Super Meat Boy Forever is a 2020 platform video game created and released by Team Meat. It was first available on Nintendo Switch and Windows in 2020, then on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2021, and on iOS and Android in 2023. Versions for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Linux are currently being developed. The game was originally intended to be a mobile-only version of Super Meat Boy but was slowly developed into a full sequel with a new control method called auto-runner and levels that are randomly generated.
Critics had mixed opinions about the game. It was followed by a spinoff titled Dr. Fetus' Mean Meat Machine and a sequel called Super Meat Boy 3D.
Gameplay
Super Meat Boy Forever adds more to the difficult gameplay of Super Meat Boy and introduces more details about the main villain, Dr. Fetus. In the game, Meat Boy and Bandage Girl's child, Nugget, is taken by Dr. Fetus. The two characters must work together to rescue her. Both can kick and punch enemies and must avoid dangerous obstacles to save Nugget. Players use two buttons to control the characters. Levels are created randomly depending on how skilled the player is, by combining pre-made level parts that fit together smoothly.
The biggest change in Super Meat Boy Forever is that the game is an auto-runner, meaning the game moves automatically. Players can only control specific actions, such as regular jumping and wall-jumping.
Plot
After the events of the original story, Meat Boy and Bandage Girl are living peacefully with their baby daughter, Nugget, during a picnic. Suddenly, Dr. Fetus attacks them, takes Nugget, and disappears. When Meat Boy and Bandage Girl wake up and find Nugget missing, they begin a journey to rescue her.
They travel through different worlds to find Dr. Fetus, but he often escapes or attacks them. Along the way, they face powerful enemies, including a brain monster that can move things with its mind (called Manic), a large machine named “Big Slugger,” and the security system in Dr. Fetus’s lair. Meanwhile, a group of animals, led by a squirrel from the forest where the picnic happened, also tries to stop Dr. Fetus. They take Big Slugger and convince Manic to help them fight Dr. Fetus by using the machine’s power.
In Dr. Fetus’s lair, Meat Boy and Bandage Girl are trapped in a pile of Dead Meat Boys while Dr. Fetus celebrates his success. The animals attack him, but Dr. Fetus activates a Self-Destruct device, which destroys Big Slugger and seriously injures many animals. When Nugget sees this, she cries, and Dr. Fetus tries to comfort her. Meat Boy and Bandage Girl escape the pile and fight Dr. Fetus. At the same time, the squirrel leader presses a button meant to destroy the lair, but the squirrel dies before it can, causing the lair to collapse and erase time, aging Meat Boy and Bandage Girl, and turning Nugget and Dr. Fetus into atoms.
In a new world called “The Other Side,” Meat Boy and Bandage Girl (now called Meat Ninja and Bandage Ripper) search for Nugget and Dr. Fetus. They find a hologram of the two, punch it, and it turns into atoms, revealing a new enemy: God Fetus, made from Dr. Fetus’s atoms and parts of a solar system. They fight God Fetus in a final battle. After the fight, Nugget’s atoms reform, and she reunites with her parents. However, God Fetus attacks again by throwing a heavy rock at them. Nugget uses her pacifier to calm God Fetus, who then recombines into Dr. Fetus. He accepts the pacifier as a gift, and Meat Boy and Bandage Girl punch him, sending him back in time. This action restores time, de-ages Meat Boy and Bandage Girl, saves the animals, and reunites the family.
During the credits, Meat Boy, Bandage Girl, and Nugget are shown returning to their starting point, while the animals and Manic rebuild the forest. In an after-credits scene, the trio is seen packing up their picnic and walking toward the sun. Meanwhile, Dr. Fetus, still holding Nugget’s pacifier, creates copies of Meat Boy using recordings and prepares a plasma shotgun, suggesting he may return for more trouble.
Development and release
In February 2012, the development of a mobile version of Super Meat Boy was announced. The game was created from scratch, without using any materials from the original game. The project was paused in 2013 so Team Meat could focus on another game called Mew-Genics. In August 2014, Super Meat Boy Forever was officially announced as a mobile-only spinoff of the original Super Meat Boy. Team Meat founders Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes first mentioned the project as a "live-action stealth game" named A Voyeur in September. Later, it was discovered that A Voyeur was an anagram for Super Meat Boy Forever. After several years with little progress, Edmund McMillen left Team Meat to work on other projects, including The Binding of Isaac, The End Is Nigh, and Mewgenics. Refenes said not to expect McMillen to return after Super Meat Boy Forever was released.
In 2017, Refenes restarted the project as a full sequel. The following year, new team members joined Team Meat to help with development. These members included Kyle Pulver (Lead level designer) from Offspring Fling and Snapshot, Lala Fuchs (Lead Artist), and Paul ter Voorde (Animation director). Ridiculon, a music group consisting of Matthias Bossi and Jon Evans, who created the music for the PlayStation 4 version of Super Meat Boy, returned to compose the sequel’s soundtrack. Refenes explained that while the game would still be available on mobile, it was primarily developed for consoles. The new version was revealed at PAX Prime 2017 and shown by Nintendo during their Nindies Summer 2017 Showcase. The PAX demo received positive reviews from the media. The game was originally scheduled for release in April 2019 but was delayed until December 2020.
Super Meat Boy Forever was released on December 23, 2020, as a limited-time exclusive for the Nintendo Switch and Microsoft Windows via the Epic Games Store. Console and Steam versions followed in 2021 and 2022. PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions were released on April 16, 2021. Mobile versions for Android and iOS were launched on April 20, 2023. On January 16, 2024, a level editor called Meat Grinder was released.
Reception
On the website Metacritic, which collects reviews, the iOS version has a score of 68 out of 100 based on 4 reviews, the PC version has a score of 70 out of 100 based on 19 reviews, and the Nintendo Switch version has a score of 66 out of 100 based on 35 reviews. These scores show "mixed or average" reviews.