Super Meat Boy Is 80% Off Today

Steam has marked down the indie platformer Super Meat Boy by 80% today. All you Johnny-come-latelies out there can pick up the game for a mere $2.99 instead of the usual $14.99.

Super Meat Boy is your classic boy-meets-girl story, except that the boy is a cube of meat and the girl is made of bandages. Also, the girl has been kidnapped by an evil fetus in a jar wearing a tuxedo. Y'know, the usual Hollywood boilerplate.

To reach the end of each level, Super Meat Boy will have to jump and slide his way past a variety of hazards including saw blades, rocket launchers and maggots. To succeed, players will need quick reflexes and a lot of patience. They'll die over and over, slowly learning the level with each attempt.

SMB's journey will take him through forests, Hell and other twisted locations. Each section of the game features boss fights that test the player's skills to the utmost. There are over 300 levels, and an included level editor will allow you to build additional challenges. Once you've beaten each level, you can play it over and over again to get a higher score. Getting an A+ on a level unlocks a harder "dark" version of it.

The game's one of the surprise hits of this generation. Over one million copies have been sold as of January 2012. The current Metacritic average is 87 on PC and 90 on Xbox Live Arcade. The success has led Team Meat to begin developing an iOS version from scratch.

Still, the high difficulty level of SMB means it won't be for everyone. It might make you want to throw your keyboard. Before buying the game, you should really check out a "Let's Play" video or two to see if it's your speed. You can also play the original Flash prototype online for free. The prototype doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the Steam release but should give you a good idea of what to expect.

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