I’ve always liked Super Meat Boy, but never loved it until recently. Being one of the first of the many “masocore” platformers, it’s always maintained relevance since the 2008 prototype. It doesn’t have any major gimmicks, and instead focuses on the games of old. You have a simple goal.

Dr Fetus has kidnapped Bandage Girl. Save Bandage Girl! It’s as simple as it gets. Well, what about the controls? You run, jump, and that’s it. So, where’s the fun? The controls. I firmly believe that Super Meat Boy has the best controls of any platformer released to date. Meat Boy is incredibly fast, while also having a floaty jump. Normally I’d say that this is bad for most games, but Super Meat Boy makes it work. All of the levels are designed with this high speed and floatiness in mind, stretching the controls to the furthest possibility. It’s most noticeable in the much later levels, but even then, this attention to detail is present in earlier levels. It makes the game feel truly limitless, by allowing you to speed through the levels, having an extremely high skill ceiling down to the very frame. It’s a bit unwieldy, but once you master it, it feels like you can do anything. And do everything you shall, because there's a catch. It’s called SUPER for a reason. Super Meat Boy is considered among the hardest platformers, and for good reason. It’s a relentlessly difficult game, doubly so for 100%, but that’s where the beauty of the game lies within. Sure, you may retry a dozen times just to unlock the Dark World level, but by all accounts, the game pushes you to that mastery by rewarding you for overcoming challenges. It wants you to succeed. It’s difficult, but fair, and one of the most rewarding to conquer. The levels all feel distinctive from one another, and each individual one teaches the player a different lesson throughout their short runtimes. The level progression of Super Meat Boy is nothing but incredible. It introduces a gimmick in one level, and each level builds upon it. And then suddenly, another gimmick pops up. And then another, and another, and another, until you’re working with all of the mechanics before you even know it. And then the Dark World version of the level shows how much better you can get with said mechanics. No gimmick feels underutilized, nor unfun and cheap, and no level feels forgettable at all. It emphasizes how strong the whole game’s design is. And if you really want a challenge, you can always go for the Bandages! The bandages of Super Meat Boy force you to master the level to even get a shot at them. Getting them is the easier part. Surviving is harder. If you so much as graze a saw with these babies, you lose the bandage, but succeed and the game proudly announces that you got the bandage. It's a feeling like no other. I had my shit absolutely rocked throughout the entirety of Super Meat Boy 100%. Getting the bandages really made me feel like I accomplished something, both in a metaphorical and literal sense, as unlocking bandages allows you to play as brand new characters.

Akin to The Binding of Isaac, all characters cover a specific niche. Meat Boy is your main man, with all of the levels designed for him first and foremost. The others give you entirely new platforming abilities, but typically have a stipulation, like for example, Commander Video. He gets a short float, but is pretty slow compared to Meat Boy. There's about 10 characters overall, a few of which require a secret code to be inputed. The cool thing about it is that most characters come from other indie games, making Super Meat Boy feel more like a video game which proves how far indie games have come. Even more interestingly, the console and PC versions of the game has different characters within them, each accommodating the difference in the Indie scene on PC and Consoles. The Warp Zones themselves have the same characters, so Commander Video from Bit.Trip, Jill from… Mighty Jill Off, Ogmo from Jumper, the titular character, Flywrench, and The Kid from I Wanna Be The Guy are all here and accounted for. Meanwhile, Gish, Tim, Guy Spelunky, Pink Knight, and The Ninja are console exclusive, while Headcrab, Alien Hominid, Josef, Naija, RunMan, Captain Viridian, and MR. MINECRAFT, are all exclusive to PC. In the end, it doesn't really matter which version you play, but it kind of sucks that we never got some Super Meat Boy Definitive Edition with all of the characters from both versions, but in general, the balance of characters is very solid. While The Kid is among the best characters in the game for the best double jump in the game, he is a lot slower and jumps lower than Meat Boy. And also, in order to even get him, you need to complete the 3 hardest levels in the game, back to back.

