Super Meat Boy was an overnight success when it released back in 2010. Made by two people and based on a flash game, the premise of this title didn’t bode well. With just focussing on their own vision, Team Meat succeeded massively. Exceeding every expectation and offering financial stability for the struggling developers. After 10 years, Super Meat Boy finally gets a sequel ballsy named Super Meat Boy Forever.
Super Meat Boy Forever takes place a few years after the events of Super Meat Boy. Meat Boy and Bandage Girl have been living a happy life free of Dr. Fetus for several years and they now have a wonderful little baby named Nugget. Nugget is joy personified and she is everything to Meat Boy and Bandage Girl. And though Nugget is too small to understand anything, she manages to spoil the mad scientist’s plans every time her parents are in danger. So, if you’re determined to return your kid, launch Super Meat Boy Forever and head to the end of endless levels.
Development hell
Super Meat Boy Forever Nugget
Indie Game: The Movie followed Team Meat while they were developing the original Super Meat Boy. It showed how exhausting Indie game development could be and what toll it takes on the developer’s personal life and mental health. After the financial success of the first game, a sequel was finally announced back in 2014. Edmund McMillen left Team Meat in order to get The Binding of Isaac done which left the sequel of Super Meat Boy in development hell. It took Tommy Refenes 6 years in order to fully finish the game. What first started as a mobile-only game is now a full-fledged sequel ready to be released across multiple platforms. Currently, Epic Store and Nintendo Switch have it first as a timed exclusive.
Nugget
After rescuing Bandage Girl from the clutches of dr. Fetus, the odd pair got together and created a new bundle of joy named Nugget. At the start of Super Meat Boy Forever, we hear about dr. Fetus returning to his old ways. He managed to kidnap Nugget. Meat Boy and Bandage Girl set out to return the little guy back to safety. Dr. Fetus has once again laid out a huge amount of death traps in order to stop his arch-nemesis. After completing all the levels in a world the story continues via well drawn-out cutscenes. These cutscenes are actually very enjoyable and made me think about the old Happy Tree Friends cartoons.
Super Meat Boy Nugget
Forever
Super Meat Boy Forever’s gameplay is a little bit different this time around. It is still a 2D platformer filled to the brim with death traps. The difference is all in the controls. Team Meat decided to make this sequel a platformer mixed with an endless runner. Meat Boy (or any other character you unlocked) is always running. You can’t change pace or direction so the focus is solely on timing your jumps perfectly. This makes for some frantic gameplay, to say the least. I found the original game pretty daunting but this sequel might even be more erratic.
As if running forever wasn’t enough, Team Meat decided to develop 7200 levels to conquer… Actually, they developed chunks of levels that are randomly put together each time you decide to start a new game. These randomly generated levels make Super Meat Boy Forever highly replayable. With each world, new elements are introduced to ease the player back into the game. Dying in Super Meat Boy Forever comes pretty naturally. After each death, you are immediately taken back to the beginning of that chunk to retry and do better. Through trial and error Super Meat Boy Forever can be conquered which feels awesome. Knowing you just beat a level you’ve been retrying what seems like forever releases those game endorphins like nothing before.
Punching
Not long after you’re starting to get a grasp at timing your jumps, you’ll be introduced to other mechanics. The directional buttons add new possibilities to the gameplay. Pressing to the right or left makes Meat Boy “punch-n-dash” into enemies. This mechanic can also be used to get over big pits. Pressing down while on the ground makes you duck (or punch-n-duck) to get through some very small gaps. Pressing up results in an uppercut which could be a great set-up for a dash to get up and over yet another death trap.
Soundtrack
Don’t fix it if it’s not broken. Super Meat Boy Forever uses the same style as before but with some new elements. Everything looks awesome and gruesome at the same time. Mixed with the cutesy vibe the characters have, it all seems to blend in an odd way. The soundtrack on Super Meat Boy Forever is so darn well-fitting the vibe of the game. The music really complements the action on screen with extreme catchiness. The use of different instruments throughout the different levels offers some unique takes on the term “chase-music”. Awesome work was done by the composer.
Conclusion
At first, I wasn’t sure I liked the direction they went with the new controls/gameplay. After getting through the first 4 levels it stopped bothering me because I was too busy trying to figure out how to get past a certain chunk. The added replay value from the randomly generated levels is a nice bonus. I feel like redoing the first game was a bit too risky knowing that game is basically a close-to-perfect platformer. Doing it differently this time around makes Super Meat Boy Forever familiar but yet still different enough to get the player excited again.