Hi, I'm game creator Keiji Inafune (Onimusha, Dead Rising, Mega Man, Mighty No. 9). Ask Me Anything!

I met you at a Capcom event for the Lost Planet/Dead Rising reveals in 2006 in Vegas. I was at the table with a bunch of 1UP guys in a breakaway Q&A session.

I was completely drunk, in my first time in Vegas. I also had no questions other than whether or not you'd watched Shaun of the Dead. At the time, you hadn't--as it didn't make it to Japan yet.

So my question, seven years later, is as such: have you seen Shaun of the Dead yet?

I have seen it, and I love it! It's more of a comedy, but honestly it's great even as a zombie movie...it's a definite favorite.

European zombie movies are different from American ones, aren't they? There tend to be realy unique, with great atmosphere...I'm a big fan in general.

Which Mega Man game would you say that you are the best at?

1 or 2... Probably 1. Even though it's probably the hardest, I played that one the most.

Hello Mr. Inafune,

I've been in awe with everything that I've seen come from Mighty No 9 so far and I've pledged at the 250$ right now (I can't wait to get my signed hardcover book!). I just have a single question:

Did you expect such huge fan reaction to Mighty No 9 and the kickstarter campaign?

I also want to say thank you for all your games throughout your career a lot of them shaped my childhood.

PS: I hope your hand can withstand all those sketches and autographs!

Well, I did hope for some good fan reaction -- I had heard the voice of the fans asking for this type of game many times before, which is why I went to Kickstarter. But the amount that we've been able to get has been overwhelming -- as a creator I feel more united with my players than ever, which is a great feeling.

How did you come up with Dead Rising and why is there no new Onimusha?

On Dead Rising, at that time we were working on Resident Evil 4, and that game featured a new kind of zombie -- they were running, and talking, and holding weapons... Nothing against that at all, I love RE4, but I was thinking the old, traditional type of zombie game might go away.

So I wanted a game with more traditional zombies as well, where they were really the star over any other main character, and that's where we started from on Dead Rising.

What's your favorite game from this generation?

Hmm... I don't know about favorite, but if I limit myself to current gen -- I'm a big Assassin's Creed fan.

Hey what was your first job?

I was a newspaper boy for 2 years, starting in the 5th grade. I saved up to buy a radio for myself, and a pearl necklace for my Mom.

I've heard horrifying stories, both confirmed and unconfirmed, about working for Capcom. How awful was it? What would you say to people boycotting Capcom?

It wasn't that Capcom was awful, or that it's a horrifying company or anything...

This might get a little philosophical... But I truly believe that, if you want to grow as a human being, you can't take it easy -- and at Capcom, things were not easy, but because of that I was able to gain a lot of skills and experience... I was able to grow as a game creator and a person.

As for any people's negative attitude toward Capcom -- I would guess that these people are actually huge Capcom fans, they are just not happy with certain aspects of the current state of the company. I myself might not understand every decision going on at the current Capcom, but I still like them as a company, and consider myself a fan.

What were some of your scrapped game ideas?

Well, I can't talk about all the ideas scrapped while I was at Capcom...and probably shouldn't talk about the ideas that didn't make it now either, in case I end up needing to go back to them later! lol

But to be honest, even though I have a lot of ideas that haven't been made, I don't really have many ideas that were "scrapped." Sometimes I've been told they were good ideas, they just couldn't be made yet for one reason or another... So if you are a publisher and really want to hear them, let me know heha ;)

2 things that I think need to be settled once and for all:

1: What is X's full name? Is it Mega Man X, or just X?

2: Is Wier Dr. Wily?

"X" is just "X" -- not "Mega Man X" :)

How do you feel about Mega Man being in SmashBros. And him being excluded from Marvel vs. Capcom 3?

I'm really happy to see Mega Man in Smash Bros. -- I want to fight as him myself! I just wish I could have made it happen while I was still at Capcom... I know fans would love to see him in his own new game, ideally, but it's great to see him getting so much attention just the same.

On MvC3, I really don't know anything about how or why that decision was made, but I'm sure there is some reason behind it, so I can't really say one way or another.

Do you know if Sony were pleased with how Soul Sacrifice has sold? I imagine so given the existence of Delta, but you can never be too sure.

Also, I'd be shamed not to mention that /r/Vita would love MN9 on Vita!

Yes, exactly -- both we and Sony are happy with how Soul Sacrifice has done so far, hence the Delta version coming next year. We have even greater hopes that that game!

Of course if you compare the numbers to games for other systems they might not seem so large, but as a Vita title it's done pretty well, and is one of the best-selling games for the system. Also, we put in extra effort with Soul Sacrifice to go after some of the other asian markets, which Sony seemed to appreciate.

Mr. Inafune, it's an honor to be able to speak to you. Here's my question: besides Mega Man, are there any other specific games or series that influence(d) Mighty No. 9?

Well what I've been influenced by is actually not games so much, but other media -- like the show "Heroes," the Peter Petrelli character who could absorb powers. In Mega Man you took weapons from the bosses, but in Mighty No. 9 you take their abilities -- part of this idea came form that show.

Also the anime Cyborg 009 -- it had nine cyborgs, all of whom were great characters, all with distinct personalities. That was a big influence as well, since I want to make the robot bosses less disposable in this game -- I want to give them more personality, and make them more important and memorable.

What do you think is the greatest advantage and greatest disadvantage of crowd-funding a game?

Greatest advantage is probably not having to worry about unnecessary or unrelated things getting between the creator and the user (company politics, etc.) -- I'm really excited about that.

