Super Meat Boy Forever

Super Meat Boy Forever will frustrate you; there’s no doubt about it. But that’s part of its draw. Just as games like Cuphead have an audience, the Super Meat Boy franchise has a slightly less masochistic one.

Super Meat Boy Forever is clearly a lovingly designed sequel to the original hard as nails platformer. It takes on a new genre but still retains some familiar beats to keep players coming back for more. It might not be the sequel some fans were waiting for, but on its own, it’s an addictingly well-designed platformer for a modest price.

Super Meat Boy Forever is no doubt going to be a controversial game, especially among Super Meat Boy purists. But its new ideas bring a world of new possibilities for precision platforming challenges and sheer level design creativity. Dying over and over again in an effort to master the precise jumps and perfect timing each level demands rarely feels as good as it does in Super Meat Boy Forever.

While some glaring struggles were noted throughout my time with Super Meat Boy Forever, it is also worth noting that I dealt with them and stuck with it as the heart of the game is incredible.

To compare Super Meat Boy Forever to its predecessor is folly. They're two different types of games, but Team Meat makes sure to inject its unique seasoning into both. As far as auto-runners go, Forever stands along the top as one of the best in the genre, despite a short story length. With so many possible stage layouts, a multitude of challenging mechanics, and Team Meat's fluid platforming design, it makes this game feel like a joy.

Don't trust review bombers. Super Meat Boy Forever is a great platform game, maybe the best auto-runner of all time and a very good sequel. And we are here to tell you why.

Like Super Meat Boy, this title is bold and experimental and while Super Meat Boy Forever’s genre does differ, the game manages to hold onto most of what made the last game so compelling to begin with.

Meat Boy returns more frantic and challenging than ever in Super Meat Boy Forever. A title that evolves graphically and that is still as difficult as before. A perfect game for fans of challenges.

Super Meat Boy Forever is a challenging sequel that will have you testing your controller’s durability in no time.

Super Meat Boy Forever is an excellent precision-platforming presented with a beautiful art style. Although, it is a "different" game from what fans of the original would expect.

While Forever still is a great platformer, we feel it doesn’t come closer to the quality of the original. In any case, if you enjoyed it, you’ll have fun with this one too.

Super Meat Boy Forever may be a little bit of a controversial sequel to some Super Meat Boy fans. Even if you are disappointed or turned off by the addition of the auto-running mechanic, I encourage you to give the game a try–especially if you are a fan of the original. The game has a massive amount of variety and replayability, a charming and fun storyline to follow, and some incredibly difficult boss fights to take on. While a game like The End is Nigh might be more similar to Super Meat Boy, Super Meat Boy Forever is one of the best indie games to release this year and shouldn’t be overlooked or looked down on for taking a different direction than previous titles in the series.

Super Meat Boy is a genuine classic that has stood the test of time and contrary to its title, I don't think Forever will. It still offers challenging and rewarding gameplay but its core mechanics sometimes make for a patience-testing and tedious affair.

Super Meat Boy Forever is a sequel not afraid to shake things up, but in doing so it fails to capture much of what made the original so amazing.

Super Meat Boy Forever follows the legacy of its adored predecessor and it improves on several elements - namely, the stunning animation sequences, as well as the boss fights, which are the most enjoyable part of this game. At the same time, the decision to implement an auto-run mechanic when the level design feels completely disconnected from this way of playing is difficult to understand. Super Meat Boy Forever has plenty of qualities but it also has its peculiarities, fans of the original need to take that into account.

If you’re after a true sequel to the original Super Meat Boy, then Super Meat Boy Forever will leave you disappointed. While it generally delivers a good and challenging time, the fact its an auto-runner and the procedurally generated nature of the levels hold it back from getting anywhere close to the excellence of the original.

Super Meat Boy Forever is a fun little distraction. Though it fails to live up to the legacy of its predecessor, it’s entertaining for a few playthroughs. If you loved Super Meat Boy, you might just get a kick out of Forever… or you may not.

Super Meat Boy Forever is an interesting sequel. It attempts to build on the legacy of its predecessor, but the additions it brings to the table cannot elevate it beyond the simplicity of the original. The updated visuals are welcome, but Super Meat Boy Forever is a classic example of trying too hard to innovate, while losing sight of what made the series so beloved.

