Spelunky - Out now on XBLA
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Thought this deserved its own thread.

Bought it earlier - it's excellent. Punishingly tough, though. Stay away if tough (read: sometimes "unfair", though death is often a result of your own lapses in concentration) games annoy you.

For those who aren't aware of it, it's a 2D platformer/adventure game with perma death. The levels are randomly generated. Die and you're kicked back to the start with a whole new set of levels to play. Everything tries to kill you. Items can help you. It's great!

I'm warily tempted to liken it to Rick Dangerous in terms of difficulty, but at least you can pissing memorise Rick Dangerous... Definitely give the trial a go first.

Anyone else picked this up?
WTB wrote:
Definitely give the trial a go first.


Or indeed, get the free PC version. Which is lacking a fair few features, but will give you a good idea.
Yeah there's that, too!

It started life as a freeware PC title, for those who don't know.
Just reached the temple stages on this, but haven't unlocked the shortcut to the ice caves, yet. Is it just me, or are the ice caves a cinch compared to the jungle? I got through all four in about a minute, just now.
I've only got up to the jungle. :(
YOG wrote:
Just reached the temple stages on this, but haven't unlocked the shortcut to the ice caves, yet. Is it just me, or are the ice caves a cinch compared to the jungle? I got through all four in about a minute, just now.

Really? I found the ice stages bastard hard.
This looks worryingly like Rick Dangerous, which was a fucking horrible game, despite being generally well reviewed at the time.
It's not like Rick Dangerous.

Deaths are generally your fault rather than the games.
Everyone knows Rick Dangerous was a horrible game. As I said, I "warily" compared this to that. Mainly deaths the first time you encounter a new enemy/trap. After that it's all your fault. This is a great game.

Regardless, it's patently obvious from the off that this game is not for everyone, and Rick Dangerous comparisons are inevitable from folk who don't/won't get on with it.
Mr Dave wrote:
YOG wrote:
Just reached the temple stages on this, but haven't unlocked the shortcut to the ice caves, yet. Is it just me, or are the ice caves a cinch compared to the jungle? I got through all four in about a minute, just now.

Really? I found the ice stages bastard hard.


Yeah, after a few more goes, I've definitely had some nasty ice stages. I haven't seen anything more difficult than a dark jungle stage full of fucking bees, though. :DD
WTB wrote:
Everyone knows Rick Dangerous was a horrible game. As I said, I "warily" compared this to that. Mainly deaths the first time you encounter a new enemy/trap. After that it's all your fault. This is a great game.


You warily likened it to Joe Danger, I don't even know what that is.
The fuck?! Has my post been edited or something? I definitely typed Rick Dangerous! Did my iPhone correct it to Joe Danger? What the fuck is Joe Danger? Very weird...

Edit: Joe Danger is that Trials HD rip-off...
WTB wrote:
The fuck?! Has my post been edited or something? I definitely typed Rick Dangerous! Did my iPhone correct it to Joe Danger? What the fuck is Joe Danger? Very weird...

Edit: Joe Danger is that Trials HD rip-off...

I was wondering about the Joe Danger comparison.
How odd, I definitely wasn't imagining it.

I was just like, 'Joe Danger, what the fuck is that?'

Attachment:
joe.JPG
Yeah I've edited now! It was either a brainfart or an autocorrect... I've definitely talked about Joe Danger on here before so maybe it's in my dictionary? :shrug:

Anyway, Spelunky is great!
Derek Yu plays Spelunky.

You should pick up a few good pointers, here! :)
Just reached the temple section and jumped into a pit of lava... Definitely agree that the ice stages were easier than jungle. It's so much fun, this. Proper edge of your seat stuff. Terrifying when you're on your last heart and you spot a new enemy. "Oh what the fuck is that?! What is it going to do?! Argh!"
YOG wrote:
Derek Yu plays Spelunky.

