Mighty No. 9 © Comcept / Inti Creates

Out of all of the titles successfully funded via crowdfunding portal Kickstarter , Mighty No. 9 is perhaps one of the most high-profile, and with good reason – not only did it raise a staggering 400 percent over its original funding goal of $900,000, it also benefits from the involvement of Keiji Inafune, creator of the legendary Mega Man and one of Capcom's most illustrious former employees. As the game's proposed April 2015 release date looms ever nearer, we took the time to speak with Takuya Aizu, CEO of developer Inti Creates, about how things are shaping up.

Inti Creates is working with Inafune's own studio Comcept to produce Mighty No. 9, which stars a robot hero by the name of Beck and has been pitched as a spiritual successor to the aforementioned – and now seemingly dormant – Mega Man franchise. As Aizu explains, his company has a long and proud connection with Capcom, not only from working on some of the more recent Mega Man titles but also by sharing many former staff. "Inti Creates was founded in May of 1996 by a group of 11 former Capcom employees who left the company together to start their own business," he tells Red Bull.

"Of the 11 members, two of us were managers and the remaining nine members were all creators. The team of creators worked on a bunch of different projects such as the Mega Man X series, Resident Evil, and the Breath of Fire series among others as well." Despite this strong link, Aizu is keen to stress that Inti Creates is very much its own company with its own identity. "A few people from Capcom have come to work for us since we founded the company, however in the 18 years we have been up and running, people from all over have become an integral part of the Inti Creates family," he continues. "Thus, we can no longer say that our whole team has previous ties to Capcom."

As the industry has moved into the realm of hyper-realistic 3D visuals, the popularity of side-scrolling action shooters has arguably waned – an event which makes Mighty No. 9's crowdfunding triumph all the more remarkable. While many studios would be wary of ploughing so much cash into a seemingly outdated and unfashionable genre, Aizu believes that while the demand for side-scrolling action titles has undeniably dipped, there's still enough interest to justify the development of such releases.

"We here at Inti Creates have been continuously making side-scrolling action games for a long time now," he explains. "However, the demand for these games has not completely faded away, even though there isn’t as many new IPs in this genre these days as there used to be. Working together with Mr Inafune, this project thankfully managed to garner a lot of attention, which shows us that this genre is far from dead. In this case, Mighty No. 9 feels like a game from this generation instead of a retro game, while at the same time it represents a culmination of our 18 years of experience in making side scrolling action games."

Given that Inafune is the face most people associate with the continuing development of Mighty No. 9, you'd be forgiven for questioning precisely how much involvement Inti Creates has had in the game's production – especially when you take into account that the studio is sharing the load with Inafune's own Comcept. Aizu is quick to lay such concerns to rest, explaining that while Comcept has taken many of the key roles on Mighty No. 9, it's very much a team effort, with Inti Creates bringing years of invaluable experience to the table. "We work very closely with each other and are constantly in contact throughout all phases of this project," he reveals. "Comcept definitely plays the most important role in making Mighty No. 9. They are handling some of the most important duties such as producing, concept creation, directing, and character design. In regards to our role, we are tasked with undertaking the development of the game from start to finish. All of those years of experience making these kinds of games really came in handy since we are also in change of level design, as well."

Another thing that makes Mighty No. 9 so unique is that it is one of the first Japanese titles to be developed via crowdfunding. While sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo have become incredibly popular in the west, it has taken longer for the concept of players financially contributing to development in Japan to catch on – a nation where games development is still dominated by big publishers working with smaller, dedicated studios.

Even with Mighty No. 9's incredible success, the idea of crowdfunding remains relatively alien to most Japanese developers – but Aizu feels that times are changing. "It's really a shame that Kickstarter is not very popular in Japan," he says. "The fact that we as Japanese developers were able to create a successful example of how to run a Kickstarter campaign had so much do with the fact that our partners have been so amazing. I think that crowdfunding for international indie game development will become more popular as time goes on though. In order for crowdfunding to become popular in Japan though, there needs to be a major success story. It's not just about collecting funds for development costs, it's about putting out a game that delivers on all of the promises you made to your backers. Once players around the world are able to enjoy the game, Japanese indie developers will be able to see the success of this crowdfunded game for themselves. We are committed to making Mighty No. 9 a shining example that gives future developers the ability to say, 'we can do it too!'"

Staying with the topic of crowdfunding, Aizu is clearly indebted to the people who have given him and his studio the opportunity to create Mighty No. 9. "I want to give my sincerest thanks to all the backers who made this wonderful project such a successful launch," he says. "Without all of you, this Kickstarter would surely have not been a success. All of our partners who know so much about Kickstarter have been an integral part of this success as well."

Mighty No. 9 © Comcept / Inti Creates

Of course, with Kickstarter there's the chance for backers to actively contribute to the development of the projects they fund, and that has certainly been the case with Mighty No. 9. Comcept and Inti Creates have been in constant communication with their fans, many of whom will have earned contributor status by pledging a certain amount of cash during the funding phase of the campaign. "Backer participation in the development of the game is defined by our reward tiers," Aizu explains. "The higher the reward tiers go, the more backers will be able to influence the development. However, backers of all tiers also get to vote on certain aspects of the game's design, such as the vote to decide the design of the main heroine, Call ."

Mighty No. 9 is almost complete and will be arriving on a staggering range of systems, including the PlayStation 4 , Xbox One , Nintendo 3DS , PS Vita and PC. It's also coming to the Nintendo Wii U , which will benefit from the ability to play the game "off TV" thanks to the screen on the console's GamePad controller.

Reaching the end of this mammoth development period is surely a vital milestone for Aizu and his team at Inti Creates, but the CEO reveals that the chance to once again work alongside an industry legend like Inafune has been one of his personal highlights. "It is always a pleasure to work with Mr Inafune," he says. "I've been working with him for a long time now, and especially working on this project that he has put so much heart and soul into, it gives me a lot of motivation to keep doing my best."

However, as epic a challenge as Mighty No. 9 has almost certainly been, it's not the only thing that Inti Creates has been working on lately. The team has also helped US studio WayForward Technologies to develop the two latest entries in its popular Shantae series: Shantae and the Pirate's Curse and Shantae: Half-Genie Hero. "In the beginning, WayForward made a job offer directly to one of our illustrators, Mr. Makoto Yabe – also known as KOU," explains Aziu. "With many Japanese companies, creators are not allowed to do work directly for other companies while they are already employed. When I told this to WayForward's Creative Director Matt Bozon, he changed his offer a bit to work with Inti Creates as a company, but insisted that KOU himself do all the illustrations." The relationship has since progressed to another level, with Inti Creates aiding WayForward with development, once more putting its enviable experience with 2D side-scrollers to good use.

When Mighty No. 9 finally makes its way to market this year, Inti Creates will be ready to tackle a fresh challenge. It has recently launched Azure Striker Gunvolt – along with companion title Mighty Gunvolt – on the Nintendo 3DS, another dose of gorgeous 2D action platforming brilliance. What’s next for the studio remains to be seen, but it's tempting to dream about what a new Mega Man title could be like with these guys at the wheel. Capcom remains tight-lipped about the future of the series, but in the meantime, we'll gladly take the plucky Beck as a substitute.