Mighty No. 9 Tips and Tricks for Beginners

Dashing Is Your Best Friend

One of the primary abilities that Beck, Mighty No. 9’s protagonist, has is called AcXelerate. It’s basically a dash maneuver that will become your best friend during both combat and world traversal. AcXelerate will let you cross large spaces if you keep pressing the button (R1/RB), although you should keep in mind that you drop slightly between presses. Still, it can get you to most hard-to-reach, far off spaces, and is crucial in dodging most, if not all, enemy attacks.

Dashing is also how you absorb enemies. This can lead to power ups, but, most importantly, it can drastically increase your score. Another benefit is that the use of AcXelerate will slowly build up AcXel Recover, a healing item that will keep you in the game for a bit longer.

The Dash is Sensitive

While AcXelerate may be one of the more useful abilities in your arsenal, you’ll want to use it properly. In most games, simply tapping the dash button will send you off in a predetermined range, with no need to pay any mind to the action, but that isn’t the case in Mighty No. 9. Holding the button down will cause you to dash a bit further than you would if you simply just tapped it. This becomes very important during boss fights or encounters with a lot of projectiles.

Sometimes you’ll only need a quick dash to side step something, while other times you’ll need a long dash to clear huge threats. Make sure you’re keeping an eye out for any enemy tells – that way you’ll always know exactly how far you need to go. 

Don’t Forget to Use Your AxCel Recovers

As you play through Mighty No. 9 and achieve combos, you’ll slowly develop AxCel Recovers. These are items that you can use to instantly replenish your health bar, even while trapped or stunned. They can be used quickly by pressing the Touchpad on your DualShock 4 or the Views button your Xbox One. During boss fights, you’ll want to use them when you’re around half health, as most bosses have a technique that can remove up to 60% of your health bar (usually in the second half of the fight).

You’ll also want to make use of them whenever you have two, since that’s the max you can store and you lose them if you die. It takes so much work to charge one up, so don’t let any of them go to waste. 

Adjust Your Lives

If you’re playing on normal you can actually give yourself more lives through the options menu. The only thing is that you can’t do it from in game. When in the main menu – the one with the three difference screens for Challenges, Campaign, and Options – choose the Options window, go into Game Options, then go under the Other tab. From here you can adjust the Lives Remaining which is actually the amount of lives you start with.

Again, this only adjust your lives counter if you’re playing on Normal. On higher difficulties you’re just going to have to learn to not die so much and keep an eye out for any spare lives you may see floating around. 

Understanding Boosts

While playing through Mighty No. 9 and absorbing enemies you may notice circles appearing above Beck. These are random boosts that you can obtain when absorbing the myriad of robots you encounter. Knowing what they do will be helpful in figuring out how to approach your next threat:

• Red: Increases damage.
• Green: Increases movement and speed.
• Yellow: Increases defense.
• Blue: A free AcXel Recover.

So, if you see yellow, don’t be afraid to jump into the fray and get your hits in. Red? Get in as many shots as you can before it runs out. Continuously absorbing enemies and building combos can help keep these boosts active, so don’t rest when you get them. 

If You See a Box, Break a Box

Useful items can be hidden in boxes and crates. Usually they’re health pickups and extra lives, and those can be invaluable when it comes to surviving Mighty No. 9’s levels. There are no continues if you lose all your lives – you will have to start the entire level over – so it’s best to have as much backup as you possibly can. After clearing enemies in a particular area, search for crates and boxes you can shoot before moving on. 

Do Missions That Have the Advice Option

When you beat a boss in Mighty No. 9, you’ll absorb its primary ability. That ability will be another boss’s weakness, and so you can use these to inform your level order. What you’ll want to do is take on levels with bosses you have an advantage against. To do this, check each level select screen until you see one with an option called Advice. Clicking Advice will show one of your absorbed bosses talking, letting you know exactly which power to use against that new level’s boss.

Check Tips!

If you pause the game, you’ll have the ability to check out tips that you’ve unlocked while playing. These will tell you how to use your new forms, what each mechanic does, and combinations you can use to help you get past challenges in the game. You’ll want to check here whenever you’re stuck or if you just need a really quick refresher. Also, since Mighty No. 9 doesn’t have the best tutorial, this menu will definitely prove to be useful.

These tips should help you get a better handle of Mighty No. 9. Keep them in mind as you dive into the frantic robot action that lies in wait for you.