Super Meat Boy 3D is the upcoming new iteration on the classic series, which was primarily a fast, chaotic, and gruesome 2D platformer. With this new title, the perspective shifts as an extra dimension is added, providing for an entirely fresh Super Meat Boy experience.
At Gamescom 2025, we sat down with Christian Patorra, co-founder of SMB 3D developer Sluggerfly and the game's level and game designer. He spoke on the shift from 2D to 3D, inspiration from other 3D platformers, and provided insightful details regarding the game itself and its development in collaboration with Team Meat.
Here's the full interview.
Note: Parts of this interview were edited to avoid repetition and allow for better text clarity.
Since Super Meat Boy is a game that's predominantly 2D and obviously has a history focused on 2D, could you talk about how the team looked to adapt that into 3D, as well as what challenges you faced during development?
Christian Patorra (Super Meat Boy 3D game and level designer): Yep, so we actually tried out different prototypes and just looked at other titles that made the jump from 2Dto 3D. Basically Mario did it back in the day, so we looked up some of the Mario titles and checked out modern versions, like Super Mario World, for example. Then tested out different stuff, [and asked] if we'd want to have larger worlds, free camera, and so on, but ended up with a locked camera because we want to have precision platforming, and want the player to focus on the movement and not on the camera.
When the team was actually looking to turn Super Meat Boy into 3D was there any point that you thought of going a different route? Maybe, like you said, a Super Mario route, where it's more of a collector game, [with] collecting stuff, or was it always the idea to stick to the core routes of tight level design, speed running, and keep Super Meat Boy what Super Meat Boy is?
Our main goal was really to go back to the roots, back to Super Meat Boy 1, [and] pick what was so iconic in this one and just translate it into 3D [and] add a bit of element here and there. [Things] like maybe a better looking world map, for example, because we're now in 3D. But besides that, [we just] stuck to the formula that made Meat Boy so great.
Coming up to design this game, and when you were originally pitching ideas, did you talk to the original creators about the 3D pitch? Did they have any insight or input into directions to go, or was it just really the team going on their own laurels and trying to make things work?
We work hand-in-hand with Team Meat. They are in contact with us, and we get a lot of feedback regarding movement from Team Meat, so that [we can nail] this Super Meat Boy 1 movement feel. So, yes, they are there, and helping us nail it.
Given your work as level designer, could you talk about how the team took the 2D worlds that you saw? How were they designed more visually and graphically, and then expanded upon to make this game work in a 3D space?
Because we wanted [to achieve] this precision platforming, we only created levels that have 45 degree angles. That supports the fact that [Super Meat Boy 3D] has eight-directional movement by default. You can disable this in the options, and play just like any other regular 3D platformer. But, just for precision, we have eight-directional movement and 45-degree angle levels and geometry. And yes, we do expand the levels with all the 3D elements, a bit more fluff here and there. But our main goal is, especially in the polishing phase, just to kind of color code every single design and in a way that the player can, most of the time, easily read where to go and what to do.
When actually designing these worlds and making it so that it's fair, were there any kind of decisions made to make sure that these worlds were curated correctly? So, if the player dies, it's the player's fault, and not so much the world design being unfair?
Yeah, that's super important. The player needs to feel like, okay, it was my fault and not the game's fault, to die there. And, yes, we do have the issue that we're in 3D now, [so] there are depth perception issues, which we try to tackle with features like a helper marker that is visible in the air between gaps, for example, like the latest Crash game has done. So we try to manually help the player to not have the feeling of losing control because of depth perception. That is most of the time the main issue, [where] players feel like: “Ah, it's the level, not me.”
Is there anything else that the team added specifically to the character in the game, like the drop shadow, where there's a shadow where you're gonna fall? What else has the team curated or looked at when coming up with the design ideas to make sure that the player was fully in control of their own experience?
Besides the eight-direction movement, we basically borrowed the dash mechanic from Super Meat Boy Forever, and translated it into 3D. And in 3D, it's so easy to use the dash when it's always horizontal. So, you always have control over this specific movement, and know that, “If I press the dash button, I will end up there.” This will also help players get to areas where they want to end up.
On the topic of movement and mechanics, taking the 2D playstyle of Super Meat Boy that has very tight controls, how difficult was it to bring those tight 2D controls into a 3D space?
The foundation of the whole game was the movement. So, before building everything else, we just had a tiny little test map with specific playtest areas with specific movement areas that also have been there when Tommy, the founder of Team Meat, and the developer of Super Meat Boy, had in the first one. We tried to kind of copy this behavior so that it fits in and feels like it had in 2D 15 years ago.
When it came to actually designing this game, your first obvious thing was to bring the game from a 2D to a 3D space. But what is your team actually bought to the game and the development of this game that's your own, and sets you apart from Team Meat? Are you trying to take Team Meat's original core philosophy, but then bring your own spin into it, to make sure that it's not just a labor of love, but something that is your own work?
One of our main trademarks also [found] in all of the other 3D platformers that we have created, is this cute, crude humor. So yeah, we're a bit hot sometimes. You can find our humor in the game, which, luckily, most of the time fits the humor of the first one. It's a bit more melancholic. It's a bit darker. The first setting is just the start. With the second setting that we played, it gets a bit darker, but there's more to come.
Would you say that working on an IP like Super Meat Boy brings some added pressure into the actual job and making sure that this is a success and keeps fans of the original games happy? How does the team deal with that pressure when actually designing games [and] making sure [they're] putting out a good product?
First of all, it was an honor to work on this IP, obviously, because it was one of the major first indie hits ever. As for us, there was no real pressure at first. Now, after the reveal and after the first feedback we kind of now recognize people really want to play this game, there is hype building up there. Yeah, there is some form of pressure, but the feedback also helped. And also the feedback that we get on Gamescom is that we are on the right path.
Looking at the game and what you've shown off so far, it very much feels like a very typical Meat Boy experience where, you're going from world to world, trying to beat them as quickly as possible, with bosses at the end of each world. But have you thought of any ways that you might try to mix things up or add to the experience? For instance, a multiplayer component, where people can load in and try to speed run and beat levels before their friends. Is that something that you're looking to do, or are you just primarily trying to make a good Super Meat Boy game?
Yes, currently, we are trying to make a good Super Meat Boy game, but we do have a lot of ideas on how to expand everything that might be in some parts a bit more modern.
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