Line #101 VideoGame/MeatBoy


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/supermeatboy.jpg]]
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3	''[[http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/463241 Meat Boy]]'' is a [[{{Pun}} flesh- er, Flash]] game created by Creator/EdmundMcMillen, Jonathan Mcentee, and Danny Baranowsky on October 10, 2008. Edmund and Danny then partnered with Tommy Refenes and formed Team Meat. Eventually Danny and Edmund's working relationship broke down, and Danny was replaced by the duo Ridiculon. Edmund himself had also left some time during development of ''Super Meat Boy Forever''. Team Meat currently contains Tommy Refenes, Matthias Bossi & Jon Evans (Ridiculon), Kyle Pulver (designer of ''VideoGame/OffspringFling'' and ''VideoGame/Depict1''), and Creator/TemmieChang (artist of ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'').
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5	''Meat Boy'' [[SadistShow is a game about pain]]. [[ToThePain It is a game about understanding pain in its purest, most unadulterated form, forcing you to go into a fit of madness.]] It's also an affectionate callback to all of the [[NintendoHard controller destroyingly difficult]] games of the late eighties and early nineties, and all of the clichés that go along with them, but at least here the levels are (usually) short and the lives (usually) infinite.
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7	You play as Meat Boy, a [[WordOfGod skinless boy]], trying to save his girlfriend made of gauze, Bandage Girl, from the clutches of [[FetusTerrible Dr. Fetus]], a nefarious fetus being in a jar that [[MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate may or may not have a PhD]]. [[ExcusePlot It's not exactly the most original plot]] ever [[{{Pun}} conceived]], but the game's still very imaginative. And painful, as Meat Boy must traverse though worlds filled with [[SawBladesOfDeath buzzsaws]], syringes, [[LavaPit lava]], [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment buzzsaws]], salt, [[HomingProjectile homing missiles]], and [[RuleOfThree buzzsaws]]. Did we mention buzzsaws? [[NintendoHard Cause, yeah, there's a lot of them.]] We mentioned pain too, right?
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9	A [[http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/472826 map pack]] was later released on December 8, 2008. A sequel, ''Super Meat Boy'', was released on Platform/XboxLiveArcade and {{PC}} in Fall and Winter of 2010, then later ported to the [=PS4=], Playstation Vita and Wii U. A Platform/WiiWare port was planned as well, but it was later cancelled as Nintendo's 40 MB limit for [=WiiWare=] games was much too small for the developers to work with. The game follows the same story as the flash game, where your goal is to save the girl, except there are a lot more levels including warp zones and obstacles to face, more polished gameplay, and more of a story going on. The game reached major popularity and critical acclaim among gamers, receiving strong sales and even winning some awards.
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11	A third game for PC and Platform/NintendoSwitch, ''Super Meat Boy Forever'', was released on December 23, 2020, where instead of playing as Meat Boy trying to save Bandage Girl, you instead play as either Meat Boy or Bandage Girl trying to save their baby daughter Nugget who has been kidnapped by Dr. Fetus, who also makes a return as the BigBad. The sequel is different from its predecessor, as the gameplay now has an autorun mechanic similar to ''VideoGame/BitTrip'' and ''VideoGame/{{Canabalt}}'', but giving you the ability to turn around by walljumping. The sequel also introduces new enemies, hazards, and gameplay mechanics such as punching and dashing. The animation is also vastly different, dropping the StylisticSuck of the original games and going for [[ArtEvolution a more cartoonish, fluid style of animation]]. A TabletopGame called ''Super Meat Boy Forever: Rival Rush'' was also released in 2018 as a tie-in. Naturally, the switch to autorunner meant a drop in difficulty as the game appealed to casu- [[SurpriseDifficulty wait, what? It's still kicking ass?]] And in ''this'' genre? Yep, [[AndIMustScream you're not getting a break from the pain.]]
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13	Meat Boy also appears in the ''VideoGame/BitTrip'' series as a member of Commander Video's FiveManBand. In return, Commander Video appears in ''Super Meat Boy'' as an unlockable character. Meat Boy and Dr. Fetus (as well as Bandage Girl in the remake) are also featured in ''VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac'' as unlockable items, while C.H.A.D shows up as a boss with a matching item drop. Meat Boy has also made cameo appearances in plenty of other games.
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15	Compare ''VideoGame/IWannaBeTheGuy'', ''VideoGame/SyobonAction'', and ''VideoGame/KaizoMarioWorld'', which are difficult through sheer ''[[FakeDifficulty unfairness]]'', rather than Meat Boy's brutal, but fair design. Also compare ''VideoGame/OneThousandAndOneSpikes''.
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17	----
18	!!The ''Meat Boy'' franchise contain examples of:
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20	[[foldercontrol]]
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22	[[folder:All Games]]
23	* OneHundredPercentCompletion: The games usually keep track of collected bandages and completed levels. To get to 100% (and above), all the bandages need to be collected, along with all the levels being completed.
24	* AutoScrollingLevel: The original has some of them. ''Super Meat Boy'' tends to substitute various forms of AdvancingWallOfDoom.
25	* BigBad: Dr. Fetus.
26	* BottomlessPit: There are several per chapter, but the three other boundaries will also do.
27	* BrainyBaby: Dr. Fetus.
28	* ButtMonkey: Both Meat Boy and Bandage Girl get abused quite badly.
29	** Dr. Fetus gets this too, especially given the intro. "Nobody likes Dr. Fetus, and that's why Dr. Fetus hates you!"
30	** Effectively, every single character that appears in a cutscene is one of these. Especially the tragic squirrel, [[spoiler: who is the lone survivor of the forest fire, is attacked by a rogue flying buzzsaw, is vaporized by a nuclear explosion, and STILL manages to come back at the ending cutscene, totally beaten up.]] Most bosses are also killed off in a rather dark-humored way. [[spoiler: They all have a happy ending in the final cutscene though.]]
31	* CastOfSnowflakes: All the bonus characters are taken from Indie Games, usually using the original art style, making each one look completely unique and out of place. For example, all versions of ''Super Meat Boy'' have a [[VideoGame/IWannaBeTheGuy boy in a cape]], a [[VideoGame/MightyJillOff girl in gimp gear]], a [[VideoGame/{{Flywrench}} color-changing stick]], an [[VideoGame/BitTrip 8-bit rainbow trailing guy]], and a [[VideoGame/{{Jumper}} thing]] that looks suspiciously like Meat Boy, along with many exclusives to different versions of the game.
32	* {{Cephalothorax}}: Meat Boy and Bandage Girl.
33	* CharacterSelectForcing: Some bandages can only be obtained with certain characters.
34	* CollisionDamage: Although justified in some of the cases.
35	* ConvectionSchmonvection: Which is a good thing, given that the game is already plenty hard without having to consider how close you can get to the lava/fire without burning.
36	* CreatorThumbprint: It's not Edmund's first [[VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac or last]] game which features a character in a developmental stage of a life cycle.
37	* DeathByIrony: Both games end with [[spoiler:Bandage Girl, who had been kidnapped and punched repeatedly by Dr. Fetus throughout the game, stomping Dr. Fetus to death]].
38	* DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist: Usually. Unless counting some of the Warp Zones in ''Super Meat Boy''.
39	* {{Determinator}}: Meat Boy, who gets abused quite badly but still keeps trying to rescue Bandage Girl.
40	** Anyone who manages to unlock The Kid.
41	* DigitalPiracyIsEvil: Sort of parodied. [[{{Troll}} Doctor Fetus]] regularly brags with pirating copies of ''Super Meat Boy'' in his [[CharacterBlog in-character Twitter account]].
42	* DifficultButAwesome:
43	** Flywrench. It takes a while to get used to its controls due to being very heavy and unruly. However, it can do a triple jump and scale up walls without having to jump off them which will become very handy in some of the levels.
44	** Naija is another of those characters who seems to be difficult to control at first, but becomes useful when practiced with.
45	* DistressedDamsel: Bandage Girl. [[spoiler:Meat Boy is a DistressedDude in the HarderThanHard BonusLevel where their roles are flipped]].
46	* EternalEngine: The Factory.
