If one genre of games has benefited the most from the explosion of downloadable and independent titles that began in earnest in 2008 and only increases year after year, it's the 2D platformer. Super Meat Boy comes out of this boom, starting life as a Flash game before making its way onto Xbox Live Arcade in 2010. Like Mark of the Ninja, Super Meat Boy has you scrolling sides until there's no tomorrow, but if Mark of the Ninja's deliberation and pacing is like Metal Gear Solid, Super Meat Boy's twitchy platforming and cartoonish vibe is more like Quake: play, die, respawn, have fun.
Super Meat Boy targets a very specific player base with its slew of split-second jumps, tricky obstacles, and punishing level of difficulty. Specifically, gamers who grew up playing Super Mario World and Donkey Kong Country, smashing through in little or no time and thirsting after a new level of challenge.
Well, guess what, guys: Super Meat Boy brings the challenge, and then some.
Meat Boy's move set is easy to master: he can run, jump, and bounce off of walls. That's it. The challenge comes from using Meat Boy's limited abilities to overcome each level's insidious design. Early stages start out small, throwing only gaps and sawblades in the way. Later worlds add more obstacles to the stack, like lava, crumbling blocks, and stacks of hypodermic needles, and though new elements aren't piled on in every single level (at least not immediately), they're introduced frequently enough to keep you on your toes. Smashing through all 300 levels requires the patience of a saint and the reflexes of a meth addict.
Super Meat Boy's challenge level never seems unbalanced on unfair, though. Just like Dark Souls, another extremely difficult game that was nonetheless compelling because of said difficulty, every death comes about because of a traceable player error. Super Meat Boy's controls are quick and responsive, and every missed jump or overcorrected drop is a learning opportunity. Granted, the physics are floaty and movement speed is quick enough to lead to accidental deaths, but these about features rather than bugs; gameplay "quirks" that come with the territory in playing Super Meat Boy, similar to Dark Souls' stamina system and slow combat speed.
The brilliant thing about Super Meat Boy is how it makes even the most daunting levels feel within reach, even after trying and failing ten, twenty, fifty times in rapid succession. In fact, that's what makes Super Meat Boy so accessible: "in rapid succession." Respawning in Super Meat Boy is instantaneous, removing the friction from attempted progress and leaving little time to feel discouraged before trying again.
Just as integral to balancing Super Meat Boy's difficulty is its lack of a life system. Sure, the stage plays like an unholy cross between Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels and fan-created ROM hacks, but you can try it as much as you want! That's fair, right? With these two systems, just about any level of sidescrolling masochism plays like a fair challenge; Super Meat Boy almost dares players to quit, and a proper competitive spirit can keep the "one more round" calls rolling until three hours after they were supposed to stop.
Super Meat Boy is great fun, but short on substance for my taste. Many stages can be beaten in less than thirty seconds, and Meat Boy's lack of any moves not related to jumping leaves Super Meat Boy feeling flat. Deliberate gameplay choices, perhaps, but I kept craving more during extended sessions. Playing Super Meat Boy, I'm reminded of eating a pack of Gushers; each bite is short, super tasty, and primes you for even more sweet, syrupy goodness. I can only each so many Gushers at a time, though, before I start craving a burger or a chicken wrap—anything to switch up the experience. Super Meat Boy, like Gushers, is best enjoyed in short bursts, so you can savor the flavor in small doses before it starts to taste too same-y.
For the 200 Microsoft points I spent on it (something like $2.50), though, Super Meat Boy is a hell of a deal. Its frantic pace is unlike anything I've experienced in the 2D space, and it's great for a quick fix of platforming goodness.
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