Super Meat Boy 3D makes suffering fun

The original Super Meat Boy It is one of the most famous indie games of all time. Released in 2010, it’s a very difficult 2D platformer, but it’s a lot of fun to play: the short levels almost feel like speed-running puzzles, and even though they’re full of traps and buzzsaws, dying isn’t too bad because you revive almost instantly. Super Meat Boy 3D He has a lot of the same spirit. It’s infuriating and completely satisfying.

Navigation in Meat Boy in 3D feels very similar to 2D, especially his really floating jump. Wherever you run (and where you die), you’re left with spots of blood, which are useful visual reminders of where you’re going (or where you died) when you retry the level. The levels are full of obstacles such as saws, lasers, spikes, homing missiles, moving platforms, difficult walls to climb, and, at times, you deal with multiple problems at once. But going 3D also means you have to think about how Meat Boy moves in 3D space, which means you have to pull off moves like treacherous diagonal jumps and running through multiple walls. The change adds new elements without fundamentally affecting the Super Meat Boy expertise.

in Super Meat Boy 3DSeveral times when starting a level, I wondered how I was going to beat it. On my first few attempts, I would often die within seconds. But since then Super Meat Boy 3D It takes you back to almost the start of the level once you died, I could run over obstacles in my way until I discovered them. It usually takes a few minutes of trial and error, but when I actually complete a level, it usually only takes about 20 or 30 seconds. After that, it will be on to the next stage.

This process may seem terrible, but it was invigorating for me. I felt like I was getting better with repetition, and as the levels slowly increased in difficulty, I realized that I was improving enough that I could take on the challenges, even if they sometimes felt out of reach. I think this is by design: there aren’t any settings to reduce the game’s difficulty, which means you have to beat the levels as is. The only way out is through.

If you want to make the game more difficult, there are plenty of ways to do so. The levels have an out-of-the-way bandage you can pick up to unlock more playable characters, as well as a timer you can beat to get an A-plus rating, which unlocks a completely separate level in the Dark World. If you like chasing achievements, I wish you good luck with challenges like beating 15 level worlds without dying.

I finished Light World, the game’s main batch of levels, after about five hours, and my save file says I died 911 times. I’m not planning on tackling the A-plus times or all of the Dark World levels right now – they seem too scary to me. But I wouldn’t be surprised if you come back to it later, even though it seems impossible: Super Meat Boy 3D It makes suffering fun.

^{Super Meat Boy 3D Available now on Nintendo Switch 2, PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series}