47	* EverythingTryingToKillYou: Okay, here we go... as of ''Super'', we have mutants, buzzsaws, giant flies, [[FetusTerrible fetuses]], salt, maggots, clones, [[AbnormalAmmo monster missiles]], and so much more.
48	* ExcrementStatement: Dr. Fetus does this at the end of the original flash game. ''Eww...''
49	* FetusTerrible: Dr. Fetus.
50	* FireAndBrimstoneHell: Chapter 4. It's also where Meat Boy's spent lives end up.
51	* FlippingTheBird:
52	** Dr. Fetus is quite fond of flipping people off. So much so, that his biometric hand scanner in ''Forever'' is programmed to read his middle finger pressed against the screen.
53	** In ''Super Meat Boy Forever'', Nugget learns of this gesture from Dr. Fetus and proceeds to flip off some butterflies. Meat Boy is not amused, [[ActuallyPrettyFunny though Bandage Girl laughs at the sight of it]].
54	* GreenHillZone: The Forest.
55	* GrotesqueCute: Especially in ''Super Meat Boy''.
56	* HeartSymbol: Present in a few cutscenes.
57	* HighClassGlass: Dr. Fetus has a monocle on his jar.
58	* HundredPercentCompletion: Necessary for the Golden God achievement.
59	* {{Immortality}}:
60	** According to the Hell, The End, & Cotton Alley chapters, besides Meat Boy, ''everyone in the MB universe'' is immortal. An entire universe... Unable to die permanently...
61	** Meat Boy is a combination of ResurrectiveImmortality and TheUndead.
62	* JokeCharacter: Tofu Boy, a TakeThat to a Meat Boy parody by PETA. He's the slowest character in the game, with no special abilities, and he can't jump to save his life.
63	** He can just ''barely'' beat the ''first two levels''. And out of the 200 levels where Tofu Boy's playable, only around a fifth of them are beatable with him.
64	** ''Forever'' makes him even sadder. In addition to being slower, his maximum jump height now decreases with every jump made (until he needs to stop and catch his breath), so it might take you a few minutes of strategically placing your jumps to realize [[YankTheDogsChain when a level really is impossible with Tofu Boy.]]
65	* KryptoniteIsEverywhere: The Salt Factory.
66	* LevelEditor: ''Meat Boy'' featured one. ''Super Meat Boy'' gets one for the PC version. A prototype devmode was accidentally left in the game which resulted the creation of user-generated content much earlier on.
67	* LumberMillMayhem: The first level takes place in a forest area filled with saw blades that meat boy must dodge.
68	* LiteraryAllusionTitle: The spinoff's ''Dr Fetus' Mean Meat Machine'' title is a reference to VideoGame/DrRobotniksMeanBeanMachine, from which it borrows gameplay elements.
69	* MalevolentArchitecture: The mass amount of obstacles that you'll encounter makes each level a challenge to navigate through. Though while it's been confirmed that Dr. Fetus is the one who sets up the buzzsaws, that still doesn't explain the pits full of blood, lasers, and rocket launchers. The syringes in the Hospital stage are probably even stranger, as for some reason there are piles upon piles of them, and some are even stuck to the ceiling needle-down.
70	* MassiveMultiplayerCrossover:
71	** The first game alone had VideoGame/{{Gish}} and a VideoGame/{{Castle Crasher\|s}}.
72	** The level pack contains VideoGame/{{N}} and some characters called "VideoGame/AlienHominid" and "Pico".
73	** ''Super Meat Boy'' takes it to extremes with ''many'' major indie games having a representative, including [[VideoGame/MightyJillOff Jill]], [[{{VideoGame/Minecraft}} Steve?]], [[VideoGame/{{VVVVVV}} Captain Viridian]], [[VideoGame/{{Braid}} Tim]], [[VideoGame/BitTrip Commander Video]], [[VideoGame/{{Jumper}} Ogmo]], VideoGame/{{Spelunky}}, [[VideoGame/RunManRaceAroundTheWorld RunMan]], [[VideoGame/{{N}} the Ninja]], VideoGame/AlienHominid and a VideoGame/{{Castle Crasher\|s}}, [[VideoGame/{{Machinarium}} Josef]], VideoGame/{{Flywrench}}, [[VideoGame/{{Aquaria}} Naija]], and [[VideoGame/IWannaBeTheGuy The Kid]]. To the surprise of everyone, there's also [[VideoGame/HalfLife a Headcrab]]. Each of those characters has their own special abilities, be it a DoubleJump, limited levitation or tunneling.[[note]]Some of the characters only exist in either the Platform/Xbox360 version or the PC version. Most PC-only characters have an Xbox equivalent, and vice versa.[[/note]]
74	* MeaningfulName: All the main characters.
75	* MegatonPunch:
76	** Dr. Fetus sometimes likes to do this to Bandage Girl.
77	** The boss of Hell, Little Horn, likes to do this.
78	* MinimalistCast: In the flash game, there are no enemies (except for Black Maws in the Hell stage), and the only characters are Meat Boy, Bandage Girl, and Dr. Fetus. Starts to get averted in ''Super Meat Boy'' by adding enemies and boss characters, and ''Super Meat Boy Forever'' adds Nugget to the main cast.
79	* MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: Dr. Fetus.
80	* NintendoHard: And get used to Meat Boy's speed. Although those who think the game isn't hard enough, in ''Super Meat Boy'', there is a more difficult counterpart to each level.
81	** Cotton Alley. The Kid's levels. Dark World Rapture. Have fun, kids.
82	** The Expert Remix chapter (which contains versions of main game levels that are ''even harder than the Dark World'') means even more controller tossing.
83	** The Kid's 2011 Christmas features four difficult levels (though one can be broken easily by turnstile hopping). The fifth however asks you to traverse the original Kid's level ''backwards''.
84	* NitroBoost: Conveyor belts in the factory.
85	* OneHitPointWonder
86	* OverdrawnAtTheBloodBank: Meat Boy leaves blood stains everywhere, and is the only man who can bleed days without dying.
87	* PeopleJars: Dr. Fetus is in one.
88	* PlatformHell: Surprisingly [[AvertedTrope averted]]. You'd think a game this difficult would rely mostly on unfair level design, wouldn't you? Nope, the levels are almost entirely devoid of FakeDifficulty and, combined with the smooth controls, it means that you only have yourself to blame for each death.
89	* PowerpuffGirlHands: Meat Boy, Bandage Girl, Brownie, and Nugget have these, at least in-game in the former three's case. They are shown with fingers in more detailed art of them.
90	* ProtagonistTitle: ''Meat Boy'' is also the name of the protagonist.
91	* ReferenceOverdosed: ShoutOut count to other works is very high in ''Meat Boy'' series.
92	* ResurrectiveImmortality: Meat Boy is a One Hit Point Wonder, but reforms within one or two seconds, much to the frustration of Dr. Fetus. And not just during gameplay, during cutscenes too!
93	* {{Retraux}}
94	* RuleOfCool: The only reason why [[CoversAlwaysLie the game doesn't look as awesome as the cover.]]
95	* RustproofBlood: And you'll be seeing a lot of it.
96	* SadistShow: The cutscenes make it clear that suffering of characters makes up a lot of the humor in this game.
97	* SaveThePrincess: Meat Boy's plot motivation is to rescue the Bandage Girl from Dr. Fetus.
98	* SawBladesOfDeath: Circular saws are probably the most iconic obstacle in the game. Some stay still, some move back and forth, some move around in circular fashion.
99	* SecretCharacter: [[spoiler:Getting OneHundredPercentCompletion in the game unlocks Meat Ninja.]]
100	* SerialEscalation: Take a shot every time you think it can't get harder and are subsequently proven wrong. Continue until you're too wasted to play.
101	* ShoutOut: The game has a large amount of them, which is expected from an indie game.
102	** The Flash game opens with Dr. Fetus stealing Bandaid Girl ala ''VideoGame/GhostsNGoblins''. This is also present in Chapter 7 of ''Super Meat Boy'', [[spoiler:except Dr. Fetus captures Meat Boy instead]].
103	** Chapter 5 of ''Super Meat Boy'' is called Rapture, which is the same name of Chapter 5 of ''VideoGame/{{Gish}}'' (which takes place in church).
