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[cpp_is_king]

never really played this type of game before.

having alot of trouble with my accuracy of my jumping. always overshoot or undershoot. it's really frustrating to me.

and i'm only on the world 2 boss. i guess these types of games are just too hard for me. i will keep trying for a bit though. i've seen some of the later levels and i'm having trouble with these i should give up, heh.

i can see why people really like this game now though.

It's really about repetition and practice. You are SUPPOSED to die a lot. It's part of the learning experience.

 

[cpp_is_king]

Why is my Act 1 boss bugged as hell? Steam version.
I cant jump..... I sometimes am able to jump ONCE if I really, really mash the jump, but that it is it...

Are you playing on Mac? Apparently the 360 controller is not supported on Mac and will not be able to be fixed.

http://www.supermeatboy.com/115/Things_every_Mac_user_should_know___/#b

 

[Chuckpebble]

Hey dudes. Figured I'd copy pasta my guide for changing the command line options for the standalone version that I posted on the Team Meat forums.

First off, read this blog post for a better understanding of the command line parameters as well as how to change them in the Steam interface. Its actually pretty easy.

What's not easy is figuring out how to do this with the DRM free version that doesn't use steam. Well, lucky for you I've got your answers.
-Open Automator.app
-Create a new application
-In the first column select "Utilities"
-In the second column double click "Run Shell Script"
-Leave all settings default and fill out the text panel like this:

-"nohup" prevents the game from quitting if you were to quit the launcher.
-Also notice that I use a tilde (~) at the beginning of the file path, thats just because I have a user applications folder in my home directory (something everyone should do, but thats another story) if you have the game in your system level Applications folder, simply omit the tilde.
-When you're all done, save the app as something descriptive of the settings and place wherever you like.
-Profit

So, I have a 2010 macbook with 2.1ghz C2Duo, 2gigs 800mhz ram and Nvidia 9400m.

Game runs fine with these settings:
-fullscreen -1280x720 -ultralow

I've been very respectful on their forums, but this is gaf dude, so here goes.

This is a terrible, duct taped together, shit beta excuse for a port.
-The menu settings for resolution didn't work. Solution? Remove them.
-The button configs for the menu are hard coded? WTF is that, I don't even.
-Replays are saved, do not show up.
-The standalone tries to connect to steam the moment it starts.
-There's no way to put your name in for the leaderboards in the standalone version.
-I bet I could get better performance from running the windows version in CrossoverGames. This game is seriously giving skyrim a run for its money for GOTY. OK, that was uncalled for, but I completely understand why this didn't show up on Wii now, there are only so many wasted clock cycles from two Gamecubes to go around.

And another thing...

I played around with the standalone version enough to discover, it performs a little better without steam running. I'm now at the last level at the end of the light world. Don't know if I'll finish it now that I've opened Shank.

 

[Jasoco]

Agreed. Even on UltraLowDetail my game runs poorly. There's no option to change the resolution to a 16:9 resolution other than 1280x720. I mean, where's an 800x500 option? I'm not going to set it to 800x600 and have windowboxing. I didn't pay $15 for fucking WINDOWBOXING. So I have to use the only available 16:9 option. I bet making it 800x500 might help its speed, but I doubt it. It's horribly laggy and has delays when switching screens of upwards of 2 seconds before the animation continues. Many levels are super slow to update throwing all timing off. (As I mentioned above my problem with the World 2 boss scripting) It's almost unplayable, and even in Parallels it's become unplayable. I'm almost afraid to go to the trouble to install Windows in Bootcamp because I have a feeling it might not help either.

Not to mention not even taking the time to create keyboard icons for controls instead of using Xbox controller images no matter what. We get it, you prefer the Xbox controller, but WTF at the green "Press (A)" icons all over the place. And that's in the Windows version too. It's been a year and they can't clean stuff up.

Braid runs smoother than a baby's bottom for CRYING OUT LOUD! Braid is so well coded. And that game has so much more happening on screen at once just to give the level backgrounds a living painting feeling. Blurring and shading and fading and morphing and transforming with no slowdown in the framerate at all. Even on the Mac version. Maybe they should get Jonathan Blow to recode Super Meat Boy.

