Super Meat Boy 3D feels like 2010 again – just with Unreal Engine 5 and a Mario twist

The transition of beloved 2D games to 3D can be hit-and-miss. Famously, Mario revolutionised 3D platforming with Super Mario 64, while Sonic’s high-speed floundered when having to work with another dimension. So when it comes to indie sensation Super Meat Boy, famed for being a tough-as-nails side-scrolling twitch platformer, you might think that it couldn’t work without losing the essence of what makes it a Meat Boy game.

Nonetheless, Super Meat Boy 3D was one of the surprise announcements from this year’s Xbox Summer Showcase. Unlike Moonlighter 2, whose developer had evolved from 2D to 3D, this new game is being handled by Sluggerfly, an indie team that’s already been making 3D platformers with Unreal Engine for over a decade, with Super Meat Boy 3D being its fourth. Given the studio’s last game, Hell Pie featured macabre visuals and purposely edgy bad taste, it feels like a good fit, but in practice, it also presented completely new challenges.

*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription

Alan Wen is a freelance journalist writing about video games in the form of features, interview, previews, reviews and op-eds. Work has appeared in print including Edge, Official Playstation Magazine, GamesMaster, Games TM, Wireframe, Stuff, and online including Kotaku UK, TechRadar, FANDOM, Rock Paper Shotgun, Digital Spy, The Guardian, and The Telegraph.