If you aren't familiar with Super Meat Boy, it's a difficult, fast-paced, retro style, 2D platformer, think Super Mario Bros. on steroids. The premise of the game is pretty simple, you are Meat Boy, and your girlfriend, Bandage Girl, has been kidnapped by the evil Dr. Fetus and it's up to you to save her. For the most part, you'll navigating treacherous 2D environments, littered with spikes, razor saws and salt mounds, in an effort to reach Bandage Girl. There are a few inventive, and extremely challenging boss fights that will put your skills with Meat Boy to the test, but for the most part, this is platforming at its finest. The levels are expertly crafted, and the difficulty significantly increases as you near the later levels.
In terms of level layout, in Super Meat Boy you'll be presented with a basic world containing 20 levels, one of those being a boss fight. Each level has a specific par time, beat the par time, and you unlock a Dark World version of that level. The Dark World stages are a more difficult and challenging version of their Light World counterpart which may include spinning saw blades, or auto-locking rocket turrets, basically anything that could impede Meat Boy's progress.
The gameplay of Super Meat Boy is exactly what you would expect. Difficult, some times rage-inducing, platforming that is every bit rewarding as it is unforgiving. Levels are usually only about 15 - 20 seconds long, sometimes shorter if you're going for a par time, and there are no lives, once you die, you start back at the beginning of a level. While you might be thinking, "Wait, no lives!," let me explain. The levels are so short that you don't need lives, and in fact, lives would've bogged down the game's pacing and made it slightly annoying. By having an immediate respawn time, you can now just replay a level over and over until you finally beat it, without having to worry about lives. This sort of approach to level design requires the player to be extremely accurate with their controls of Meat Boy, and sometimes perfect, if you're going for par times.
The controls are also one of the biggest highlights of the game. Meat Boy controls like an extension of your fingers. You can go old school with the D-Pad, or more modern with the analog stick. Jumping is tied to the A button, I'm talkin' 360 controller here, and the longer you hold down the A button the higher Meat Boy jumps. Meat Boy can also run while either pressing the X button or holding down Right Trigger. The controls are the bare necessities, and that's what makes the game so great. It doesn't rely on flashy moves to overcome obstacles, just your skill at controlling Meat Boy, and when you mess up and die, you know it's your fault because you either didn't jump high enough, or you over-compensated. Oh, and by the way, you will die, A LOT. Meat Boy is all about trial and error, and finding the safest and quickest route to Bandage Girl. You'll be dodging razor blades, lava, rockets, and so many other obstacles, so you sort of have to embrace death as a means of getting towards the end. Once you do complete a particularly challenging level, the reward is well worth the death count. Not only do you get that sense of accomplishment, but the game also replays every single death along the way and shows them to you all at once. It's an ingenious idea, and is a great way to give the player a nice pat on the back for finishing the level.
HOW DOES IT SOUND? The soundtrack to Super Meat Boy is awesome! Blazing guitar riffs and electronic beats populate the background as you try over and over to complete levels. The music never gets annoying, and always adds to the overall experience.
HOW DOES IT PLAY? If you love 2D platformers, you'll feel right at home with Super Meat Boy. The controls are extremely responsive, and you always feel like you have complete control over Meat Boy's movement. The bonus characters also provide for a nice break from Meat Boy, each offering up their own unique playstyle.
HOW LONG WILL IT LAST? With almost 400 levels to play through, Super Meat Boy is certainly not lacking in the content department, and with Bandages, Warp Zones and unlockable characters, you could be playing this game for quite some time. I've already reached probably the 20+ hour mark and I'm still probably only half way through all the content the game has to offer.
HOW IS IT PRESENTED? Super Meat Boy is the shining example of a modern 2D platformer. It borrows all the right ideas from previous platformers and puts them into a fun, and challenging game that anyone can pick up. Team Meat did an amazing job of crafting one of the best Arcade experiences I've played in a long time.
Final Verdict:
Super Meat Boy is a fantastic game. It's fun, challenging and oh so addicting. You'll find yourself sitting in front of the TV for hours on end, trying to beat a specific par time or unlock a certain character. If you're a fan of old school platformers, or games in general, you owe it to yourself to go and pick up Super Meat Boy. Plus, for a limited time only, its 800 MS Points, you can't beat that.
Buy It Now
(Especially Since It's On Sale)
Seems like a fun game Ill check it out.
3 Words: Hard as FUCK.
After seeing the game on Extra Life I really hope they port this to the PS3
@KaiserXIV
That's what she said!
Where is the PSP or even iPod version?!?! (Not the tiger version...)
Nice review, Jacob. Only thing I might add is the "teh internets" portal to the How Long will it last section, though I guess that requires going on faith that there will be additional content in the future.
Just a thought. Not trying to tell you how to do what you do.
Looks amazing! So much hate on the Ustream, it was really strange. I guess gameplay isn't as appreciated as it once was.
