Super Meat Boy Forever Review January 6, 2021
Posted by Maniac in Reviews.add a comment
What better way to start the New Year than with some meat?
Super Meat Boy Forever is a sequel to the independent classic Super Meat Boy. I first became aware of the original game when I watched the documentary Indie Game: The Movie, which detailed its development and release (alongside other games like FEZ). While I didn’t have the chance to play the original game back in the day I was charmed by its art style and gameplay, and upon hearing a sequel was being released my interest was peaked.
Ed Note: A review code for Super Meat Boy Forever was given to us by its publisher.
The Story
Meat Boy and his partner Bandage Girl have had their child kidnapped by the nefarious Dr Fetus (who isn’t a real doctor). Now it’s up to the player to guide them around an unbearably unsafe world in their quest to retrieve the little Nugget. Its simple, but effective and reminds me of the stories of classic 8-bit titles like Double Dragon.
Gameplay
The game’s level design is a throwback to classic 2D platformers of the NES and SNES era. Each level’s art style almost looks hand drawn, while interweaving dangerous spikes, pits and saws with the level’s art style.
Danger is everywhere. Your character is always moving forward, but you can control when your character jumps, ducks, dashes and attacks. There are a few tutorial levels at the beginning of the game which explain the mechanics, and you’ll need to learn them fast. This game is HARD. I went into it assuming it would be hard, but even I was absolutely humbled within the first set of levels. Your player character runs very, very fast, and the difference between a successful and unsuccessful jump could be down to one minor pixel. Thankfully, there doesn’t appear to be a limited life meter, but in-level checkpoints can be spaced out pretty far.
New levels can unlock new sections in the game, and there are plenty of unlockable avatars you can earn as you continue your progression. Given the precision accuracy the game demands, you can be sure you’ll be replaying certain sections so many times by the time you finally complete a level you’ll be able to replay it in your sleep.
Conclusion
I know I devoted an entire paragraph of this review to highlighting just how difficult the game is, but I know that many of you out there would consider overcoming that difficulty a badge of honor. If you are a fan of difficult platformers or have fond memories of the original Super Meat Boy and just want to play another game in that universe, you should totally pick up this game.
Super Meat Boy Forever is out now for PC and Nintendo Switch. Review is based on Nintendo Switch version which was played in tablet mode.
Memories of Maniac – Time Travel Memories January 4, 2021
Posted by Maniac in Mind of Maniac, Site Videos.add a comment
We’re getting a little personal here today as Maniac tells a story about one of his favorite concepts in fiction, Time Travel. Whether you’re a fan of classic games like Chrono Trigger or newer ones like Quantum Break.
But how does Time Travel work, and did these games get it right? Well, Maniac has done plenty of research on the subject in the past twenty-five years and he’s going to talk about it.
Quantum Break is out now for Xbox One and PC. Chrono Trigger is out now for SNES, PS1, Wii, PC and Smart Devices.
Gaming History You Should Know – History of Workboy, GameBoy’s Unreleased PDA Peripheral January 3, 2021
Posted by Maniac in Gaming History You Should Know, Uncategorized.add a comment
Happy New Year everyone, welcome back to Gaming History You Should Know, where we highlight some of the best independently produced gaming history content from across the web. Today, we’re going to be talking about some gaming history that has been long since forgotten, mostly for the fact it was never released.
While most people use their smartphones and tablets to manage their day to day notes and communication, smartphones as we know them did not exist before 2007 when the iPhone was first released. However, pocket sized electronic devices capable of note taking and rudimentary wireless data exchange were available since the early 90s, we called them PDAs.
PDAs, short for Personal Digital Assistant, were tiny computers capable of storing electronic notes, as well as include some basic programs including an address book, calendar and calculator. Since PDAs were powered by simple batteries, you would need to regularly back it up to your PC or Mac so not to lose data. The most famous PDA was the Palm Pilot, but Apple had their own PDA called the Newton.
Being small, portable computers capable of storing data and running programs, PDAs were not cheap. They may run off store bought batteries but their hardware still required a low power CPU, static RAM (for storage), and a monochrome LCD screen. This alone would put a PDA price at around $150-300 USD. However, a better option was on the horizon. At the start of the 90s, a handheld gaming device was taking over the world. Called the Game Boy, it was priced at around $80USD and featured a monochrome screen, several interface buttons, a CPU, a sound chip, a serial port, and the ability to run an enormous library of games through expandable ROM cartridges (called Game Paks), the Game Boy was every kid’s essential device for a family road trip.
A company called Fabtek was interested in answering an important question, “Could we add the capabilities of a PDA to the hardware of a Game Boy and deliver a product that could be cost competitive in a time PDAs were seeing incredible use by the enterprise market?” Enter, the WorkBoy. Unfortunately, despite being previewed in an issue of Nintendo Power, it was never released.
Did You Know Gaming, one of the biggest channels in the history of YouTube, produced this thirty minute webisode about the history of this unreleased peripheral. Check it out:
Sorry about the lack of consistent content over the holiday season, you can be sure that regular uploads will resume this week. We’ve got an upcoming written game review, an essay, and at least one new video on the way!
GameXcess.net - Gaming News, Videos and Editorials! 