 

[Chuckpebble]

The keyboard prompts are there, they show up for me when I don't have anything connected. They are:

Space for A
Shift for X
Esc for B
W for Y, yeah, W :|

I just read the blog post again, and I think I know what we got now. Its a 'port' bundle made by one of those programs like crossover or parallels. I wonder if the linux version is an actual port? I'm gonna try and run that.

 

[Massa]

The Linux is a port of the OS X version developed by Ryan C Gordon (not Team Meat). It has some slight differences, like letting you set the resolution and full screen/windowed in game.

 

[Popstar]

.

 

[TheExplodingHead]

I hope Team Meat has invested some time in learning how to use version control for their next project. Not being able to go back and turn a 12 into a 16 is less than ideal.

I've got so many negatives things to say about Team Meat in how they handled the PC/Mac versions. Promises made, X or Y in next update, patches breaking things constantly, Steam Cloud support, Meat World level saving, etc, etc.

But I'll just agree with what you said instead.

 

[cpp_is_king]

I hope Team Meat has invested some time in learning how to use version control for their next project. Not being able to go back and turn a 12 into a 16 is less than ideal.

Facepalm. Dont throw buzzwords into sentences without knowing they mean. What does this have to do with version control? Do you have the source code? How do you know it's as easy as changing a 12 to a 16. How do you know its not related to the fact that DD services have restrictions on what kinds of code/data can be modified in a patch?

 

[Popstar]

.

 

[cpp_is_king]

It's obvious they don't have any formal version control or backup system going from comments they've made. i.e.:

The fact that it's a bug on their part, and not a DD service restriction or whatever comes straight from Tommy in the "Things every Mac user should know..." blog post that you posted the link to above.

Stop talking like you know anything about game programming when it's obvious you've never done it.

Spoiler

<- I can play this moronic little game too

You're right, i mean its only my job after all.

 

[charlequin]

It's obvious they don't have any formal version control or backup system going from comments they've made.

That doesn't mean they aren't using version control, it just means that they've been making changes to the engine without keeping their content exporter up to date with it ever since their last real content patch (Meat World?) so now they'd have to go rewrite that too to use it. Still unwise development practice, but different from what you suggested.

 

[Jasoco]

Note to game developers hoping to make it big: Always plan ahead for multi-platform from the start. It will save a lot of problems and complaints in the future.

 

[Popstar]

.

 

[Togglesworlh]

Wow Lump of Coal.

I could have done it not too hard if it came out when I was still playing the game, but now? I completely forget. My reflexes are slow like molasses. Hnnngh.

 

[charlequin]

Your scenario simply implies it's the engine they can't go back to an earlier (SMB) version of, instead of the exporter.

Interpreting "there's no going back" as meaning "we don't have access to older builds of the software" instead of "we can't go back because that would involve rolling back all the engine improvements we've already made and released" is dumb.

 

[Popstar]

.

 

[TheExplodingHead]

Interpreting "there's no going back" as meaning "we don't have access to older builds of the software" instead of "we can't go back because that would involve rolling back all the engine improvements we've already made and released" is dumb.

Fact of the matter is that if Tommy hadn't basically ported 360 code directly to PC, and choose to code the PC version from scratch the game wouldn't STILL have issues. Let's not forget that when this game was first added to Steam, the Brownie bossfight was not even in the game, and had to be patched in. Another patch broke the entire World 6, another patch introduced lag switching between levels. And the editor is also still buggy as hell.

So suffice it to say Team Meat's (i.e Tommy's) choices with how to plan development and consistently solve problems with patches instead of create them (which is the definition of a "good coder") was pretty badly done. And at the end of the day, Team Meat got rich while 90% of the Steam users who were early adopters got the run around, and a buggy badly done port. And after all that, I remember reading on the Steam forums and Ed's twitter...that we (PC customers) were "self entitled" for wanting a non-buggy/broken game and editor and Meat World level saving.

Needless to say the exporter not being updated properly alongside engine dev, was just another problem that stretches around the block with the PC (and now Mac) version of the game.