Greatest disadvantage...there aren't many that come to mind, but there is some risk and investment just in getting your crowdfunding campaign up and running; a good amount of the design has to be done to be ready to show to get fans excited, but at the same time, the reason you are crowdfunding in the first place is because you don't have the money to make the game. :)

Hey Inafune-san,

First off thanks for doing this and congrats on all the Mighty No. 9 success. My question is that since the Mega Man series is known to have some of the best music of all gaming, what's is your personal favorite Mega Man soundtrack?

Hmm... It might be 1 -- I really like the Cutman music, maybe because I listened to it so many times while checking my work on that stage! I had that music as my ringtone for awhile.

2 is a close second, and might be better in a lot of ways objectively, but for music that really stuck in my head, I'd have to say the very first game. It brings back a lot of memories and emotions even today.

Of all the numbers you could have picked, why 9, specifically?

Hmm... It's got a kind of a cool image, doesn't it? It's one of my personal favorite numbers.

Also, if it's 10, and you get into double digits, it seems a little too big -- I was thinking 9 is about as high as you can go and still feel like a close, tight-knit group.

What game are you currently playing (outside of Mighty No. 9)?

What game are you most excited for this fall?

Thanks.

Along with the rest of Japan, I'm playing the new Monster Hunter 4 game -- it's what eeeeveryone here is playing right now, so I gave it a try. My former co-workers worked really hard on it; you can see all the effort that went into it just playing it...I'm really enjoying it so far.

Hi, Keiji!

I think I may have found this submission of yours just by chance. I'm not sure if this will be the final destination for your AMA, but just in case, I'll ask here too!

I'm happy to hold the handle /u/mightyno9 here on reddit, I hope I do it justice!

As a longstanding Mega Man fan (3 being my personal favorite, even if you don't like it as much!) I know that music always played a very large role in the games featuring the Blue Bomber, straight down to the nickname "Rock." Are you planning on drawing from that same musical inspiration for Mighty No. 9, and in what way/ways?

Thank you for everything, Inafune-San! Looking forward to the future! (｀_´)ゞ

Sorry, I'm not sure if we are doing this right and can't get ahold of any moderators -- do you know if we're supposed to submit a link someplace to this thread, or how this works? Thanks!

I'm new to IAMA. So I hope my questions aren't wildly inappropriate or many.

• How do you feel about the warm reception for Call?
• How do you feel about the massive support playable Call has gotten?
• Does it conflict with your vision for Mighty No. 9?
• How did you originally envision Call and her characterization?

Sorry for the Call obsession and the bombardment of questions.

Call (our female heroine in Mighty No. 9) has been hugely popular -- and her design isn't even final yet! I'm really happy about that; what little the fans have seen, they have put a ton of love into thinking about her and creating ideas for her. It puts a lot of the good kind of pressure on us to come up with some good designs for her going forward for the fans to choose from.

I heard about you making some pirate game with animals for 3DS a year or so ago, is that coming to north america, also how do you fell about capcom almost being broke? Who do you want to buy Megaman if it comes to that. Thanks for your time.

Ah, you mean Kaio King of Pirates -- that's still in development for 3DS http://www.maql.co.jp/product/kaio/

Of course as a creator I'd like to see as many people as possible play my games, but as for it coming to America, that would be up to the publisher, Marvelous AQL, so I honestly can't say.

A more professional question:

How has your love and understanding of video games evolved or changed over the years, as you've witnessed the age of the NES become the age of, say, the PS4 and XBOX ONE?

A more personal question:

How do you feel about the way Mega Man has changed as a franchise over time? It started out as a relatively simple platformer on the NES, and since then, games like Mega Man Zero and Mega Man ZX have added complexity in several areas to the basic action-platformer formula. Do you still prefer the more simplistic style of game, or have the mechanics of these newer titles piqued your interest as well?

As for how my love and understanding of games has changed...I'm not sure it has? I actually try to keep it from changing! I always try to remember the pure feeling I had while I was first working on the original Mega Man.

Of course my situation has changed and my environment has changed, but I don't want it to affect my work...I don't want to become some guy at the top of the company, high up and out of touch with what is going on down on the battlefield of development.

That's a big part of why I wanted to make Mighty No. 9 -- I wanted to be on the frontlines, down in the trenches of development.

What's your favorite beverage?

I really like tea -- oolong tea. Tung-ting oolong tea from Taiwan is my favorite, but it's not that easy to find around here in Japan.

Mr. Inafune, I am a great fan of your work and I'm anticipating playing Mighty No. 9.

My question is this.

What do you see as the next great gameplay advancements?

lol -- If I knew that, I wouldn't say, I'd keep that idea for myself and become a millionaire!

Hi, Inafune-sama

What advice would you give to a person wanting to get into the game designer industry, but have no professional experience in the area?

I say this a lot, but everybody has to have a first time doing everything, so definitely don't worry much about not having experience. The more important thing is having the courage to take that first step -- if you don't have that courage, even if you were able to start making a game, you would soon hit a wall that would stop you.

Also, being a game designer, you don't need to necessarily be able to program, you don't need to be able to draw -- you need to have a good idea. The key skill is being able to show and communicate that idea to other people, so whatever you can do to use or develop that ability will serve you best.

In your opinion, what makes a games plot good?

Well, I've often said that a game's concept is the single most important thing -- a pure, core idea. That applies to plot, too -- no extraneous stuff, no wasteful extra tangents.

In reality it's hard to remove all of those kinds of things and have a plot work as a story, but trying to do that as much as possible is still a good guideline I try to follow.