Spelunky 3 Years On: Gameplay Stories vs. Scripted Story

3 years on and I still love Spelunky. At this point I think I can safely call it the best single player game ever.*

Spelunky was PC Gamer’s 2013 game of the year. No small feat, a 2D platformer created by two people won over a multitude of multi-million dollar 3D games created by teams with hundreds of people. I’ve been out of videogames for quite awhile now. I never purchased the PS4 or Xbox One. I did get the Wii U when MarioKart 8 came out so I could play the sporadic game with my family. I also purchased a used PS Vita about a year ago to get my Spelunky fix since my Xbox360 RRD’ a few years ago.

I think the reasons for me quitting videogames were:

1. I became jaded. No true innovation, only graphics improved.

2. I have other interests. Chalk it up to family life, but having become jaded with videogames contributed to me finding other persuits.

3. I discovered Spelunky.

I my mind, Spelunky is the last videogame you’ll need to own. It is the holy grail of the medium. You can boot it up after not playing for many months and just have a great time. Guaranteed. It is like a skill that comes back to you such as riding a bicycle. Familiar but always new since there is no story to pick-up or re-tread. And yet like a good board game, each play feels like its own little story. The story is in the situations you are dealt and the decisions you make. It has infinite replayability, with no two sessions being the same. But unlike the Skyrims with auto-generated quests, Spelunky's random sessions don’t suck. Each game is randomly-generated so smartly and has such variety you’d think somewhere in Asia there are a couple of illegal Spelunky level-generation farms. Spelunky plays the strengths of the medium to the maximum. Say what you will about the state of Hollywood, but the best video game stories are still not on par with the worst Hollywood movies in terms of writing and acting.** If you want a good story, watch a good movie. If you want good interactive entertainment, play Spelunky or a Mario game. No story, just gameplay. I remember a time when I was impressed by "cool-looking" cinematics in a video game. Now I've come to see videogame cinematics as what they truly are: Shitty short films. I used to scoff at those who skipped the cutscenes, usually the kid / grandma / wife. I now see they were enlightened while I was not. “Why is my gameplay being interrupted by this predictable shitty short?" is the pertinent question to ask.

By now I’ve "completed" Spelunky several times. But of course I truly haven't completed it, since I've not been able to get to the "secret" 5th world. Not once. But I sure have a blast trying; And watching others try when dealt the exact same game seed I was dealt on the daily challenge. This game is challenging, fun, and satisfies whether you play it in 15-minute or 2-hour chunks. It also leverages the internet age exceptionally well with the daily challenge and its many secrets which required a large community of players to uncover. And the speed runs still make news. I can’t recommend this game enough. If you played it and did not think much of it, I advise you give it another shot. You need to reach a certain proficiency level before Spelunky opens up and reveals its genius to you.



<sub>*For multiplayer I’ll take splitscreen MarioKart, LAN Halo Capture the Flag, and 4-Player RockBand in no particular order. All my multiplayer picks require players to be in the same room or across rooms since it has been scientifically proven that online multiplayer sucks.

**For that matter I feel the best solo board game session is no better than playing the shittiest video game you can get your hands on. Again, each medium has its strengths.</sub>

I haven't played in a long time, but yes, Spelunky is a fantastic game. Best single player game ever? Nahhhhhhhhh

I LOVE Spelunky and I still play it. I have about 135 hours logged, and I've only beat Olmec 6 times, and Hell only twice. One of my favorite games. I still need to get the Big Scorer achievement (get $500,000), but it's a bit seed dependent so i haven't focused on it too much.

AMEN, brother. I haven't played SPELUNKY as an obsession, but I know it totally be that for me. It is a gamer's game. Folks that have been platforming for years can sit down with SPELUNKY and know immediately what's going on. It is a direct test of your skills physically and mentally as you navigate the caverns. I think one of the Penny Arcade guys pointed out that your little dude doesn't level up in SPELUNKY--you do. It's a great game that can hold the attention of folks like us, struggling along, looking for leisure time and folks like the speedrunners and Banasaurus Rex and their ridiculous antics. As I recall, the current regular record is just over 100 seconds. The current Hell is about 3:44 I think? And Bananasaurus Rex pulled off the Solo Eggplant run and over $1M run.

Also, I second your shoutout for the Vita! Unless your cold dead heart spurns indie gaming, it is an amazing thing. If you embraced the Sony trifecta with PS4, PS+, and a Vita? Cripes you are having a good time.

(ps, FEZ and METROID are the best single player games)

...and now I'm back at Spelunky. Thanks, jerks.

