Super Meat Boy 3D PS5 Review: 3D Splat-fest Excellence
Super Meat Boy 3D takes the legendary, rock-hard precision of the original series and flings it into a fully three-dimensional world. You play as a determined little cube of meat navigating devious levels filled with saws, traps, and massive jumps to save your beloved Bandage Girl. It’s a high-stakes game of reflexes where every millimetre counts, wrapped in a quirky, high-energy style that doesn’t take itself too seriously despite the punishing difficulty.
Developer: Sluggerfly, Team Meat
Publisher: Headup Games
Genre: 3D Platformer
Release Date: March 31, 2026
Website: Official Site
UK Store: PlayStation Store Link
Quick Nav: Specs & HUD | Gameplay | Performance | Settings
Super Meat Boy 3D PlayStation 5 Review: Specs & HUD
- The level select map is a full 3D world that you can freely wander around.
- At the top of the world map, it shows progress such as how many plasters you have, levels beaten and out of how many, bosses beaten, etc., and you have one for the dark world.
- Tutorial pop-ups as you play if you have them enabled.
- The death counter shows at the end of a level, and it will be your nemesis.
- Position helper and position helper line are available in settings.
- All levels are unlocked in a location, so you can do them in any order.
Gameplay Review & Mechanics Breakdown
Super Meat Boy 3D is a 3D splatformer gameplay experience that maintains all the charm and playability of the original games. It is almost witchcraft how well this game plays. I didn’t detect any button press lag, and if I did, it would destroy it, so the fact that they have absolutely nailed it should be commended. The levels are well designed, and being 3D, it brings a whole new challenge, and the way mechanics work is simple but devastatingly painful to pull off. You get bite-sized levels, and when you finish one, you get an instant replay of your run, which is cool, and these replays will show ghosts of all previous lives you lost.
Simple, easy-to-learn controls and the games use the same moves like dash and wall jump that you get in the 2D games. I was fine with the controls except wall running, as you hold the jump button down to do it, but my brain kept adding in an extra jump, and it’s a nightmare. Every level has a time-based requirement to get an A + score, so levels can be replayed, and you will do it a lot as you try to shave seconds off a run. You leave blood behind so it can help show mistakes or where best to be, though honestly, it’s more just meatball sauce or something and not all dark and gory blood splatters.
There are twenty characters to unlock and play as you collect plasters to unlock them, and you get plasters by finding them in a level. There are two worlds: the light world, which is the main game and then the dark world, where you unlock harder levels. It is a very difficult game, so be warned, and it is very reflex-based. I had a lot of stressful fun, and it’s the type of game I come back to here and there when I want to feel like a failure.
Super Meat Boy 3D PlayStation 5 Review: Performance & Fidelity
- Awesome graphics that bring the Meat Boy world to life in 3D.
- Tight 2.98GB download size.
- Platinum trophy included for the completionists.
- Graphics settings include anti-aliasing quality, v-sync, and a gamma slider.
- Respawning after a death is instant, so you can never stay mad for long. That’s a lie you totally can, and you can spiral as you splat more and more blood over the level, and you start getting angrier and angrier, but yeah, you will always spawn back quicker.
- Instant respawn button, and it actually respawns you instantly.
- The camera is set, and you have no control, and it is generally fine, but it can get a bit much later on, where there’s a lot going on or being able to see, or judge jumps.
- No online leaderboards, which is a crazy thing to say; the game is screaming out for one.
- There aren’t any baked-in options for level replays, so you just have to use the PlayStation 5 capture feature.
Settings, Customisation & Control Details
- Accessibility options – Colourblind mode, Colourblind blindness severity, character outline, and always sprint toggle.
- No accessibility options for things like font or making the game a bit easier, as it is very reflex-heavy.
- Audio sliders for – cutscenes, SFX, music, and master volume.
- Controller settings – left stick sensitivity and 45-degree snapping.
- General settings – language, Screenshake, speed run mode, and camera speed.
- You can turn off tutorials in the general settings.
- You cannot remap the controls.
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Super Meat Boy 3D
Summary
THRILLS & HIGHLIGHTS
Super Meat Boy 3D has awesome graphics, and it is almost witchcraft how well this game plays. I didn’t detect any button press lag, and if I did, it would destroy it, so the fact that they have absolutely nailed it should be commended. The instant respawn button actually respawns you instantly, so even when you spiral as you splat more and more blood over the level, you always spawn back quicker. It’s very addictive, and in fact, I would say it’s as addictive as it is difficult. Getting an instant replay of your run with ghosts of all previous lives you lost is cool as you try to shave seconds off to get that A+ score.
KEY NEGATIVES
You cannot remap the controls, and there are no accessibility options for things like font or making the game a bit easier, as it is very reflex-heavy. The camera is set and you have no control; it’s generally fine, but it can get a bit much later on when you’re trying to judge jumps. My brain kept adding an extra jump on the wall running, which was a nightmare. Also, no online leaderboards is a crazy thing to say; the game is screaming out for one, and there aren’t any baked-in options for level replays, so you just have to use the PlayStation 5 capture feature.
OVERALL VERDICT
This game maintains all the charm and playability of the original games, but the move to 3D brings a whole new challenge. The levels are well designed, and the mechanics are simple but devastatingly painful to pull off. It is a very difficult game, so be warned, and it is very reflex-based. I had a lot of stressful fun, and it’s the type of game I come back to here and there when I feel like feeling like a failure. If you want a 3D platformer that rewards precision and punishes mistakes instantly, this is it.
