Reviewed on
Oct. 19, 2010
Super Meat Boy hates you, but don't let that stop you from loving every minute of this hilarious, over-the-top platformer from Hell.
Read Brad Shoemaker's full reviewWhen his beloved Bandage Girl is kidnapped by the evil Dr. Fetus, the diminutive yet plucky Meat Boy springs into action!
Super Meat Boy is a downloadable 2D platformer developed and published by Team Meat for the Xbox Live Arcade , PC and Mac. The game follows Meat Boy, a cube of meat with great skill in jumping, as he attempts to rescue his girlfriend Bandage Girl from the menacing Dr. Fetus while avoiding buzzsaws, piles of salt, lava, missiles, and other deadly obstacles. The Xbox release, as part of Microsoft's Game Feast 2010 promotion, was sold for 800 Microsoft Points ($10) until November 21, 2010, when the price was cruelly raised to 1200 Microsoft Points ($15). The PC version was first released via Steam on November 30, 2010 for the same price. The PC level editor, PC level portal, PC non-Steam version, and Mac version of Super Meat Boy came out in 2011. The game was originally going to be released on Nintendo's WiiWare service, but was later cancelled due to their small filesize restrictions.
Like Alien Hominid, the concept for Super Meat Boy began as a free online game made in Adobe Flash for Newgrounds. The game, originally called Meat Boy , was released on October 5, 2008, and a map pack featuring custom levels was soon followed two months later. Super Meat Boy features homages to other games and movies in Newgrounds, as well as other video games and Internet culture such as unlockable characters from other indie games (Including N, Aquaria, VVVVVV, I Wanna Be The Guy, Braid, and Flywrench).
The XBLA version of Super Meat Boy includes 12 achievements (worth 200 gamerscore) and two avatar awards: a t-shirt resembling Meat Boy (unlocked after a certain number of deaths) and a prop of Meat Boy running around the avatar (unlocked after completing the game). The Steam version of Super Meat Boy includes 41 achievements, adding new ones such as clearing all the levels in each world (Light World or Dark World) consecutively without dying, clearing bonus levels, and unlocking new characters.
The game is not without its issues; glitches pop up on both the Steam and XBLA versions. The PC version suffers from the occasional crash, but the XBLA version has a "save glitch", which causes Super Meat Boy to lose the ability to auto-save after every completed level. Since manually saving is not an option, players are forced to quit to the dashboard and restart the game. Collected bandages will also fail to display on the map screen, and as such can be collected over and over again with each level replay. Th is allows for faulty completion rates of over 100% as the bandage counter exceeds its maximum of 20 per world. Team Meat has claimed that a patch is finished but has yet to come out due to Microsoft's terrible approval process.
In Indie Game: The Movie, Team Meat's progress was covered in great lengths. McMillen and Refenes were very interested in creating a game that reflected a part of themselves and were striving to make a game that could be a success without compromising their visions. Super Meat Boy was in development for eighteen months. A month prior to it's release, the team was offered a feature on the Xbox Live Dashboard despite the project being far from done. Facing financial struggle and left with almost no options, McMillen and Refenes spent the last month crunching to meet the deadline. In spite of their feature being absent for the first eight hours of release day, Super Meat Boy was able to sell 20,000 copies by the end of the day. Today, Super Meat Boy has sold over 1,000,000 copies across all platforms. At the Indie Game: The Movie premiere, Team Meat announced that they have moved on from Super Meat Boy and are currently working another project.
The objective of Super Meat Boy is to guide Meat Boy (or one of the other playable characters) past deadly obstacles to reach Bandage Girl, who will be promptly kidnapped by Dr. Fetus. Navigation of these obstacles requires extremely precise timing to pass. Failure means instant death and a quick restart from the beginning of the level. The player is given an infinite amount of lives and near-instantaneous respawns, but Meat Boy leaves a trail of blood to mark where he has been and what obstacles previously killed him. When a regular level is completed, a replay showcases every attempt within the level simultaneously.
Characters have two abilities at their disposal: a jump button and an ability button. For Meat Boy (and most other characters), pressing the ability button engages sprinting. Some characters sprint automatically and replace the ability button with another power, such as Tim's ability to rewind time or Viridian's ability to inverse his own personal gravity. To keep the difficulty in check, the game features extremely precise controls. Quickly tapping the jump button performs a small hop, while holding down the jump button performs a tall leap. Players can also stick to the wall (which may either slow their descent or slightly continue their ascent) and press the jump button again for a wall jump. Some unlockable characters have special jumping abilities, such as the Kid's ability to double jump and Jill's ability to stall her descent.