104	** The message at the end of every Warp Zone level is a nod to different Mario games; NES-style levels are nods to the original VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1 castle levels ("[[YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle Thank you Meat Boy, but Bandage Girl is in another Warp Zone]]"), while Game Boy-style levels are nods to the boss levels of VideoGame/SuperMarioLand (wherein "Daisy" would turn into a monster and run away).
105	*** Furthermore, the characters that say that Bandage Girl is in another Warp Zone are also shout outs; for example, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTPT2kv6PXw&t=2m8s the Ninja]] from ''VideoGame/{{Nikujin}}'' or [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbIhxgXR9X0&t=1m30s Captain Viridian]] from ''VideoGame/{{VVVVVV}}''.
106	** When you successfully complete a level with a bandage collected, the message "Bandage get!" appears, referring to the Japanese version of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine''.
107	** One of the glitch worlds resembles an airship from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' -- complete with fixed-speed sawblades simulating auto scrolling.
108	** The sound when picking up a key (when not in a WarpZone) is the same as from Atari's ''Gauntlet''.
109	** The levels Blood Mountain and Bladecatcher are references to the band Music/{{Mastodon}}.
110	** One of the pitch-black Dark World levels in Chapter 1 is named "[[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries I Am the Night]]".
111	** Combined with StealthPun: Level 2-7, likely the first pitch-black level the player will encounter, is titled "[[Music/BlackSabbath The Sabbath]]".
112	** A VideoGame/DonkeyKong-styled level in Chapter 4 is named [[Film/TheKingOfKong "Wiebe", and in its Dark World counterpart is called "Billy Boy".]]
113	** Level 6-4X, "Maze of Ith", is named after a ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' card.
114	%%Zero Context Examples. Don't uncomment them without adding a proper description of the reference being made.
115	** ''Super Meat Boy'' begins each chapter with a re-enactment of the opening to a different game.
116	*** Chapter 1: The [=CPS1=] [[CapcomSequelStagnation editions]] of ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'' (''The World Warrior'', ''Champion Edition'', ''Hyper Fighting''), with the fighters replaced with Dr. Fetus socking Bandage Girl in the face.
117	*** Chapter 2: ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaI'', with Meat Boy running to a castle's gates, complete with Dr. Fetus as the bat.
118	*** Chapter 3: ''VideoGame/AdventuresOfLolo'', with Dr. Fetus swooping Bandage Girl in the same way as the NES game.
119	*** Chapter 4: ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden'', with Meat Boy and Dr. Fetus spoofing Jo Hayabusa's final duel.
120	*** Chapter 5: ''VideoGame/MegaMan2'', except Meat Boy looks beat up by the time the camera pans up to him on the building's roof.
121	*** Chapter 6: ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'', with Meat Boy as Gengar and Dr. Fetus as Nidorino/Jigglypuff (and he chucks Bandage Girl as an attack).
122	*** Chapter 7: Again, ''Ghosts 'n Goblins'', with Dr. Fetus snatching Meat Boy away just like the Red Arremer takes Prin-Prin.
123	*** Chapter I (Xbox 360 only): ''VideoGame/BubbleBobble'', with Meat Boy and Bandage Girl floating in bubbles and similar "fantastic story" text to the NES version.
124	%%** Also: Hot Coffee. Yes, really.
125	%%** There are shout outs to other indie games too (''VideoGame/{{Canabalt}}'', for example).
126	** ''Super Meat Boy Forever'' continues the trend:
127	*** Chipper Grove: Meat Boy and family's picnic is an homage to the intro to ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'', with Dr. Fetus standing in with Bowser, and even a large "HELP!" speech bubble.
128	*** The Clinic: ''VideoGame/RocketKnightAdventures'', complete with Dr. Fetus taking the place of Emperor Devligus Devotindos.
129	*** Tetanusville: ''VideoGame/ContraIIITheAlienWars'', with the shot of a town getting blown up, and almost identical dialogue.
130	*** The Lab: Spoofs the title screen of ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'', with Meat Boy in a glass chamber and similar text.
131	*** The Other Side: ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'', with Meat Boy and Bandage Girl ending up in an area parodying the End of Time, complete with soundalike music and Brownie standing in for the old man.
132	*** [=0xdeadbeef=]: The Kirby drawing intro from ''VideoGame/KirbysAdventure'' is repeatedly spoofed with the different characters, complete with Game Boy starting sound.
133	* {{Slapstick}}: [[BigBad Dr. Fetus's]] abuse of [[LoveInterest Bandage Girl]] is always played for laughs, except to [[TheHero Meat Boy]]. But just think, if the genders were reversed, it would be treated... exactly the same, actually.
134	* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros''. Both are platform games that take place in a colorful world and star a red protagonist trying to save his pink girlfriend from his arch-nemesis, although Meat Boy is much DarkerAndEdgier and more NintendoHard than the kid-friendly Mario games.
135	* StylisticSuck: Joke Super Meat Boy for iPhone.
136	* TemporaryPlatform: Both the "crumbles on touch" and "timed" varieties appear.
137	* TertiarySexualCharacteristics: Bandage Girl has a flower.
138	* ThisIsGonnaSuck: Meat Boy's reaction to the salt factory, in both games.
139	* ToothyIssue: Meat Boy has a very distinctive missing tooth.
140	* {{Troll}}: In-series example, as in [[http://twitter.com/drfetus Dr. Fetus' Twitter account]].
141	* UnexplainedRecovery: At the end of each game, [[spoiler:Dr. Fetus dies or breaks his suit... and in the next game (or the epilogue, in ''Forever''[='=]s case), he's just fine again.]]
142	* VillainTeleportation: Which is used to snatch Bandage Girl (most of the time).
143	* WallJump: One of your main techniques to victory.
144	* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: Each time you get to Bandage Girl in the end of the level, she gets re-captured by the BigBad.
145	[[/folder]]
146
147	[[folder:''Super Meat Boy'']]
148	* AfterTheEnd: Chapter 5 takes place in [[spoiler:the Rapture, after a nuke is set off and kills all life.]]
149	* AbandonedHospital: Chapter 2, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin aptly]] named the Hospital.
150	* AdorableAbomination: C.H.A.D.
151	* AdvancingBossOfDoom: Lil' Slugger.
152	* AdvancingWallOfDoom: At least a few times per world. They take the place of the autoscrolling levels in the original game. The "wall" may consist of saws, blood, salt, lava, maggots, or, in one of The Cotton Alley's stages, Pepto (It's a palette swap of the lava).
153	** C.H.A.D. and Brownie have a rising death floor as hazards in their stages.
154	* AlienSky: Cotton Alley has a bright pink sky, and some Dark World levels can have the sky an unconventional color.
155	* AmericanKirbyIsHardcore: The new cover art for the PC release is a ShoutOut to over-the-top cover arts of video games from TheNineties.
156	** To top it off, the winner of the "Make a Russian Meat Boy cover so I don't have to" contest based [[http://supermeatboy.com/tag/russia/ their entry]] on a piece of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII [[http://www.allworldwars.com/image/011/Poster054.jpg propoganda]].
157	* AnthropomorphicFood: Tofu Boy, who is made of, well, tofu. There's also one April Fools Day prank Team Meat did that had Meat Boy be replaced by a Potato Boy. Averted with Meat Boy, who, [[NonIndicativeName despite what his name suggests]], is actually a skinless person.
158	* AntiFrustrationFeature: Part of the core of the game:
159	** The respawn after death literally take less than a second and is automatic.
160	** The levels themselves are short, ranging from 15 seconds to 90 seconds, so in the quite likely event you die, you don't have to go through too much again.
161	** For each main chapter, you only need to clear 17 of the 20 Light World levels to unlock the chapter's boss. This is averted in the The End's Light World, where all 5 levels must be beaten to access the FinalBoss, but for its Dark World counterpart, you need to beat 85 of the 105 total Dark World levels, meaning you can skip that chapter's levels and go straight to the boss.
162	** Various little side-quests when you get too frustrated with the main game, like beating past levels in record time, collecting bandages to unlock new playable characters, or playing through retro-styled "warp zones".
163	* AscendedExtra: According to WordOfGod, [[http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/9/2009/10/500x_sm3.jpg this picture]] is Tofu Boy's first appearance. Since it predates the whole PETA debacle, [[{{Flanderization}} Tofu Boy wasn't intended to be a total wimp when that was drawn.]]
