Super Meat Boy Review

'Along with Meat Boy, there are several unlockable characters appearing from various video games, generally from other indie games'→'indie characters' not supported by (5) 'Players must guide Meat Boy to the end of each level while avoiding buzzsaws, salt, and various other fatal obstacles.

Super Meat Boy is one of the strongest platforms I’ve played in my life. It’s punishing, challenging, frantic, and infuriating all together. But, at the same time, it’s insanely satisfying. The game is fun and fair, and it’s hard not to enjoy the frustration. Even though the game starts very difficult and just gets harder and harder and once it gets to its peak it can seem impossible, but the sense of accomplishment after you complete what seemed impossible 30 minutes earlier is astounding. Join me after the cut for more praise of this gem of a downloadable title, and to see just why it received my second favorite game of 2010.

First off, if you own a 360 or a PC and haven’t yet bought Super Meat Boy, go do that – I’ll wait. Now that that lovely plug is out of the way and you all have your own copy of the game, you can find out how addictive this game truly is. Although there isn’t much actual story involved in the game, the premise is simple. You play as the hero Meat Boy (who is literally just a square of meat) and are trying to save your girlfriend Bandage Girl (who, again, is just a square made of bandages) from the clutches of the evil Dr. Fetus (this evil genius is just a fetus in a jar). You start at one end of the map, with Bandage Girl crying for help on the other side, and you have to navigate through obstacles, saw blades, missiles, guns, enemies, and a ton of other things that can get in your way, to save her.

The maps are small, usually taking well under 30 seconds to complete when done correctly, but to actually achieve that goal is a different story. There are times you could be working on a level over and over, getting slightly closer to the end each time, getting past one more obstacle, until finally reaching that ultimate goal, only to have Dr. Fetus swoop in and snatch her back up over and over again. The strongest part of the game is the tight controls. As soon as you pick up the controller, you can feel exactly how far the little hero will jump, how fast he’ll run, and how far he’ll end up. Every mistake you make is your own fault, and that’s not at all a bad thing. Each time you die you learn a little more about the level and what you can do to improve your run. Not only that, but each level has a par time that, once beaten, unlocks a harder version of the same level. These “dark world” levels aren’t called dark for nothing. You’ll need pixel-perfect accuracy if you even want to think about trying these ones out.

The dark world levels aren’t the only unlockables in Super Meat Boy, either. About half the stages have bandages floating somewhere in them, sometimes relatively easy to find but others really require some exploring. Collecting these bandages will unlock characters from other indie games, including a pink knight from Castle Crashers, Gish from Gish, the ninja from N+, and many others (and completely different characters on the PC version!). Each character has his own strengths and weaknesses (some can float, others double jump, etc.), and although I switched sometimes for certain things, I always found myself being pulled back to Super Meat Boy. Not only that, but each world has 4 warp zones, which are basically just portals that lead you to a chain of 3 levels. This is the only time in the game where you have a set number of lives; 3 deaths on any single level in the set and you have to start over (this doesn’t apply on portals to unlock hidden characters, however). Every portal world has either 2 bandages or a secret character to unlock, and they are the most unforgiving parts of the game. Completing the levels isn’t always hard, but completing all 3 in the same set of lives and collecting the bandages? Difficult.

All the characters in Super Meat Boy, including the XBLA and PC exclusives

The other unlockable is neat to obtain. Sometimes, what appeared at random for me, Bandage Girl seems to be glitching, constantly changing shape and making weird beeping noises. If you manage to reach her on that attempt, you will unlock the negative level for that world. Similar to portals, the negative world is a level where you get only 3 lives, and is also very challenging. If any of you have ever played the original Super Mario Bros. for NES, this is a play on the infamous world -1, reachable only through a glitch. Super Meat Boy has a ton of hidden easter eggs like that, putting up dozens of references to old video games. There is a short cinematic at the start of each world, and each cinematic is from a different game. I first noticed it at world 6, where they were mocking the classic intro from Pokemon Blue/Red.

On top of the 350+ standard levels that ship with the game, Team Meat added a portal called “Teh Internets” (unlocked by grabbing 20 of the aforementioned bandages), where they will be adding additional character-specific levels over time. There’s already a world for Gish, and the levels are really well done. Gish’s special ability is sticking to walls and ceilings, so it’s really different being able to stick to surfaces and navigate through areas that just aren’t possible with any other character. Also announced for this year are remixes (read: more-impossible versions) of some of the original levels, chapters for Commander Video and the Kid, and a collection of the best user-made maps from the PC version, which has its own built-in level editor. I cannot wait for the additions, and really can’t wait to see what the community has built on Steam. Oh, and did I mention all this new content is free?

The intro screen for Teh Internets. Look familiar?

Team Meat created a stellar game. I honestly cannot fault it for a single thing – the levels, numbering in the hundreds, are all very well thought out, challenging, and never repetitive. The soundtrack is beyond amazing. Super Meat Boy is a lovable character and wonderful hero. Free additional content. A counter that keeps track of how many times you’ve died (I’m nearing 10,000). Once you beat a level, a replay shows every attempt you made on top of each other, and you can watch as each Meat Boy jumps, dies, and fails, except one. The boss fights are fun, original, and a nice change of pace. As a game made by only two people, it easily stands on top as my favourite game of the year for any console, and (barely) lost the #1 position on my list to the monster that is World of Warcraft. Buy this game, you will not regret it.

Ratings:
Graphics……….8/10
Soundtrack…….10/10
Gameplay………11/10
Replay Value…..9.5/10

Overall………….9.8/10

-Devon

Is there a thread already?
Super Meat Boy is a slightly challenging platformer for Xbox Live, PC, and was now recently released on the PS4 and Vita. Kind of like Super Mario except with more... meat, and blood, and saws. Also piles of needles and salt and other stuff to kill you. In fact almost everything kills you. But the controls and level design are excellent. At times, playing this game can become very zen like. Sometimes you are in perfect control: you are a leaf in the wind, and nothing can touch you.
Has anyone beaten the game? Collected all the bandages? Beaten all the warp zones? (Were the warps in the original game?) Would love to hear from you.
I am playing on PlayStation Vita. The controls are very good but my hands get tired fairly quickly. Still haven't beaten the game, but once I do I plan to try to go for all the bandages. Because I'm told if you have collected all the bandages, you haven't done shit.
The art style reminds me a lot of Binding of Isaac. Edit: Per this thread, Edmund worked on both games, so that makes sense.