I am the proud of owner of an achievement for the Xbox 360 release of Super Meat Boy where the aim is to complete an entire chapter without dying. It’s something that I bring up whenever possible, as a testament to my skill and commitment to mastering one of the most frustrating (and satisfying) modern platformers of a generation.
So when the opportunity to hop into a demo of Super Meat Boy 3D arose at this year’s gamescom, I had to do it. Would this be a glorious return to form for me, or a devastating fall from grace? Does this utterly absurd, high-speed, high-stakes game work as well in a three-dimensional setting?
The demo would have me believe that the answer is a resounding yes. Meat Boy’s plight is familiar – he’s on a mission to save Bandage Girl from the clutches of Dr Fetus, and each level adds a slight uptick in difficulty as Meat Boy’s girlfriend is swept away each time.
Taking control of Meat Boy again, even in his new, squidgy, 3D form, ignited the muscle memory of riding a bike – he moves in a very similar way to the original game and within a few levels I was hopping, sprinting, wall-running and of course, perishing like a pro. If these controls are lodged deep inside a part of your mind, it’s going to feel wonderfully nostalgic, but don’t fret if they’re not – everything still feels intuitive and responsive, another trick the original pulled off.
However, unlike the original, the 3D element adds new layers of depth to each level – as well as moving up, down, left and right, Meat Boy now moves forwards, backwards, diagonally – having to consider depth perception at warp speed almost makes Super Meat Boy 3D feel like an entirely different game. Precision is utterly key in these moments, but there’s a forgiving element – a circle underneath Meat Boy will mark where he is about to land on a surface, making those extra risky leaps a little easier to calculate.
Each level is an obstacle course, and your goal is to get from the start to the end. Simple in theory, but there’s a brutal buffet of disruptive, violent barriers between you and your lost girlfriend. It’s not just tricky jumps and avoiding falls – just the opening levels had me dodging chainsaw-wielding robots, giant, toxic cubes of slime full of eyeballs, and Meat Boy’s famous moving wall saws, to name a few. While some hurdles felt visible enough to prepare for, others took me by total, annoying surprise (and killed me instantly). Getting your butt kicked and learning for next time is what made Super Meat Boy so rewarding to conquer – and that masterclass is brought back for you to retake here.
And while some of this is new, it wouldn’t remotely feel out of place if it were squashed down into 2D form and placed inside the original game, which feels like a testament to how developer Sluggerfly is preserving the authenticity of Super Meat Boy.
Super Meat Boy 3D also looks great, these surroundings – from dreamy green platforms to harsh industrial caverns – feel familiar in how they’re designed, but with a stylish, modern flair. This new art style gives opportunity for fun new animation that really brings the characters and environments to life – squirrels running around with guns, lava spewing down walls, and of course, many more visceral ways in which Meat Boy can meet a swift end.
All the swagger and attitude of the original Super Meat Boy is present here – and it feels as though Super Meat Boy 3D is built to iterate on its predecessor, not outperform it. That said, if you’ve never played the original, that doesn’t matter here – the premise is clear, and these opening levels are designed to welcome newcomers into Meat Boy’s weird, unforgiving world, but the initiation won’t be easy. The demo is respectfully saying “welcome back to Meat Boy”, but there’s enough new ideas here to make it truly feel like a successor worth playing, if you can handle the frustration.