Obviously I love Super Meat Boy, but I've got to come out on the side of the gamer here. And using "unlimited free content" as a justification for lack of quality in coding and "doing enough" doesn't cut it. The PC/Mac versions are far from finished, and the level of quality content in Super Meat World is small to say the least. I'm sure almost everybody would have opted for Meat World level saving/leaderboards similar to Teh Internets, rather than 1 million user made levels of low quality-a few hundred superb. That would be better shared through mod sites and forums, imo.

 

[cpp_is_king]

Fact of the matter is that if Tommy hadn't basically ported 360 code directly to PC, and choose to code the PC version from scratch the game wouldn't STILL have issues. Let's not forget that when this game was first added to Steam, the Brownie bossfight was not even in the game, and had to be patched in. Another patch broke the entire World 6, another patch introduced lag switching between levels. And the editor is also still buggy as hell.

So suffice it to say Team Meat's (i.e Tommy's) choices with how to plan development and consistently solve problems with patches instead of create them (which is the definition of a "good coder") was pretty badly done. And at the end of the day, Team Meat got rich while 90% of the Steam users who were early adopters got the run around, and a buggy badly done port. And after all that, I remember reading on the Steam forums and Ed's twitter...that we (PC customers) were "self entitled" for wanting a non-buggy/broken game and editor and Meat World level saving.

Needless to say the exporter not being updated properly alongside engine dev, was just another problem that stretches around the block with the PC (and now Mac) version of the game.

Obviously I love Super Meat Boy, but I've got to come out on the side of the gamer here. And using "unlimited free content" as a justification for lack of quality in coding and "doing enough" doesn't cut it. The PC/Mac versions are far from finished, and the level of quality content in Super Meat World is small to say the least. I'm sure almost everybody would have opted for Meat World level saving/leaderboards similar to Teh Internets, rather than 1 million user made levels of low quality-a few hundred superb. That would be better shared through mod sites and forums, imo.

Give the guy a break, he's one dude, I seriously doubt he expected SMB to ever get even close to this big. It was his first time going indie and doing his own thing. Most people have never been solely responsible for anything even close to the size of Super Meat Boy. The fact that one programmer actually created a game of the size and polish as Super Meat Boy at all is enough to blow my mind, and I do this every day for a living.

Comments like "people should plan for cross platform from the beginning" are naive because you don't sit down and be like "ok Edmund, let's get rich. You with me on this? We have to do this right". You sit down and think fuck it let's make something cool. They might not have even been thinking they could make something that would sell at first. I mean they didn't even know what the final game would look like until well into development, how could you possibly even have the slightest inkling on whether the final product would be marketable? It's not like designs create themselves out of thin air fully completed. It's always a work in progress.

I hate to be that guy, but Mac users should be thankful they got a port at all. And not because I'm some elitist PC user or anything, I actually *hate* playing games on PC and SMB is one of the only ones I even have. But they've said on numerous occasions that they didn't want to do a Mac port, but you know, he fucking tried anyway and he got it done, even though he didn't even know how to program on a Mac, and even though he's probably busy working on the next game. You know, the one that he can actually apply all the lessons he's learned with his experience on SMB to.

 

[TheExplodingHead]

Give the guy a break, he's one dude, I seriously doubt he expected SMB to ever get even close to this big. It was his first time going indie and doing his own thing. Most people have never been solely responsible for anything even close to the size of Super Meat Boy. The fact that one programmer actually created a game of the size and polish as Super Meat Boy at all is enough to blow my mind, and I do this every day for a living.

Comments like "people should plan for cross platform from the beginning" are naive because you don't sit down and be like "ok Edmund, let's get rich. You with me on this? We have to do this right". You sit down and think fuck it let's make something cool. They might not have even been thinking they could make something that would sell at first. I mean they didn't even know what the final game would look like until well into development, how could you possibly even have the slightest inkling on whether the final product would be marketable? It's not like designs create themselves out of thin air fully completed. It's always a work in progress.

I hate to be that guy, but Mac users should be thankful they got a port at all. And not because I'm some elitist PC user or anything, I actually *hate* playing games on PC and SMB is one of the only ones I even have. But they've said on numerous occasions that they didn't want to do a Mac port, but you know, he fucking tried anyway and he got it done, even though he didn't even know how to program on a Mac, and even though he's probably busy working on the next game. You know, the one that he can actually apply all the lessons he's learned with his experience on SMB to.

