Super Meat Boy 3D Review (Xbox, PlayStation & PC)

Super Meat Boy is back with even more soul-crushing platforming shenanigans than ever before — and in a brand-spanking three-dimensional world, no less. But don’t let the incubation of a new dimension fool you into believing that it’s suddenly an easier hunk of meat to sink your teeth into. For the record, it isn’t. The Dark World is still a bane on the planet, and the ruthless nature of the game’s mechanics are still about as cooperative as a soggy steak with wet cocktail sticks poking out if it. In other words, it’s still Super Meat Boy. This chapter just happens to, well, look a little cleaner and more feast-worthy for the eyes. But the headaches, however, are still sewn into the fillet and about as frequent as an orchestral ensemble without an interlude or a kill switch. Joy.

If you’re vaguely familiar with Super Meat Boy, then you ought to know the deal. Think Super Mario and replace Princess Peach for a bundle of bandages and Bowser for a tuxedo-sporting fetus in a jar, and you should have a rough idea of what we’re getting at. The only difference between that and Super Meat Boy, of course, is that it isn’t quite as friendly or as willing to congratulate you for making the smallest steps. Here, you don’t receive a pat on the back for your hard work; you simply get lumbered with more stages, more boss battles, and a chance to slip beneath the net and into the Dark World—a realm that houses even tougher biomes, challenges, and platforming obstacles. And no, you don’t get the chance to take a breather between absurdly barbaric death traps. But that’s Super Meat Boy in a nutshell, and there’s little that you can do about it.

While the fundamentals of the original Super Meat Boy chapter are still nested deep within the core of the three-dimensional follow-up—the bizarre level design, the unorthodox traps, and the unforgiving learning curve, for example—there are a few things here that set the 2026 installment apart from its predecessor. Aside from the world having a glossier, bulkier, and more accommodative look, the general gameplay and mechanics have undergone a lot of changes, both for better and for worse, believe it or not. It’s still a tough-as-nails platforming game that idolizes the usual areas—the casual wall running and the aimless jackknifing, for example—but with thrice the breathing room and a surprisingly complex physics-based gameplay feel.

Thankfully, the controls remain relatively simple, in that the player either has to bounce, run, or precisely control a sack of meat to outmaneuver various items, such as rolling grinders, whirling blades, or oddly large gaps that separate various platforms or anchor points. That isn’t an issue. The problem, however, is that you don’t flip and flop between two-dimensional shapes, but in a pulsating sandbox where everything that the eye can comprehend can immediately kill you without so much as a second glance. But, again, that’s Super Meat Boy for you. It doesn’t hold your hand; it bites it off and forces you to work from the nub until there’s nothing left but bone marrow and meat broth.

The game itself is still broken down into several levels, with each stage gradually altering its theme and traps to ensure that you always have a fresh obstacle to overcome. And I’ll admit that, while the first two or three levels are a bit of a doddle, the remaining stages are as equally ridiculous as they are wildly barbaric. In the first twenty minutes or so, you find yourself going back and forth between meat juices, making more or less the same mistakes, and repeating the same cycle over and over again to no avail. You fall, you die, and you begin the perpetual cycle again, all in the hopes that the next attempt will be a lot less complicated. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t. Instead, it coughs up a two-hour headache that can only be remedied by cracking knuckles and soldiering on. But that’s all part of the fun, right? Right.

While there’s clearly no denying the fact that Super Meat Boy 3D is, despite being in receipt of a seemingly wholesome aesthetic, a difficult game with more sour curveballs than flavorful ones, I will say that it does elevate a lot of the original components. There are two vastly different games here, mind you, and two mind-numbing challenges that require fairly different approaches to conquer. And there’s a fine line here, too, that separates the classic side-scrolling action from the fully-fledged three-dimensional world. The thing is, just because you enjoyed the first leg of the journey, there isn’t anything to say that you will get the same satisfaction out of the latest chapter.

Verdict

Super Meat Boy 3D serves a generously sized hunk of razor-sharp protein that will either line your stomach or induce a wild sickness deep within your core. Like its predecessor, it relishes the opportunity to cram whatever ludicrous obstacles it can down your throat, not with the intent to make you discontented, but to awaken a fury that resides deep beneath your soul. It’s a pain in the backside, and yet it’s also a game that you can’t help but love for all of the wrong reasons. Call it Stockholm Syndrome, I guess.

Of course, if you happened to miss out on the original Super Meat Boy experience that launched way back when, then you might just find a clean introductory passage into the meat-grinding world here. Let it be said, though, that while both games share a similar plot, theme, and the usual back-breaking mechanics, this is a vastly different experience. It’s a little more barebones, in that it features the usual traps, but also the open space that, frankly, doesn’t add much to the overall aesthetic other than brittle fodder for the eyes. But other than that, I’d say that the latest entrée in the series makes for a solid homecoming chapter. It might not be the best 3D platforming game on the block, but it is as equally enthralling as it is annoyingly meaty, and that speaks volumes, really.