While playing this homebrew NES platform puzzler – available for Switch and on physical NES and GBA carts – I couldn’t help to think what ‘80s and ‘90s gaming critics would say about it. Eventually, I reached a surprising conclusion to my musings. The Meating simply couldn’t have existed back when the NES was around, not only being too grotesque to pass Nintendo’s censorships but also having some quite advanced features that feel considerably modern despite this being a mere 8-bit title. Not even the almighty Rare could have mustered some of the concepts present here.
The game’s plot and premise both have modern sensibilities. We’re introduced to a ghost minotaur reduced to all but a head at the fate of a merciless butcher. How did such a beastly brute fall straight into a butcher’s hands? They were a victim of a catfishing prank on a dating app, leading them straight to the chopping block. Instead of finding somebody to devote their heart and soul to, their body and mind have been instead stashed away – and they’re keen to get them back. Greek mythology strengthens this premise, with various Gods emerging at key points.
The Meating plays a little bit like Solomen’s Key and Milon’s Secret Castle, featuring levels that are small – often no more than three screens wide – but are high in number, each with a key and an exit to find and a mixture of obstacles to overcome. These can range from spike pits and enemies, to blocks that need to be moved out of the way and switches to flick. Many of the earlier stages can be beaten in just 2-3 minutes due to their small size, while later stages are far larger and introduce enemies that move more erratically, while adding more spike pits.
Every world has a theme – varying from a slaughterhouse with hanging carcases, to a candle lit mansion – and ends with a boss battle. They’re reasonably creative, often requiring several retries and experimentation, not always requiring the boss to be harmed directly.
Over time new skills are introduced. In fact, our beefy brute’s first upgrade is a double whammy of new abilities. These skills are surprisingly innovative, and not the first that spring to mind on a system where the majority of platformers entailed little more than running and jumping. Over the course of the adventure, you’ll get to master telekinesis to move blocks around, harness fire to melt ice, view a spirit realm to locate hidden items – opening the door for Ghostbusters parodies – and more. To spoil everything wouldn’t be fair. Switching between these skills while in a pinch is a little tricky though, needing to be cycled through. They also drain a gauge; and during one boss fight the gauge drained completely with seemingly no way to recharge it. This is presumably why a ‘restart’ option was added. That, and the fact that it’s possible to become occasionally trapped.
I’d hesitate to say The Meating is too ambitious for its own good, some finicky boss battles aside, but there are some obvious ways it could have been streamlined. The Switch version is the simply the NES ROM with the obligatory changes to the button prompts, mapping Start and Select to the Plus and Minus buttons. You’re still required to cycle through abilities and press Up and B to activate them despite the Switch having enough buttons to map abilities to. It also uses a password system rather than a regular save slot with auto-save, although this isn’t too detrimental. When all lives are lost, you’re thrown back to the title screen and can continue instantly. The password screen also auto-populates with the most current password provided.
Giving players infinite lives may have helped progression feel smoother as it’s a pretty challenging experience as it is. During one tough boss fight, I was thrown back to the title screen several times in quick succession. Not once did I have to enter a password though, so this is negligible. As the game’s ending draws near a twist occurs, extending the playtime considerably. A lot of modern NES games tend to be quite short, but this isn’t one of them, with quite a long journey ahead. A meaty experience with only a bit of gristle to contend with, The Meating would’ve definitely expanded the minds of gaming critics from the 8-bit era.
Mega Cat Studios’ The Meating is out now on Switch. Physical NES and GBA carts are also available.