This is a perfect transition into talking about the bane of my existence. GOLDEN GOD. Is actually really fun! Super Meat Boy will take you about a weekend to complete, but GOLDEN GOD could take upwards of a month to achieve. I played on-and-off ad nauseam over the course of a year, amd Golden God completely transforms Super Meat Boy as a game. In order to achieve Golden God, you need to
- Clear all 7 Light Worlds, with an A+ Rank
- Clear all 7 Dark Worlds (aka X worlds), harder versions of the Light World, but no A+ ranks are needed
- Obtain all 100 Bandages
- Unlock every Character
- Clear all Warp Zones, sets of 3 bite sized levels with 3 lives per level
- Clear all Glitch levels (technically optional but adds to 100%)
So... yeah, any completionist certainly has their work cut out for them. The Dark Worlds alone nearly broke me, but damn did I pop off when I cleared every one of them. Chapters 1, 2, 3, and 6 are pretty manageable when it comes to their challenge, but I genuinely contemplated quitting the entire operation at World 4X. I was 100%ing each World at about 1 or 2 per day, but 4X threw off my flow by a lot. It took me about 3 days to fully beat it alone, and 5X only got more and more challenging. 5X is among the most challenging worlds in the entire game. Each level was a challenging contraption made with only the most difficult platforming setpieces in the entire game. But each time I died, the music always brought me coming back for more!

Super Meat Boy’s soundtrack is legendary, no doubt about it. Some of the most Newgrounds esque shit that you can imagine, but it’s some of that good shit nonetheless. Forest Funk was stuck in my head for months once I first conquered Super Meat Boy, Beatus Blues is an incredibly catchy tune. Can O’ Salt is a Minecraft song (described by one of my IRLs), Hell feels grand and imposing, and The Rapture feels like a goddamn military tune. The End is weirdly cinematic but also really good, and CHAPTER MOTHERFUCKING 7!

Chapter 7 is where my 100% streak really died off. I completed 5 levels a DAY at this point. There are no bandages, no warp zones, nothing. Just you, your controller, and Bandage Girl. Yeah, for Chapter 7 alone, you get to play as Bandage Girl. And these levels aren’t among the most difficult in the game, they ARE the most difficult in the game. Don’t let the happy music and overabundance of pink fool you. The Cotton Alley has some of the most pseudo-pixel perfect shit that you can imagine, but once again, it’s HARD but FAIR. I never wanted to ragequit because the game wasn’t unfair. It’s one of the hardest 2D platforming levels ever made, but one of the best. Every single piece of tech that the game taught you comes back for a spectacular finale, and a spectacular finale that is. This all culminates in the HARDEST level I’ve ever beaten. “The Four Letter Word” is IMPOSSIBLE. It’s 1 minute of straight pixel perfect platforming, easily the hardest level in the game, and it was 11 PM. I was in my room alone, with only the bright visuals of the Cotton Alley keeping me awake. But I was determined. And it took over a very long time, but after an hour, I saw Meat Boy. I was at the goal. I made the final jump, and dropped my controller. I was so satisfied, but I knew that was only half the battle. So, I got a good night’s rest, knowing that the following day would be hell.

Or was it? I powered through Cotton Alleys’ Dark World like it was nothing. I was Meat Boy. I felt the heaviness on my heart each time he died, but each victory kept me coming back for more and more. I crushed half of the levels like soda cans. But the remaining few pushed me past my breaking point. And with 4 levels to go, with just me and the game, I received... Golden God??? Welp, that was fun! Yeah, not sure why the achievement unlocked early, but I decided to leave it at that. But as the final completion reward, you unlock the Meat Ninja, who always runs and can teleport through sawblades after pressing X. You can’t use the leaderboards with him, but it’s a solid reward for 100%.

