Mighty No. 9

[GeminiSparkSP]

Within 3 days, the first stretch goal has been breached. Such is the power of the fanbase.

[Raype]

Lot of westerners supporting it too.

Oh capcom, you and your hilarious "people outside japan don't care about rockman" stance.

[Elin]

Elin, I read about the Tear Ring Saga case yesterday and from what I gathered Nintendo didn't initially win but appealed and managed to get some money but not stop sales of the game. Court apparently suggested that any similarities with Fire Emblem is because of the creator's style. Because of this people believe that even if Capcom sued they would not win. Clashes somewhat with your version of the what happened but I could be wrong. Need to do some research! :O

They couldn't get the game removed from shelves, but as Ray said, Nintendo still had enough of a case that they managed to drum up something like half a million pounds. It's not a lot of money to Nintendo, granted, but it was a lot to a small startup studio, funded by Enterbrain or no, especially when you factor in the existing legal costs on top of that. And it would be even more money to a company that is turning to crowdfunding.

Like I say, I doubt Capcom will actually do anything about it, but I have no doubt at all that, considering the scope of the project, they could do significant financial damage to it if they chose to, even if they couldn't get the game banned altogether. And I think it was a bit of a risk on Inafune's part to push a project on a limited budget that is so unmistakably a carbon copy of his most famous series.

Also, I thought of Xenosaga too, but while it definitely played it fast and loose with copyright law, I don't think it was quite on the same level as this. Granted, it lifted some character designs from Xenogears, but with character designs, a lot can be hand waved away by the fact that it's the same character designer, and many of the other similarities were generic enough that they had something of a getout clause in the event of lawsuits. Giant robots? They're everywhere in anime. Religious terminology? The Bible isn't copyrighted. The various gameplay systems? There wasn't a great deal about them that was explicitly Xenogears, and proving that it was explicitly influenced by Xenogears and not simply JRPGs in general would be difficult, even if it obviously was.

Heck even with Tear Ring Saga, which looks and plays shockingly like a Fire Emblem game, they had something of a getout clause in that many of the things it lifted from Fire Emblem had become commonplace in SRPGs by that time, and weren't quite so specifically tied to its parent series. But a good natured humanoid robot who, striking visual similarities to Mega Man aside, fights industrial robots who have gone mad, absorbs their special powers to use himself, and fights using a cannon on his arm? That's seriously just Mega Man with a different name. There is literally nothing at all there that distinguishes it from the Mega Man series. I doubt Capcom will do anything about it, but I don't really feel like they've left themselves any wiggle room here in the event that Capcom's lawyers do decide to come knocking, as there's very little way for them to argue that they're not just making a Mega Man game under a different title. I don't think it's wrong, and personally feel that Inafune should be able to do whatever he wants with his own ideas, regardless of whether or not he holds the copyright on them. I'm also really looking forward to the game. But I do think it's a bit of a gamble, especially considering that Capcom haven't exactly been the most benevolent company in recent years.

[crusher]

There was a settlement for about 750K USD (which isn't really that much money for either studio, and probably just covered the court fees for Nintendo's high tier lawyers if it even did that) and the game was not only left on shelves but there was that sequel people tend to forget happened. And that involved Nintendo who are famously overprotective of anything that so much as smells like one of their products. There's been plenty of examples of extreme plagiarism in gaming that never saw a courtroom (Elin should be recalling the Xeno series which is now up to 2 different examples of it, the first being incredibly egregious and involving one of the biggest gaming companies that doesn't have its own console). Largely because the precedence tends to go more towards "self plagiarism isn't plagiarism". Unless you've got damn good lawyers and want to kick up a massive fuss. Which is Nintendo's MO when it comes to their IP.

Hell Bayonetta got away from ripping off game mechanics and boss fights that didn't come into the series until long after Kamiya left Capcom. So this'll be fine.

Spot on regarding Xenosaga! It's exactly what's happening now with Might No. 9. Can't believe I didn't think of that myself.

