• This article was written in response to "The Mighty No. 9 Trailer is NOT Bad, Quit Your Crying!" by Mock9's John C.

Last week, the internet had not really been talking much about Mighty No. 9. That is, until a really bad trailer for the game came out on Wednesday, 25th of May. The trailer was so bad, it currently stands at 2841 likes to 20831 dislikes on youtube and when the youtube community dislikes something...it's usually pretty bad.

So What Exactly Have People Said About It?

"Mo'fuckers were pissed off because they'd seen this new trailer and the trailer reeked. It had this absolutely foul stench of 90's mascot character tood, billowing out of every pore imaginable" - Alpha Omega Sin

John C. wrote in his article at mock9.com that "Publications from Polygon to GameSpot have suggested that the trailer gave too many things away about the game instead of treating the viewer as if they had a brain." Since John has paraphrased a Polygon article and put forward no argument against it, we can safely assume he agrees with this sentiment. After all, the trailer does indeed tell rather than show. There is a point in the trailer where the narrator starts to talk about the different kinds of dash moves. In these moments the viewer could be forgiven for believing they were watching the tutorial stage of the game rather than a trailer for it.

As for Gamespot's angle on this, they hadn't written an opinion piece, but citing two outlets made John seem more journalistic I guess, so he added that too. What I did find on Gamespot however, was an article explaining that even the head of Inti Creates, the development studio behind Mighty No. 9 thinks the trailer is awful. Posting on Twitter, Takuya Aizu said "What the hell was D*** *il*** thinking making a crappy PV like this?! Unforgivable." D*** *il*** is presumably referring to Deep Silver, the game's publisher.

Some people criticized the fact that the graphics didn’t look up to par. People were correct. To borrow another point from youtuber Alpha Omega Sin, the original concept art for Mighty No. 9 was beautifully hand drawn. It played on fans' nostalgia for the classic 2d side-scrollers like Mega Man that this game is apparently a spiritual successor to. Yet in the final game, the developers have made the artistic choice to go with 3D models on a 2D plane...but let's focus for a second on what seems to be the biggest of the trailer's graphical issues in the eyes of the fans. The explosions, yes they do look like pizza, yet there's even more to say. Despite that artistic decision to make the game 3D the explosions are 2D shapes with textures pasted on. Wouldn't some sort of even slightly modern effect have looked just so much better? Is it not fair to point out that the only 2D objects in the trailer (ones which have incredibly low resolution textures on them) look incredibly out-of-place and just objectively bad? Just look at this beautiful artwork below and tell me whether 3D has done this game justice or not:

"Others said that it looks “too much like they’re trying to make money.” Yeah, no duh…" - John added without citation or screencap.

However, One Thing Sticks Out.

Here is where the real point of the article is made clear. John's argument is threefold:

1. People dislike the trailer because of the events surrounding Mighty No. 9. The massive delays and minimal communication from the developers has made the fans angry so they're venting their anger on a trailer.

2. The claims that the trailer is bad are false because it's all just personal preference anyway.

3. People are watching and talking about the trailer, therefore, it's a good trailer.

I can dispel the first claim straight away, as I have never played a Mega Man game nor do I have any interest in Mighty No. 9 whatsoever. I thought the trailer was awful. While that is just my personal preference, the aforementioned Polygon article made a pretty good argument for why the trailer is not effective from a marketing perspective. I can offer an argument as to why it's ineffective from a cultural perspective. Being from the North of England, where Karl Pilkington also hails from, I have an intense distaste for anything forced, fake or melodramatic. Low brow, American style comedy is usually all 3 of these things and the Mighty No. 9 trailer...is all 3 of these things.

It is so heavily focused on this brand of American humour, it references "prom," something which is exclusive to America. Surely for the rest of the world, this trailer is going to fall flat and on deaf ears. When John in his article, insists that lines like "Do you like awesome things that are awesome?" and "It's crazy addictive, like popping bubble wrap addictive" are actually things that cool tech startup guys would say to "promote their new app." You have to wonder what 7th hel he is living in where people enjoy being marketed to. If you can tell these are marketing phrases aimed at the overly stereotyped "millennials" that lap up this lol-so-random humour, then it's not cool, it's not clever, it's not tasteful, it's bad.

John also claims that it's OK if the trailer is aimed at kids. To which I ask: what kid is gonna be interested in a retro inspired, side scroller which is a spiritual successor to the Mega Man games of the 80s & 90s just because a guy with an American accent called them dude? This game was made for fans, it was made possible by fans and putting out a trailer which portrays the game as being aimed at kids, even going so far as to shove in a shitty Minecraft looking pre-order bonus at the end, is insulting to the intelligence of all parties including children.

The Trailer is Actually Well Made

John argues that the trailer is an objectively well made trailer. There is a distinct lack of tangibility with his point here as it relies wholly on circular logic and when he tries to bring forth some real evidence in the form of a comparison, he merely states we should "Consider some truly indie low-budget trailers" I.E. compare this trailer to another low-budget indie game trailer and see how much worse it is. No specific example was given, which leads me to believe one couldn't be found.

The point that this negative attention makes the trailer a complete success because it is reaching a wider audience is of course based off the biggest PR myth of all. "There is no such thing as bad publicity." Tell that to Warner Bros. whose PC version of Batman: Arkham Knight has become legendary in its awfulness. Every time people think about it they have to remind themselves that the game was actually reasonably well received on consoles. There are many people who could be put off by this trailer for a litany of reasons. Even people who haven't even watched the trailer could be put off when they hear about the massively negative reaction to it in addition to the game's already tarnished reputation.

John adds that people had "unrealistically high expectations" to which I ask: why shouldn't people have high expectations of a side scrolling platformer headed up by industry legends such as Keiji Inafune? This genre is massively over-saturated as it is, so why shouldn't the team have gone in to this knowing full well they could deliver something special? The developers themselves should have had high expectations! And the fans should hold them to those expectations.

The final point made in the article, is that publications are tearing apart the trailer for hits. Perhaps purposeful irony, but judging by the ham-fisted nature of this entire article, I can't see it. This final quote really takes the biscuit doesn't it?

"I know we’re taking a huge risk by presenting an unpopular opinion. The eminent hate is incoming, I can feel the tweets zapping me with every hateful word! I guess presenting an honest, well thought out opinion on the internet is a bad idea if that opinion goes against the hive mind?"

Wow! Your complete lack of citation and placement of words in gamespot's mouth is dishonest. Your use of circular logic, common fallacies and clear contradiction of your own points is poorly thought out. The Mighty No. 9 Trailer is bad...your article is even worse. Quit your crying.

(Disclosure: This article was originally created for Gamesnosh.com)