Super Meat Boy Forever retains the controller-throwing, rage-quitting levels of difficulty of its predecessors. In fact, it’s worse. Super Meat Boy Forever uses procedurally-generated levels, so you do not even have the luxury of referring to a guide to find a way to escape the hell you now find yourself in.
Make no mistake – this is a skill-based game, and those faint of heart or with no patience should turn away. If you’re willing to try your hand at clearing one of the most difficult games I’ve ever played, here are a few tips and tricks that can help you.
Be Willing to Walk Away When Needed
Research has shown that if you are stuck on a difficult task (including a video game), then taking a break for a bit and returning to it later can actually make clearing a stage that much easier – particularly when it comes to games that rely on twitch reflexes and muscle memory.
If you find yourself stuck on Stage 3, 5, or 6 of the first world of Super Meat Boy Forever and you don’t think you’ll ever clear it, put down the controller, go do something else for half an hour, and come back. You might be surprised.
Accept that Clearing the Stage Isn’t the End Goal
“What?” you ask. “If I’m not trying to beat the level, why do I even bother?” As we said before, Super Meat Boy Forever is a skill-based game. It isn’t a title you can just look up a guide for. There are no cheats or varying difficulties. There’s only pain.
As you play the game, you will become better and better at it. But you will also die a lot in the process. Accept that this game is about the journey of getting better and not winning.
Pay Attention to the Blood
With a game this difficult, you take every advantage you can get. Since the levels are all procedurally generated, there’s no way to know what comes next, but you can pay attention to the blood smears from your previous attempts. At the very least, these smears show you locations that might be a bit more difficult.
The blood also shows where you have and have not been. If you’re stuck on a part you can’t seem to get through, try aiming for one of the locations you haven’t died at yet. It might be the key to getting around the obstacle.
Use the Attack and Dive Moves
Meat Boy and Bandage Girl have mid-air attacks and a dive move, both of which can help adjust your trajectory in combat. While neither of these abilities will save you if you really screw up, they can help adjust your direction at the last minute to save you.
If you learn when to dash forward, dive down, or launch a forward attack to break out of a dive, you will not only be able to better navigate the world, but you will make it much farther in a level than you might otherwise.
Change Direction as Needed
Super Meat Boy Forever is all about momentum. You will run forward unless you somehow find a hole to halt your inertia, and if you do, count yourself lucky – it gives you a chance to survey the level around you. If you need to change direction, you need to find a wall or an obstacle to jump off.
Shifting direction frequently through wall jumping and other means is vital for making it through the levels. Of course, you might sometimes be required to make jumps with split-second timing, and that’s where practice comes in.
Super Meat Boy Forever is not a long game–only around 4.5 hours, according to most people. The levels themselves are usually less than a minute long, too. The length of the game comes from trying, and trying, and trying again until you are able to clear tricky obstacles and traps that are set on murdering you.
The best advice we can give? Don’t be discouraged. It takes practice, and you might spend hours or even days on a specific level, but you will eventually be able to beat it. If it takes a long time, well – that’s where the Forever part of the name comes from.