
"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."

Super Meat Boy is a 2D (Concept) platformer developed and published digitally by Team Meat (Company) for the Xbox 360 (Platform) (on October 20, 2010) and PC (Platform) (via Steam on November 30, 2010). The Steam version was later expanded for both Mac (Platform) (on November 18, 2011) and Linux (Platform) (on November 5, 2013) support. It was later ported by BlitWorks (Company) and released digitally for the PlayStation 4 (Platform) (on October 6, 2015), PlayStation Vita (Platform) (on October 6, 2015), Wii U (Platform) (on May 12, 2016), Android (Platform) devices (on April 13, 2016), and Nintendo Switch (Platform) (on January 11, 2018).
It follows the titular Meat Boy (Character), a "boy without skin," as he attempts to rescue his girlfriend Bandage Girl (Character) from the menacing Dr. Fetus while avoiding a variety of deadly obstacles (most commonly sawblades, missiles, and laser beams). The game is known for its tricky "trial and error" gameplay, where players must use precise controls and an infinite amount of lives (with quick restarts) to clear each short level (filled with platforming puzzles of increasing difficulty) as fast as they can.
Similar to some other indie games (such as The Behemoth's Alien Hominid (Game)), the concept for Super Meat Boy began as a free online game made in Adobe Flash for the entertainment site Newgrounds. This game, originally called Meat Boy, was released on October 5, 2008. Super Meat Boy references other games and videos from the Newgrounds community, as well as the indie game scene at large at the time (including N, Aquaria (Game), VVVVVV (Game), I Wanna Be The Guy (Game), and Braid (Game)). The game's development process was featured in the 2012 documentary Indie Game: The Movie.
Both XBLA and Steam versions include different platform-exclusive characters and features (such as avatar awards and free level packs for the XBLA version and a level editor and more achievements for the Steam version). Due to licensing issues between musician Danny Baranowsky (Person) and Team Meat, the BlitWorks ports feature a brand new soundtrack featuring Ridiculon (of The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth fame), David Scatliffe (of Hotline Miami (Game) fame), and Laura Shigihara (Person) (of Plants vs. Zombies fame). This soundtrack was later introduced on the Steam version on April 13, 2017.
While the game was primarily released in digital format, the PC version received a limited-edition retail release (titled Super Meat Boy: Ultra Edition), featuring an art booklet, mini-poster, and digital soundtrack.
Along with the its spiritual sequel The End is Nigh (Game), the game will receive a full-fledged sequel in 2018 (titled Super Meat Boy Forever (Game)) featuring randomly-generated levels.
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" are equally indestructible; instead of actually fighting them, these levels require players to navigate difficult puzzles under time restraints 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 the 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 which is notably difficult. 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 (Game)
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 (Character)
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 (Game)
Boss: Little Horn (Character) (monster made of 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 (Game)
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 (Game)
After collecting 20 Bandages, a bonus chapter (known as "TEH INTERNETS" in the Xbox 360 version and "Super Meat World" in the PC, Mac, and Linux versions) is unlocked that provides free downloadable chapters. This feature is not included in the PlayStation Network version.
Each downloadable chapter can contain up to 20 levels (with both par times and separate leaderboards) and an option to restrict the character chosen. While the "Super Meat World" version is populated by user-generated maps, the "TEH INTERNETS" version is developer-curated only.
Due to a problem with the map-uploading system, users cannot add any chapters to the PC, Mac, and Linux versions.
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.
Boss fights, standard warp zones, and Chapter 6 can only be played as Meat Boy. Chapter 7 can only be played as Bandage Girl. Warp Zones that unlock new characters can only be played as their respective characters.
Super Meat Boy's old school soundtrack was engineered by Danny Baranowsky (Person) of dB Soundworks. Composed of 34 tracks, it is available at [http:/www.meatboymusic.com 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 CDs feature the sawblade motif seen on the retail install disc.
Playable Rock Band 3 (Game) remixed tracks are available for download via Rock Band Network (Concept):
| 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 |
Identical to the first 28 tracks of the OST
| 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 |
|---|---|
* OS : Microsoft® Windows® XP / Vista / 7
|
| Minimum (developed on a 2008 iMac) |
|---|
* OS: OSX 10.5
|
