“Team Meat” composed of Edmund McMillen and Jonathan McEntee created Super Meat Boy in 2010 as a successor to Meat Boy, a 2008 flash game created by McMillen and Tommy Refenes. The player controls Meat Boy, a red, cuboid character, as he attempts to rescue his girlfriend, Bandage Girl, from Dr. Fetus, the game’s antagonist.

Gameplay

The objective of each level is to reach Bandage Girl at the end, avoiding crumbling blocks, saw blades, and other lethal obstacles. Walls can be hopped up or down, and running or jumping is permitted. The game was inspired by the traditional platforming games Super Mario Bros. and Ghosts ‘n Goblins, regarding both gameplay and difficulty level. The game’s core gameplay demands precise control and split-second timing, and it was likened to them in both regards.

Story

Meat Boy and Bandage Girl live together. One day, Fetus, a smart baby in a life support suit, kidnaps Bandage Girl. To get Fetus, Meat Boy must go after him until he burns down the forest and tries to kill Meat Boy in his “Lil Slugger”, which is destroyed after Meat Boy tricks him into running into saws. Fetus escapes to an abandoned hospital, where he unleashes C.H.A.D., a giant monster made of blood. Meat Boy demonstrates the sun to C.H.A.D. so as to make him become human again, but then goes after Fetus, who goes to his salt factory. Brownie, a clone of Meat Boy made of excrement, is generated here, and a competition arises between him and the original Meat Boy. It is assumed that Brownie is eliminated. Fetus goes to hell, where Meat Boy discovers that if he is killed, his body goes to hell. The top world is opened as Little Horn, a Meat Boy-like creature made up of corpses, appears. Fetus escapes and triggers a nuke, which makes the path to the top world accessible.

How long is Super Meat Boy?

When it comes to the primary goals, Super Meat Boy typically takes about 9½ hours to complete. However, if you’re someone who aims to experience every aspect of the game, you can expect to invest approximately 43½ hours to achieve a 100% completion rate.

Reception

Super Meat Boy was applauded by critics. It was awarded Game of the Show by Destructoid and nominated for the same award by Machinima.com at the Penny Arcade Expo 2010. Super Meat Boy was awarded high marks for its platforming features and its difficulty. In addition, the game’s vintage style and design were praised.

By the end of 2010, nearly 140,000 units of the Xbox 360 version had been sold. Over 600,000 copies of the Steam and Xbox 360 versions had been sold by April 2011; 400,000 of these sales were through Steam. On January 3, 2012, Team Meat announced on Twitter that the game had surpassed 1,000,000 sales.