You should pick up a few good pointers, here! :)

The host is stupidly annoying,sadly.
Trying to unlock the shortcut to the Temple stages...

http://i.imgur.com/hJDcb.jpg

FUCK YOU, TUNNEL MAN!
Haha, I haven't done that yet, but if you take your time it probably isn't all that bad. Especially if you grab a compass early on. Shotgun or jetpack would be helpful, too.
But then you're chucking a shotgun and a key around! I tried it earlier, failed at Jungle stage 2! Got the key in Mines 1!
Finally unlocked the shortcut to Jungle.

This game is the best thing I've played on a console since Dark Souls. Always different, always hard, always fair, always fun. Wonderful, wonderful stuff. Drifted away from XBLA recently, so thank the fuck for this thread giving me the nudge to download it.

It's like Inverse Rick Dangerous.
It's seriously good. Still can't unlock the Temple shortcut though! Got really close* the other day then died on the final jungle stage.

*Had five hearts, loads of kit, loads of money, and most importantly, the key tunnel bloke wants. Then I fell on some fucking spikes. :'(
Those dark levels are right buggers. Whenever I'm on a good run, you can be sure it will chuck one at me just to make me lose my carried items and most of my life.
Yep, proper bugger. You probably already know but you should pick up the torch that is always on the floor next to you as you begin. Light the other torches with it and drop it down to see below, etc.
If you get the spooky level in the jungle area, try bombing the grave marked 'ASH' for something good. :kiss:
Yeah it's a good little prezzie that! There are loads of film references.
WTB wrote:
Yep, proper bugger. You probably already know but you should pick up the torch that is always on the floor next to you as you begin. Light the other torches with it and drop it down to see below, etc.

Yeah, that's why I referred to losing carried items ;)

There's another unusual grave that's interesting to bomb, but you need two bombs (Or an exploding frog and a bomb)
I've been playing the hd version of spelunky lately and the requirements for tunnel man are really ridiculous. Carrying a key through all those levels is insane. What if I get one of those dark levels in the jungle? Last time I tried I got a bee nest.

In the free version the tunnel man accepted only cash. Made a lot more sense
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013- ... gplant-run

Quote:
Man makes Spelunky history by recording the first successful solo eggplant run

Let's Player Bananasaurus Rex has successfully performed Spelunky's legendary eggplant run solo, making him the first person to ever record the act in single-player.

So what's all this about an eggplant, you ask? Let me lay it out for you: (Warning: there will be spoilers.)

When a player places a still wrapped Mystery Box on a sacrificial altar it turns into an eggplant. For years no one understood the purpose of the Eggplant. It wasn't until Spelunky was released on PC this summer that the game was hacked and it was discovered that if you feed the eggplant to the game's secret true final boss, Yama, he'll get sick, bloated and purple like a wayward child in Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. In this ill state he'll die in one hit.

The problem, of course, is bringing it to him. Getting to Yama in and of itself is a Herculean effort and doing it while escorting an eggplant through the better part of 20 stages is virtually unheard of. Last month it was managed by a couple of co-op players, but doing it single-handedly is a whole 'nother story.

Complicating matters is the fact that you can only ever hold one item at a time, begging the question: how does one carry the Eggplant and the Scepter - a required item to reach Spelunky's final set of secret levels - through the same exit at the end of 4-1? As it turns out there is one way for a single person to do this. You see, the hidden Mothership level contains a robot tucked away somewhere in it. The robot operates as an AI partner and can carry the Scepter while you hold the Eggplant. When you emerge in 4-2, you can kill the robot, use the Scepter to unlock the entrance to the City of Gold, then fetch the Eggplant. Naturally, you need to babysit the robot carefully as the companions in Spelunky have a short life expectancy.

So what do you get for completing such an extraordinary task? Nothing but self-satisfaction and the everlasting adoration of your friends and viewers it seems. There's no journal entry or achievement tied to the Eggplant, nor does attempting this sort of run enhance your score in any way (in fact, it actually impedes it quite a lot). But the point is knowing that you've done it.