I definitely understand and appreciate the fact he's one guy, and the moral and logistical dilemma that creates. But what you said would be more acceptable to me if this had been a free to play game, it wasn't, Team Meat charged money. And as such it's a commercial product on the market that should be supported. If you take my money, offer me a product, and then my product fails to work properly (game or editor), you have no leg to stand on telling me I'm "self entitled" and "I should be happy I even got X or Y" when you yourself are responsible for both the features promised and the technical performance of the product. People paid for the game on the basis Team Meat themselves created by marketing an editor and a Mac version, period. If they weren't prepared, able or serious enough to deliver on those promises they shouldn't have made them.

And I think we do a disservice to indie game's when we let dev's off the hook for this stuff because they're small teams. They should be held to the same standards as anyone else who charges money and promises features later on as a means to inspire sales. They shouldn't be given any special treatment no matter how small they are. But that's just me.

 

[PokéKong]

Maybe something hasn't "clicked" for me, but this game has been a pretty big let down after everything I heard about it. Especially the controls which they talked up so much, meat boy is so loose and wobbly and just floats around like you're pushing a simple weighted object and letting the physics engine do all the work, with very little sign of deliberate fine tuning. The precious soundtrack that they couldn't bear cutting to fit it into a WiiWare game is the most generic imitation metal, the graphics seem to look like a typical game made in Flash no matter what I do (is there an ideal resolution?), but there's really nothing aesthetically pleasing going on at all, and I don't appreciate the cheap shocker humor one bit, especially not the hints of attitude from the developers telling me how to play the game.

I'm certainly glad I got it as part of a HB. There's no way it would be worth the usual asking price.

 

[cpp_is_king]

Maybe something hasn't "clicked" for me, but this game has been a pretty big let down after everything I heard about it. Especially the controls which they talked up so much, meat boy is so loose and wobbly and just floats around like you're pushing a simple weighted object and letting the physics engine do all the work, with very little sign of deliberate fine tuning. The precious soundtrack that they couldn't bear cutting to fit it into a WiiWare game is the most generic imitation metal, the graphics seem to look like a typical game made in Flash no matter what I do (is there an ideal resolution?), but there's really nothing aesthetically pleasing going on at all, and I don't appreciate the cheap shocker humor one bit, especially not the hints of attitude from the developers telling me how to play the game.

I'm certainly glad I got it as part of a HB. There's no way it would be worth the usual asking price.

How far into the game are you out of curiosity? The controls are quite complex, but it takes a long time of playing before you really start to learn some of the finer aspects. The following video shows some of this, but there's a chance you haven't been playing long enough to appreciate some of what you see in the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8_QYCdco_I

 

[darkpaladinmfc]

Maybe something hasn't "clicked" for me, but this game has been a pretty big let down after everything I heard about it. Especially the controls which they talked up so much, meat boy is so loose and wobbly and just floats around like you're pushing a simple weighted object and letting the physics engine do all the work, with very little sign of deliberate fine tuning.

I don't understand this complaint at all. The fantastic level design and pretty much everything else would all be for waste if Meat Boy didn't control perfectly, but he does. Are you holding down the run button constantly like you should be?

 

[Anilusion]

My Super Meat Boy has been unplayable for months, and I have no idea what's causing it. The game starts up and runs, but it runs at like 5 FPS. I can't really remember when it started to act like this, but I used to run it perfectly. Reinstalling didn't help, and neither did defragmenting the installation.

Specs:
Phenom 2 x6 @ 4ghz
AMD 5850
4GB Ram
2x 500gb hdds in raid

EDIT: FINALLY FOUND A FIX! I apparently had an old 360 controller emulator file in the SMB folder. Deleted it and now it runs perfectly!

