There was a lot of hype and excitement going into 2016. The Last Guardian and Final Fantasy XV were finally set to release, Gearbox’s Battleborn offered an interesting take on the MOBA genre, Street Fighter V was set to be the next big fighting game and extremely popular titles like No Man’s Sky and Mighty No. 9 were sure to delight fans.
While there is no denying that Street Fighter V released in an underwhelming state and No Man’s Sky didn’t quite meet expectations, neither game was without hope. As promised, Capcom added a challenge mode and cinematic story, along with six fighters, complete with their own stories, and six more planned for next year, improving Street Fighter V over time. No Man’s Sky’s biggest issue was people expecting a different product than they ultimately got. Sure Hello Games played a role in this, but later updates helped move this title from a complete and utter disappointment to something closer to the original vision. This just leaves Mighty No. 9.
Mighty No. 9 had a lot going for it, which lead to high expectations. Pitched as something of a Mega Man successor, complete with Keiji Inafune’s involvement, fans had high hopes for the title. Naturally, when the Kickstarter launched, there was overwhelming support, leading to the project being funded in a couple of days. After some questionable dealings, a few delays and other problems, Mighty No. 9 finally released and quickly became critically unsuccessful.
With critics and consumers alike questioning everything from voice acting to level design, Mighty No. 9 quickly became a flop. Even months after its release there is a lot of negativity related to this product that it’s hard to deny it being the most disappointing game of 2016.