Super Meat Boy Forever makes changes to its predecessor which add to the difficulty but also serve to make things less memorable. There’s immense satisfaction in finishing levels, but bugs throw a dampener on the experience in places.

A pleasant return to an hardcore and challenging videogame from Team Meat, the authors of Super Meat Boy.

Failing to hit previously established highs encapsulates a lot of Super Meat Boy Forever. Although the game oddly hides its interesting seeding system, its levels are designed well and repeatedly introduce new tweaks that allow for an even difficulty curve that always tries to spice things up. Fluid controls even make that difficulty curve a welcome challenge. But the light detachment intrinsic to the auto-running genre is more of a shackle than the key to a better game. Going meatless for an entire decade inevitably raises the steaks stakes for the next Meat Boy game, and even though Forever doesn’t fully meet those expectations set upon it, it does narrowly avoid meaty-ocrity through its tight controls and level structure.

Super Meat Boy Forever makes some big changes to its predecessor's classic formula, ushering in an endless-running style of gameplay, simplified control scheme and procedurally-generated levels that are a blast to play through but ultimately rob the game of the fiendishly additive quality of the 2010 original. We miss perfecting Super Meat Boy's bespoke little death mazes here and although fans of brutally tough platformers will still find plenty to love, we can't help but feel this one's a little bit of a step back for Team Meat's squishy red mascot.

Forever, if nothing else, remains an above-average endless runner; a result that for the fans of the last chapter, understandably, may not be enough.

In the end, a game that can be walked through by hanging on a bit, without really doing its predecessor honor.

This is not a worthy successor. Extremely simplified controls as well as an unsteady difficulty hamper precision and rhythm in this partially randomly generated auto-runner.

Super Meat Boy Forever would be a great iOS or mobile game; but, unfortunately, that is not what Team Meat delivered. It feels cheap in its gameplay and bits of its presentation. Although, it was nice to see Edmund McMillen have fun with his animations.

Super Meat Boy Forever is far from achieving the same result as 2010's classic. With a ton of hardcore but mostly random levels, the game especially suffer from questionable one-button-does-it-all handling, and a lack of finished features. Too bad, because the Dark Worlds and manu secrets still offers to hardcore players a true challenge.

Your enjoyment of Super Meat Boy Forever will be determined entirely by your particular enjoyment of masochistic platformers. If you played Super Meat Boy 1.0 and thought “man, I wish this were way harder,” Forever may be just what you’re looking for.

Although a fun autorun platformer, Super Meat Boy Forever just can't live up to the 2010 classic. Despite being packed with ideas, its awful boss fights and lack of control make it hard to recommend.

The idea of a randomly generated auto-runner just seems at odds with the legacy of Meat Boy itself. [Issue #51 – March/April 2021, p. 30]

Super Meat Boy Forever is a game that suffers from inconsistent difficulty and some counter-intuitive mechanics. While the cutscenes and bosses are charming as always, this is one game that die-hards of the previous installment might want to skip. It’s still a fun time for those willing to overlook its flaws, however.

Super Meat Boy Forever is dated. It has not stood the test of time and offers less than its predecessor in every aspect. An autorunner offers so much less control and the bosses seem annoying rather than fun.

I hate to say it, but Super Meat Boy Forever is a bummer. Its design and execution as an auto-runner is sound, but as a sequel to one of the most noteworthy and important indie games ever, it’s substantially lacking. Maybe that isn’t fair to say as much of the original team isn’t present, but I strongly disagree on the direction Team Meat took here. The original Super Meat Boy was brimming with panache and personality, and seemingly all of its magic has been lost in the decade since.

The pain and the pleasure of platformers such as this is their precision: the controls must be so tight, the jumping and running so perfectly predictable, that your failures are always your own. In Super Meat Boy Forever, though, enemies can turn up in especially unfair places, and the architecture of the levels sometimes feels thrown together as opposed to carefully placed by human hand. Its difficulty feels vindictive rather than playful, and oddly soulless, like trying to beat a computer at chess. For all its challenges, it felt as if I could feel the creators cheering me through the original Super Meat Boy’s death chambers, willing me onwards. Here, the algorithm is coldly indifferent to your efforts, and, despite the offbeat art and quirky vibe, the game is a punishing gauntlet that’s not worth running.

A hugely disappointing sequel, where the high difficulty, restrictive controls, and randomly-generated levels all contribute to a thoroughly miserable platforming experience.