164	* AlasPoorVillain: InUniverse example. When Dr. Fetus is finally defeated, [[spoiler:Meat Boy briefly feels sorry for him, but he quickly changes his mind]].
165	* AlternateRealityGame: The Steam version is one of the 13 indie games that form the bulk of the material of Creator/{{Valve\|Software}}'s "[[http://valvearg.com/wiki/Valve_ARG_Wiki PotatoFoolsDay]]" ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}'' ARG.
166	* AndIMustScream: Tofu Boy, all the time.
167	* AnimateInanimateObject: The ground in the chapter select screens has a face that changes based on the chapter.
168	* ArtShift: When going to the retro levels.
169	* AwesomeButImpractical: Steve and [[spoiler:Meat Ninja]], whom cannot be used to complete levels legitimately or earn achievements.
170	* BaitAndSwitchBoss: Brownie, who was supposed to attack you first, but when Dr. Fetus starts flooding the room with salt, you both start racing to escape it.
171	* BeforeAndAfterPictures: Credits has that one, although not in picture form.
172	* {{Bifauxnen}}: Jill.
173	* BigBoosHaunt: The Hospital.
174	* BigCreepyCrawlies: Grubs in Chapter 5. Some are crawling along the surfaces while others have gathered in large piles. [[SandWorm The Larries]] are even bigger.
175	* BlackComedy
176	* BlobMonster: Some of the enemies. From unlockable characters, Gish.
177	** {{Giant Mook}}/{{King Mook}}: C.H.A.D.
178	* BonusFeatureFailure: [[spoiler:Meat Ninja]] can "teleport" in the sense that he becomes briefly invincible if you press Shift right before moving into a hazard. If the hazard isn't small enough to get out of before his invincibility wears off, then you just die. And good luck with timing it right, anyways.
179	* BoringButPractical: Meat Boy can only run and jump off a surface, while other characters have special abilities such as mid-air jumps, gliding, and sticking to walls. However, he is very fast and has excellent air control (especially when it comes to wall jumps), making him a valid choice for virtually any level.
180	* BossSubtitles: [[VideoGame/BitTrip Commander Video]], [[VideoGame/MightyJillOff Jill]], [[VideoGame/{{Jumper}} Ogmo]], {{VideoGame/Flywrench}}, and [[VideoGame/IWannaBeTheGuy The Kid]] all get these. (Flywrench does it a bit differently -- instead of a freezeframe and displaying his name and the game he's from, it's simply a black screen saying "Launch Flywrench.exe?")
181	* BraggingRightsReward: The final Dark World level is appropriately named 'Brag Rights'.
182	** [[spoiler:Meat Ninja, who has the ability to teleport away from danger,]] is unlocked by getting 100% in the game. Of course, doing so proves that you don't exactly need it in the first place.
183	* BrutalBonusLevel: Some of the bonus levels.
184	** The warp zone that unlocks The Kid being one of the most brutal set of levels ever put in a game. But what were you expecting from a Super Meat Boy / VideoGame/IWannaBeTheGuy crossover?
185	** Beating the game unlocks an optional 7th chapter, Cotton Alley, which goes above and beyond in terms of difficulty.
186	* BulletTime: [=CommanderVideo=] in his introduction video.
187	* TheCameo: Some non-playable characters make cameo appearances, like Darwinian from ''VideoGame/{{Darwinia}}'' or the boy from ''VideoGame/{{Limbo\|2010}}''.
188	* CerebusSyndrome: The game becomes clearly darker after the end of Chapter 4. [[spoiler: The world gets nuked by Dr.Fetus]], and Chapter 5 takes place in a destroyed and ruined city that filled with zombified Meat Boys and huge maggots. The music becomes more dramatic too.
189	** However, [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] in Chapter 7, [[spoiler: The Cotton Alley. Levels in this chapter have a pink and white theme, and an extremely upbeat and happy theme.]]
190	* ChainsawGood: The first boss has it, along with regular buzzsaws of doom.
191	* CharacterSelectForcing: Boss levels, warp zones, "The End", and the Minus World levels disable characters other than Meat Boy. Likewise, you can only use Bandage Girl in Cotton Alley.
192	* CheatCode: Required to play as Brownie, a [[VideoGame/WorldOfGoo Goo Ball]] (Steam version only), [[VideoGame/{{Braid}} Tim]], and Tofu Boy.
193	* CherryTapping: Tofu Boy is rather slow, can't jump very high or very far, has trouble climbing up walls and has no special ability whatsoever, which makes most levels effectively unbeatable with him. That didn't stop [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiduvDfGbE4 some people]] from speedrunning the levels he ''can'' (barely) finish.
194	* ChickenWalker: Lil' Slugger.
195	* ChivalrousPervert: Jill, according to her description.
196	* ContextSensitiveButton: Dr. Fetus' single-buttoned HandyRemoteControl is this, as it can do anything from summon a boss monster to turn on machinery to [[spoiler:throw at Meat Boy to send him off a cliff.]]
197	* CranialEruption: The 4th boss gets two of these during the fight. Since he's made out of dead meat, they're rather blocky.
198	* CrapsackWorld / CrapsaccharineWorld: If you aren't dead, you're about to be, and everything kinda sucks while you're alive anyway. A squirrel can witness his whole family die, only to be killed by a random saw blade. [[spoiler:He gets better, but only in time to be killed by a nuclear explosion to get a bit better again during the ending.]] Heck, even Dr. Fetus is only evil because [[FreudianExcuse everyone hates him]]! Also, most of the locations Meat Boy visits seem to be in ruins.
199	* CreatorCameo: Complete one of the minus worlds and you see the creators of the game make an appearance.
200	* CrossReferencedTitles: Some levels in the Dark World have names referencing their counterparts in the Light World. For example, 1-13 is titled "Tommy's Cabin", while 1-13x is named "Tommy's Condo".
201	* CrutchCharacter: Commander Video, sort of. His float makes it easy to clear levels and get bandages in the first two chapters, but he's very slow and his jump is one of the lowest in the game. Many levels later on are impossible to clear with him due to his flaws. [[[ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman However, it's possible to get some bandages easier in later levels.]]
202	* CreditsMedley: The 2010 soundtrack uses a medley of the main menu theme and the light world themes for Chapters 1-5.
203	* DarkWorld: Each of the main levels except the boss battles [[spoiler:(not including Chapter 6's boss)]] has a dark world counterpart. You don't know why the other ones are called light worlds until you play these.
204	* DeadlyDodging: A few times it has to be done. For an example, to allow turrets open up the passages. The fifth boss fight requires you to lure the boss to his death.
205	* DeadlyRotaryFan: Several levels have giant fans that can propel you through the air. Get too close to the blades, though, and SPLORCH!
206	* DeathCourse: Most levels are filled with deadly obstacles like sawblades or sawblade launchers.
207	* DeathIsCheap: At the end of chapters 4 and 6, it is revealed that infinite lives aren't just a gameplay mechanic.
208	* DebugMode: Accessible by putting -devmode into the launch options. While in devmode, press F1 to access a primitive level editor.
209	* DeliberatelyMonochrome: Some of the levels (and the entire 6th chapter). Monochrome or dichrome levels are more frequent in DarkWorld.
210	* DisneyVillainDeath: [[spoiler:Subverted -- Dr. Fetus appears to have died after being defeated ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'' style in the final boss level, but then he pulls off a TakingYouWithMe by activating a self-destruct. After Meat Boy and Bandage Girl escape, Dr. Fetus reappears and hits Bandage Girl over the head repeatedly. Then it's DoubleSubverted -- He actually accomplishes nothing by hitting her, which he soon realizes and falls to the ground. Then he's stomped on. A lot.]]
211	* DistressedDude: For Cotton Alley, the roles of Meat Boy and Bandage Girl are switched - Meat Boy is the one who's captured, and Bandage Girl is the one saving him.
212	* DisturbedDoves: As an homage to ''VideoGame/{{Canabalt}}''.
213	* DittoFighter: Meat Boy clones in Chapter 5.
