Super Meat Boy’s spinoff is one giant reference to an old Sega game

Super Meat Boy is getting a spinoff title: Dr. Fetus’ Mean Meat Machine. The game combines match-4 puzzle-gameplay with the high-difficulty gameplay that Super Meat Boy is known for. The game is also actually a reference to another game, Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, which was Sega’s rebrand of Puyo Puyo inspired by Sonic the Hedgehog.

The game is scheduled to release in the 2023 window on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.

The trailer teases the premise, and the game’s Among Us-esque animation style, and shows Dr. Fetus, the antagonist of Super Meat Boy, flipping on giant switches in a lab. It then cuts to gameplay, which looks like Puyo Puyo, except styled in the cartoony look of Super Meat Boy. It’s also filled with hazards. You’ll be trying to line up red, yellow, purple, and green lumps of flesh as you evade threats like buzzsaws, ghost enemies, and chainsaws.

According to a description of the game on the publisher’s website, it will take place immediately after the events of Super Meat Boy Forever. The game will also include backgrounds and animations, created by the original Super Meat Boy and Super Meat Boy Forever artists, over the course of 100 levels.

In Puyo Puyo games, players line up falling blocks in order to match four or more of the same color to score points and clear space on the board. Dr. Fetus’ Mean Meat Machine isn’t just Headup Development’s take on a Puyo Puyo-style game, though — it also references another spinoff, Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine. The 1993 Sega Genesis game was, in turn, Sega’s take on a Puyo Puyo game inspired by Sonic The Hedgehog.