The great thing about the end of the world is as follows; depending on how close you are to the conclusion, you’ll have absolutely no problems to worry about in the near immediate future.

Gotta love when the silver lining is so shiny

The goal yesterday was to commence discussion about the recently released Super Meat Boy 3D (SMB3D), having a go at detailing my first impressions of the game. While I technically did accomplish that, it was by mere virtue of a single sentence of acknowledgement; beyond that, a total failure of exploring any serious reflections whatsoever, as I was still busy diving into the nitty gritty of Mixtape, the analytical process of game deconstructionism, and waxing nostalgic about the first Super Meat Boy.

A fun read, mind you, just not the one I was intending.

With that said, while I did not dive into great depths about SMB3D yesterday, I did get quite a bit of time to sit down with both the light and dark versions of World 1, so I have a decent amount of perspective on the early moments of the game. As detailed yesterday, I was quite taken with the first title (to put it mildly), and have downloaded and committed to a 100% of the title many times over, including beating it on the PC with a mouse and keyboard (shudders). So needless to say, I have definite ideas about what made the Meat Boy formula so rich and flavorful.

For anyone unfamiliar, Meat Boy is essentially just a hard as nails platformer, ala a Mario Brothers game, where the idea is just about jumping about all crazy like, dodging enemies, obstacles, and landing those perfect jumps, all the while keeping up the intensity of play, very much in the vein of old school video game design, where trial and error are king, as you attempt to claw tooth and nail through lethal gauntlets, figuring out the dastardly jumps and surmounting seemingly suicidal obstacle courses, one death at a time. Repetitive and regular dying are all apart of the learning process, so be prepared for a whole lot of quick restarts. Much like the first game, one respawns quite quickly, so one is never out of the action for too long, making the gameplay maintain momentum, and the frenetic action a fairly constant rush of tense exhilaration.

The gloriously astute observers may have already come to the conclusion that the big difference between Super Meat Boy and Super Meat Boy 3D, is that they added a whole new dimension to the game..quite literally, with the platforming on hand being transformed from a 2D sidescroller, to a fully fledged 3D environment, so one is not just going up and down, left to right, but now front to back as well, a Z spectrum to compliment the X and Y axis we’ve dealt with thus far, and needless to say, an element that adds a whole new depth to the gameplay.

The obvious and immediate upshot to this is that its a whole new ballgame in terms of level design, so there is a fair amount of wiggle room in terms of exploring new ways to torture the player. Though, it is worth it to mention, since we are dealing with kind of a new stylization of gameplay, there is also another, possibly overlooked element of the added benefit of the new dimension of depth, in that it does represent kind of a reset for the difficulty level, which will be a great benefit to newer players. This is building off the idea that, since the original game already had 7 worlds (of which each had a light and dark world, meaning you got two different versions of 20 levels a pop, with a base 140 levels to speak of, plus loads of secret and bonus areas doubling that number, a massive breadth of content), the developers kind of get to go back to basics.

The benefit I allude to, is that the devs didn’t have to dig so deeply into their bag of tricks to come up with new creative designs, as they will not be restricted to just the idea of 2D, which as mentioned, was already a thoroughly explored arena. The notion that follows through, if they had stuck to just 2D again, was running the risk of being both-and-either-or derivative of the first game, or alternatively, forced to up the ante to such a degree, the start of this follow up would have likely been woefully difficult, factoring in old time players experience level, so the fresh approach to level design, to reiterate, is a thankful breath of fresh air for all involved.

While this fresh approach representing a new paradigm of possibility, the developers (Team Meat & Sluggerfly) did a mindful job of not losing the quintessence of the first game, maintaining the atmosphere of the first title with authentic gusto. Each level feels like a mad rush to the end, and with the skill curve setup the way it is, the execution of which makes one feel more motivated than discouraged in forging forward, in spite of the insane amount of death involved in the negotiation process for victory, as the controls are responsive and accurate, a great compliment to thoughtful level design. The reason the original Meat Boy was so finely tuned, was the relentless amount of Q&A (play testing) that went into crafting the difficulty levels to a ridiculous degree, and SMB3D feels to have been faithful in carrying on this tradition.

The big new contingency to help make the 3D element work without missing a beat is the air dash, a vital new element to Meat Boy’s arsenal, as it makes aerial navigation a comfortable breeze instead of a chronic headache. This allows the player to effortlessly change direction mid jump, and the potential for navigation with said air dash is non-trivial; it completely busts open the standard for what’s possible in Meat Boys world, and helps to showcase the full potential of what makes his new 3D life feel so vital and brimming with exciting opportunity. One of the two developers on the original (Tommy Refenes.), who also helped with the development of this game,, expressed the apt sentiment that the transition from 2D Meat Boy to 3D Meat Boy, very much mirrored his thoughtful critique of the meaningful difference that defined the successful translation of 2D Metroid to Metroid Prime, and I would tend to agree.

There is loads more to discuss with the exciting new prospects of SMB3D in the coming days, and I look forward to doing so when, one absurdist death at a time.

-Pashford