 

[fabprems]

Maybe something hasn't "clicked" for me, but this game has been a pretty big let down after everything I heard about it. Especially the controls which they talked up so much, meat boy is so loose and wobbly and just floats around like you're pushing a simple weighted object and letting the physics engine do all the work, with very little sign of deliberate fine tuning. The precious soundtrack that they couldn't bear cutting to fit it into a WiiWare game is the most generic imitation metal, the graphics seem to look like a typical game made in Flash no matter what I do (is there an ideal resolution?), but there's really nothing aesthetically pleasing going on at all, and I don't appreciate the cheap shocker humor one bit, especially not the hints of attitude from the developers telling me how to play the game.

I'm certainly glad I got it as part of a HB. There's no way it would be worth the usual asking price.

I completely agree with you. And the fact that I can't finish the game because of a stupid bug of the last boss just disappoint me. I have waited more than one year to play this game on OSX, maybe there was too much hype around this game during that time and I was bound to be disappointed...

Just a honest game made by 2 people, not anything like the best plateformer of 2010 that everybody was talking about

 

[snoopeasystreet]

I completely agree with you. And the fact that I can't finish the game because of a stupid bug of the last boss just disappoint me. I have waited more than one year to play this game on OSX, maybe there was too much hype around this game during that time and I was bound to be disappointed...

Just a honest game made by 2 people, not anything like the best plateformer of 2010 that everybody was talking about

I guess the Mac version is just messed up cause everything about SMB feels so well crafted. The platforming itself has a level of precision and control that I don't think has been matched by anything else.

 

[charlequin]

The precious soundtrack that they couldn't bear cutting to fit it into a WiiWare game

Maybe you should come back later and give it another try later, when the grapes have had a chance to get a bit less sour.

 

[Nemo]

I went back to this since the bundle and got through most of the game in a breeze, speedrunning it is pretty fun and requires some good skill.

That fucking Hell boss tho, fuck that trial and error bullshit. Game was almost perfect for me.

 

[TheExplodingHead]

Maybe something hasn't "clicked" for me, but this game has been a pretty big let down after everything I heard about it. Especially the controls which they talked up so much, meat boy is so loose and wobbly and just floats around like you're pushing a simple weighted object and letting the physics engine do all the work, with very little sign of deliberate fine tuning. The precious soundtrack that they couldn't bear cutting to fit it into a WiiWare game is the most generic imitation metal, the graphics seem to look like a typical game made in Flash no matter what I do (is there an ideal resolution?), but there's really nothing aesthetically pleasing going on at all, and I don't appreciate the cheap shocker humor one bit, especially not the hints of attitude from the developers telling me how to play the game.

I'm certainly glad I got it as part of a HB. There's no way it would be worth the usual asking price.

Try to speedrun (not just A+) the entire 1st World+Dark World, it becomes a totally different game once you master the controls and levels. The heart and soul of the game is the speedrunning aspect, so if you go into it thinking otherwise or taking as "just another platformer", you might feel this way.

 

[cpp_is_king]

Try to speedrun (not just A+) the entire 1st World+Dark World, it becomes a totally different game once you master the controls and levels. The heart and soul of the game is the speedrunning aspect, so if you go into it thinking otherwise or taking as "just another platformer", you might feel this way.

There's actually secret steam achievements for those speedeuns that most people dont even realize exist. I got them for the first 3 worlds, but hell is really damn hard. I think i just need more practice

 

[TheExplodingHead]

There's actually secret steam achievements for those speedeuns that most people dont even realize exist. I got them for the first 3 worlds, but hell is really damn hard. I think i just need more practice

Yeah I unlocked them at the title screen the day they were added.

Hell's not too bad if you know the shortcuts, you unlocked the Kid correct? If you did here's a protip, use him on Boris to completely ignore the moving platform, that'll knock off a huge amount of chapter time, you can do the same for the dark world version. 4-2 and 4-2x are easy to get super fast times using the Kid as well. It's not any easier but it's a method, saying that speedrunning this game makes it like 1000 times harder.

Here's my Hell stats;

 

[Revoh]

Skyrim? Arkham City? Bitch please, Super Meat Boy!

Haven't touched those games since I started playing SMB.

But seriously, why is this game so addictive? It's so good and I feel bad that I've only payed 5 bucks for the bundle.

 

[TheExplodingHead]

Skyrim? Arkham City? Bitch please, Super Meat Boy!

Haven't touched those games since I started playing SMB.

