Super Meat Boy 3D Review

I have a serious love-hate relationship with the original Super Meat Boy. I adore the hilarious cinematics that spoof classic games and its cast of bizarre characters, but, damn, it is brutally difficult. This is one of those games that can push you to the brink of throwing your controller or snapping it in half. For Super Meat Boy 3D, the original development team isn’t fully intact; instead, Team Meat is working with Sluggerfly. So the big question is whether they’ve captured the magic of the original title, or if the shift to 3D causes things to fall apart.

Right from the main menu, there are a few helpful options to tweak your experience. There’s a speedrun mode for players far braver — and honestly, far more skilled — than me, alongside a position helper that shows where Meat Boy will land, complete with an optional guiding line. Accessibility options are also available, including colour blindness settings, character outlines, and an option to keep Meat Boy permanently sprinting so you don’t have to hold down the dash button constantly.

Thankfully, the controls are easy to pick up. Meat Boy can run, jump, and perform an air dash that gives you a crucial burst of speed when lining up tricky landings. There’s also a wall run mechanic tied to the dash, allowing you to cling to walls as long as the button is held as you try to avoid hazards waiting for you. This is a game meant for speed running, so you want to go fast. Especially if you want to beat the best time to get the A+ grade and unlock the Dark World stage. That said, jumps can feel a bit floaty at times, which makes precise landings more frustrating than they should be.

The gameplay loop is the same in Super Meat Boy 3D as it was in the original. Every level is designed to be complete in under a minute, and each time you die, you start back at the beginning to try again. There are no checkpoints here; you just run, die (usually brutally), and repeat. This whole process is very streamlined and happens instantly, so you don’t have to worry about loading screens or anything like that, which also makes it a great title for when you don’t have a lot of time. It’s easy to play a stage, then walk away when you need to or for when you get incredibly frustrated and need to take a break.

If you really want to challenge yourself, there is a bandage in every level to collect that will be used to unlock new characters when you have enough. Though, I will warn you that if you don't complete the level, the bandage is gone. So every death, you will have to pick it up again. If you’re unsure of the location of the bandaid for that level, it’s worth watching the replay of your playthrough that shows all your attempts and deaths. There were a few times when I was able to spot where it was hidden when I wasn’t trying to play at the same time.

There are five different worlds, all with a Light and Dark version to play through in Super Meat Boy 3D, making 30 levels in each locale. You won’t be able to play the Dark World versions until you get a grade of A+ by beating the posted time for the level in the Light World. When you get to the alternate world, these stages are not a walk in the park; they are even more challenging and may cause some frustration. The areas you visit are: The Forest, full of saw blades; The Wastes, full of trash and toxic hazards; The Forge, in a factory-like setting with conveyor belts; The Core, featuring lava and spike pits; then Visceraville, where you face off against Doctor Fetus.

While the original game had vibrant colours that popped off the screen, the look of Super Meat Boy 3D was very different. The visuals here are very bland and muted, making the game lack the personality of its predecessor. The colours aren’t the only thing that is different here: gone are the wonderful cutscenes inspired by classic games that we saw in the original. There are a few cinematic moments, but they aren’t memorable. However, after you successfully complete a level, you can see Doctor Fetus punching and kicking poor Bandage Girl… The music that played during the stages was very repetitive, and I got tired of hearing the same guitar riffs very quickly.

Then there’s the camera… easily one of the game’s biggest issues. The awkward angles and questionable collision detection can make already challenging sections feel unfair. This is exactly why I find isometric platformers frustrating, trying to line up jumps while pushing the analogue stick diagonally is never fun. Even at the very beginning in the forest world, there were jumps that I would miss because of the viewpoint messing with my depth perception. It also doesn’t help that the camera is very zoomed out, making it harder to keep track of your character since he’s so small and the angles you have to make the jump at make it extra challenging. The camera couldn’t seem to keep up with the speed Meat Boy was running at or when there was a sudden change in direction.

I can't remember the last time I played a game where it made my hands so sweaty, I should wash my poor controller after this! Muscle memory is the key here, so you might get lucky and get through the stage on your first shot, but chances are you will die at least a few times before you figure out where to go. At first, I would search for the bandage, but after a while, I just wanted to get that damn level done and move on to the next.

Super Meat Boy 3D is absolutely a game for players who love a challenge. There’s a real sense of satisfaction in finally conquering a level or boss after dozens, sometimes hundreds of deaths in my case. For me, the lack of personality compared to the original, combined with frustrating camera issues, makes it hard to love. Personally, I’d rather go back to the 2D classic. That being said, if you love precision platformers, this game could be a perfect test of your skills. I’ve seen players online blow through the game in just a couple of hours! For everyone else, though, be prepared for a challenging and frustrating ride.