It's impossible to say if anyone's achieved this remarkable goal on their own accord, but Bananasaurus Rex is the first person to record the colossal feat and watching his increasingly stressed mental state across the 76 minute run is as harrowing as video game viewing can be. Give it a gander below and get ready to set a new life goal for yourself.


I don't know much about Spelunky but I love this!
I am so close to finishing this dastardly game. I've got as far as the final boss once, but he trampled on me big time.

Need to help Tunnel Man dig the shortcut to the Temple, but it means carrying the key from the mines all the way through to the end of the ice caves. I may cry.

Also, I just destroyed Lave in today's Daily Challenge.
On special in the latest Sony sale so its £4.79 non PS+ , £4.31 if your on PS Plus

https://store.sonyentertainmentnetwork. ... KYKEY00000

(i've just bought it for the Vita but i did not play it that much on the 360 so still need practice)
Bought it again on special so that:
1) I get to use a decent Dpad on the PS3.
2) I get to play the daily level.
3) I get to play it on my inevitable vita.

Anyone fancy a leaderboard battle for the daily plays?
How did I not see that!?

Still, anyone worse than me want in on this?
To be fair, that's my best ever run on the Daily Challenge. It just all came together nicely. I got two extra hearts early on and found an extra 12 bombs. Just bombed my way down if I felt the going was a bit tricky. Got to the ice caves with all six hearts intact, but then did some silly things and got to 3-3 with just one left. Fell into the abyss trying to cross a tricky gap at the bottom of the level.
Boom! Won again!
I:m not sure dying on 1-4 is anything to be proud of.
Mr Dave wrote:
I:m not sure dying on 1-4 is anything to be proud of.

I've had a few beers. Have you played the game? It's not easy.
I have it in 360 and PC. )And played the original free pc version plenty
It's been a long time since I played it, and I was terrible then. And I'm only playing the daily challenge at the moment. I think you'll have quite the winning streak for a while!

EDIT: I found a plasma rifle, and got real excited.

Over excited.

Dead excited.

Dead.
Yeah I found the plasma rifle too. Underestimated how powerful it was. Lost a lot of health.
I need to add Zaphod...
Dr Lave wrote:
I need to add Zaphod...


When you login you should have a friend request from me.

Still getting back into this and not doing well on the daily challenges but i am now getting more regularly to the jungle (not even opened up the first shortcut yet)
http://www.giantbomb.com/articles/some- ... 1100-4871/

Quote:
Some World Records Happen at 3 A.M.
by Patrick Klepek on February 27, 2014

Bananasaurus Rex thought his late-night Spelunky stream was over, but, then, a plasma cannon appeared. Almost eight hours later, he hoarded more treasure than was ever thought possible.

It’s early Friday morning of last week. We're talking well after midnight. Aaron, more widely known to the Internet as the record-breaking streamer Bananasaurus Rex, is tired. Very tired. The 22-year-old has been streaming Spelunky for more than three hours, and it’s been nothing but a series of false starts.
There's no story behind his name. It's just cool.

But it only takes one false start to lead you to the promised land. For Aaron, the promised land is achieving world records in Spelunky.

(Aaron asked to have his last name kept private.)

Spelunky, more puzzle game than action game, is incredibly punishing. It trades on death, and most never see most of what it has to offer. The original Spelunky, designed by Derek Yu, was released on PC in September 2009. An updated version arrived on Xbox Live Arcade on July 2012, and has continued to grow in popularity alongside ports to the PC, PlayStation 3, and Vita.

Aaron was ready for bed. His streams start late, and a good run can take hours. He was ready to throw in the towel. Then, an alien plasma cannon appeared in a crate on the game’s first stage, 1-1. (Crates hold random items.) The mines are deeply familiar to any Spelunky player, but an uncommon place to find the game’s most powerful weapon, one that uncomfortably pushes the player back upon firing.

“Guys, I think I found something. Is this a good item? Should I keep it?”

