Every day, children are born who will never know the feeling of a Nintendo Entertainment System controller in their hands. Try your best not to get depressed over this thought and instead, realize that there is a way you can help. You can buy them a copy of Super Meat Boy, a game that perfectly blends 8-bit roots with modern conveniences.
Every day, children are born who will never know the feeling of a Nintendo Entertainment System controller in their hands. Try your best not to get too depressed over this thought. Instead, realize that there is a way you can help. You can buy them a copy of Super Meat Boy, a game that perfectly blends 8-bit roots with modern advancements.
Older gamers tend to look at classic platformers with rose-colored glasses. It's easy to remember the wonderful memories, but how much where they just a product of the times? From an objective view, today's games are no better or worse than the classics. Instead, they are of an entirely different species. Super Meat Boy fills a void in the video game marketplace by merging the best of both worlds, giving younger gamers a way to experience classic gameplay without the stale aftertaste.
Players take control of Meat Boy, a blocky red slab of meat, to rescue Bandage Girl from the evil Dr. Fetus. If you haven't already closed this page, then odds are you are going to love this quirky little game. But how does Super Meat Boy stack up so well against both modern games and the classics? After all, making such a brazen claim is practically a form of sacrilege in gamer circles. Rym and Scott, hosts of the GeekNights Podcast, even speculate the game was intentionally named with the initials SMB to co-opt the beloved Super Mario Bros. abbreviation. Before we go any further let's break down what makes *Super Meat Boy *so great.
Why Super Meat Boy Feels Like a Classic 8-Bit Game:
- __2D Platforming Gameplay
__Beautifully simple, each stage of *Super Meat Boy *can be summed up in one sentence: get to the end of each stage while avoiding all obstacles. In the process, you'll be running, jumping, projecting off of walls and avoiding any number of dangers. Super Meat Boy makes no apologies for its simple list of actions (walk/run/jump). Instead, it offers super-tight control on levels that will require it to survive. There are over 300 stages, so there's plenty of time to mix in new elements. Level design stays fresh by slowly adding in extra enemies and obstacles, some that are wholly original and others that are obvious throwbacks. How about disappearing blocks? Yeah, Super Meat Boy's got it all. Now your kids can enjoy the most frustrating parts of Mega Man 2 in a brand new way! Some levels are even completely styled in 8 or 16-bit graphics, such as this Game Boy inspired pea-soup green tinted stage:
__Memorable Soundtrack
__All of the most legendary games have themes that you can still hum from memory, even if you haven't played them in years. *Super Meat Boy *is no exception, as Danny Baranowsky was brought in to do all of the tracks. You may recognize Danny as the guy who wrote the music for Canabalt, one of the best iOS and Flash games of 2009.Hard as Nails
The number one trademark of classic games is that they are hard. An alarming number of games these days do not test any player skill but Super Meat Boy is the exception, not the rule. A true challenge of platforming ability, this game will push you to the absolute limits and wind up improving your skills in the end.
Why Super Meat Boy is Better Than a Classic 8-Bit Game:
The Rules are Black and White
Yes, old games are hard, but at the same time they are also usually unfair. There's nothing worse than having trouble beating a game because the hit detection on an obstacle is slightly off or the terrain of a level has a glitch. Meat Boy himself is a perfect square, so the hit detection is pixel-perfect. No cheap deaths here due to unskilled programming.__Forgiving in the Face of Difficulty
__When you die in Super Meat Boy, you immediately start the level over again. There are unlimited lives, and Meat Boy will re-spawn in less than a second. The game will also save after any level is beaten, but there are no checkpoints or mid-level saves. It may sound as though this weakens the difficulty of the game, but players are still forced to beat every stage in a single life. Think of it as trimming the fat from the 8-bit gaming experience.__More Rewarding Victories
__The secret ingredient to this game is the replay system that serves as huge carrot-on-a-stick motivation to complete even the toughest stages. When a player finally succeeds, they are presented with a simultaneous replay of every prior attempt. There is nothing more rewarding than watching 50+ Meat Boys run to their death while one squeaks through the crowd to reach his goal. The intoxicating factor is that the more you die, the higher the stakes, since the replay will only get better. Another reward is the use of time challenges. Every stage has a "dark world" version with added danger that can be unlocked through fast completion. If new levels weren't enough motivation, every single stage also has both public and friends-only leaderboards that encourage plenty of friendly competition.
If you're looking to play Super Meat Boy, it's available in two different flavors: XBox Live or Steam (PC & Mac). Both versions include free DLC, although owners of the Steam version will be given a free level editor sometime in the next month or two. For up-to-date information, check the officialTeam Meat development blog.
