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People are talking about Dark Souls, saying that it's all hard and stuff. While I don't disagree with that claim, the kind of difficulty that Dark Souls offers isn't the kind I can easily appreciate. Though I'm far from an expert on the title, from what I've played, the game is about staying smart with your combat and level up strategies, while taking the time to grind, and deal with plenty of "gotcha" deaths.

While I respect that, I have to say that watching an expert Super Meat Boy play through does a lot more for me. Observing a master Dark Souls player at work is like watching a brilliant composer write music, while watching a top tier playthrough of Super Meat Boy is like watching an vintage Yngwie Malmsteen solo. As someone who once spent over 8 hours trying to beat this game, seeing it done in less than 20 minutes (minus warp zones) is more than a little mind blowing. 

Also, Hamza wants to know, what's up with that muscle meat at the end?








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Jonathan Holmes is the most lovable Associate Editor on Destructoid. Catch him on videos, original editorials, and on back episodes of the Destructoid Show and MTV's Road Rules. Jonathan is a retro gamer's gamer. Likes Mega Man 2, Resident Evil, Katamari Damacy, Bit.Trip, Metal Slug 3 Meet the rest of the team



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50 comments | showing # 1 to 50
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tekbunny's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/13/2011 20:10
tekbunny
I've spent 8 hours and still haven't completed it.

I think there's a mess in my pants.
llort het's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/13/2011 20:10
llort het
I don't care what anyone says, screw opinions. There's no way that keyboard controls are better than a controller. That is an objective fact.
tekbunny's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/13/2011 20:13
tekbunny
@llort

For games like thus? Fuck no. For other games tho? Fuck yes.
Arttemis's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/13/2011 20:14
Arttemis
I've spent several hours, but only got as far as 4:30 in this video. A lot of my final strategies were almost frame-for-frame what this guy had, but I wouldn't pass a level unless I had what I thought was a perfect score.

I skipped ahead to the later seconds just for a glimpse... wow! A lot of that is so frame-specific that it makes me question if this is a TAS (tool assisted speedrun).
taterchimp's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/13/2011 20:25
taterchimp
Ashley finally did it....
SuperMonk4Ever's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/13/2011 20:30
SuperMonk4Ever
By muscle meat, do you mean brownie?

Anyways, that speed run... holy shit.
manasteel88's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/13/2011 20:30
manasteel88
Unfortunately with PC, it could be all automated. Not trying to take anything away, I'm just throwing it out there.

Either way, maaaan this guy rocks.
Fuzunga's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/13/2011 20:31
Fuzunga
Now I feel like a complete failure knowing I will never be as good as this guy.
terranwolf's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/13/2011 20:35
terranwolf
Wow. Pretty good speed and accuracy!
Chris Carter's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/13/2011 20:36
Chris Carter
Harder than Dark Souls if you include The Kid.

I love this game and I'm glad it's still relevant.
GameQueen's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/13/2011 20:44
GameQueen
What a beautiful performance! I wish my computer hadn't died on me. I was playing this game and had gotten to that second boss stage... but than issues. :(
burningsoup's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/13/2011 20:47
burningsoup
Someone please tell me this is a TAS so I can stop being jealous :(
BenelliM4's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/13/2011 20:52
BenelliM4
First off, on keyboard vs. controller, I will not say 'The jury's still out.' In fact, it will never be in. There is no right or wrong answer, it's all preference.

Second, It doesn't surprise me at all that Mr. Holmes isn't a fan of Dark Souls. Really, I woulda bet on that one if someone asked.