Over the course of the game, new mechanics are introduced and obstacles become more complex. These include rising tides of lava, portals, magnetic fields, fans, lava rocks, and eventually enemies that hunt down the player character. All obstacles will result in instantaneous death upon contact. The " bosses" in the games are equally indestructible, and instead of actually fighting them, these levels require players to navigate difficult puzzles until a cutscene is triggered.
Players can also collect bandages scattered around certain levels to unlock characters and certain levels. In order for the player to keep Bandages, they must collect them and successfully reach the exit in one attempt. Some bandages require specific characters and all are difficult to collect, especially in purple WARP ZONEs, where players must not only collect the Bandage, but clear each of the three levels with a limited number of lives.
Super Meat Boy features five main worlds, each with forty regular levels. The initial twenty levels are referred to as the "Light World". If the player is able to clear a "Light World" level under its par time, they will be able to access the "Dark World" counterpart (which shares the same basic geometry, but has a different appearance and increased difficulty). Each Light World version of the five main worlds also include a boss level, which must be completed in order to progress to the next world. Boss levels are unlocked after the player beats 17 out of the 20 Light World levels.
Along the way, players can also find purple WARP ZONEs within certain levels. These portals vanish after a set period of time during the level attempt, though reaching these portals makes the WARP ZONE available in the level selection screen. Entering a WARP ZONE will transport Meat Boy (regardless of which character reaches the warp zone) to a retro-themed zone. Each zone comes with three levels that must be completed consecutively with a special version of Meat Boy. Bandages are found within these warp zones, but the player will only have three attempts per level to collect them and clear the WARP ZONE. If Meat Boy dies during the final attempt at any level, all bandages found during the WARP ZONE attempt will be reset, and the player will be kicked back to the level selection screen. Replays and par times are unavailable for WARP ZONEs.
Red WARP ZONEs function similarly to purple WARP ZONEs but are played instead with a secret character . There are no bandages in red warp zones but there are also unlimited lives. There are only five red warp zones, one in each of the main Light Worlds. Each main world also has a special " glitch zone", reached by getting to Bandage Girl while she is in a randomly occurring "glitch state". Glitch zones feature no bandages and only one level, which is typically longer and more difficult than any of the world's WARP ZONEs.
Intro Cutscene Tribute: Street Fighter II: The World Warrior
Boss: Lil' Slugger (giant walking chainsaw driven by Dr. Fetus)
The Forest introduces buzzsaws, static sawblade launchers, and impassable tiles that crumble away soon after the player touches it.
Intro Cutscene Tribute: Castlevania
Boss: C.H.A.D. (mutated living abomination of blood and tissue)
The Hospital introduces fans, crawling slimes that stick to surfaces, floating enemies that bounce around aimlessly, piles of deadly needles, keys that unlock certain tiles, and timed laser beams.
Intro Cutscene Tribute: The Adventures of Lolo
Boss: Brownie
The Salt Factory introduces harmful salt, homing missile launchers, moving platforms, tiles that only crumble away after coming in to contact with a missile, and high-speed conveyor belts.
Intro Cutscene Tribute: Ninja Gaiden
Boss: Little Horn (monster created by dead Meat Boy corpses)
Hell introduces lava pits (that sometimes rise), moving lava rocks, portals, rotating eyes that slowly lock on to the player while shooting laser beams, and demon homing missiles that split in to separate small missiles on impact.
Intro Cutscene Tribute: Mega Man 2
Boss: Larrie's Lament (a group of enormous carnivorous worms)
Rapture introduces orbs that repulse the player, abominations (both running and flying) that head towards the player, and homing sawblade launchers.
Intro Cutscene Tribute: Pokémon Red/Blue
Boss: Dr. Fetus
Unlocked after completing Chapter 5, The End includes five regular levels (with both Light World and Dark World variations) that can only be played by Meat Boy and are designed to test the player's mastery of previous concepts. After completing all five levels, the player can face Dr. Fetus in a boss level. The boss level is divided in to two parts, featuring a halfway checkpoint and a Dark World variant unlocked after completing 85 Dark World levels.
