Mighty No. 9 had a disappointing launch, with it falling well behind players’ expectations after experiencing many delays throughout its troubled development. Now a year following its release, those who backed the game’s $3.8 million Kickstarter campaign have received their physical backer rewards, and they’re almost as underwhelming as the game itself.
The physical reward currently being sent out to the game’s backers is the physical game box and instruction manual, which were available to those who pledged $60 to the project. The initial estimated delivery of this reward was April 2015, but given the hefty delays Mighty No. 9 received, it has eventually made its way to buyers in July 2017. The only problem is that it’s almost as underwhelming as the game itself.
The first issue is the box itself, which comes flat-packed and requires buyers to assemble it themselves. This isn’t a major gripe, but considering that backers paid $60 for a box and a booklet, you’d expect the distributors to simply fit the box together.
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However, the next problem is a little more glaring: the instruction manual doesn’t even fit in the game’s box.
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This issue is as a result of the game manual being larger than the old-school Famicon manuals it attempts to emulate, and while it fits into the NES-esque English language boxes, those who didn’t opt for this style of box during the game’s Kickstarter campaign instead get a manual that doesn’t quite fit.
Though the dust settled on the Mighty No. 9 outrage a while ago now, this latest incident is certainly emblematic of the game’s life cycle: delayed, disappointing and not what players expected from it.
