At Gamescom, I got a chance to go hands-on with an old, infuriating friend in a whole new way. Dr Fetus is back up to his old tricks, taking Bandage Girl away, and it’s up to us to stop him. There’s a new twist however, as the 2D charm of the original has been replaced with gorgeous 3D worlds. Does it all come together? Read on in our Super Meat Boy 3D ‘hands-on’ Preview!
New Tricks
If you’re a hardcore Super Meat Boy fan and were perhaps concerned about the transition from super tight 2D platforming to a more colourful 3D environment, fret not. The developer have lovingly translated the gameplay highs from the original game and made a devilishly addictive platformer as a result.
It looks and feels great to play, and the switch up to 3D is I think, a very smart move. Levels are expansive playgrounds that stretch vertically and horizontally, requiring the player to look around a little bit before they leap inevitably to their death. Spinning blades, chainsaw wielding robots, gelatinous cubes of death ,a trail of blood as you move around – all the charm of the previous games is here, present and accounted for. Even the replays, as my many attempts are rounded up into one glorious blood bath have made their way across.
The hands-on demo at Gamescom gave players approximately 8 minutes to make their way through, with the first few levels teaching the player the various mechanics. Meat Boy can run, wall-hang and jump, in addition to being able to run on walls for a limited period of time and dash in mid-air. As we’re now in 3D, an orange circle is present in the UI to denote where Meat Boy will land, in order to aid players with depth perception. In the limited time I had with the game, I found I focused less on where Meat Boy was specifically, and more on where that ‘landing-circle’ suggested Meat Boy would end up (hopefully unscathed).
Serious Challenge
I actually bumped into The Verge’s Tom Warren during my playthrough, and though I made it to the last level with about 30 seconds to spare, we were both curious what Super Meat Boy 3D would look like in the hands of a seasoned professional. Thankfully, one of the developers from Sluggerfly was nearby, and as it was early in the day, offered to show us ‘how it’s done’.
And holy shit! Levels that took me literal minutes to brute force my way through, this developer flew through them in less than 15 seconds per level, skipping entire sections entirely on the regular. This is going to become a speedrunner’s delight, of that I have no doubt.
The developers have promised that while Super Meat Boy 3D starts off accessible, it’s not going to take long before things get ‘tough as nails’. They think that all players should be able to get to the end with a little dedication.
For completionists that aim to conquer all the timing challenges, and to find all the collectibles hidden throughout the levels, should expect a serious challenge. The full game will features boss-fights and dark world levels that are reportedly so tough, ‘you’ll scream in the rain at a bus stop.’ Apparently, they look forward to seeing players ‘rage-quit’. Will I be one of them?
Probably!
Super Meat Boy 3D is coming to Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5 and PC early in 2026. Oh, and this one is coming to Xbox Game Pass on Day One too. So that’s nice.
