Keiji Inafune has been pretty busy ever since he said the Japanese games industry was dead in 2010. He quit his job at Capcom, formed his own studio, and even launched a successful Kickstarter campaign for Mighty No. 9.

If you’re just joining us, Mighty No. 9 is a Mega Man clone from the man who made Mega Man. Since Capcom apparently wants nothing to do with the Blue Bomber anymore, Inafune took to Kickstarter with a game that would satisfy old school Mega Man fans while bringing in an entirely new fanbase thanks to the fantastic new character designs. The gameplay will also largely remain the same, or so we’ve been told. The fact is – we haven’t actually seen that much gameplay yet. Well, that all changed this week.

At GDC, Inafune showed up to talk about the Japanese games industry and show off some alpha footage from Mighty No. 9. In it, we get to see just how similar to Mega Man the movement is. In short, they’re about the same. The big difference between the two games is that Mighty No. 9 can stun and then absorb enemies with a dash attack. In Mega Man, Rock could only ever gain powers through the absorption of Robot Masters. Getting small buffs on the fly from smaller enemies in levels could prove interesting.

The alpha trailer also gives us a good look at the other eight robots in the game. These will be boss enemies and they have a uniqueness to them that was seemingly lost in later Mega Man games. They may have some of the same elemental features as previous bosses, but the descriptions indicate that players will be facing off against robots that do more than just shoot. Some may get in close for a kill while others will use stealth to ambush the player.

Mighty No. 9 will be finished when it’s finished. Considering how successful its Kickstarter campaign was, the developers will want to make sure they meet fan expectations.

Image via GamersPrey/YouTube