Super Meat Boy is a curious and, dare I say it, meaty case in game design. Independently developed games usually are – at least the ones worth playing – but Super Meat Boy is a game that can have you questioning what it is about retro-style games (i.e. those current games designed with retro sensibilities) that is endearing, and in both positive and negative ways. Super Meat Boy at the very least shows there is hope for those independent developers who want to break into the mainstream video game industry, having come from developers who originally made the game for Newgrounds.com (which also played host to Alien Hominid, the first game to come from XBLA players’ favorites Behemoth), and for all the right reasons: it has elements that both pay homage to and challenge established video game design clichés. All jargon aside, though, Super Meat Boy is good, solid, enjoyable platformer games…provided you have the right mindset to enjoy it, and odds are, if you’re at all passionate about video games, you will If you’re wondering what I mean by that last statement, it would help if you understood what kind of game Super Meat Boy is.
As mentioned before, it’s a platformer, in this case, the straight-up Super Mario kind – leap ridiculous heights, avoid incredulous obstacles, all in the name of getting from point A to point B. There’s no landing on enemies to kill them here, which is the first indication that Super Meat Boy is not your average platformer of this kind. The game is similar to previous XBLA platformer hit N+, where the focus is on absurd, physics-defying pixilated acrobatics. Levels are very short and bite-sized, usually occupying a couple screens worth, and they are sent your way rapid-fire, one after another as soon as you beat the last one. There are collectibles to pick up, of course, nestled in very inaccessible and inhospitable regions in most cases. This sort of setup naturally has its appeal to fans of retro-style games, but like any game design setup it has intrinsic flaws…flaws that could potentially limit this game’s appeal. For one thing, the levels are usually hard – very hard. Super Meat Boy is no cakewalk, and unless you have the finger dexterity of an octopus it’s very likely you’ll be dying a lot and restarting levels more than once.
This flaw is retro in and of itself, as this was the case for many a platformer back in the 8-bit and 16-bit days of gaming. We may look back on such games with rose-tinted lenses nowadays, but Super Meat Boy’s difficulty may shatter them for some. Repetition due to not having inadequate skill is inherently frustrating. However, this is where having an open mind comes in, and where some of the design decisions of Super Meat Boy come across as brilliant. For one thing, the small levels mean that such a frustration factor is digestible. It’s not like you will spend hours upon hours traversing one level only to lose it all at the end. Also, the levels are designed in such a way that if you can perfect one way to get around the level’s obstacles, it’ll work consistently – in other words, each level has a definite solution. Super Meat Boy is like a puzzle game in this regard, and is just as rewarding: once you figure out how to beat a level (which may take a while, admittedly), you feel like you’ve really accomplished something, even though the levels are small. (Also, you can skip a level if it’s really bothering you.) Although this design philosophy has another inherent flaw, in this case lack of replay value, Super Meat Boy compensates for it by having a huge number of levels to traverse, and there are plans for DLC in the form of more levels coming in the future.
In short, Super Meat Boy takes the platforming genre and reconstructs it, taking what was originally frustrating about early platforming games, and presenting it in such a way as to be digestible. It’s fitting, then, that the graphics are done in a very retro style, with cutscenes that mimic the classics (the opening cutscene for the game is pretty much lifted right out of Street Fighter II), pixilated gameplay graphics (that get even more pixilated when you find hidden levels called, of course, Warp Zones), and a comedic style that’s reminiscent of the kind of humor you’d ordinarily see on Newgrounds. Sometimes, though, the graphics get in the way, as in the case of certain levels where the background is obscuring your character, or in some cases where it’s not clear what will kill you and what won’t. Still, this is only a minor concern, considering the overall design philosophy of the game. Helping the fun factor of the overall package is a very well-done soundtrack, appropriately boisterous and bouncy, matching the overall comedic style. Admittedly, Super Meat Boy isn’t for everyone. There may be some players who can’t get past the initial frustration factor. However, if you stick with it, and just give it a chance to grow on you, you’ll find there’s much to love about Super Meat Boy. You just need to have an open mind about what’s fun, and odds are Super Meat Boy will have you liking it provided you have enough patience to let its design philosophy sink in.
