Super Meat Boy Forever
Originally conceived before Edmund McMillen’s departure from Team Meat, development of Super Meat Boy Forever stopped for a while before Tommy Refenes continued alone, eventually bringing in Kyle Pulver for level design, Lala Fuchs as Lead Artist, Paul ter Voorde as Animation Director and Temmie Cheng for some character animation and the intro. So they got to work, and opted for a different approach by taking the classic playstyle and giving it a huge twist: making it a runner. Runners can be punishing, but I don’t think I’ve ever experienced such a brutally crushing runner as this. The difficulty of some of the later levels of SMB required some precise timing, so we already knew what we were in for here - but the sheer reaction speed needed here, combined with a totally different playstyle ramped up the difficulty somewhat.
Taking place several years after the events of Super Meat Boy, Team Meat’s Super Meat Boy Forever has you take on the titular role once again to defeat the evil Dr. Fetus after he kidnaps Meat Boy and Bandage Girl’s newborn baby - Nugget! Despite it looking very similar to its predecessors, SMBF will have you cursing as the muscle memory from years of playing the previous games wants to take over. You can play as both Meat Boy and Bandage Girl, as well as a bunch of other characters you can unlock over the course of the game, who offer little other than an alternate ‘skin’ - aside from Tofu Boy, who plays slightly differently although much less brutal than his previous appearance.
Retaining the same overall look of the previous games, it now has a cuter, more cartoon-y vibe to enhance the humour of all of the bloody violence. This, combined with the upbeat, happy music makes for a game that feels like it laughs in your face as you rage out over dying for the millionth time. Everything is fantastically designed, right down to the comedic little animations of Dr. Fetus and Nugget in the pause menu. It definitely looks impressive, and visually has a more modern appearance with the thick, clean outlines.
Cutscenes are done fantastically, filled with plenty of humour that genuinely had us roaring with laughter. It would actually work really well as an animated series, either as silent episodes like shown here or with voice-acting added in. Our favourite character has to be the squirrel, who you’ll see throughout the story. If you’ve yet to play, I guarantee you you’ll love that little ball of battle-hardened fuzz as soon as you see them.
The controls are straightforward, but it’s the timing itself that is key. Too slow, and you’re dead. Too fast, and you’re dead. Just right, and you still might be dead. There’s a plethora of factors at play here, with enemies that can help or hinder you, as well as the series staple, circular saws, that you’ll find yourself careering into at breakneck speeds frequently; and of course with the puzzle-platforming element combined with the runner playstyle - the odds are not in your favour. Learning to utilise your jumps, dashes, punches and sliding will be key to your survival. Thankfully, levels have checkpoints placed throughout - which are absolutely a necessity due to the length of the levels and the sheer insanity on screen at any given moment. Boss battles are cleverly designed, taking place in a single screen with you having to jump and run all around the room in some way to attack.
Priced at £15.99 on Nintendo Switch, it’s well priced for the amount of entertainment it affords. With a well crafted story, filled with characters you’ll come to love (along with their hysterical interactions with each other, including little Nugget learning how to give the finger after witnessing Dr. Fetus), and plenty of content between all of the base levels and the unlockable Dark World levels and extra characters, you’ll have tonnes to keep you coming back for more - providing you can actually make it through the levels!
We’ve both had a lot of fun with SMBF, but had it been in the same gameplay style as the previous titles, we would have loved it even more. We really like what the developers have gone for here, but the Runner format doesn’t really add anything in our opinion, instead making it too punishingly difficult and too different from the previous game to fully enjoy. If SMB was too easy for you though, and you’re looking for something even more challenging then by all means you should love it, as the auto-run is the only thing we wish we had some control over. An in-game option to toggle between a classic playstyle and the runner would have been a great addition, and would open the game up to a lot of people who are otherwise put off.
In the end, we decided to give Super Meat Boy Forever the Collecting Asylum rating of 7.5/10.
Have you played Super Meat Boy Forever yet? What did you think of it?
Let us know in the comments below!
- V x
Thank you to Team Meat for the Super Meat Boy Forever Switch review code!