Third and finally, cool speedrun bro. Very well done, and might I add that those are some fantasic load times on Super Meat Boy. Very impressive overall.
mrplow8's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/13/2011 20:54
mrplow8
I really wish they'd put this on PS3 so I could play it.
Fission Mailed's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/13/2011 20:54
Fission Mailed
I am in awe
Wolfy-Boey's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/13/2011 20:57
Wolfy-Boey
I used to think I sucked at this game. But now, I KNOW.
FrankYorkMorgan's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/13/2011 21:01
FrankYorkMorgan
Excuse me while I go hang myself after seing this.
Los255's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/13/2011 21:09
Los255
Wow. WOW.
Script-br's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/13/2011 21:10
Script-br
He makes Omega look so easy... :(
Jonathan Holmes's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/13/2011 21:14
Jonathan Holmes
@ BenelliM4 - I don't dislike Dark Souls. There was a time when I would have loved it, back when I spent hours grinding and mastering strategies in Tobal 2 on the PS1.

These days though, I can reconcile spending that much time getting through a game that leaks out rewards at such a slow pace. I recognize that it's a great game, its a game in a style that doesn't fit with my life at all.
TheStripe's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/13/2011 21:48
TheStripe
Not hard to play SMB as if it were a TAS, because everything is so tightly scripted. The levels are designed with a pinpoint timing and precision that I've not found in another game. This is a great run. It makes me happy to see some of my strategies in Hell and Rapture are similar/ :)
Flamoctapus's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/13/2011 22:02
Flamoctapus
I love you Holmes. Watched this while listening to Jim and Max yell about your monster hospital on an old podtoid, and this made my day. Thank you.
aminoaccident's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/13/2011 22:11
aminoaccident
I wonder how long it took to perfect the macros in Autohotkey to do that.
DrSquidopolis's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/13/2011 22:21
DrSquidopolis
This video looks kind of.... Spliced together.... There are quite a few times where blood randomly appears on certain obstacles, like some of the buzz-saws in the start of this. Now, ignore me if I'm wrong here, but doesn't the blood only appear where meatboy has landed? That would mean the clip before the saw was bloody would have to be from a different attempt at the level than the part after, right?
tuoman's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/13/2011 22:24
tuoman
I dont know Holmes, I've beat both (100% SMB, so hardcore, guys) and I'll remember the last battle in Dark Souls years from now while I can't remember any particular stage in SMB. Love them both, but I feel Dark Souls is more rewarding.

But that video is insane.
turingnpc's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/13/2011 23:00
turingnpc
I beat all of the regular meat boy levels, A+. I got 100 bandages. I passed the dark world levels. I gave up trying to get A+ on bandage girl's 20th level. But this is just... wow.

Also, as far as comparison between this and dark/ demon's souls:
shadow2398's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/13/2011 23:13
shadow2398
@drsquid, it also appears if other animals hit the saws too. Check out some of forest levels for a great example.
Eternal's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/13/2011 23:17
Eternal
@DrSquidopolis Blood will also appear if a critter touches it (like a squirrel which happens a lot in The Forest)
BrainWasherAttendent's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/13/2011 23:37
BrainWasherAttendent
Watching makes me wonder how I passed some of these levels.

Leveling in dark souls is very minimal in the Help Dept.
You always need to PERFORM in that game.
JohnGrisham's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2011 00:10
JohnGrisham
I can do that...

I just don't wanna
pedrovay2003's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2011 00:54
pedrovay2003
My God, I can't believe what I just watched.
Smackybutts's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2011 01:13
Smackybutts
Super Meat Envy.
XHOLLYWOOD18's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2011 01:53
XHOLLYWOOD18
This is probably one of my favorite games of all time. Spent countless hours trying to 100% and improve old scores. While i doubt i could do it in 22 minuts, im pretty sure i could in about 30(infact i might try it). Would love to see how fast this guy can complete the kid warp zone.
Robert Thad Castle Falck's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2011 01:58
Robert Thad Castle Falck
As one who completed the game, ( with the golden god achivement, aka 100 % fucking everything) I have to say that i dont find this as impressive as some of the dudes on youtube who speedruns through the dark worlds without dying - pretty much every level on the light world is more or less a breeze. :/
Henriquegds's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2011 05:09
Henriquegds
I love this game so much, i wish i would finish this damn thing!
koopi's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2011 05:43
koopi
Although I have all achievements in SMB and Dark Souls, I'll never be good at speed runs. This is insane! :D
kittridge's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2011 05:43Image Hosted by ImageShack.us</a><br/>
kittridge
If you already have N+ (x360) is it this game worth spending the money on? It looks so similar, just with a bit of story and art direction.

