Six years since their last dive into a precision platformer with Super Meat Boy Forever, Team Meat returns to the loveable and seemingly immortal Meat Boy. This time around, instead of toying with an auto runner again, they shake up their formula a bit by entering the third dimension. While the game still has it’s blistering hard difficulty, bloody messes, and a Dr. Fetus; it doesn’t quite stick the landing this time around.

In Super Meat Boy Forever, Meat Boy and Bandage Girl team up to save their adorable baby Nugget. Super Meat Boy 3D reverts back to the original with Bandage Girl being the damsel in distress with Nugget nowhere in sight. This is mostly okay as the personality in the cutscenes in this game has mostly been washed away anyways, so my love for Nugget wasn’t tarnished with this change. The cartoony, almost Looney Tunes-esque, nature of the previous two games now comes across almost lifeless. One of the highlights of the past games (the humor) feels so reduced, and I’m personally blaming the 3D designs for it all.

So let’s get into the 3D aspect of it a bit. The game looks great. I may not be a fan of how the characters translate to 3D in terms of design, but for some reason it works. Super Meat Boy isn’t a clean game. It should be a little gross looking. You’re a giant clump of running meat with blood (or meat juice?) being left in its path and killed glory. You’re being chased by a genius fetus controlling a robot body setting up devious traps around the environment to kill this little meat man. And all of it looks beautiful in 3D. One of the great little things is seeing Meat Boy look more and more rough in each stage as you die repeatedly. Bumps, bruises, and bandages all appear the more runs it takes you in a stage. However, the 3D also comes with a negative caveat….

Platforming is worse. That hurts for me to say about a Super Meat Boy game, but it’s true. Despite the levels feeling true to the spirit of Super Meat Boy, the Z-axis addition creates more trouble than it should. Too often I found myself behind walls, leaping over platforms, and misjudging landings. Thanks to keeping the feel of the airy, but speedy, movement of Meat Boy; traversal in Super Meat Boy 3D is problematic. My timing was off immensely because of these combinations and what felt like should be relatively easy platforming sections had me diving head first into a meat grinder as I overcorrected.

The camera doesn’t help in this regard either. The way it’s zoomed out creates a spatial issue where I dont know how far out I am until it’s too late. Even something as easy as running sideways had me dying because a ledge was slightly further back than the one I was on and would lead me to missing a jump entirely. With some levels also featuring traps, the camera being panned out made it difficult in some areas to know what was on the ground or differentiating between what was a breakable wall or a wall that would disappear after being contacted.

Even with that out of the way, the platforming is still fun. It’s quick and frenetic just as one would expect from the game. One could argue the 3D and camera actually adds to the frustration. Because of how these games have trained your brain into the “I’m going to die a lot”, what could be a dealbreaker just becomes another “Meat Boy quirk”. You’re already mad from failing a run, what’s one more frustration, really? So despite dying in some unfair ways due to the camera and additional dimension, it feels in line with what one expects or wants.

Many of the other aspects of the game feel on par with the others. Ridiculon (Binding of Isaac, The End is Nigh, Mewgenics) returns and gives the same musical vibes the previous games did. Dark worlds are still more challenging than ever. Collecting bandages or beating certain levels unlocks other characters who each have their own abilities. Respawns are fast and you’ll see how many times you die after each run.  And of course Dr. Fetus slapping Meat Boy at the end of every level, perhaps while flipping his 3D bird. The saying of, “The more things change, the more they stay the same,” feels very true of Super Meat Boy 3D.

Super Meat Boy 3D is a step back in the franchise. While I can respect and appreciate them trying something new by making it 3D, the platforming suffers because of it. As a fan of the other games (yes, even the often criticized Super Meat Boy Forever), I am somewhat let down by this release. I was hoping the same precision would be applicable in 3D and that the cutscenes would still have that sense of fun about them. That’s not this game. But that doesn’t mean that it’s a bad game. It’s still challenging and fun. Instead of a 2D bright and colorful game you get a challenging and fun 3D nightmare looking version of Meat Boy with some additional frustrations thrown in. Still love this game, but just love it a lil’ less.

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