The transition of beloved 2D video games to 3D may be hit-and-miss. Famously, Mario revolutionised 3D platforming with Tremendous Mario 64, whereas Sonic’s high-speed floundered when having to work with one other dimension. So with regards to indie sensation Tremendous Meat Boy, famed for being a tough-as-nails side-scrolling twitch platformer, you may suppose that it could not work with out dropping the essence of what makes it a Meat Boy recreation.
Nonetheless, Tremendous Meat Boy 3D was one of many shock bulletins from this yr’s Xbox Summer season Showcase. Not like Moonlighter 2, whose developer had developed from 2D to 3D, this new recreation is being dealt with by Sluggerfly, an indie staff that is already been making 3D platformers with Unreal Engine for over a decade, with Tremendous Meat Boy 3D being its fourth. Given the studio’s final recreation, Hell Pie featured macabre visuals and purposely edgy unhealthy style, it looks like a great match, however in observe, it additionally offered fully new challenges.
“Our writer had been speaking to [Meat Boy co-creator] Tommy Refenes for some time, and so they approached us with making a 3D prototype, simply to search out out if it even works,” Sluggeryfly co-founder and artwork director Dominik Plassmann tells me. “We had six months to create a prototype, so we may check all these completely different approaches and see if it even works.”
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(Picture credit score: Staff Meat / Sluggerfly)
The Tremendous Mario 3D World affect
One prototype had really been extra of a 3D open world that may have had extra of a collectathon construction, however would even have areas that lock the digicam to a 2D perspective. Finally, nonetheless, the staff landed on a hard and fast 3D digicam system that takes inspiration from Tremendous Mario 3D World.
“It helped us when it comes to degree design and for the general precision of the sport as a result of most components within the ranges are inbuilt outlined angles, both 45-degree angles or 90-degree angles,” co-founder and degree design lead Christian Patorra explains.
Including: “It is simpler for the participant to learn the extent, and we additionally added an 8-directional motion that is enabled at first, however the participant is allowed to disable it. It helps to maintain the participant on observe on these particular angles since you are on rails transferring on them.”
(Picture credit score: Staff Meat / Sluggerfly)
Tremendous Meat Boy 3D is being developed with Unreal Engine 5, although do not count on the sport to dazzle with the engine’s instruments like Nanite, though the procedural technology (PCG) software has helped unfold meshes for backgrounds. Finally, the purpose has been to retain as a lot of the spirit of the unique Meat Boy video games as potential, not simply the hardcore twitch-platforming, together with Meat Boy’s skill to wall-jump but additionally be readable with clear and easy visuals, or his signature blood trails that additionally assist gamers keep in mind the paths they beforehand took and what to keep away from.
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“The primary recreation had a brilliant iconic stylized look, however we additionally need to modernise it a bit, so we do have numerous visible element in some areas of the sport,” Plassman explains. “[With a fixed angle] it helps once you solely need to design the extent from that one perspective, however it additionally poses challenges, as a result of you may simply create visibility issues, as a result of you need to hold the foreground clear. You need to watch out with the angles in order that the character is seen on a regular basis.”
(Picture credit score: Staff Meat / Sluggerfly)
Embracing a brand new dimension
3D nonetheless presents new alternatives to adapt Meat Boy staples. For example, the noticed blades are one of many iconic traps of the unique recreation, however Plassman notes that you would merely side-step these in 3D. “We’ve meat grinders, principally the form of a noticed blade however a protracted cylinder you could stretch over a protracted a part of the extent.”
Gameplay-wise, the additional dimension additionally provides Meat Boy new skills like having the ability to wall-run, in addition to a ground-slam, a useful method for stopping your self at a exact level within the air. However Patorra provides additionally they wished to take inspiration from older video games too, even the extra divisive Tremendous Meat Boy Without end. “Without end launched new strikes like sprint, and that is tremendous useful for us in 3D as a result of it is this horizontal transfer that you should utilize to exactly sprint by way of the 3D house to sure areas, so we copied that.”
One different intriguing element from the announcement trailer additionally confirmed a number of Meat Boys working round on a degree, which made me consider the Cherry power-up in Tremendous Mario 3D World. Plassman clarifies that it is not in reality a power-up however a cool new replay characteristic carried out for Tremendous Meat Boy 3D.
He says, “If you full the extent, you see your whole tries on the similar time, so you may have 20-30 Meat Boys working round, and this was all of your playthroughs of the extent in replay on the similar time,” he concludes. “We wished to maintain this characteristic in there. It is one of many important options that the sport needed to have.”
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(Picture credit score: Staff Meat)(Picture credit score: Staff Meat)(Picture credit score: Staff Meat)(Picture credit score: Staff Meat)
Tremendous Meat Boy 3D will probably be coming to Xbox Sequence X/S, PS5 and PC in 2026.