Super Meat Boy is a masterclass of game design, being one of the best platformers ever made. It has over 300 handcrafted levels, all of which test the player’s skills in the best way possible. It’s one of those pick up and play games, where you can play and clear a few levels, or complete the entire game in a sitting. It’s a fun game, to put it simply, and I can’t recommend it enough, now that the XBLA store is shutting down. Rest In Peace, but long live Steam. Welp. What is there to to cover now?

MYSELF. Yeah, I know this is pretty out of scope to cover in a controversial platforming series with a silly cube of meat, but I wanted to talk about another controversial platforming series with a Witch. A dark one, perhaps. Plus, it directly related to me and the near future of zeusdeegoose as a whole, and I’ve done so in the past with my Binding of Isaac reviews. So humor me for a bit, or, if you’ve had your fill, feel free to click off, and I wish you a good day. For many people within my Discord and other related spaces, they knew that I was re-reviewing The Legend of Dark Witch series in it’s entirety; keyword, was, and I have to upsettingly say that said review series is now canceled. Many people don’t know about it, and I think that’s a good thing. It was a series that I used to play in the past, and me and a few friends have heavily criticized over the past few years. We also have a bit of bad blood within said community itself. We were talking about it again and how the developer sucked, practically beating it down as a farce of a franchise, mostly leaving the community stuff out of it as a whole. And while I still agree those remarks about the developer, one discussion got taken pretty far as I took a jab at one of the wiki’s vandals, and that spiraled into one of the members of the server leaving. Initially, I thought it was going to be a lighthearted joke, but it was pretty inappropriate of me and for those involved, I do apologize. I won’t extrapolate anything further at the behest of the people in said chat, as the server that the discussions were held within was a private venue, and I don’t wish to share any links so said server.

Secondly, after said conversation, I realized something huge. I didn’t NEED to re-review the series. I mean, what would I get out of it? Initially, the thought going in was that this would re-introduce people into zeusdeegoose’s past by re-reviewing what got the ball rolling for the long ass review format and to bury the hatchet for the final time, but here’s the thing. I already kind of did that. I had already archived my Wiki reviews on Backloggd, and notwithstanding the occasional bias, my criticisms of each game have still held up. So the newer reviews would just be... lesser. I don’t have the energy nor the time to discuss every stage in Dark Witch 2 again when that would go against the overall message of the review series; that being that The Legend of Dark Witch is a dogshit series, aside from 1 and 2, and I don’t think it’s worth potentially burning some bridges just to prove my point. Me and other friends have already long since moved on, and potentially bringing a lolicon back into the spotlight simply isn’t worth the effort that’d I’d put into it.

Thirdly, I got burnt out. Ladies and Gentlemen, I LOVE tearing apart games I hate, believe me. Super Meat Boy Forever is one of my favorite reviews that I’ve ever made. But I can only say “This game fucking sucks” so many times before getting tired, folks. And that’s just the review side. Imagine playing 8 games back to back, 99% of which are mid, and the 1% are games that I’ve burnt myself out on and already played for hundreds of hours already (not joking, btw). I didn’t hate myself for booting up The Binding of Isaac, because The Binding of Isaac is an actually GOOD video game that I like. Wow! But whenever I boot up any Dark Witch game, I just feel disappointed.

Fourthly, who cares? I could make point after point about why NAN-A and The Legend of Dark Witch suck, but it’s fruitless. The Legend of Dark Witch is far past it’s eShop era where it was actually semi-popular. Hell, I’d bet now that the games don’t even average a sale a day, with the 3DS eShop now gone. Now, only a very small, inactive fanbase remains. Ever since me and others left, it’s a complete GHOST TOWN. Nobody cares about it anymore. I’ve barely heard anyone in my online sphere talk about it, and it remains as a niche franchise, like it should be. People got their balls blown off with 1 and 2, and then almost all of us collectively fucked off afterwards because the games SUCKED and it wasn’t active anymore. Now that the dust has settled, it’d only serve to piss people off who still give a damn about the series anymore. And trust me, they WOULD get pissed. I’ve seen it firsthand. And as funny as it would be, I don't want to act as if I'm some villain or something.