But seriously, why is this game so addictive? It's so good and I feel bad that I've only payed 5 bucks for the bundle.

Dude I bought this game at launch on XBLA, then on PC...AND the Ultra Edition. And I still play every week to a couple days. It's beyond addictive if you have a competitive spirit and OCD tendencies. This has become with well over 100 hours played one of my favorite games of all time. I just wish Team Meat would have supported it better.

 

[LoftyTheMetroid]

Finally "finished" the game. I stopped worrying about the bandages/A+ rankings near the end, though (and to be honest, I didn't want to bother with the Bandage Girl world considering I had gotten more than my fill of the game at that point...).

Again, I'll echo what I said before: Superb engine/mechanics, I can definitely see where competitive players would enjoy it, but I was just personally underwhelmed. I like creative ideas, having my expectations challenged, interesting level designs, etc... not necessarily competitive execution-based challenges wrought with repeated trial and error and requiring "practice" to enjoy. I guess I came in expecting new, fresh ideas like in World of Goo or VVVVVV and got more of a "refinement" or distillation of hardcore platforming. It certainly succeeds in what it sets out to do, though, I suppose.

The precious soundtrack that they couldn't bear cutting to fit it into a WiiWare game is the most generic imitation metal, the graphics seem to look like a typical game made in Flash no matter what I do (is there an ideal resolution?), but there's really nothing aesthetically pleasing going on at all, and I don't appreciate the cheap shocker humor one bit, especially not the hints of attitude from the developers telling me how to play the game.

I kind of agree with this.

When I heard Team Meat originally talking about the WiiWare file size limits and the quality of the soundtrack, I started to get pumped and thought, "Wow, this must be a pretty fantastic if they're refusing to make any concessions." Honestly though, I thought the music was generic and it didn't really add much to the game experience for me. Besides the title screen, I can't recall any memorable music from the game, in contrast to say World of Goo or VVVVVV where I'll occasionally find myself humming their soundtracks while working. Especially considering the competitive emphasis of the game, if it were me I would have tried to get the game out across as many platforms as possible, including WiiWare (hats off for the OSX port though, as buggy as it is). Those extra resources just didn't really translate to a better product for me.

I also agree about the art style. It's weird since I'm such a big fan of games like Shadows of the Damned and Killer7, but something about Edmund's style puts me off (at least in SMB and The Binding of Isaac). I don't mind raunchy humor, but his games feel like they were written/drawn by a South Park-obsessed middle-school kid or something.

 

[Togglesworlh]

The music is great.

 

[TheExplodingHead]

Finally "finished" the game. I stopped worrying about the bandages/A+ rankings near the end, though (and to be honest, I didn't want to bother with the Bandage Girl world considering I had gotten more than my fill of the game at that point...).

Again, I'll echo what I said before: Superb engine/mechanics, I can definitely see where competitive players would enjoy it, but I was just personally underwhelmed. I like creative ideas, having my expectations challenged, interesting level designs, etc... not necessarily competitive execution-based challenges wrought with repeated trial and error and requiring "practice" to enjoy. I guess I came in expecting new, fresh ideas like in World of Goo or VVVVVV and got more of a "refinement" or distillation of hardcore platforming. It certainly succeeds in what it sets out to do, though, I suppose.



I kind of agree with this.

When I heard Team Meat originally talking about the WiiWare file size limits and the quality of the soundtrack, I started to get pumped and thought, "Wow, this must be a pretty fantastic if they're refusing to make any concessions." Honestly though, I thought the music was generic and it didn't really add much to the game experience for me. Besides the title screen, I can't recall any memorable music from the game, in contrast to say World of Goo or VVVVVV where I'll occasionally find myself humming their soundtracks while working. Especially considering the competitive emphasis of the game, if it were me I would have tried to get the game out across as many platforms as possible, including WiiWare (hats off for the OSX port though, as buggy as it is). Those extra resources just didn't really translate to a better product for me.

I also agree about the art style. It's weird since I'm such a big fan of games like Shadows of the Damned and Killer7, but something about Edmund's style puts me off (at least in SMB and The Binding of Isaac). I don't mind raunchy humor, but his games feel like they were written/drawn by a South Park-obsessed middle-school kid or something.