214	* {{Doppelganger}}: Meat Boy has ''four and counting''. And that's just playable characters. There's Brownie, who's a traditional Dark Reflection type doppelganger, Tofu Boy, pretender to the throne turned pathetic JokeCharacter and star of PETA's ill advised parody game, [[spoiler:Meat Ninja, Meat Boy as a FutureBadass from the year 20XX]], and most recently, Potato Boy, an April Fools joke and ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}'' tie in who's afraid of girls. Not to mention the fact every time Meat Boy dies, his former body lives on as a Meat Boy zombie as seen in Hell and Rapture, of which there are doubtlessly thousands. Then if that weren't enough, the Meat Boy zombies can merge together to form a colossal Meat Boy golem called "Little Horn", which serves as the game's fourth boss.
215	* DoubleJump: Some of the unlockable characters can do this, and one can even triple jump.
216	* DownloadableContent: [[http://supermeatboy.com/84/Super_Meat_World_/#b Super Meat World]] with 8 (!) new chapters. Available for free on Steam.
217	** In the Xbox 360 version, there's an extra chapter called "Teh Internets" (unlocked by collecting 20 bandages) that has 5 sets of 20 levels.
218	* EasterEgg: [[spoiler:Very rarely, upon completing a level with an A+, the beginning of the next level will be interrupted by [[https://youtu.be/MBELK7ZDB9E an image of Meat Ninja]], with a random message over his head and accompanied by a [[JumpScare slightly unnerving jingle]].]]
219	* EldritchAbomination: Black Maws, black crocodile-like demons located in the Hell chapter that emerge from portals, [[HomingProjectile shooting at Meat Boy]] and breaking into nine smaller heads.
220	* TheEndOrIsIt: [[spoiler:The complete ending shows that Bandage Girl is pregnant with an evil fetus.]] Dun dun duuuuuun!
221	* EnergyWeapon: Present as an obstacle in the Hospital.
222	* EverythingsBetterWithRainbows: If, for some reason, you don't like playing as Meat Boy and dripping a trail of blood everywhere, one of the first characters you can unlock is Commander Video from the BIT.TRIP series, who has an 8-bit rainbow trail.
223	* EvilKnockoff: Brownie, who is designed to look like Meat Boy, but instead of meat is made of Dr. Fetus' [[ToiletHumor poop]]. The "evil" bit is subverted in that he doesn't actually try to kill Meat Boy, [[spoiler:and he even pulls a HeroicSacrifice for Meat Boy and Bandage Girl in the ending.]]
224	* EvilOverlooker: [[http://supermeatboy.com/67/Box_art_/#The box art]] features Dr. Fetus as one.
225	* EyeBeams: These are fired by...
226	* FacelessEye: ...that kind of turret.
227	* FloatingContinent: The 6th and final chapter, "The End", takes place on one.
228	* FromBadToWorse: Chapter 5. [[spoiler:Going to Hell was already bad enough, now the world has been wiped out and you end up in the Rapture.]]
229	* FusionDance: Little Horn is created from combined dead Meat Boy corpses.
230	* FutureBadass: [[spoiler:Meat Ninja.]]
231	* GaiasLament: The ultimate fate of Meat Boy's home after [[spoiler:a nuclear explosion is set off in the closing cutscene of the Hell chapter]]. Fortunately, it seems to have grown back by the events of ''Super Meat Boy Forever''.
232	* GameBreakingBug / GoodBadBugs:
233	** In one of the early levels, it's possible to get bandages over and over, resulting an incorrect percentage on the game completion. It also had a save file crash problem when it came out. The bugfix is still awaiting approval.
234	** When the PC port came out, many players also had some serious bugs ranging from bosses not appearing to not being able to start the game at all. The development team started to fiercely fix the glitches so it got 9 batches of bug fixes within 9 days.
235	** Unfortunately, the use of variable framerate physics makes the game so glitchy that it is unplayable on performance-challenged computers.
236	* GlowingEyesOfDoom: Little Horn.
237	* GreenBoyColor: One secret level of takes place in a sepia Game Boy Color, with the signature Game Boy "ting!" before the level.
238	* HandyRemoteControl: Dr. Fetus uses this quite frequently which does different things. [[spoiler: Also parodied in one cutscene where Dr. Fetus pretends to be about to press it, only to throw it at Meat Boy.]]
239	* AHellOfATime: [[spoiler:The Meat Boys in Hell during the credits.]]
240	* HehHehYouSaidX: The game's standard crash message is "The game has crashed. A mini-dump (heh heh) has been sent to the developers."
241	* HomingProjectile: A few of the turrets fire these. Although their homing abilities aren't the best, they make up for it with projectile speed.
242	** Also, Dr. Fetus' bazooka. While its projectiles are slower and smaller, their homing abilities are much better.
243	* HundredPercentCompletion: Clearing every level and collecting all bandages nets the player the "Golden God" achievement.
244	** LastLousyPoint[=/=]GuideDangIt: Minus worlds add to your completion percentage in-game, but for achievement purposes do not count. Thus, you can have 105% and still not qualify.
245	* InconvenientlyPlacedConveyorBelt
246	* InterfaceSpoiler: Shows the number of chapters in the game. There is an [[BrutalBonusLevel extra chapter]] indeed after beating the first main 5 chapters + epilogue chapter.
247	* InTheEndYouAreOnYourOwn: In the final chapter, named [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The End]], only Meat Boy is playable.
248	* IrisOut: Heart-shaped variation during the ending.
249	* {{Irony}}: The Dark World to Cotton Alley has a brighter color scheme than its Light World.
250	* KickTheDog: [[spoiler: Meat Boy in the ending scene of Chapter 2.]]
251	* LargeHamAnnouncer: The announcer.
252	** [[TitleScream SUUUPERRR MEAT BOY!]]
253	** [[CheatCode POOSH DA BUTTONS!]]
254	** [[WarpZone WAAAARP ZOOOOOOOOONE!]]
255	* LevelInReverse: A common theme among Dark World levels is to make you traverse the Light World counterpart backwards. With perhaps some extra buzzsaws thrown in.
256	* LightIsNotGood: Cotton Alley has a pink and white color scheme, and is the hardest chapter in the game.
257	* LongSongShortScene:
258	** [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] with the 2010 Chapter 6 menu theme. The loop lasts around twenty-three seconds, while other menu loops only last around sixteen seconds... and Chapter 6 is the shortest chapter in the whole game, with only five normal levels per light/dark side and no warp zones.
259	** The 2015 menu themes for chapters 1 through 6 apply as well. The level menus are fairly quick to navigate, and it usually takes less than ten seconds to decide what level to play once you're on the menu, yet the only theme that lasts under ''forty seconds'' is the Chapter 7 theme at thirteen seconds. You'll only hear the whole songs if you leave the game running in the background or if you're intentionally waiting it out to listen to them. If you like the music, though, it's worth the wait.
260	* TheManyDeathsOfYou: Amusingly lampshaded whenever you finish a level; the instant replay includes not only the attempt where you completed the level, but also your failed attempts. All of them. ''Simultaneously.'' So if you died a lot, you'll see ''huge swarm'' of meatboys getting massacred in various ways before ''just one of them'' finally reaches the goal.
261	* MarathonLevel: Chapter 6's final level, Omega is much longer than any other levels of this chapter.
262	* MeaninglessLives: Averted in the warp zones but played straight in the [[MinusWorld Minus Levels]]; since you only play one long stage at a time (as opposed to three in a warp zone), lives seem to serve no purpose other than to annoy the player with loading screens.
263	* MediumBlending: The creators wanted to give art shifts opposite of ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'' (where characters and everything else get [[GrossUpCloseUp extremely detailed in closeups]]) so in-game graphics, where everything is distant, are drawn more realistically, but menus and cutscenes are drawn in cartoon style. In-game characters, however, are drawn in a very pixellated style.
264	* MercyKill: In the end of World 2 cutscene, [[spoiler:Meat Boy does this to the shrunken C.H.A.D. after badly injuring it by accident.]]
265	* MinusWorld: Deliberately used. Bandage Girl starts glitching sometimes when you replay levels in a chapter where you've beaten the boss. Reaching her when she's in this state unlocks that chapter's Minus World.
266	* MoodDissonance: Cotton Alley. The background is pink (very bright in Dark World), a rabbit disco plays in the background, and the chapter contains some of the hardest levels in the game.
267	* MoodWhiplash: At the end of the first chapter.