Aaron is, of course, being sarcastic. And this sarcasm comes from a desperate place, as much of Aaron’s time playing Spelunky is not about breaking world records. It’s about restarting Spelunky over and over again, in the hopes the game’s mostly randomized structure will align in the precise way Aaron is hoping for.

“Guys, I don’t know if I can do this tonight. I don’t know, man.”

At this point in the stream, his enthusiasm long faded, Aaron doesn’t know that he’s about to embark on a nearly eight-hour overnight adventure that concludes with him breaking the world record for “scorelunky.” In Spelunky, “scorelunky” means a player is after the highest amount of treasure.

“How long until I throw it? Any bets?”

There are several sighs, as Aaron fires the plasma cannon over and over. Rocks explode, and pieces of gold fly back and forth. Aaron has been in this situation before, and there’s reason to be pessimistic. He’s been in the mines with the plasma cannon twice before ever, and both times he died. Since it’s so early in the game, he has very few items. That means avoiding the ghost--a heat-seeking, one-hit-kill enemy that can pass through every object--is extremely difficult.

But the ghost is required for an advanced technique called “ghost mining,” in which the game’s colored gems can be touched by the ghost and turned into valuable diamonds.

It's clear he isn't taking the run very seriously, as he makes erroneous jumps, losing valuable health in the process. He almost sounds disappointed the plasma cannon has shown up, knowing he has no choice but to see where this goes.

“I wasn't feeling a score run this late. But I’ll wait and see what’s on the next level for sure. I’ll wait and see. That I can promise you.”

The next 10 minutes are spent slowly but surely collecting whatever is safest. Aaron leaves 1-1 with $65,700, and proceeds to the second stage of the mines, 1-2. There are 16 stages in the main game. (That doesn't count Hell, but let's keep it simple.) The math driving Spelunky isn’t precisely known, but it’s suspected there is more than a 90 percent chance of a shop showing up on 1-2. Any shop won’t do, though. If Aaron is going to make a run at the world record, he needs a jetpack to show up at the shop. There is no guarantee of that. There are precious few guarantees in Spelunky.

“What, you guys don’t want to sit here for another seven hours and watch me do this score run? Trust me, I’ll throw it far sooner than that.”

There is an inevitability to the way Aaron talks about this run, as this will likely end like so many others.

“Oh, there’s a shop.”

Then, Aaron utters a long, profound gasp, followed by silence. The moment of truth occurs here at 03:41:16. (It's titled "Ignoring All Score Seeds Because I Am a Piece of Scum" because a moderator in Aaron's channel was mocking how little interest Aaron had in a scoring run.) But there it is: a jetpack. It’s on.

“Man, I’m gonna feel really bad when I throw this run. [laughs] Oh, god. [laughs] Okay, let’s get to work.”

Over the next seven hours or so, Aaron would go on to rack up $3,105,850. Spelunky designer Derek Yu was flabbergasted when he saw the new record.

“He achieved the impossible!" said Yu to Polygon last week. "As in, we were so confident that an over 3 million score was impossible that pre-patch, the game actually thought you were cheating if you submitted a score that high. I'm going to have to watch the video to see how he did it."

It’s not impossible for someone to best Aaron’s newly acquired record, but it would take another set of extremely lucky, extremely rare circumstances. The last record was held by another high-level Spelunky player, Latedog, at $2.681 million. But it’s not impossible, and it’s part of what keeps Aaron on his toes.

"Some people assume that means you don’t need skill. You obviously need skill to take advantage of that luck."

Aaron has been playing Spelunky since May 2013, and estimates he’s played nearly 1,000 hours of the game across its Xbox Live Arcade and PC incarnations. He’s not new to the speedrunning community, either, having once spent countless hours perfecting the 51 challenge levels in Portal 2. For a time, Aaron held the records for 48 of the 51 stages. But people kept catching up to him.

“When I had everybody else taking one level here and one level there daily, it felt like a job. [laughs]” he said. “I would wake up in the morning and I’d try to get the record on a new level, but I’d also have to retake the record on one-to-three levels, depending on how many people had beaten me on another level overnight. […] I’d be spending hours to get 0.005 second improvement on the same level, right? That eventually got old.”