I loved N+ btw.
flintmech's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2011 05:47
flintmech
I feel the exact opposite as Holmes.

I enjoy and respect SMB for what it is, but I just don't care for how twitchy it is and how pixel-perfect your muscles and eyes have to be. D. Souls on the other hand requires strategy, thinking, and patience. That's more my bag, that's all.
jc83's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2011 06:41
jc83
I just beat the light world and I have only very occasionally booted it up since then and done a few things. Assuming this is legit, very cool to watch. I know I'd never be able to this.
Noir's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2011 07:10
Noir
I'm not so sure about Dark Souls, but I beat Demon Souls in around a month. I was stuck on Omega in Super Meat Boy for like half a year and will be stuck on Dr. Fetus for the rest of the year probably. SMB is a fun game, but I don't think I ever want to play it again. It's a difficult experience and I only made the progress I did through luck and lot's of practice.
Epic-Kx's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2011 07:14
Epic-Kx
I'm currently going through the Dark Worlds with Ogmo, it too me 2 hours to beat it (and a fuckload of patience), not to mention the other 4 hours to beat The Kid.

Still, badass speedrun.
asojax's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2011 07:38
asojax
this game might be hard but it's more about timing and precision once you figure out where you have to jump from and when you need to be there you end up with results like this, super meat boy is all about patience and figuring out the layout of each level.

That's part of the reason i had a hard time with it i couldn't remember half the time were i needed to jump from in order to not hit those stupid saws.
pokota's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2011 08:20
pokota
I'm also on the opposite side of the spectrum from Holmes. For me, platformers turn into a mush of repetition, where everything is the same each run, and once you figure out the correct path, you're basically down to timing. I prefer something that requires more strategy, has more variability, and engages the imagination to a greater extent. That's why, for me, gaming has never been better than it is now. I actually dropped out of gaming for awhile back in the NES/SNES days, when two out of every three games was a platformer. The incredible variety of the PS2 is what brought me back.
B P Farrell's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2011 09:53
B P Farrell
Just fucking amazing.

The complete mastery of the game is just overwhelming. If this was indeed a contiguous 20 minute play-through I'm almost appalled that someone could be this good(I hate that I have to be a cynic, but hey...).

Towards the end, the skills are just too much to take in. Oddly enough, what really had me giggling was the stuff going on in the middle, like in Hell; 4-14/adversary (10:33) had me cracking up; that cold-blooded jump in 5-10/grinding mill (14:30); the timing in rapture especially the lamb (15:05)/the kingdom (15:45). All that stuff with a killer speed run on the line is too much.

I can't even talk about 'the end'. That's what it looks like when a master in is the zone.

Incredible.
B P Farrell's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2011 10:05
B P Farrell
But, Homles. You just can't compare Dark Souls and SMB in terms of difficulty. Just too uniquely different.

It's not even apples and oranges... it's more like comparing apples to... post-modern political thought texts.
salamagogo's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2011 10:22
salamagogo
I know damn well it'd take me longer than 8 hours to beat the meat, harhar...beat the game, I mean. Based off the time it took me to beat 2 worlds
SullyZero's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2011 10:36
SullyZero
I didn't know you could skip the last part of the last level like that! Or jump the wall of sawblades in the level before that. TIL I guess.
knutaf's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2011 14:52
knutaf
I have good times on most of these levels, but what this guy has is mad consistency. The way I get by is by muscle memory, not real skills.
Fangeh's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/14/2011 20:51
Fangeh
Also see: Impossible Boy achievement

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5McCwFBi36I
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