Sorry meatboy but bandage girl is in another warpzone LOL
SO
MUCH
AMAZING
I'm getting this, its going to rock.
When is this coming on WiiWare?????
Been waiting for this game for a long time. Looks like a brutally good time.
Wow, who would have thought a hardcore, single-player game would be the ultimate party game!
getting an xbox for 4gb just for this game!! and "Limbo" also a lil game called Halo Reach
@PinchofSalt
you are better off buying the 250gb 360s the 4gb ones can't let you play co op campaign or firefight online for halo reach
this game looks awesome
games like these are a waste of time and money when you can be playing real games like halo,fallout,fable,nba2k11,Dr2.. list goes on and on
When does this come out for wii? I don't have live
@revoxir
I see what you did there. That was pretty funny, but Fallout is actually pretty good. You probably shouldn't include it with those other games.
@revoxir how is this not a real game
cant. effin. wait.
i really want to play this now.. NOW
For those of you that want to play it, just google meatboy. theres flash versions on kongregate that are really good
@overkill852
Duh. Meat boy is a free game from Newgrounds. That's why this is SUPER Meat boy.
Getting this for sure.
this game looks and sounds like a very fun game. definitely picking it up for sure
i'm pretty sure the "warp zone" feature is originally from Gish. That's pretty cool that it was continued in another of Edmunds games.
I really hope this is still coming out on Wiiware :/
I've been excited for this game since it was announced for wii ware and I can't wait to get it.
I would buy this if it was on PSN, but since it is not I guess I'll consider getting it for the PC since I don't have an Xbox. Don't think I'll pick it up for the Wii since I heard it will be shorter.
I have seen this game all the time in the Steam store. And it's finally out.
whoa. So is it better than N+ ?
No homo, I think I once saw a porn called Super Meat Boy. (<-- joke)
(^also a joke, cuz who really says no homo except Kanye on his twitter [for reelz!])
heard someone make this comment during the Extra Life stream: this game is similar in spirit to VVVVVV. Run, Jump, Die... a lot. check it out! Its great to see such a classic style of games make a great comeback.
After watching this on Extra Life and reading this review i think i will buy it!
Thanks, Jacob!
thats what the ladies call me
Can't wait to buy this
This game is freakin awesome!
Great review Jacob!
Gimme a break! PASS!
Did a 3 year old make this?
not bad for a super mario rip off lol, i used to play mario for hours when i had a nes, i have to get the trial
I see future speed runs written all over this game. SDA here it comes!
i will try the trial first.
This game looks identical to N+. Guess the trial is for me.
This game is nasty, I couldn't stand it.
i watched this on the 24 live brodcast, and i thought, i kinda want it. but now i REALLY want it
Play the original online "meat boy" (just google meat boy flash) and youll see why being to hard is a problem...
Why isn't this on PSN? It's on every other platform, even Wii and iPhone! Trials HD, this... I have no idead why it's not on PSN. They would make more money if they had it on PSN. Especially if they put it on European PSN because PS3 is so huge in Europe. I mean PSN has some games that XBLA doesn't get, but it still pisses me off.
Oh well guess I'll just wait till it comes out on Steam
this games brill,the controls are pitch perfect which make you feel like you have complete control of the characters movements which means errors will be your fault and not down to the games mechanics effectivley nullifying violent levels of frustration,graphics could be better but thier not without charm,twitch platforming at its best,easy to pick up hard to put down,must buy for fans of the genre.
I really want to obtain this, but I also really want to pick up the red dead dlc coming next week.
Damn it!
Decisions, Decisions, Decisions.
Meat Boy is awesome, it's definitely challenging and very addictive.
At only $10(800msp) on the 360, I can't pass this one up. I just played the demo, and love it. On my budget, all these $15(1200msp) games have seen over priced to me. I remember when alot games on XBLA were only $5(400msp) or $10(800msp). Now most of them are $15(1200msp) or $20(1600msp). Some of them are not even worth the much. I wanted Sonic 4 last week, but for what it offered, I couldn't justify buying at the moment. *sigh* I need more money lol. My friend K4n4ge, who is ranked #2 in the world for XBLA gamerscore, owns every arcade game. Its crazy. He has completed 238 of them to 100% gamerscore. The Guy is crazy. I'm rambling lol. So, yea, I'm buying this gam
This game reminds me of n-game, but alot more faster...alot more faster
Loved the look of the game... Just did not like the parts which looked like those very old pixelated games
Downloaded it. Where is the game? I played as a red block and saw some obstacles. Thats all? Its a 10/10 then
Just bought the game yesterday. I absolutely love literally everything about this gem. This is seriously going to be an instant classic. Not a single person should miss out on this.
Isn't this a flash game? I know I've seen Meat Boy on Kongregate. Maybe it's like Desktop Tower Defense, Line Rider, and N+?