Meat Boy's transition to WiiWare brings a large selection of new material, a new art style, and a brand new multiplayer mode with a unique cast of characters.
There are many video games that started life as simple flash games; Alien Hominid and N+ (originally N) are two of the more notable titles to successfully make the transition to game consoles. The latest title making this transition is Meat Boy, originally a flash game featured on the popular Newgrounds website. Meat Boy is being "supersized" for WiiWare as Super Meat Boy. Edmund McMillen, creator of Meat Boy, claims that Super Meat Boy is "so amazing that you will crap your pants and so awesome that your body will suck the crap back up inside you."
For the unfamiliar, the game is a platformer where players guide Meat Boy through increasingly difficult stages full of crumbling platforms, saw blades, and other deadly obstacles. According to McMillen, the game's inspiration was both Ghosts 'n' Goblins and Megaman. The intention was to make a game that's as frustrating as the source material, but forgiving enough to complete the game.
McMillen also wanted to give Super Meat Boy a story packed full of 90's videogame clichés. In Super Meat Boy, Meat Boy tries to save a girl made out of Band-Aids from the game's villain, a fetus with a PhD ... in a jar (yes, seriously).
Super Meat Boy will stay true to Meat Boy formula, however controls will be tighter and the levels will be completely fresh as they are being created from scratch. This will allow the creators to make the levels more complex by adding new elements such as side-scrolling areas, full-screen levels, and epic boss battles. McMillen expects that the final game will have around 100 levels, hidden areas, warp zones, and an expert chapter as an unlockable bonus. Additionally, the game will sport new fatal obstacles that must be avoided by Meat Boy and a fresh new art style.
The game will also feature an all new multiplayer mode. Twelve independent developers' characters will be unlockable in the mode by collecting Band-Aids in the single player game. Currently, the team is also considering creating a level editor so that users can create their own content to further extend the experience.