Three is the very un-magic number in the case of Mighty No. 9’s drawn-out release schedule, it seems. In a Kickstarter backer update posted today, Keiji Inafune apologised for his game’s latest and third delay that owes itself to “issues relating to the network modes.”
Mighty No. 9 has spent a long time in the development oven – will it arrive before any of our favourite upcoming PC games?
Mega Man spiritual successor Mighty No. 9 was Kickstarted in 2013, scheduled to land in April 2015, put back to September 2015 and then bumped onto February 2016 with a proposed release date of Feb 9 Stateside and Feb 12 this side of the pond.
Now, Inafune says he and developers Comcept “expect it to realistically” release in “spring 2016.”
“The issues relating to the network modes were more critical than expected, and it has become apparent that we will need to delay the game from its February 9th release date,” says Inafune in the latest update. “We have been working up until the very last moment to resolve these issues in order to make the February release, but it has become clear that we no longer have enough time to fix the issues and have everything prepared for release.”
Inafune goes on to explain that bugs are the root cause of said network mode issues, specifically around matchmaking. He offers technical reasons as to the hows and whys of this, but circles back to admit miscalculations by he and his team are ultimately what’s forced further delay.
“I want to take this chance to apologize personally, and on the behalf of the development staff,” he continues. “For this third delay of the game, we have no excuses for disappointing our fans and especially our backers once more. We want to take this chance to express our sincerest apologies to everyone who has looked forward to the release. Although we are far past our original release date, the release of Mighty No. 9 is still right around the corner.”
As Kirk pointed out last year, the gameplay footage that emerged from PAX 2014 wasn’t quite as eye-catching as the artwork first touted at the start of the game’s Kickstarter. Much time has past since, but here’s another look at that video to tide you over until spring:
If you’re a backer, we’d love to hear your thoughts about your Mighty No. 9 experience so far in the comments below.