So... yeah. That’s all I got to say on the matter. Sorry to anyone who was expecting the review, and sorry to anyone who was involved in the first incident. It was a flawed idea from the start, and I really don’t have anyone to blame for the reviews except myself. Now, for real this time, I’m burying the hatchet. No more of my valuable time will be spent on a video game franchise made by some jizzer. I may edit this out sooner or later, because truth be told, it’s mostly irrelevant to a game series with a funny meat man, but I just needed to get my thoughts out, off of my chest, and announce that the series is canceled, as disappointing as it may be. Finally, I still have all of my Dark Witch reviews in a Google Doc, so if you'd like to see them, whether that be out of curiosity or otherwise, come on over. ;) Shoot me a DM to @zeusdeegoose, either on Twitter or Discord. They’ll remain forever unfinished, but hey, if people wanted to know how it would've played out, they can come and see. But now, with all that being said, lets just move on to greener fields because I don’t know what else to talk about.

Sooooo... it might be too early, but it may be time to start another review series. I’ve been playing a wider variety of games than ever before. Old games, new games, and even bear games. I’ve had good games and bad games, but it’s true love that we share! So I do have quite a few on my mind that I want to do. Blaster Master Zero, Super Monkey Ball, and Devil May Cry are all on my mind. So, I hope you’re looking out for those because they’re probably coming soon. Blaster Master Zero will probably be first up, as I’ve finished all of them, and then Super Monkey Ball and DMC will follow soon after. Again, there may or may not be a bit of a drought when it comes to reviews thanks to the aforementioned cancellation, so apologies. But, zeusdeegoose always comes back stronger than it was. So please tune in, when it’s ready of course. But in the meantime, I’m going back to the Basement so I can type more reviews. If you’ve read this far, I really appreciate your support, but please go outside. It’s almost Summer now, and the sun is good for your skin and health. Don’t be like me. Or hell, play Super Meat Boy! You wont regret it.

Super Meat Boy has influenced countless games, pioneered the indie movement and was once the face of indie’s alike. Originally a small flash game on Newgrounds turned into a full fledged cross platform release.

I cant say I particularly loved Super Meat Boy. At times movement and levels are fun, with tough times to beat and hidden collectables scattered about. Rewards for beating par times and bonus levels give a variety of reference gimmick characters and secret harder stages. However the sheer difficulty is a huge wall to pass and one hundred precenting the game I would consider impossible for myself.

My completion of Super Meat Boy comes with a slight caveat due to a game breaking bug. On the final level of the game I faced a bug that completely prevents me from finishing the game and defeating the final boss. It turns out that this has been a known issue on some versions of the game since 2012. (Why this still isn't fixed I do not know)

With that in mind I did enjoy some of my time playing Super Meat Boy but because of this issue and the huge skill ceiling I think it may be best left in the past.

I tried. Got to the hell world and at that point, it felt like a slog to go through and not worth it with so many better challenging games requiring mechanical skill out there. I tried and gave this game a fair shot in my opinion.

Timings sometimes are pixel perfect (i.e. no creativity), unresponsive controls due to lack of buffering or correct input handling, grating music, meh art style, and a ;_; story.

I tried completing earlier levels and gaining bandages, which just asperated my above criticism.

An excersice in frustration.

Run and Jump game, speedy platformer. It's a bit frustrating becauese of the physics and the overall movement of the character which is very floaty and slippery.

Once you get the hang of it, it's still hard.

O ano é 2010, Super Meat Boy finalmente é lançando, entre trancos e barrancos. É um período interessante, com a explosão das mídias digitais e com serviços que facilitavam o desenvolvimento, um caldeirão de jogos indies surge. Ótimas coisas vão surgir nesse contexto, outras nem tanto, mas Super Meat Boy, estrela esse momento como um dos games mais importantes e influentes desse meio independente.

