Bland. Bland, bland, bland, bland. Mighty No. 9 is a bland looking game. Its visual presentation is as barebones as possible, picked completely clean by the vultures of blandness. This is in stark contrast to what the game initially looked like, which, again, reflects poorly on the game’s notoriously troubled development cycle. The world of Mighty No. 9 is vaguely anime-inspired, but it does absolutely nothing to set itself apart from everything else that happens to be anime-inspired. Cutscenes are particularly offensive; you can literally see every cut corner. Characters don’t even animate. They stand completely still and flap their gums while the voice actors plod through the script.
Mighty No. 9 may as well not even have sound. For a game considered by many hopeful Mega Man fans to be the Blue Bomber’s spiritual successor, this might sound unspeakably blasphemous. But alas, it’s the case. Mighty No. 9’s synth soundtrack seems to strive for a legacy diametrically opposed to that of its inspiration. Instead of being catchy, it’s kinda forgettable. Instead of being expertly mixed on the same level as some of the best tracks of the NES era, it’s almost completely lacking in theme, movement, or impact. And incredibly, it's the work of Mega Man veteran Manami Matsumae; after hearing her work in the incredible Shovel Knight, this amazes me. Voice work is slow and patronizing. While storytelling has rarely been the main thrust of Mega Man, it’s distracting to hear a group of talented actors plodding through exposition with the speed of molasses in January.