[Raype]

They couldn't get the game removed from shelves, but as Ray said, Nintendo still had enough of a case that they managed to drum up something like half a million pounds. It's not a lot of money to Nintendo, granted, but it was a lot to a small startup studio, funded by Enterbrain or no, especially when you factor in the existing legal costs on top of that. And it would be even more money to a company that is turning to crowdfunding.

Like I say, I doubt Capcom will actually do anything about it, but I have no doubt at all that, considering the scope of the project, they could do significant financial damage to it if they chose to, even if they couldn't get the game banned altogether. And I think it was a bit of a risk on Inafune's part to push a project on a limited budget that is so unmistakably a carbon copy of his most famous series.

Also, I thought of Xenosaga too, but while it definitely played it fast and loose with copyright law, I don't think it was quite on the same level as this. Granted, it lifted some character designs from Xenogears, but with character designs, a lot can be hand waved away by the fact that it's the same character designer, and many of the other similarities were generic enough that they had something of a getout clause in the event of lawsuits. Giant robots? They're everywhere in anime. Religious terminology? The Bible isn't copyrighted. The various gameplay systems? There wasn't a great deal about them that was explicitly Xenogears, and proving that it was explicitly influenced by Xenogears and not simply JRPGs in general would be difficult, even if it obviously was.

Heck even with Tear Ring Saga, which looks and plays shockingly like a Fire Emblem game, they had something of a getout clause in that many of the things it lifted from Fire Emblem had become commonplace in SRPGs by that time, and weren't quite so specifically tied to its parent series. But a good natured humanoid robot who, striking visual similarities to Mega Man aside, fights industrial robots who have gone mad, absorbs their special powers to use himself, and fights using a cannon on his arm? That's seriously just Mega Man with a different name. There is literally nothing at all there that distinguishes it from the Mega Man series. I doubt Capcom will do anything about it, but I don't really feel like they've left themselves any wiggle room here in the event that Capcom's lawyers do decide to come knocking, as there's very little way for them to argue that they're not just making a Mega Man game under a different title. I don't think it's wrong, and personally feel that Inafune should be able to do whatever he wants with his own ideas, regardless of whether or not he holds the copyright on them. I'm also really looking forward to the game. But I do think it's a bit of a gamble, especially considering that Capcom haven't exactly been the most benevolent company in recent years.

There's still a decent amount of leeway here as well. Inafune designed several of the enemies/bosses from previous megaman games and has a way out on the protagonist with Zero or X, or, hell, BN Megaman (who seems to be the most direct influence here, possibly with Zero series touchings as Beck looks more than a bit like an overdesigned resistance soldier)

There's been numerous doujin megaman "clones" floating around for years. He could always claim to be taking inspiration from there. The transformation aspect can lead to him claiming he's really doing a Vectorman sequel that's inspired by Metroid. Or something.

Or he can always use the astroboy defense and claim that nothing he's doing is new or unique anyway.

[crusher]

They couldn't get the game removed from shelves, but as Ray said, Nintendo still had enough of a case that they managed to drum up something like half a million pounds. It's not a lot of money to Nintendo, granted, but it was a lot to a small startup studio, funded by Enterbrain or no, especially when you factor in the existing legal costs on top of that. And it would be even more money to a company that is turning to crowdfunding.

Like I say, I doubt Capcom will actually do anything about it, but I have no doubt at all that, considering the scope of the project, they could do significant financial damage to it if they chose to, even if they couldn't get the game banned altogether. And I think it was a bit of a risk on Inafune's part to push a project on a limited budget that is so unmistakably a carbon copy of his most famous series.

Also, I thought of Xenosaga too, but while it definitely played it fast and loose with copyright law, I don't think it was quite on the same level as this. Granted, it lifted some character designs from Xenogears, but with character designs, a lot can be hand waved away by the fact that it's the same character designer, and many of the other similarities were generic enough that they had something of a getout clause in the event of lawsuits. Giant robots? They're everywhere in anime. Religious terminology? The Bible isn't copyrighted. The various gameplay systems? There wasn't a great deal about them that was explicitly Xenogears, and proving that it was explicitly influenced by Xenogears and not simply JRPGs in general would be difficult, even if it obviously was.