Não é à toa sua fama, ao menos num contexto macro, faz sentido. Podemos argumentar até, que ele foi um dos responsáveis por reviver esse gênero platformer, além de claro, esse game e outros, também fizeram essas pequenas equipes, ganharem holofote.

Contudo, estamos em 2023 e muito se caminhou, tanto pra trás quanto pra frente, quando falamos de jogos independentes. Essa revisita ao game, se dá muito por eu ter jogado duas das estrelas do documentário Indie Game: The Movie, restando apenas Super Meat Boy. Quando joguei pela primeira vez, lá por meados de 2017 – 2018, gostei bastante, mas não posso reafirmar isso mais.

Se eu fosse pensar numa palavra pra definir esse game, ela definitivamente séria: mal-planejamento. Super Meat Boy, não é um jogo difícil, apesar da fama, ele apenas vai exigir pensamentos rápidos pra lidar com as situações, em algumas fases, tudo parece quase uma dança, no sentido de que quando pegamos o ritmo, é só mantê-lo que passamos sem problema algum. Se essa abordagem, se mantivesse o tempo todo, amaria, porém, ela oscila e no mundo The End, joga tudo isso fora.

Essa falta de foco, é muito representada no level design. O primeiro mundo, é assim, porém, sabe cadenciar as coisas de forma inteligente, ao ponto de fazer tudo ficar disfarçado. As fases são curtas, rápidas e apresentam um desafio simples, que serve de tutorial de mecânicas. Dá pra sentir uma certa influência de Super Mario Bros, nessa forma de ensinar apenas pelas posições dos objetos.

A questão é que isso vai aos poucos sumindo. Cada mundo, ele ensina menos e te deixa meio jogado naquele level, o que não é ruim, porém perde um pouco do brilho. Contudo, ainda mantêm aquele ritmo em boa parte dos pequenos mundos, compostos por 20 fases e um chefe.

Ele só vai morrendo, no penúltimo mundo, antes do The End. Aqui, ele exige um pouco mais de paradas, do que aquele percurso de corrida. Não é ruim, mas não consigo compreender bem, a razão dele começar abandonar um estilo conforme se aproxima da conclusão. A resposta que cheguei, é que foi mal-planejado e a sensação de evolução, é baixa já nos momentos bons, digo, são poucas situações que existe uma ideia de que tão ficando melhor. Mas depois, isso se torna nulo.

Não ajuda muito, o quão tenebroso é o pulo desse jogo, que nitidamente faltou polimento. Sem me aprofundar muito em questões técnicas, até porque não tenho certeza do que ocorre, porém, tenho duas teorias:
1. O raytracing lançado para detectar se estamos em solo, não cobre o protagonista inteiro.
2. O pulo só pode ser executado em solo. O que parece besta, mas muito jogos deixam o jogador pular depois que passam da plataforma, por alguns microssegundos.

Temo o resultado, seja qual for o motivo, que muitas vezes o pulo te deixa na mão. Aperta o botão, mas ele não executa o comando, isso para momentos de maior precisão, deixa a jornada uma tortura. Contudo, nunca senti que é injusto, só mal-elaborado.

Essa parte de mal-elaborado, fica mais evidente no The End, que são fases que, mesmo parecendo ser iguais as demais, são diferentes substancialmente, ao ponto de provocar um cansaço. É uma sequência de leveis, que parecem exigir muito mais estrategia, do que dinamismo ou às vezes, ambos no mesmo tempo, o que nunca fica muito interessante ou balanceado.

