What is Super Meat Boy?
Super Meat Boy is an extremely challenging 2D platformer where you play as the titular Meat Boy trying to rescue his girlfriend, Bandage Girl, from the evil Dr. Fetus. There are 6 worlds that you traverse through, each serving as a thematic backdrop and containing different obstacles. The game is unique in its design of platforming physics and creativity of its levels. Super Meat Boy is the sequel to Meat Boy, an Adobe Flash Game that came out in 2008 and was developed over a 3-week period.
Game Review:
I played Super Meat Boy on the Nintendo Switch. It is also available on Xbox 360, PC, PS4, PS Vita, and Wii U.
The story of Super Meat Boy is surface level and really not that compelling. This isn’t surprising given the game’s 3-week development period - fleshing out a well-developed storyline clearly took a backseat to the gameplay design. Each world starts with short cutscenes that show Meat Boy trying to reach his girlfriend and Dr. Fetus triggering some trap or causing havoc that separates them and then disappearing with Bandage Girl. At the end of each world, there is a boss “fight” after a cutscene introduces the boss. All of the cutscenes are short, lacking any form of dialogue or text, and are a bit rude in their delivery. They often include some seemingly pointless violent act, such as smacking a character, or a vulgar symbol like Dr. Fetus holding a middle finger to Meat Boy. Overall the story didn’t move me in any way except the annoyance of having to watch the childish humor.
Gameplay in Super Meat Boy is a challenging take on 2D platforming because you are killed in a single hit. To complete the game you need to make runs of near perfectly-timed jumps with correctly-input height (which is controlled by how long you hold the jump button). Momentum and Speed also play a major role in the physics of the game. Many jumps require you to hit the right speed to make the jumps, and any other speed will almost inevitably result in death. The game lets you control your speed by adding a sprint button that is tied to the right trigger. You also have the ability to wall jump, both off parallel walls and the ability to jump up the same wall. The game does have gravity though, so you can’t just jump on a wall and stick there, you need to keep moving. These aspects of the game are utilized to make a high speed 2D platformer where speed and precision are not only promoted but required.
You will spend your time with Super Meat Boy going through levels themed according to the world you are playing in. A common obstacle throughout the levels are spinning saw blades, some are stationary while some are moving in a variety of paths. Other obstacles you will have to avoid in the roughly 10 hour game are salt piles, meat monsters, tracking rocket launchers, lava, bottomless gaps, and many more. Each of the first 5 worlds consists of 20 brutal levels, the final of which is a boss encounter. The final world only contains 6 levels, the last of which is the final boss encounter. But that is not all the game has to offer, each level also has a Dark World variant that is often harder and provides extra challenge. At the end of the game you unlock a new world where you play as Bandage Girl, which is also extra challenging (yes, they somehow make it more challenging). Super Meat Boy also has collectibles in levels and a leaderboard system that lets you compare level completion times with friends and the world that give you extra incentive to play again and get better. Leaderboards don’t tend to speak to me as a player but I can see how that can appeal to people who want to see progress they make as they get better at the game.
Family Friendliness:
Super Meat Boy is not the most family friendly game. As I mentioned earlier, there are unnecessary moments of violence and vulgarity in the game that wouldn’t be very appropriate for kids, especially younger kids who maybe haven’t learned how to delineate what is okay or not. The game also features a system where your character explodes into a spray of bloody meat on every death, including falls off screen, that leave trails all over the level as you continue to redo it. The lack of dialogue and speech make it safer to play around kids if they can only hear it but visually it might be a little much for younger kids.
Features for Parents:
Super Meat Boy offers a few systems and features that can help a parent play while still being available to their kid: 1. Pause button. I know this isn’t an uncommon thing, but it’s still a crucial feature for gamer parents. 2. Quick load times. You will die a lot in this game, but deaths don’t feel as weighty when you reload super quickly, similar to games like Celeste. 3. Short levels allow you to bounce in and out as you need to. Super Meat Boy being available on Switch is also great for accessibility, being handheld and being played on the couch while you hold the baby or while your young one watches one of their shows.
Final Verdict:
Super Meat Boy is a fun and brutally tough 2D platformer that allows for quick bounce in and out gameplay that makes it easy to be able to play as a parent. However, due to the vulgarity and immature humor displayed in its story and thematic design choices, it is hard to fully recommend for a parent. Gameplay was prioritized in this game and it shows.