The Kid is mine!

[Lakhesis17]

Finally get to have my own bragging thread. I know its old news now, but man, it sure feels good.

I did question the difficulty of the levels in the first level. After I stopped using the run button it went way easier, then it was just a matter of figuring out a routine. But oh man, don't let people tell you the second two are easier. No way. I found them way more frustrating than the first one. The first one is pure skill, all down to you. The latter two have too many variables for me to blame myself; anger comes!

But now its done. I don't want to have to do that again.

Sleep now...

[jove666]

Honestly, the Kid's warp zone drove me crazy. And not in the good sense of "I worked really really hard to beat it but in the end it was worth it". It wasn't "worth it" for me in any way. I'm not satisfied with having done it. It's one of the few things in the game that genuinely make me want to know what the developers were actually thinking, because the challenges in The Guy are so vastly disproportionate in their difficulty compared to anything else in the game (or at least, I found them to be so) that I just don't see what the point is.

Honestly if I had known how hard it would be to unlock the Kid I wouldn't have done it. I actually quit the game for a month afterwards because I simply couldn't stomach to even look at it. I spent six straight hours unlocking The Kid (with a half hour break in the middle to walk to the 7-Eleven) - I died two thousand times. Afterwards I took up VVVVVV and beat it 100% in less than a quarter of the time and with 30% as many deaths, and it was infinitely more enjoyable.

I guess different people have different experiences with different parts of the game, but for me The Kid wasn't a fun challenge, it absolutely wrecked my confidence in my skill and my ability to enjoy or even play the game for a long time. If I'd skipped the Kid I'd probably have beat everything else by now, merely as a matter of not having taken a month just to work up the nerve to seriously try it again.

[cooldevi]

I've just unlocked the kid and I'm very satisfied. Had fun especially on first level

[timeformime]

Just unlocked the Kid too! His double jump is nifty.

This warp zone would have driven me crazy too if I hadn't just left SMB open, free to come back when I wanted throughout the day without any pressure. Honestly, hunkering down and doing it all at once would have killed me and my poor thumbs.

[Ssstn]

Originally Posted by timeformime

This warp zone would have driven me crazy too if I hadn't just left SMB open, free to come back when I wanted throughout the day without any pressure.

Taking breaks is a good way to prevent mental breakdown. I got SMB from Humble Bundle 4 and played it like a maniac. I was obsessed with 100%ing the game and when I got to The Kid's level I was very discouraged. Shortly after I stopped playing. Not because The Kid but the game was overall getting a little too difficult for me.

This summer when I decided to try Super Meat Boy again I set myself a goal of unlocking The Kid, and it actually was the very first thing I did. I spent three solid hours trying to beat the first level and when I finally did, I left the game open for couple of hours and went to do other things. When I came back it took me about 40 minutes to beat the remaining two levels. I remember someone saying on this board that the two other levels aren't any easier than the first but to me they surely were.

I personally think unlocking The Kid is worth it if you're aiming to 100% the game. It makes speedrunning certain levels and collecting some bandages so much easier (not to mention you of course need to unlock every character to truly complete the game 100% and feel accomplished). Most importantly beating The Kid's warp zone gave me the confidence to take on rest of the game. Whenever I'd got stuck I'd think "this is nothing compared to The Kid's levels" which really helped me not to give up.

My congratulations to all of you fellow SMB players who have worked hard to unlock The Kid. And those of you who haven't, don't give up!

[Miraglyth]

Yeah I can see why people hate on this warp zone. It's frustrating and time-burning by design, and basically meant to be not fun as a mechanic to boost the reward and bragging-rights-ness of beating it.

For me it was much the same, but back when I only had this and Skyscraper left to do, I used it as a way to avoid the latter. If faced with that choice again, I'd still play The Guy first because the limited lives and WAAAAARRRPPP ZOOOOAAANNNN!!! are an even bigger frustration.

[timeformime]

Ssstn, that's the way to do it, it makes so much of Meat Boy easier when you just get up and do something else in between levels. Of course that's not how I played the first 40 hours or so, because I got it from the Humble Bundle IV as well, and was completely hooked before and during Christmas. I can really get into whatever I'm playing and, if the game is good enough and I don't watch it, I'll just go 3 hours without eating or getting up (bad habit I really try to avoid these days).

Odd thing is, though, The Kid was the last level of the whole game I completed, so he was more of a last hurrah for me than a tool to use on the harder Rapture levels - but cleaning up my times to get A+'s on everything he's super useful already.

[Ssstn]

Originally Posted by timeformime

I can really get into whatever I'm playing and, if the game is good enough and I don't watch it, I'll just go 3 hours without eating or getting up (bad habit I really try to avoid these days).

Happens to me a lot and SMB was not an exception. What's worse, pretty much always I was well aware that I was hungry or in need of a shower but always found myself thinking "I'll nail this on the next try, then I'll eat". One hour later...

Originally Posted by timeformime

Odd thing is, though, The Kid was the last level of the whole game I completed, so he was more of a last hurrah for me than a tool to use on the harder Rapture levels - but cleaning up my times to get A+'s on everything he's super useful already.

Wow, I would never have had the patience for that, The Kid made many levels so much easier even though I still primarily used Meat Boy. The reason why I wanted to unlock The Kid so bad was that I wanted to 100% all the previous chapters before moving on to dark Rapture and The End, and you can't get the bandage on 3-4 without double jumping. I didn't realise Ogmo would've been better choise in that he's so much easier to unlock. And I think I only had like three bandages from Hell and none from Rapture when I started playing again this summer but 3-4 was the one level I intended to use The Kid for when I unlocked him. Kind of funny now that I think of it.

[Kered13]

It took me four hours to beat the Kid's world the first time. The second time I think I did it in an hour and a half. I get a massive thrill out of super-challenging levels like that.