Apesar do mapa ser o menor de todo, tendo 5 fases e um chefe, ainda são os mapas mais longos e cansativos. Porém, o cansaço surgiu mesmo, no último level, antes do boss; tem um trecho que é injusto, exige uma precisão nunca exigida e principalmente, não te dá espaço pra treinar. Conheço pessoas, que nunca zeraram esse game por causa dessa fase. O chefe final, é olhar pro desafio proposto e só pensar que não faz sentido, o que não tá errado, realmente não faz.

Super Meat Boy, é um jogo legal e bem importante pra entender os indies modernos, porém, consegue ser tão confuso no que deseja em certos momentos, que deixa a experiência cansativa. Ele ser uma peça do seu tempo, digo no sentido do seu humor, que já não existe mais na internet, só o deixa mais tanto faz.

when i was 14 instead of focusing on any of my classes at high school i would literally just speedrun this all day, and one time a kid bet me $8 that i couldn't finish the first 50 or so levels in under 5 minutes or something like that, which i proceeded to do easily. he paid me the money, in a big ziploc bag of eighty 10c coins. later after school i tried to knick a tiramisu out of the fridge of a nearby cafe, but got caught by the manager on the way out. he told me to pay for it. coincidentally, the tiramisu also cost $8. few things have stuck in my mind over the years than the look on that guy's face when i produced the ziploc bag. he ordered me to sit, and proceeded to count out each individual coin. i don't know what i should take away from this memory, other than the knowledge that i was a dirtbag kid back then, and also that that was the exact moment my speedrunning career ended just as it had started. anyway, good game

I always try to limit my 5 stars to really special games, that i truly love, so I was really wondering whether Super Meat Boy deserved it. I believed that the more frustrating parts of the game (omega) held it back, but really, they make it better.

The absolute relief when you finally finish a hard level is unmatched, but at the same time, trying to finish one isn't boring in the slightest, each time you die, you want to do better on the next try, which is made better with instant respawns. But even with that, it doesn't make the game easy. There are no assist options, or encouraging words to keep you going. All there is are you, the game, and your own sheer fucking determination.

One of the greatest 2d platformers and indie games of all time to this day. Its tight and difficult gameplay is so addictive. Finding the way to beat the challenging levels over constant deaths never felt so satisfying. The soundtrack also keeps me pretty hype. The game is uber charming and I love the artstyle and aesthetic. The way each and every level is so intricately designed still amazes me to this day. Also the replay that shows you all your runs of the level makes me feel more satisfied that I finally beat the level. The satisfaction I get from playing this game is almost second to none. This is probably my favorite between this and Isaac but both are masterpieces in their own ways. I'll say I still probably slightly prefer Mario 3 but this comes close to best platformers ever.

A very challenging game yet a satisfying experience. I highly recommend this one. The controls are simple, but very precise and responsive, providing super challenging gameplay with the levels themselves that won’t hold you back, and you will die plenty of times. Thankfully, it isn’t so frustrating due to the near-perfect controls once again, but the levels are also very short, which does make the sense of that “I want to try this one more time” mentality to not feel exhausted when running & jumping each level. The visuals evoke a sense of nostalgia, reminiscent of the old days spent playing on Newgrounds and playing so many fever dreams for me.

Unlocking the IWBTG Kid was probably harder than anything in IWBTG but he was an amazing Character. Also I appriciate the other Guest Charas from other Indie Games.

Overall this is a good rage game but feels a bit samey after a few worlds. In IWBTG you had an unique an creative trap in almost every room which is something I feel doesn't get enough appriciation in gamedesign. Here it is just like 3 Gimmicks per World stretched out to 20 Levels and people are fine with it... but well so am I because this game is still alot of fun

Unfortunately, this one was pretty disappointing for me. The game has been in the back of my mind for a decade, since I first saw it in the documentary Indie Game: The Movie when I was about 12. At the time, it really caught my eye, although admittedly not as much as its "co-star", Fez.