You really didn't like the Battle of Lil Slugger song? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATrQKgfLpD0

That's the best guitar riff in any form of entertainment in years! Just too bad it's placed in a boss fight where you can't fully appreciate it.

 

[Atomski]

The music is great.

Yep probably my fav soundtrack of 2010.

 

[TurboLibre]

Man, this game is the opposite of fun for me. I can appreciate it for what it is, but I almost never leave a play session thinking "that was an enjoyable experience". Mostly just ends with me saying "fuck this game" and shutting it off, and I'm not even that far. To be fair, I have a nasty habit of sticking with overly hard optional levels until I either win or quit. It would probably be more fun if I could just play a different level and come back later. I can see why it has a big following though, I'm just not sure if it's for me.

I love the style though. If I continue with it, it'll mainly be to see the different parodies of past visual styles. Loved the Game Boy warp zone.

 

[Atomski]

Man, this game is the opposite of fun for me. I can appreciate it for what it is, but I almost never leave a play session thinking "that was an enjoyable experience". Mostly just ends with me saying "fuck this game" and shutting it off, and I'm not even that far. To be fair, I have a nasty habit of sticking with overly hard optional levels until I either win or quit. It would probably be more fun if I could just play a different level and come back later. I can see why it has a big following though, I'm just not sure if it's for me.

I love the style though. If I continue with it, it'll mainly be to see the different parodies of past visual styles. Loved the Game Boy warp zone.

Super Meat Boy is one of those games where when you start getting frustrated you need to get up and leave it for a while or even better sleep on it. When you come back you will do much better.

Ive had times where I could not finish a level.. yet the next morning I did it almost on my first try.

 

[Kinky John]

Hurray!!!

Although technically this achievement is my "Golden God" achievement. (You get Golden God a few levels early if you've done all the glitch worlds)

A tip for anyone on 7-19x XOXO: Play in windowed mode. For me, playing fullscreen (even with vsync on) made the little blocks that fill in behind you start a little bit sooner than they should, and it made the level practically impossible. Playing in windowed mode fixed this issue.

 

[Atomski]

Grats

 

[Kinky John]

Thanks!

 

[LoftyTheMetroid]

You really didn't like the Battle of Lil Slugger song? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATrQKgfLpD0

Well, I don't dislike it, I just don't remember it. (Probably because a combination of it being a boss fight like you said and also because I must have beaten him around September or so, so it's been awhile.)

Seriously though, yeah, that's pretty good, but I don't personally find it particularly memorable. Or, at least, I don't think those extra resources added much to it. That's my point, is that while SMB's soundtrack definitely isn't bad, I'm surprised how much it was emphasized. (And again, for comparison, I enjoyed VVVVVV's soundtrack much more, such as Positive Force. Different strokes for different folks I guess.)

Man, this game is the opposite of fun for me. I can appreciate it for what it is, but I almost never leave a play session thinking "that was an enjoyable experience". Mostly just ends with me saying "fuck this game" and shutting it off, and I'm not even that far. To be fair, I have a nasty habit of sticking with overly hard optional levels until I either win or quit. It would probably be more fun if I could just play a different level and come back later. I can see why it has a big following though, I'm just not sure if it's for me.

I love the style though. If I continue with it, it'll mainly be to see the different parodies of past visual styles. Loved the Game Boy warp zone.

Yep, I'm in the same boat.

I think a key point of difference for many is the valuing of performance and victory. SMB seems to appeal to a competitive sense of victory/winning. From those that I've talked to, those that enjoy SMB see levels in a game (or, at least, levels in SMB) as challenges or obstacles to "beat", and that enjoyment is derived directly from this sense of accomplishment in overcoming these challenges. There's not so much of an emphasis on the individual mechanics, design, or ideas (at least, not insomuch as they pertain to the difficulty or challenge setup) as there is on skill and execution.

At least, that's what I'm getting out of it. I have a friend that loves SMB, and obviously many here enjoy it, so I'm just trying to understand what makes the game enjoyable for them.

(I have to say, though, I loved the retro zone graphics too!)

