Microsoft wasn't usually the company that concerned itself with platform gaming. Hardcore violence, incredible graphics, and online gameplay defined the Xbox and Xbox 360 throughout the 2000s and 2010s.
The Xbox Live Arcade service was the one exception to the genre norms on the console. Independent gaming blossomed in all shapes and sizes on this downloadable platform, and one of the defining indie games on the system was 2010's Super Meat Boy.
Developed with love and care by Team Meat, this platform game shook up the usual dynamics of platformers that had been defined by Nintendo for decades. Quick-twitch reaction times and uber-short levels that had gamers controlling a humanized glob of flesh, running and jumping through various hazards in 10-second bursts.
The game is insanely difficult, but the fact that you would start over and get right back to where you died almost instantaneously made it much more forgiving than some may have thought it would be on first glance. This brilliant gameplay loop redefined what a platformer could be and changed the genre at its core for the first time since the Super Mario series original games on the NES.
The website Multiplayer.it talked about the way the game brought new relevance to platformers back in 2010 with a score of 93/100 on Metacritic.
"It's not the first time that only two developers give life to one of the most enjoyable experiences of the year. Super Meat Boy is not only the greatest, complete and most polished indie game, but also one of the best platformers ever created. The controls are more than perfect, and everything feels incredibly natural. Of course, the high difficulty of the game will scare a lot of gamers, but the sense of satisfaction is incomparable. Moreover, Super Meat Boy is a wonderful tribute to all the indie developers and games, with its awesome cameos and inspired levels."
Super Meat Boy is a rare game that transforms both the category it's in and the industry's ability to sell games. Braid was the other revelation on the Xbox Live Arcade in 2008. And if that game was an example of video games as art, Super Meat Boy was an example of games as an addictive food craving. It's just plain fun. Simple as that.
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