When I first wrote about Super Meat Boy, I said that I thought Super Meat Boy was just a rage-inducing platformer only for hardcore players. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Ever since that first time I’ve been playing it on and off in short bursts. And each session pulls me back with that tantalizing mix of frustration and triumph that makes completing each challenge so satisfying.

As it turns out, Super Meat Boy is the perfect game to drop into when you have ten minutes to spare. Each time you will beat one more level, or one more challenge, or discover a new secret. I started by collecting bandages – an item hidden around various stages.

Collecting enough bandages unlocked my first new character, the Headcrab from Half-Life. This character is less slidey than Meat Boy, able to cling onto walls for longer. Headcrab can also leap a lot further and faster. Headcrab’s downside is that you have less control of it in the air. Clinging to walls adds a new layer of strategy, but the tricky air control makes every leap feel like a calculated risk.

That’s when I discovered warp zones. These warp zones appear in a few levels and you have to reach them before they disappear. When you reach them, you get to play through a bunch of custom levels based on old skool games.

And if you happen to play through the Commander Video levels, you unlock that character to play in the normal levels as well. So far I’ve only unlocked these two characters, but I’m excited to find more.

Then I noticed that I had an A+ on some levels. You get this rating by beating a certain time for each level, so I started to slowly get this rating on all levels. That’s when I noticed the Dark World, which you can switch to in order to get harder versions of each level – with more spikes, spinning blades, and other deadly traps.

I still haven’t beaten the second boss, and yet there’s still so much to discover in this game. Every time I play it I feel like I learn something new. I’ve been putting the time in, and it’s rewarding me with a lot of challenge, discovery, and just plain fun.

I used to think Super Meat Boy wasn’t my type of game, but it’s the game I didn’t know I wanted. Each session has taught me to love the grind, to appreciate that every small victory, every new discovery, isn’t just about progress but about sharpening my skills. It’s challenging, rewarding, and ridiculously fun. The game keeps nudging me to use a gamepad, and honestly, at the rate I’m playing, I might just give in and buy one.