Super Meat Boy

Genre: Platformer

Players: 1-2 Competitive (Local Splitscreen)

.

Review:

Super Meat Boy is a platformer that on its face is as straightforward as they come: You’re trying to get from point A to point B without getting killed. You can run, jump, wall-jump, or combinations of the above, and that’s it. However, despite this simple synopsis, the game is an absolutely amazing platformer.

The key to this game’s success is its physics, which are absolutely fine-tuned so that the slightest touch can mean the difference between victory and defeat. Jumping in Super Meat Boy feels great, and you have a great deal of control over your character.

It also helps that, since this is a challenging platformer and you will be dying a lot, the game keeps things moving and you can go straight from one death right to the next life with no waiting. In fact, after finishing a level, you get to see recordings of every single previous attempt laid one on top of another, which can make for quite a spectacle if you beat a level after dying on it dozens of times.

The game’s presentation is very tongue-in-cheek, with lots of pop culture references and silly characters, and also a surprising level of violence considering how cartoony all of the characters are (including meat juices everywhere your character walks, and blood splatters that remain after you die). It works well for the game, it’s charming and funny without being overbearing (although it’s annoying that the game prompts each world’s intro when you go back to it).

I fell in love with this game all the way back on the Xbox 360, and the Nintendo Switch version of the game adds something to the experience and removes something, and I have mixed feelings about it.

On the one hand, this version adds in a new two-player splitscreen “race” mode where two players compete to be the first to finish a level, or series of levels. What’s really cool about this mode is that each player immediately jumps to the next level after completing the previous, meaning that one player can be stuck on the second level in a series while the other player has already moved on to the fifth, making this more like a level completion marathon than a series of individual sprints. This mode is a great addition to the game that gives the game a welcome multiplayer component.

However, the other change to this version of the game is that it no longer features the incredible soundtrack by composer Danny Baranowsky (who more recently composed the wonderful soundtrack for Cadence of Hyrule) due to disagreements about licensing terms. The soundtrack that is now here is… fine. But to lose such an amazing, epic soundtrack really hurts the game in my eyes.

In most respects, Super Meat Boy is as good as it ever was on the Switch. Better, even, since this gameplay style works great for long sessions or small snippets of on-the-go play, and the 2-player mode is a great addition. I’m just disappointed I can’t consider this a definitive version of the game with one of the original version’s best qualities, its soundtrack, completely replaced.

tl;dr – Super Meat Boy is a challenging platformer with a great physics engine, superb gameplay, and a generally great presentation, and the Switch version even adds in a nice 2-player mode. But it also doesn’t have the original game’s fantastic soundtrack, and that’s a big loss for an otherwise incredible game.

Grade: A-

^{You can support eShopperReviews on Patreon! Please click HERE to become a Sponsor!}