10 Awesome Video Games Betrayed By Terrible Marketing
2. Mighty No. 9
Prior to release, action-platformer Mighty No. 9 was set to be a runaway success. After all, it was positioned as a spiritual successor to Mega Man created by iconic Mega Man designer Keiji Inafune, and its Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign should’ve resulted in a heartwarming case of a fanbase supporting the creators and genres that they love.
Obviously, things didn’t turn out so well for the title, with myriad delays, uninspired gameplay, false promises to financial backers, and numerous other issues yielding plenty of ire from players, journalists and the industry as a whole.
Regrettably, the 2016 adventure angered people before it came out, too, because its sardonically machismo “Masterclass” trailer notoriously promised to “make the bad guys cry like an anime fan on prom night.”
Like the aforementioned Ocarina of Time TV spot, this direction was needlessly and brazenly out of touch and sexist, implying that anime lovers (presumably, male anime lovers) are socially awkward loners who can’t get dates. The tactic was doubly misguided (and ironic) since it offended its target audience and undermined the fact that there was a pitch for a Mighty No. 9 animated series.
Of course, it never happened.