It’s been a long road to the release of Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune’s Mighty No. 9, and earlier this month it got a little longer. Initially slated for an April 2015 release, the game was delayed to September before ultimately being pushed to 2016.
The game may not be coming any time soon, but developer Comcept wanted to do something to make good with fans eagerly awaiting Mighty No. 9. So while fans who backed the Kickstarter might not get to play the full version of the game in September, they will at least be able to get a taste of it via a trial version.
On September 15 — the date of the planned launch — Kickstarter backers will get access to a demo of Mighty No. 9 that includes four stages from the final version of the game, complete with cut scenes, Comcept wrote in a backer-exclusive update spotted by Engadget. The demo will also feature six challenge mode stages and offer English and Japanese voiceover options, with subtitles available in English, Japanese, Spanish, French, German, Italian, and Russian.
The demo isn’t all that fans will get from Comcept either. On September 29, everyone who backed the Kickstarter (presumably above a certain level) will receive free Steam keys for three games: Azure Striker Gunvolt, Mighty Gunvolt, and Gal Gun. Both Azure Striker Gunvolt and Mighty Gunvolt should appeal to fans of Mega Man-style gameplay, while Gal Gun is a curious inclusion to say the least.
This isn’t the only issue with a Kickstarter-funded game that Comcept has had this year. Red Ash, a spiritual successor to the Mega Man Legends series, saw its Kickstarter campaign fail. The game had already found a publisher in China-based Fuze Entertainment, part of the reason that funding for the game slowed, but its prologue will still be released.
No official release date for Mighty No. 9 has been announced, though Comcept is aiming for a release in the first quarter of 2016. At least fans will have a few new games to play in the meantime.