To a certain extent, I still think this game is important; it was one of the earliest major titles of the indie boom of the 2010s, exuding the vibe of the Xbox Live Arcade era to which it was released. Without games like this becoming massively popular on Newgrounds in the early 2010s, drawing the eyes of the major publishers like Microsoft, I do not believe we would have the indie scene that we have today. In some ways that might be better, as now we often refer to games with publishers like Annapurna, as indies, despite them very obviously not being indies, while Baldur's Gate 3, which is actually independently published, is triple-A. It was games like Super Meat Boy that made this change, the blurring of the lines, occur. Unfortunately, despite having a major impact on the industry, I do not believe the game has really earned any more respect than the exact amount it is owed for this impact, however much that might be.

I do not just want to compare this game to Celeste, like so many do, but it is hard not to do that. All I'll say on that front is that if you haven't played either Super Meat Boy or Celeste, I would tell you to play Celeste first. Still, I want to mainly focus on this game as its own thing.

Throughout the experience, I really felt like the game was trying too hard, and failing at what it was trying to do. Over the course of 6 chapters (the 6th only has 6 levels, mind you), you are faced with only a few different mechanics and enemies, but none of these are really that creative, and I felt that they were rarely used to their full potential. I will say that I have only beaten the light world and a couple of the dark missions, so there is the possibility that I'm missing something truly spectacular, but I still don't think that excuses the fact that the main game is so lackluster. None of these missions were that memorable, apart from maybe how frustrating and counter-intuitive they can be.

That was probably my main gripe with the game: it always feels as though it is at odds with itself. There is a massive emphasis on going fast in Super Meat Boy; one of your only abilities is to run, every level is timed, and the leaderboards are 100% based on the times you set. Despite this, the game often forces you to wait for things to happen, such as the timing of temporary platforms being such that you must stand still for a couple of seconds at the start of a level in order to land on the first one. Incredibly, the final level of the game, the boss fight with "Dr. Fetus" (this name, by the way, is a decent example of the poorly aged 2010 edgy/epic randomness humor that was prevalent at the time), is the worst offender for this. The level is set up so that you have no choice but to stand dead still for about 15 seconds before the boundry obstacles begin to move. This is utterly absurd to me, because it is not just a case of me being faster than the devs expected me to be like in earlier levels, but them actually just not letting you move for the first few seconds in the last level of the game.

The level design also leaves something to be desired. It seems to me that any time the devs spotted a playtester pull off a cool move, they made a special point to put an obstacle directly in their path, just so that having fun and theory crafting is not possible to the extent that it really should be in a game like this. The levels all just have a general vibe that the layout was constructed first, then the obstacles were placed in order to make the path more annoying for the player, as opposed to the level being constructed with a particular idea in mind. If I had to guess, I would say that this was done in order to construct this artificial sense of difficulty. The game is not actually that hard, it just often feels more like you are trying to persevere past the difficulties, rather than overcome them through mastery over the mechanics.

I also have to mention that the boss fight with the worms is probably one of the worst boss fights I have ever played. Not only is it badly designed, but it is also super easy to cheese. If you just jump between two of the saw blades at the edge of the map, you can basically just wait for the worms to jump into obstacles by themselves, without needing to do anything. This still takes forever though, because the worms seemingly choose their moves by just picking a number between 1 and 3. Unfortunately, this makes it pretty likely that they pull out the "pop up out of the ground and do nothing" move, once again leaving you to just wait on the game to be ready for you to start interacting with it.

When talking about their inspirations for Super Meat Boy, the developers Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes said the game is "a big throwback to a lot of super hardcore NES classics like Ghosts 'n Goblins, Mega Man, and the Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 2". But is it really? In my opinion, this is an uninspired attempt at a precision platformer with largely imprecise controls, contextualised in overly-edgy humour which is very of its time, which promises to be extremely difficult, but is actually not that hard to beat and is sometimes even possible to completely cheese. So, no. I do not think this is a throwback, and I don't believe anyone will ever be creating a throwback to it.