Mighty No. 9 Cartoon in Production, Game Gets Second Fundraising Drive

On July 5 at the 2014 Anime Expo in Los Angeles, Japanese animation studio Digital Frontier announced plans to produce a cartoon based upon the Mega Man spiritual successor Mighty No. 9. According to Mighty No. 9 developer comcept, Digital Frontier approached with the idea for the animated series and was given the go-ahead. The show is currently in the planning stages — it doesn't have a release date or even a voice cast lined up yet. Fans who worry that this will draw resources away from the game's development need not be afraid — Digital Frontier is handling all the production and investing independently.

As for the game, recent footage shows that development is moving along smoothly. The Kickstarter ended last year at over $4 million (including PayPal donations), which guarantees 16 different stretch goal, but comcept founder Keiji Inafune thinks the they can do even more with additional resources. This has led to a second donation drive through PayPal that will help in developing those extras, starting with complete English voice acting at the $100,000 mark. The funding page allows you to pre-order multiple copies of the game, but only purchase of the digital rewards or Steam Early Access packages (which include a digital manual, art book, and soundtrack) will go towards the funding total.

Immediate reaction from fans over this new campaign has been sour, to say the least. Does this mean that the money from the original Kickstarter wasn't enough? Thankfully, that's not the case — regardless of the outcome of this new drive, the game as was promised in the Kickstarter will be made with all the bells and whistles. This drive is purely intended for people who missed out on donating to the Kickstarter, and the money will only be used to fund further content.

Mighty No. 9 is on track for a 2015 release on Windows, Mac, Linux, PS4, PS3, PS Vita, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Wii U, and 3DS.