 

[charlequin]

There's not so much of an emphasis on the individual mechanics, design, or ideas (at least, not insomuch as they pertain to the difficulty or challenge setup) as there is on skill and execution.

Ideas are meaningless without execution, though. Even the platform games probably most praised for a parade of unique ideas (which would be, like, SMB3 and SMG, I think), every one of those ideas is actually used in the context of a rock-solid execution that demonstrates the core value of that idea and forces the player to confront it in an interesting and unique fashion.

Meat Boy isn't a big-ideas platformer, but it's still an immaculately designed one with a good depth of mechanics. Every world introduces a set of new enemies, environmental hazards, or interactive items and then deploys them in increasingly elaborate combinations that the player has to learn, generally culminating in a "final exam" level that combines all the world's mechanics into a single gauntlet. The joy is in discovering each distinct arrangement, appreciating the challenge it presents, and getting into the zone to maneuver through that challenge and survive.

Then again, I don't really think any of the great platformers from the past are all that different. Those map graphics in Super Meat Boy aren't an accident -- its structure is taken almost verbatim from SMB3, right down to the extremely short levels and the themed worlds. SMB3 might not be as difficult, but the flow and the challenge appreciation elements are very similar.

 

[Togglesworlh]

I never though I'd see anyone saying Super Meat Boy is not well-designed. The mechanics are immaculate, as far as 2D platformers are concerned, but without good level design, those mechanics and your execution of them would be meaningless.

 

[Zek]

Super Meat Boy is a challenge platformer of a very specific type. That might not be your type of game and that's fine. But it is simply the best at what it does, hands down.

 

[Jasoco]

Agreed. It's either your thing or it isn't. If you're looking for Mario, Super Meat Boy ain't Mario.

The level design is AMAZING in Super Meat Boy. You think they just drew a random level and threw saws in willy-nilly? Every saw, every enemy is timed and placed precisely to allow for perfect execution.

 

[Littlegator]

Hurray!!!

Although technically this achievement is my "Golden God" achievement. (You get Golden God a few levels early if you've done all the glitch worlds)

A tip for anyone on 7-19x XOXO: Play in windowed mode. For me, playing fullscreen (even with vsync on) made the little blocks that fill in behind you start a little bit sooner than they should, and it made the level practically impossible. Playing in windowed mode fixed this issue.

Grats!

7-19x is actually based on framerate. On my desktop, it was literally impossible to beat. Someone on the Steam forums did throw together a vsync hack to make the level play as intended.

 

[Togglesworlh]

Agreed. It's either your thing or it isn't. If you're looking for Mario, Super Meat Boy ain't Mario.

The level design is AMAZING in Super Meat Boy. You think they just drew a random level and threw saws in willy-nilly? Every saw, every enemy is timed and placed precisely to allow for perfect execution.

Right! It's amazing to me that anyone could think otherwise. I mean, like it or hate it, you can't deny that everything is intentional. These levels weren't just an accident.

 

[PokéKong]

I would compare the controls to a realistic flight sim, where the player has to take a long time to become accustomed to how everything works but that isn't necessarily a flaw, and I can see how most get a good feeling out of perfecting the art and getting really skilled at it, but that's not really how I like my platformers. I guess I'm the non-competitive type and I just like mechanics that are fun to play around with freely.

Meat Boy accelerates to max speed almost instantaneously, and comes to a halt even faster, this makes it hard to understand his movements in terms of a person's preconceived notion of physics, you expect things to have a speed up and cool down time. This also makes it difficult if you want to just slightly nudge him into position, making things harder for beginner players who don't yet have confidence to go dashing off dangerous jumps right away. The slightest press left or right sends him careening off either direction, while his vertical movement seems disproportionately slow, this might just be a taste thing, but something bugs me about the way he tends to quickly wiggle back and forth in the air while making a smooth movement vertically, which he often needs to do as almost every leap will overshoot the target destination.

There are plenty of platform games with mechanics which one can take forever perfecting, yet a beginner can pick up and enjoy right away. There's no way the controls in this could be called perfect and immaculate, I could probably have a lot more fun with them if I put in the commitment to play a heck of a lot, but seeing as how most of the game offends my senses that doesn't seem too likely.