Intro Cutscene Tribute: Ghosts 'N Goblins
Unlocked after completing Chapter 6, Cotton Alley is a special 40-level world that can only be played by Bandage Girl (who is, ironically, rescuing Meat Boy from Dr. Fetus). Despite the pink and cheery atmosphere, the levels are extremely difficult. There are no bandages in this world; the obstacles are mainly limited to giant buzzsaws.
Intro Cutscene Tribute: Bubble Bobble
Unlocked after collecting 20 Bandages, TEH INTERNETS is a special chapter that provides downloadable chapters. All past and future chapters will be free in the Xbox 360 version, due to Team Meat's method of uploading the content in space reserved for free title updates. (Which bypasses Microsoft's normal method of distribution in their marketplace, which would cost either Team Meat or the end user money) All chapters will also be free for the PC and Mac versions.
As of 1st April 2011, Super Meat World is released on the PC version, along with eight chapters of levels. It is also unlocked after collecting 20 Bandages. The level editor is still unavailable, and should be included in the next update.
Each downloadable chapter contains 20 retro- themed levels (with par times to beat) and its own leaderboards separate from the main game. Chapters consist of either a mix of developer favourites (from user-generated maps on the PC level edi tor or from the original flash game), levels designed exclusively for certain characters, and other levels.
Released TEH INTERNETS Chapters
Each version of the game comes with around twelve unique playable characters to choose from, half of them being platform-exclusive characters. They can either be unlocked by collecting bandages, reaching certain Warp Zones, or entering secret cheat codes in the character selection screen. Each character has his/her own unique abilities that differentiate them from Meat Boy, such as the ability to double jump, perform unique jumps, or act differently around map tiles.
Super Meat Boy's old school soundtrack was engineered by Danny Baranowsky of dB Soundworks. Composed of 34 tracks, it can be listened to and bought from http://www.meatboymusic.com.
A two-disc soundtrack titled "NICE TO MEAT YOU" has also been released, with an additional 39 songs for a total 73 tracks. It contains new remixes, menu and cutscene music, and some unused songs. The design of the CD labels reflects the sawblade motif seen on the retail install disc.
Playable Rock Band 3 remixed tracks are available for download via Rock Band Network:
| No. | Track Name | Remix Artist Name | Track Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boy Meats Girl (Intro Movie) | 1:04 | |
| 2 | Super Meat Boy! (Main Theme) | 0:38 | |
| 3 | Forest Funk (Ch 1 Light World) | 3:00 | |
| 4 | Ballad of the Burning Squirrel (Ch 1 Dark World) | 2:51 | |
| 5 | The Battle of Lil' Slugger (Ch 1 Boss) | 2:14 | |
| 6 | Betus Blues (Ch 2 Light World) | 3:12 | |
| 7 | C.H.A.D.'s Broken Wind (Ch 2 Dark World) | 3:46 | |
| 8 | C.H.A.D.'s Lullaby (Ch 2 Boss) | 2:25 | |
| 9 | Can o' Salt (Ch 3 Light World) | 3:20 | |
| 10 | Rocket Rider (Ch 3 Dark World) | 3:00 | |
| 11 | Fast Track to Brown Town (Ch 3 Boss) | 2:24 | |
| 12 | Hot Damned (Ch 4 Light World) | 2:54 | |
| 13 | Devil N. Bass (Ch 4 Dark World) | 2:40 | |
| 14 | Meat Golem (Ch 4 Boss) | 2:45 | |
| 15 | It Ends (Ch 5 Light World) | 3:23 | |
| 16 | Dr. Fetus' Castle (Ch 6 Dark World) | 3:02 | |
| 17 | Larries' Lament (Ch 5 Boss) | 2:49 | |
| 18 | It Ends 2: End Harder (Ch 6 Levels) | 3:06 | |
| 19 | Carmeaty Burana (Ch 6 Boss) | 4:25 | |