268	* MultipleEndings: Two of them. One for Light World, and one for Dark World that expands upon the previous.
269	* NoIndoorVoice: The announcer. Find a warp portal and get ready to hear '''''WARRRRRRRRRP ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONE!'''''
270	* NonindicativeName:
271	** For bosses, Lil' Slugger and Little Horn.
272	** For song titles, there's Ballad of the Burning Squirrel, Betus Blues and Forest Funk, none of which actually belong to the said genre.
273	** Cotton Alley. [[HaveANiceDeath Enjoy your pink, colorful, cheery, sawblade-covered death.]]
274	* NotSoHarmlessVillain: At first, Dr. Fetus seems like a comical {{Jerkass}} villain whose worst crime is rather slapstick abuse of Bandage Girl. [[spoiler: Then, at the end of the first world, he burns down the forest the earlier levels took place in ForTheEvulz and chases Meat Boy down in a giant saw robot powered by the blood of innocent woodland creatures,]] and it gets ''worse'' from there.
275	* OhCrap: Meat Boy's reaction when he has a bazooka in his face.
276	* OminousFloatingCastle: "The End" takes place in a castle in the sky, most likely Dr. Fetus' lair.
277	* OminousLatinChanting: The theme of Dr. Fetus, the final boss. Fittingly, it is named [[Music/CarminaBurana Carmeaty Burana]].
278	* OurZombiesAreDifferent: Undead meat (which is the boss of Chapter 4) and regular ones in found in Chapter 5.
279	* ParasolParachute: Dr. Fetus uses one at the end of Chapter 2.
280	* PinkMeansFeminine: Bandage Girl, and [[spoiler: Cotton Alley, the bonus world you control her in.]]
281	* PlanetHeck: Hell, obviously.
282	* PortalNetwork: There are momentum-based portals in Hell.
283	* PurposelyOverpowered: [[InsistentTerminology Steve?]] from ''{{VideoGame/Minecraft}}'' can dig through walls and place blocks in midair to stand on, allowing him to [[SequenceBreaking completely skip most hazards]]. As such, you [[NoFairCheating cannot earn achievements while playing as him]]. Also counts as PopularityPower as ''{{VideoGame/Minecraft}}'' is one of the most popular indie games out there.
284	* RedOnesGoFaster: Level 4x-3 is an all red version of its Light World counterpart, featuring a faster lava hazard and the level title '[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Char]]'.
285	* RecycledSoundtrack: Ridiculon already made a replacement for Danny's "world intro" jingle in Ending 9 of [[VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth]], so that same replacement was used in the 2015 soundtrack.
286	* ReReleaseSoundtrack: Made for most console releases in 2015, and featuring Ridiculon (composer of ''[[VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth]]''[='=]s soundtrack), SCATTLE (composer of ''VideoGame/HotlineMiami''[='=]s soundtrack), and Laura Shigihara (composer of ''VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies''[='=]s soundtrack). This came about when Danny Baranowsky refused to extend the license Team Meat had on his soundtrack for future usage, and its presence inevitably caused a BrokenBase.
287	* {{Retraux}}: The warp zones and minus worlds feature four- and eight-bit graphics styles.
288	* RiseToTheChallenge: C.H.A.D., Brownie and several non-boss levels too.
289	* RoarBeforeBeating: Some bosses. Parodied in the 5th boss where 3 caterpillars roar at the same time in choir.
290	* SandWorm: The 5th boss.
291	* SchmuckBait: Meta-example. [[http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/708965/team-meat-responds-to-petas-super-meat-boy-parody-super-tofu-boy/ McMillen deliberately tried to get PETA upset at the game]], knowing PETA would get upset without knowing Meat Boy was not made of meat, just a boy without skin.
292	* ScreenShake: Present in sequence after the final boss and also in a few other levels like 1-19X.
293	* SecretCharacter: Brownie and Tofu Boy, who are completely hidden from the character select screen and require the player to input a button code. In the PC version of the game, Goo Ball and Tim also require a code, as they are replaced in the select screen by Headcrab and Naija respectively.
294	* SelfDestructMechanism: At the end of Chapter 6.
295	* SensoryAbuse: A patched glitch on the PC version caused the game to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKazbeelfaM automatically crank up the volume far higher than you can turn it normally.]]
296	* SentryGun: Rocket turrets and sawblade shooters being the most common.
297	* SequenceBreaking: A few levels have designs which can be exploited ([[GoodBadBugs some intentional, some not]].) Most of them can be found in the fifth world.
298	** In 3-11X, one of the harder Salt Factory stages, it's possible to jump between or above the advancing buzzsaws so you don't have to go all the way to the right to jump over saws.
299	** The Kid and Flywrench can become handy in some of the later chapter levels due to fact that in some levels, they can often skip the portions of the level entirely. Runman can also come in handy in some levels as he's much faster and can jump much farther than the other characters.
300	** In the final boss level the sawblades advancing in front of you can be jumped over for additional speed. Oddly, if you get to your destination before the blades in that level, you become mysteriously immune to them.
301	* SingleTear: Happens in the cutscene after beating the first boss.
302	* SmashToBlack: [[spoiler:Right before Brownie appears in the ending.]]
303	* SoundtrackDissonance: [[BrutalBonusLevel The Cotton Alley]] has the brightest, cheeriest music in the game, even in the DarkWorld. It is also home to ''the most fiendishly difficult levels in the entire game''. The 2015 soundtrack takes it a step further, making the songs more laid-back in tone and sounding more like a lighthearted tune from a kid's game.
304	* SpikesOfDoom: Although they're replaced by syringes, salt and so on in most of the levels, genuine ones appear in some of the warp zone levels. In the Hell and The End chapters, some very sharp spikes are encountered.
305	* StealthPun: A few.
306	** Our hero is a [[WordOfGod skinless boy]], who looks like a block of beef. Who frequently dies. [[spoiler: Dead meat.]]
307	** The character select screen is a ShoutOut to ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'', complete with the spotlight and curtains. The curtains are made of flesh as well. [[spoiler: Meat curtains.]]
308	** The main hazard of the Salt Factory is, of course, salt, which can kill Meat Boy like anything else. [[spoiler: It's basically rubbing salt in the wound.]]
309	** A common hazard is missile launchers that fire, well, [[ShapedLikeItself missiles]] that home in on Meat Boy. [[spoiler:They're meat seeking missiles!]]
310	* {{Sting}}: Enter chapter: Dun! Dun! DUNNN! It also happens during the good ending.
311	** It's similar to the sting used in the Dramatic Chipmunk video.
312	* StuckOnBandAidBrand: Bandaid Girl is renamed Bandage Girl because of this.
313	* SugarApocalypse
314	* TacticalSuicideBoss: Fourth boss.
315	* TakeThat: Super Tofu Boy is unlocked by typing 'petaphile' into the character select screen, to counter PETA's own TakeThat.
316	** It's also [[JokeCharacter practically impossible to complete the majority of levels with him]], since he can barely move or jump. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGW3uOaUu4Y You be the judge.]]
317	*** The best part? He controls almost exactly like he does in the [=PETA=] flash game. It's a TakeThat at the programmers too.
318	* TeleportSpam: [[spoiler:Meat Ninja's special ability, which is handy when dealing with projectiles and the like.]]
319	* TitleScream: '''''SUUUUUUPER MEAT BOY!'''''
320	* ToiletHumor: Brownie.
321	* TookALevelInBadass: [[spoiler:Bandage Girl after Dr. Fetus kidnaps Meat Boy.]]
322	* TrialAndErrorGameplay: Little Horn, the fourth boss. The good news is that he has a set pattern; the bad news is that none of his attacks are telegraphed, so you'll have to figure out that pattern by dying a lot.
323	* UnexplainedRecovery: Twice.
324	** [[spoiler:After falling from a building at the end of Chapter 3, Brownie shows up in the ending to save Meat Boy and Bandage Girl.]]
325	** In the WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue, [[spoiler:C.H.A.D appears with plastic surgery, even though Meat Boy apparently smothers him after Chapter 2.]]
326	* VentPhysics: The double-edged blades of the game.
327	* VideoGameLives: In some of the bonus stages.
328	* VisualPun: [[Music/BlackSabbath The Sabbath level is completely "Black".]]
