It's true, this game relies a lot on rote memorization, muscle memory for your fingers, and heavy emphasis on micro-timing where milliseconds can make the difference. I've come damn near close to crying because I got to the end of a very difficult level and died.

But did I enjoy the game? Absolutely. Reasons may vary obviously, but here's why I enjoyed the game.

The controls are fantastic. Team Meat did an amazing job getting the controls just perfect for this game. When I die, I know it's because it was my fault, not because of game design. There's a very satisfying feeling just barely clinging onto a wall and to jump through a tiny gap in between two saws. I've played games where frustrating moments happen because of poor control. Not the case for Super Meat Boy. And when I finally do complete a level, I really feel accomplished, especially seeing all of my previous attempts come to fruition. I could actually FEEL my skills improving just by watching all my attempts.

Every world is fresh. I'm never bored with doing the same thing over and over again. The levels never feel monotonous. There's new elements like salt, portals, eye lasers, etc. to keep things fresh. And when I do get sick of playing a particular level because of its difficulty, there's always the challenge of getting bandages and new characters. Personally, I loved playing around with each characters mechanics. Yes, even tofu boy.

And then there's the small things like funny cut scenes that do a great job of giving characterization without speech and fantastic music. I loved the music for this game.

Honestly, the ONLY thing that I can say I truly hated about this game were the force fields in The Rapture. Those things are fucking gimmicky as shit and does NOT rely on skills. Pure luck.