| 20 | Escape! | 2:36 | |
| 21 | End Credits | 1:38 | |
| 22 | McLarty Party People (Ch 7 Levels) | 3:00 | |
| 23 | Meat Spin (Teh Internets Levels) | 3:12 | |
| 24 | Forest Funk RETRO (Ch 1 Warp Zone) | 3:00 | |
| 25 | Betus Blues RETRO (Ch 2 Warp Zone) | 3:12 | |
| 26 | Can o' Salt RETRO (Ch 3 Warp Zone) | 3:20 | |
| 27 | Hot Damned RETRO (Ch 4 Warp Zone) | 2:53 | |
| 28 | It Ends RETRO (Ch 5 Warp Zone) | 3:24 | |
| 29 | MATTIAS' MANMEAT MIX (REMIX of Ch 1 Light) | Mattias Häggström Gerdt | 3:25 |
| 30 | Metal Meat (REMIX of Main Theme) | George "Android-Music" Dziov | 3:20 |
| 31 | Boss Burger N' Chips (REMIX of Ch 1 Boss) | Inverse Phase | 3:33 |
| 32 | Meatcraft (REMIX of Ch 3 Light) | C418 | 3:31 |
| 33 | Power of the Meat (REMIX of Ch 1 & 2 Light) | Josh Whelchel feat. Melinda Hershey | 5:31 |
| 34 | It Ends with a Whimper | 3:05 |
| No. | Track Name | Remix Artist Name | Track Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | mAEt b0y (REMIX of Ch 4 Light World) | A_Rival | 4:40 |
| 2 | Spoiled R0TT3N (REMIX of Teh Internets Theme) | Benjamin Briggs | 3:29 |
| 3 | MATTIAS' MANMEAT MIX (REMIX of Ch 1 Light) | Mattias Häggström Gerdt | 3:26 |
| 4 | Metal Meat (REMIX of Main Theme) | George "Android-Music" Dziov | 3:21 |
| 5 | Boss Burger N' Chips (REMIX of Ch 1 Boss) | Inverse Phase | 3:34 |
| 6 | Meatcraft (REMIX of Ch 3 Light) | C418 | 3:31 |
| 7 | Power of the Meat (REMIX of Ch 1 & 2 Light) | Josh Whelchel feat. Melinda Hershey | 5:32 |
| 8 | Trailer Intro | 1:09 | |
| 9 | Meat Boy (Flash) - Title | 1:14 | |
| 10 | World Map Theme | 1:13 | |
| 11 | Meat Fighter II | 0:28 | |
| 12 | Dun Dun Dun!!! | 0:05 | |
| 13 | Chapter 1 Menus | 1:08 | |
| 14 | Meat Boy (Flash) - Forest | 1:44 | |
| 15 | The Tragic Squirrel | 0:54 | |
| 16 | Wups! | 0:03 | |
| 17 | Meatroidvania | 0:06 | |
| 18 | Chapter 2 Menus | 1:08 | |
| 19 | ...And Potatoes | 1:20 | |
| 20 | Chapter 2 Cutscene Score | 0:43 | |
| 21 | Chapter 3 Menus | 1:08 | |
| 22 | Meat Boy (Flash) - Salt Factory | 2:54 | |
| 23 | Chapter 3 Cutscene Score | 0:34 | |
| 24 | Chapter 4 Menus | 1:08 | |
| 25 | Chapter 4 Cutscene Score | 0:29 | |
| 26 | Chapter 5 Menus | 1:08 | |
| 27 | Meat Boy (Flash) - Hell | 3:24 | |
| 28 | It Ends with a Whimper | 3:06 | |
| 29 | ??? | 0:05 | |
| 30 | Chapter 5 Cutscene Score | 0:17 | |
| 31 | Chapter 6 Menus | 1:34 | |
| 32 | Chapter 6 Cutscene Score | 0:40 | |
| 33 | The End Cutscene Score | 1:25 | |
| 34 | Cotton Alley Menus | 1:08 | |
| 35 | 4-bit Meat Boy Theme | 0:30 | |
| 36 | Internets Menus | 0:51 | |
| 37 | 4-bit Internets Menus | 0:51 | |
| 38 | 8-bit Internets Menus | 1:42 | |
| 39 | 90's Ad Track | 1:18 | |
| 40 | World Map Theme (unused) | 1:12 | |
| 41 | World Map Theme 2 (unused) | 1:35 | |
| 42 | Character Select Theme (unused) | 0:34 | |
| 43 | Character Select Theme 2 (unused) | 1:19 | |
| 44 | Demo Cutscene Score | 0:23 | |
| 45 | Dun Dun Dun? (unused) | 0:04 |
| Minimum | Recommended |
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| Minimum (developed on a 2008 iMac) |
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| Game Name | Super Meat Boy |
| Platform(s) | |
| Publisher(s) | |
| Developer(s) | |
| Genres |
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| Themes |
Add a new theme
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| Original US Release |
Oct. 20, 2010
need a fuzzy date? |
| Original US Release | October 2010 know the real date? |
| Aliases | SMB |
| ESRB |
ESRB: T
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| PEGI |
PEGI: 12+
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