Heck even with Tear Ring Saga, which looks and plays shockingly like a Fire Emblem game, they had something of a getout clause in that many of the things it lifted from Fire Emblem had become commonplace in SRPGs by that time, and weren't quite so specifically tied to its parent series. But a good natured humanoid robot who, striking visual similarities to Mega Man aside, fights industrial robots who have gone mad, absorbs their special powers to use himself, and fights using a cannon on his arm? That's seriously just Mega Man with a different name. There is literally nothing at all there that distinguishes it from the Mega Man series. I doubt Capcom will do anything about it, but I don't really feel like they've left themselves any wiggle room here in the event that Capcom's lawyers do decide to come knocking, as there's very little way for them to argue that they're not just making a Mega Man game under a different title. I don't think it's wrong, and personally feel that Inafune should be able to do whatever he wants with his own ideas, regardless of whether or not he holds the copyright on them. I'm also really looking forward to the game. But I do think it's a bit of a gamble, especially considering that Capcom haven't exactly been the most benevolent company in recent years.

Well it's hard to deny that Beck kinda looks like Mega Man. But then I just want to say that it's not like Mega Man wasn't a rip-off of Astro Boy in the first place.

Gameplay concepts being similar I don't think Capcom can do much about. If they wanna take this down it probably has to be because of the similarities in looks. But I'd say that a huge part of the likeness to Mega Man comes because of Inafune and his past with the series. He's an artist at heart.

In a world where Gameloft can exist so can Mighty No. 9!

Edit: What Ray said... >___>

[GeminiSparkSP]

Second stretch goal now. Man, how much do you think will be collected by the end of the month?

Also, two people with money to burn get to dine with the man himself.

Update: third stretch reached!

[crusher]

Excellent work, Mighty Beckers!

Edit: Because of feedback from people the making of documentary and console version stretch goals have been moved up. Good news I'd say but I really wanted to know what that '???' was all about. :O

[Drageuth]

I'm really hoping this makes it to the $2.2M stretch goal for us console gamers. It looks like it's definitely going to, thankfully. I'm about to pledge some money now, just gotta find which tier I want to get in for. I really want the T-shirt and physical box, but $100 is quite a lot of money.

[ edit ] $15 shipping for something the size of an NES box?! You motherfuckers. You better be damned happy that I love Mega Man so much, otherwise I might have to stab you. Whatever. I pledged $60. I hope I don't regret this.

[Corey]

I'm sure it will, 2 or so days and already 1.5m seems like a good sign it could hit upwards 5 or 6m.

[Drageuth]

I'm sure it will, 2 or so days and already 1.5m seems like a good sign it could hit upwards 5 or 6m.

When it was first announced, I wasn't sure if it would be able to make it that far. I'm glad I've been proven wrong so far, and have no doubts it'll finish north of $4M. I was just worried about putting $75 down on something and not seeing anything for it for another year and a half (provided they release on time), and not being able to get it on my preferred console.

Oh well. I'm looking forward to this. It'll be a nice birthday present to myself in 2015.

[Raype]

Excellent work, Mighty Beckers!

Edit: Because of feedback from people the making of documentary and console version stretch goals have been moved up. Good news I'd say but I really wanted to know what that '???' was all about. :O

My money's on an 8-bit mode. Either some sort of filter or an official de-make that's thrown together by the team. Because I know that's what I'd do with 400 grand.

Although I'd like it to be an extra playable character. One of the cooler things about certain THIS IS TOTALLY NOT MEGAMAN GUIZE games is using a character with X era abilities in a level designed for an original era protagonist. Those powerlevels man. Those powerlevels. And since MM10 kinda did that with Bass (and 9 did it with protoman), I can see some overlap there.

[Drageuth]

I'm thinking it'll be an extra playable character, personally.

[Corey]

I'm thinking it'll be an extra playable character, personally.

It will obviously be him replacing MegaBeck with Zero.

[Raype]

Hey it could just be music licensing.

So that we have to deal with fighting mighty number 5.

Presumably a sentient trumpet.