329	* VorpalPillow: [[spoiler:Strongly implied Meat Boy does this to the shrunken C.H.A.D.]]
330	* [[WarpZone WAAAAAAAAAAAARP ZOOOOOOOOOOOOONE!]]
331	* WeakenedByTheLight: The fight against C.H.A.D. requires you to climb to the top of the level and open up the roof to let in the sun. When exposed to the sunlight, C.H.A.D. shrinks and becomes harmless.
332	* WeaksauceWeakness: Salt, because Meat Boy has no skin.
333	* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: [[spoiler: Dr. Fetus finally shoots Meat Boy three times with a rocket launcher in the last level. He respawns three times, just like he does whenever he get shot, cut, or otherwise killed.]]
334	* WhenItRainsItPours: During one of the DarkWorld levels in the 5th chapter. The stage itself is even called "Downpour".
335	* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: We get one of these during the credits. [[spoiler: One of the squirrels is in a wheelchair and seriously injured, C.H.A.D. got plastic surgery and became a model, Brownie survived only to get crushed by a falling toilet, all the dead Meat Boys are partying in Hell, some baby Larries emerge from the dead ones, Bandage Girl is pregnant, and Dr. Fetus has regenerated.]]
336	* WinkDing: Happens at the good ending. Although it's 8-bit.
337	* WouldHitAGirl: Dr. Fetus. Over and over and over.... {{Shoryuken}}, MegatonPunch, SpamAttack, and SpinningPiledriver are all acceptable to him.
338	** To drive this home even further, in Cotton Alley, where you play as Bandage Girl and you have to save Meat Boy, whenever Dr. Fetus shows up to disrupt your reunion, he ''never beats Meat Boy up before abducting him.''
339	%% * WorldOfSymbolism: According to WordOfGod, the story is about an unplanned pregnancy that Edmund [=McMillen=]'s wife, Danielle, went through, with Edmund being represented with Meat Boy and Danielle represented by Bandage Girl. Since Edmund left Team Meat, [[ArmedWithCanon this is mostly being covered up]], and the story is presented as more literal for ''Super Meat Boy Forever''.
340	%% from some reddit interview way back when. can't find it right now and this does not look good here with no sources
341	[[/folder]]
342
343	[[folder:''Super Meat Boy Forever'']]
344	* {{Abandoned Hospital}}/{{Big Boos Haunt}}: The Clinic, which seems to borrow a lot from The Hospital, although this time it's supposed to be an abandoned insane asylum.
345	* AcidTripDimension: [[spoiler:The Other Side]].
346	* AirborneMook: As you now have an [[DashAttack air dash]], you will encounter flying enemies in the game.
347	* AllTheWorldsAreAStage: 0xDEADBEEF's five levels each corresponds to a previous world, while the sixth level is a glitchy mess that combines all previous worlds into one level.
348	* AntiClimax: The cutscenes devote massive amounts of time to the woodland creatures taking over Big Slugger and preparing it for a revenge scheme. [[spoiler:As soon as they actually catch up to Dr. Fetus, he pulls out a remote and activates its self-destruct.]]
349	* ArtEvolution: The characters are a lot cuter (as a result of the animation upgrade), and Bandage Girl now has bandages across her body. Dr. Fetus also gets an updated design himself, gaining FloatingLimbs and a more DastardlyWhiplash-esque look, with [[BigOlEyebrows bushy eyebrows]] and a hunched back.
350	* ArtShift:
351	** While its predecessor had [[StylisticSuck choppy]] flash animation for its cutscenes and a [[{{Retraux}} retro style]] for its gameplay, this game instead has more fluid animation and a more colorful and cartoony art style in both the cutscenes and gameplay, not unlike something you would see from MediaNotes/TheMillenniumAgeOfAnimation or something like ''VideoGame/AngryBirds''.
352	** ''Rival Rush'' has a variety of artstyles in its cards due to being illustrated by several different artists.
353	* ArtstyleDissonance: The animation style and character designs are noticeably cutesier than the previous games making it come across as LighterAndSofter, however the game still has its share of scary and violent moments and NintendoHard levels.
354	* BagOfKidnapping: Dr. Fetus puts Nugget in one of these as he kidnaps her.
355	* BattleCouple: Meat Boy and Bandage Girl become this as they set out on a quest to save their baby. [[spoiler:Best exemplified by the final character, "Relationship Goals", which is both of them fighting as one.]]
356	* BigBad: Dr. Fetus once again, but instead of kidnapping Bandage Girl, he kidnaps Meat Boy and Bandage Girl's daughter, Nugget.
357	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Meat Boy and Bandage Girl get Nugget back into their hands, the deaths of their new friends are undone through time travel, and they all help restore Chipper Grove to its original glory. But Nugget's attempt at reforming Dr. Fetus fails due to her parents punching him out at the wrong time, and although he's still grateful for her generosity, he remains an enemy to Meat Boy and is already working on his next scheme.]]
358	* {{Bowdlerize}}: The Nintendo version of the game's trailer censored Dr. Fetus' iconic middle finger, making him simply just raise his fist up.
359	** An ad for ''Super Meat Boy Forever'' was also rejected from Website/{{Facebook}} for showing Meat Boy and Bandage Girl's visible butts, [[https://nintendosoup.com/facebook-rejects-super-meat-boy-forever-ad-for-being-sexually-explicit/ to which Team Meat humorously responded.]]
360	* BreakingTheFourthWall: Dr. Fetus [[FlippingTheBird flips off]] the narrator in the opening cutscene.
361	* CameraAbuse: Meat Boy flies and slams into the screen as a transition.
362	* DashAttack: One of the new features in the game is that you can now perform a dashing punch in the air. This is a crucial ability as it allows you to attack AirborneMooks and glide over large gaps.
363	* DevelopersForesight: The chunks are kept self-contained as much as possible. In the rare case that you get a key and move to the next chunk without having to use it (with some sort of skip or exploit), it actually falls over and fades away.
364	* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: [[spoiler: Literally during the Alpha Omega boss]].
365	* DissonantSerenity: Nugget never has any clue what's going on, nor any reason to feel remotely alarmed, providing quite the contrast to Dr. Fetus throwing her around and acting pissed all the time. It takes [[spoiler:''the destruction of time itself'']] for her to begin crying.
366	* EndlessRunningGame: Though without the "endless" part. While the levels are finite, Meat Boy is always running unlike in the previous game.
367	* EvilLaugh: Dr. Fetus does this quite a bit in the game.
368	* {{The Face Of The Sun}}/{{Weird Sun}}: Tetanus Tower has an angry sun akin to ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3''.
369	* {{Foil}}: Nugget and Dr. Fetus serve as this to each other. Nugget represents the happiness and innocence of a baby, while Dr. Fetus represents hatred and evil all while harnessing the appearance of [[SubvertedInnocence a fetus]]. Their drastic personalities make their interactions all the more interesting. Tommy Refenes put it best on Discord:
370	--> '''Tommy''': "Nugget is complete and total joy...Dr. Fetus is complete and total hate. Unstoppable force, immovable object. It's fun to write."
371	* FreezeFrameBonus: The first glitched frame after Bandage Girl's scene in the [[spoiler:0xDEADBEEF opening]] cutscene (one of the only two glitch frames in that cutscene with pink in it) has [[spoiler:the trans flag pattern stretched across the screen underneath her]].
372	* FunnyBackgroundEvent: As you're fighting the climactic Burly Brawl in Dr. Fetus's lab, against [[spoiler:an entire swarm of clones of Dr. Fetus]], Nugget can be seen happily watching videos on her tablet and drinking grape soda.
373	* GiantHandsOfDoom: [[spoiler:The FinalBoss sees you battling a gigantic cosmic entity...or rather, its hands.]]
374	* GreenHillZone: Initially a literal example. The first chapter used to be titled "Green Hills", although it was changed to "Chipper Grove" in the finalized version.
375	* HeroicSacrifice: Almost. [[spoiler:Bandage Girl and Meat Boy struggle to lift up a giant rock trying to save Nugget, and Bandage Girl tells Nugget to go before it crushes her too. Fortunately, [[BigDamnHeroes Nugget]] manages to save the day at the last minute, sparing the couple’s lives.]]
