How Would You Like that Cooked?: Super Meat Boy (Switch) Review

Meat Boy, one of the original faces of Indie games, makes his debut on Nintendo Switch. Super Meat Boy, is a tough-as-nails platformer that tasks you with saving the love of Meat Boy’s life, Bandage Girl, from the Evil Dr. Fetus. The mechanics are simple. Run to get to the goal (Bandage Girl) as quickly as possible. Jump from platform to platform to avoid certain death. And avoid all manner of crazy obstacles, such as buzz saws and laser beams.

As crazy as it sounds, it is very simple in it’s design. It looks like something that might not work on the Game Boy Color, but too simple to be a Game Boy Advance game. As we all know, however, graphics generally mean very little when it comes to Indie Games. They always have a hook. The thing that kept me going in this game? Almost as soon as you die, you are right back in the action. There are little to no loading times, and you always re-spawn quickly. But what’s really cool in this game, is the replay you see when you finish a level. You see a replay, that contains a “ghost” of every time you died playing that level. Every….single….time. There was a level in the first world where I was trying to get the bandage at the bottom of it. I must have died thirty to forty times. It showed every single Meat Boy at the same time, and you could see the scope of how difficult certain parts of the level were. It was truly something to see.

It’s a very simple game, as I stated above. There’s a little over seven worlds. If you were simply playing to get to the end of the game, I don’t see it taking  you more than a couple hours. But, this game shines on it’s collectibles. Some levels have a warp area to clear. These warp areas take you to special retro levels that generally unlock special characters (I was simultaneously happy and annoyed to see Commander Video from the Bit.Trip series in one). While some of the characters have the same control properties and physics as Meat Boy, some of them have special powers. The aforementioned Commander Video, for instance, is slower than Meat Boy. What he lacks in speed, he gains back with the ability to float once per jump. There are a dozen or so characters from various Indie Games. Thankfully, they are older characters, so you don’t have to worry about seeing Shantae and Shovel Knight for the umpteenth time.

The thing that surprised me the most was the quality of the soundtrack. It was written/composed by Danny Baranowsky. I was first introduced to his music after listening to the amazing Crypt of the Necrodancer (coming 2018 to the Switch) Soundtrack, which I promptly purchased off Bandcamp. I get a lot of Indie Game music from there, because most of the composers of these games offer the albums for little to no cost to you. They also give you the option to “Pay what you want” for the vast majority of their stuff. I generally preview it, and if I end up enjoying it, I will go back and throw ten or more bucks their way. Super Meat Boy OST is an absolutely stunning mix of rock and electronic music. From what I have experienced, this seems to be Danny Baranowsky’s signature. I highly encourage you to go here and purchase the album for only $2.99 USD.

For only $15ish, Super Meat Boy on Switch is an absolute steal. It even adds a Switch exclusive two player mode that can be played with the joy-con split set up. At the time of writing, I have not had the chance to play that mode. There are also some extra challenges. I do not know for sure if they are also exclusive to Switch, buy they are there. This is definitely a game you should not miss. Final Score 4/5

4

Great