So most people are familiar with Keiji Inafune as one of (if not THE) creator of Megaman's overall design. In Rockman's introduction, Capcom teamed up with Inafune to create the Blue Bomber's trademark aesthetic, blending a raw technological look with a style that reminded us of Tatsumi's Astro Boy on robo-steroids. The Villains, especially, are some of the most memorable Nintendo characters in the entertainment system's history and in my opinion, it is the artistic flair of these characters, not the actual gameplay that can be credited for most of the franchise's popularity (
See "The Krion Conquest" lol) . Total win.
In recent years, however, Inafune left Capcom on the grounds of "creative differences", but many speculate that Capcom had been stifling Megaman's IRL Dr. Light for years. In multiple press talks, Inafune stated that he "Hated [his] job at Capcom" and had trouble growing with the company due to a glass ceiling within the company. The leave was shocking and depressing, especially considering Inafune's warning that
classic Japanese gaming was becoming a dying industry. Plenty of neo-classical/revisited retro style games have come out since his quitting, but the MM universe seems to have been taken over by the fans (see MM vs. StreetFighter).
But fear ye not Rockman fans!...
Decades after MM 1 flew off the shelves, Keiji Inafune and his production company
Comcept returns with a brand new game, untainted by "the biz" titled: "
Mighty No. 9"!
Still in it's crowd-funding stage, MN9 aims to be a game which takes us all back to our roots while providing a visually modern landscape for gameplay.
In his Kickstarter promo video, Inafune promises us some serious artistic innovation to the typical run-n-gun, action-platformer style that made MM games such a hit for so many years. As he says on his Kickstarter page, "While the beloved creations of my past are no longer at my disposal, the spirit they were born from still is. By tapping into that spirit we can create a new game--and new characters--that carry on the legacy of the past."
[
^Look familiar?^]
--And from the concept art previews, the looks into screenshots and some of his interviews regarding the project, I can't help but feel excited for what Inafune and Comcept has in store. Yeah, it's sort of a kick-in-the-balls-concept aimed at showing Capcom
what they are missing out on by letting him quit, but so far the ideas presented seem very original; especially considering that, the concepts
some would say he is "copying" is actually his own work in the first place. Almost like if Alan Moore wrote a sequel to Watchman and called it the LOOKmen2 and.....Okay bad example.
Check out his
Kickstarter [HERE] and give a little bit to a growing project. They have reached their goal but the packages for insider news, betas, and more are still available for about a month.
Good luck Keiji!
