> Super Meat Boy has the "ungodly hard" thing down
SMB is very playable and does a lot to mitigate its difficulty. You can find much harder platformers out there. An example is IWBTG (http://kayin.pyoko.org/iwbtg/) whose creator also designed some of the bonus levels for SMB.
I was totally expecting this article to be about IWBTG.
The thing about Super Meat Boy is that it's JUST A BIT harder than you can do normally, but just a bit easier than you can deal with at your very best. So it makes you want to win.
YES. Mega Man 9 is another great example of this. Both games get incredibly difficult, but only so difficult that one's inability to complete a level is their own fault, not the result of any "unfairness" on the part of the level designers. It's too hard, then you get better, then you win. That's how you make a great game, and SMB does it to a T.
SMB is very playable and does a lot to mitigate its difficulty. You can find much harder platformers out there. An example is IWBTG (http://kayin.pyoko.org/iwbtg/) whose creator also designed some of the bonus levels for SMB.