Super Meat Boy on iPhone, squelching onto Android as well?

Super Meat Boy, the popular Xbox indie game, is headed to the iPhone, and could be landing with a meaty squelch on Android as well.

In a post on developer Team Meat's website, it was confirmed that a touchscreen version of the painfully difficult platformer was in the works, and will be a new version of the game built for touchscreen controls, rather than a direct port of the console edition.

"As some of you know, we have been playing with the idea of porting Super Meat Boy on the iPhone for some time," the blog states, noting that the game, which relies on split-second button pressing and masterful control, would turn out to be "garbage" if ported straight to the button-less iPhone.

The screenshot above is the first look at the new game, and to my eyes suggests a timing-based leaping affair. I'd wager that slimy hero Meat Boy legs it automatically across the screen from right to left, with your input limited to tapping the screen at the correct moment to make him jump and dodge obstacles, in the manner of Flash classic Canabalt.

There are zillions of mobile games like that already, but with Super Meat Boy reminding us that fiendishly tough games can still be tonnes of fun, I'm eager to see what Team Meat does with this new title. I want it to be infuriatingly tough, with the ability to see my friends' high scores.

One of the existing game's coolest features is that when you play a level, you can see the ghosts of your previous attempts running and jumping alongside you. That's a must-have for the mobile version.

Commenters have noted that as it was posted over the weekend, the news could be an April Fool's gag. But I don't think so -- for starters, it's not funny, and secondly the game's developer suggested that a mobile version was in the works back in February.

The developer reckons the game will be a "feature-length touch controlled platformer specifically designed for touch devices", which along with the 'iOS (and more!)' tease in the blog's headline and this tweet, strongly suggests that the mobile edition could be arriving on Android or Windows Phone as well. Fingers crossed.

How would you like to see the game converted to iOS? And are there any classic console games you'd like to see land on your mobile phone? Tell me in the comments, or on our Facebook wall.