376	* HumongousMecha: The first boss is a giant chainsaw mecha which is essentially an upgrade of Lil' Slugger called Big Slugger, though instead of simply running from it, Meat Boy fights it in this game. [[spoiler:Big Slugger is later used by the vengeful Chipper Grove critters, and powered by the Manipulator to use against Dr. Fetus, [[AntiClimax but he sets it to self-destruct before they can attack him.]]]]
377	* InventionalWisdom: Why does Dr. Fetus have [[spoiler:a button that undoes his mortal form]] right next to him in his lair?
378	* JungleJapes: Chipper Grove has shades of this. At one point in the stage, the background is a deep green and is full of towering trees and tangles of large vines.
379	* LemonyNarrator: The narrator of the intro cutscene, to an extent, from claiming Dr. Fetus isn't a real doctor to his SuddenlyShouting moment below.
380	* {{Mama Bear}}/{{Papa Wolf}}: Meat Boy and Bandage Girl go through great lengths to rescue their baby from the hands of Dr. Fetus. Also unlike the last game, instead of an ActionSurvivor they both TookALevelInBadass and can fight and kill enemies on their path to save Nugget.
381	* MindScrew: The minute that button on [[spoiler:Dr. Fetus's throne]] is pushed, things get ''weird''; [[spoiler:a TimeCrash occurs, the Earth is enveloped in some giant glowy thing, Meat Boy and Bandage Girl become elderly versions of themselves, and Dr. Fetus... ''vanishes into nothingness''. (He tries to take physical form again when you complete each level, but always ends up failing.)]]
382	* NiceMeanAndInBetween: The main characters all seem to have this dynamic. Nugget is an [[ChildrenAreInnocent innocent]] and [[CheerfulChild cheerful]] baby who serves as the Nice and [[BigBad Dr. Fetus]] obviously serves as the Mean. Whether you decide to play as Meat Boy or Bandage Girl, both of them will serve as the In-Between, as while still good guys, they are still a MamaBear and PapaWolf duo [[GoodIsNotSoft who are no pushovers when it comes to reaching their baby]].
383	* OminousLatinChanting: Continuing the trend from “Carmeaty Burena” and “Meatal Acropolis”, the soundtrack during the fight against [[spoiler: Alpha Omega]], “Wurst-Case Scenario”, has a prominent usage of this.
384	* OneWingedAngel: [[spoiler:Dr. Fetus becomes a cosmic storm called Alpha Omega with a spiral galaxy for a monocle and hypergiant for an eye due to trying to reform in the last world, with it serving as the final boss of the game.]]
385	* OptionalBoss: The bosses of the original ''Super Meat Boy'' all return as special Warp Zone stages, and each one requires mechanics that are, at the very least, mildly evocative of what was happening in their original fights.
386	** Lil Slugger still has a timer for how long you can dilly dally, but rather than being an AdvancingWallOfDoom, is instead the target of a minigame similar to the ''Street Fighter'' bonus stages where you break a car as fast as you can. Dr. Fetus then hops in and tweets about how some teenagers messed up his ride. (Or, if you're playing as him, ''claims'' that some teenagers did for the insurance money.)
387	** [=C.H.A.D.=] is still fought by ducking and weaving around him to hit him three times, but instead, you do so in the style of a typical ''Punch-Out'' boxing match to knock him out. Dr. Fetus attempts to cheat by counting in half-measures to give [=C.H.A.D.=] a chance to get up, but you end up winning by a Technical Knockout.
388	** Brownie is still a race, but instead of being a race between the two of you to escape a rising hazard, it's more like an obstacle course run between old FriendlyRivals where the only motivator ''is'' beating Brownie to the end.
389	** Little Horn still menaces you from the background while you dodge him, but instead of waiting until he wears himself down, you're navigating an ''F-Zero'' style race track littered with flaming Meat Boy corpses.
390	** The Larries require you to make them smash their head into environmental hazards, but is instead done as a send-up to ''Mortal Kombat'', where you need to work up strength to break a given material and force them to do it before they're ready. The final material is of course, a sawblade.
391	** Even Dr. Fetus qualifies for this trope when he appears in a Warp Zone. In his boss fight, he fired at Meat Boy with a bazooka as they ran through a maze. However, this time, you’re playing as Bandage Girl, and the fight plays out like a ''Mega Man'' boss battle- Metal Man's, to be specific (complete with Dr. Fetus throwing sawblades and a conveyor belt).
392	* {{Retcon}}:
393	** In ''Super Meat Boy'', Meat Ninja is Meat Boy with a black suit and an eyepatch. [[spoiler:In ''Forever'', he's Meat Boy with gray eyebrows and a beard. The eyepatch is moved to Bandage Girl's counterpart, Bandage Ripper.]]
394	** A somewhat blatant example: [[spoiler: the ending to Super Meat Boy shows Bandage Girl to be pregnant with Dr. Fetus]], but that cliffhanger was dropped in favor of Bandage Girl giving birth to Nugget. Edmund even stated himself that the game was going to have an entirely different beginning before leaving the team.
395	* {{Revenge}}: In the aftermath of the first boss fight against Big Slugger in Chipper Grove, the critters, lead by a squirrel without an arm and who looks like Solid Snake, use Big Slugger and Manipulator to get payback for destroying their forest. [[spoiler:While they fail due to Dr. Fetus having installed a self-destruct mechanism, the squirrel barely gets one over him by pressing a button on his throne ''after'' dying, which causes a TimeCrash. When everything is restored, the critters see the defeated Dr. Fetus and are satisfied with this, and walk away.]]
396	* SarcasticClapping: Dr. Fetus does this for a good few seconds when confronted by Meat Boy and Bandage Girl in his lab.
397	* SequelEscalation: In Chapter 5 of ''Super Meat Boy'', Dr. Fetus nukes the planet. [[spoiler:In Chapter 5 of ''Super Meat Boy Forever'', Dr. Fetus inadvertently allows Solid Squirrel to ''mangle the fabric of time...'' and unlike the predecessor, there's no StatusQuoIsGod - nothing is ever shown getting better in the doomed timeline.]]
398	* SequelHook: [[spoiler: There’s an after-credits scene that shows Dr. Fetus has returned to his villainous ways, creating clones of Meat Boy and likely planning his revenge, with a title screen at the very end saying “Dr. Fetus will return”]].
399	* ShiftingSandLand: Tetanusville.
400	* ShovelStrike: Dr. Fetus does this to Meat Boy and Bandage Girl in the opening cutscene, just before kidnapping Nugget.
401	* SlideAttack: In addition to punching enemies, you can also do this.
402	* SoftGlass: Meat Boy can punch through glass and end up unscathed, despite his MadeOfPlasticine defense.
403	* SweatDrop: In the mobile trailer, a visible sweat drop appears on Meat Boy's temple (with another appearing on his forehead) when he realizes Dr. Fetus is [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext going to force him into his phone]]. Also, two visible sweat drops appear near Dr. Fetus' temple while staring in horror at the result of this.
404	* SuddenlyShouting: In the opening cutscene: "One day, while our heroes were enjoying life... [[LargeHamAnnouncer DOCTOR FETUS ATTACKED THEM!]] AND KIDNAPPED NUGGET!" [[SoundtrackDissonance The serene music is still playing as this happens.]]
405	* TabletopGame: ''Super Meat Boy Forever'' also has a tie-in card game, called ''Super Meat Boy: Rival Rush''.
406	* TookALevelInBadass:
407	** Meat Boy himself. Although he was already badass to begin with, he is even more of a {{Determinator}} in this game, continuously running without stopping, and even gaining the ability to punch enemies. Justified as it's his ''kid'' who gets kidnapped this time around.
408	** Bandage Girl also gets a larger role in this game, accompanying Meat Boy on the journey.
409	** [[spoiler: Tofu Boy]], of all people, managed to become as fast as the rest of the cast. He still isn't fully capable, however, as he will occasionally stop to catch his breath regardless of the player's input.
410	* UnexpectedGameplayChange: The [[spoiler:warp zone]] minigames vary drastically from standard gameplay. Tetanusville, for example, has [[spoiler:a VideoGame/PunchOut esque fight against C.H.A.D.]].
411	[[/folder]]
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Context VideoGame / MeatBoy