Fuck yeah credits are rolling as I type this! Beat today's daily challenge. Ranked 15th for today's daily at the moment. Truth be told it was a miracle. You know how in Spelunky 90% of the time you make a mistake it's game over... Well I think I made four mistakes in this play trough. One per world. Lady luck had my back. Though I had't seen bugs in Spelunky, I seriously think I should have died in a Tikki Trap in the dark Black Market level. I think I survived due to a game bug. I will watch the replay in a little while. And what is up with two bee hive levels in the jungle!? I hadn't seen one in a long while, and now two hive levels back to back!? Crazy.

Sorry to hook you back in Josh. I just believe this game deserves to be played more. Sure it was critically acclaimed but many people either never tried it or just didn't spend the time to level themselves up a little like Jeb says. If any of you fools played today's daily on the PSN I would love to get your PSN id's and watch a replay of your death! Mine is El__Cuajinais if anyone cares to see just how damn lucky I was. And just how much of a pussy I was in the Olmec level. I just drilled a large wide hole with the 30+ bombs I had.

There's a PSN code thread somewhere... /rummages

hmm, or not!

jeblucas here, I also found wadenels, garysax, dogmatix99, LoneArchivist for Pug, and I know Barnes is out there, try crackedlcd99, and qpcloudy.

Thanks for the reply. Do you know if any of the people you list are playing the Spelunky daily challenge at the moment?
It'd be awesome to start a small competition like the old pinball thread. It's a shame you can't rewind the replay, otherwise we could upload snippets of our deaths. I have to say, the fast-forward effect is super well done. Brings me back to the VHS days.

BTW me not being killed by the Tikki Trap in the aforementioned 9/5/15 challenge (11:29 mark) was most definitely a bug. Unless you are not supposed to take damage when stunned but I doubt that it the case. The damage was instead apparently "dealt" to the already dead Tikki Man. Well I would have survived anyway but with 1 health instead of the 5. Kinda feel likes like getting a win in a game where you know the ref made a bad call, which is to say: Not bad at all...

I definitely played Spelunky a lot for a few weeks back around when it was new. I remember trying to do a key run for some reason for a long time... I think to be able to start in the 4th world?

Yes, it is great.

@Jeb
Hey Jeb. Thanks for sending the friend request. So in today's daily I came across this ghost-like robot in the caves that was sort of calling out from the grave. When I reached him it had your name and I told me something along the lines of: "A Skeleton clawed me to death here." Pretty creepy. I had never seen the friends feature in Spelunky, now I love this game even more!

For myself I died inside the mothership. I still haven't seen the most powerful weapon in the game which can be retrieved from the mothership. I had a Shotgun and Jetpack and still managed to get myself killed by the psychic energy of the first alien. heh. Then I saw the replay of your game. That damn skeleton fell from the sky!

We REALLY need to do a Spelunky community challenge!

Yeah, I heard the Maiden up there, and I am pretty sure the leaderboard is just based on $$ for the Daily, so I decided to get her. Oh well--the problem was getting ganked by a snake in an urn earlier--that's was the mistake I could easily have prevented. I'll try to get some more SPELUNKY in, your enthusiasm is infectious!

Crap. Got greedy in today's daily (as I always do) and was killed by the Ghost in the caves. I accidentally pressed up on the d-pad and climbed the stairs right towards the ghost.

The ghost is the key to those big money runs. Need it to turn all the gems into diamonds to make that dollah.

jeb wrote: The ghost is the key to those big money runs. Need it to turn all the gems into diamonds to make that dollah.

Everytime I try Ghost running, I get cocky, which means I get sloppy, which means I always screw it up.

I had a good run going where I was in the City of Gold with a ton of bombs and a jetpack, and was ghost running the gems, when I carelessly ran into a Hawk Man which stunned me, and then the ghost killed me. I just need to relax, and calm myself while playing.

Disgustipater wrote:

jeb wrote: The ghost is the key to those big money runs. Need it to turn all the gems into diamonds to make that dollah.

Everytime I try Ghost running, I get cocky, which means I get sloppy, which means U always screw it up.

I had a good run going where I was in the City of Gold with a ton of bombs and a jetpack, and was ghost running the gems, when I carelessly ran into a Hawk Man which stunned me, and then the ghost killed me. I just need to relax, and calm myself while playing.

Holy crap ghost-running in the City of Gold!? Cocky indeed. I think the times I've been to the City of Gold can be counted in one hand. Hey if you're playing on PSN, please give me your PSN id so I can friend you and come across your ghost in my travels. (More likely you'll come across mine hehe).

@Jeb
Which system are you playing Spelunky on? I think the game is PSN cross-platform (PS3, PS4, PS Vita) but am not sure. I'm playing it on the Vita.