This was one of the more frustrating and visually cluttered scenes in the game, featuring insta-death silos with questionable hitboxes to avoid. While the jumping and the dash didn’t feel as precise as I would like, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed learning enemy patterns, level layouts, and boss attacks and then using the tools I’ve been given to best them all as efficiently as possible. 9 becomes a game of learning exactly how many hits each enemy can take before I can dash through them, and flowing through a level at high speed is satisfying.
While that mechanic is a relatively large departure from Inafune’s other games, it’s a very fun twist on the Mega Man formula. But the main character, Beck, has an ability Mega Man never had: shooting enemies weakens them, but you have to dash through them to finish the job, absorbing their “Xel” energy in the process. You run to the right, shooting lemon-shaped bullets at your enemies while traversing platforms and obstacles. 9 is Mega Man producer Keiji Inafune’s spiritual successor to the series that made him famous, meant to evoke the spirit of those classic Mega Man games but evolved and adapted for the modern era.
