level design is maybe a bit too similar to NES style platformers. Instant death traps are in almost all levels, and I did get stuck once on the penultimate level cause of lack of clarity on how I was supposed to reach a spot. The final level in particular is an absolute gauntlet. Really though it's nothing worse than what inspired it.
The final boss Trinity is a nightmare. Unironically horrible game design. That being said it can be cheesed fairly easily on the lower difficulties so it really isn't that big of a deal.
The story is much more interesting than a standard MM game. That being said the bar is very low.
I'd encourage you to give this a try. I promise if you enjoy platformers you'll get something out of this. 8/10