For a time, he was playing Dustforce, and chalked up two world records there. But it didn’t last. Neither did Paranautical Activity, which he also, at one point, held a world record in. Just recently, he managed to set a world record for Risk of Rain, though he’s already thinking about the next try. There was at least a full minute wasted during that run, so there's improvement to be made.

But nothing has held Aaron’s attention like Spelunky.

“The progression is based on the player getting better,” he said. “I don’t, generally, enjoy games that reward you just for spending a lot of time. Take World of Warcraft or something. The best players have the best gear because they've spent the most time playing and getting that gear and stuff. Whereas a game like Spelunky, everybody goes in with the exact same things on every single run, other than the RNG [random number generator or “luck”] for the items that you get on the run. It’s just a huge window of skill, a huge range between somebody who’s just starting out and somebody that’s got a lot of experience.”
Aaron moved on from speedrunning Portal 2 was the feeling that it was feeling more and more like a job.

Part of the reason Aaron hasn’t been able to give up Spelunky, an attraction that has kept others coming back for hundreds of hours, is that anything can go wrong at any time. In Portal 2, every element of every level remains the same--always. That’s not the case in Spelunky, and it means there’s a certain element of luck that goes alongside playing the game. You can't be complacent.

“Some people assume that means you don’t need skill,” he said. “You obviously need skill to take advantage of that luck."

That skill is on display on a daily basis on his Twitch channel, which has become an unexpected source of revenue. He's uncomfortable with becoming an entertainer, even as his fans praise his talents. But talents they are. Aaron has leveraged his incredible skills into a profitable, budding career path. Aaron’s day job is a retail clerk at a family-owned corner store, but an influx of subscribers to his Twitch channel (at $4.99-per-subscription) has meant that he’s been able to cut his hours in half. And the channel keeps growing.

Aaron’s situation is helped by where he lives, though. Living in Newfoundland, Canada, he only pays $475-per-month for a one-bedroom apartment. Two-bedroom apartments in his building are only $550. Describing himself as a budget-conscious individual, Aaron doesn’t need a whole ton of money to transform his life, and make playing video games his full-time job. In fact, that's precisely his goal over the next six months.

Getting paid to play video games all day long? And people will pay for it? (I get this all the time.) It wouldn’t be a shock if Aaron’s family was slightly hesitant about a job that wouldn’t exactly fit on a traditional resume.

“They know all about it, and they all are genuinely really interested in it and think it's super cool,” he said. “My brother is constantly asking me how many followers I have on my channel, what new things I've achieved, and so on. My girlfriend, parents, and other close family and friends are always eager to hear what I have to say about it.”

Maybe there’s something in the water up in Canada. We could use some of it down here.

When Aaron started streaming, he didn’t even have a microphone. But fans asked him to start commentating, and he obliged. He even has a custom Xbox 360 controller for Spelunky, one that has individual buttons for the d-pad, so that he can’t blame errors on the standard controller’s notoriously subpar one. (This is especially important for runs involving the teleporter item, which has very specific directional uses.)

Though the plan is to become a full-time streamer, it’s clear Aaron is taking this newfound success day-by-day. Eventually, he’ll have to move on from Spelunky. People won’t want to watch him ghost mine forever. But it works for now, and if people have trouble hitting his records, he might consider moving on. For the moment, he’s interested in more obscure, difficult challenges, such as crushing the head of Yama, the game’s secret second boss, with the shield item. It’s never been done, but Aaron thinks it’d be fun to try and pull off.

(For the record, that's crazy talk.)

“In typical mom fashion, mine likes to brag about my achievements to her friends whenever she gets the chance,” he said. “They all think it's amazing that I'm actually making a living from basically playing video games and hanging out with a bunch of like-minded people. I'd have to say that I'm pretty lucky to have friends and family that are open-minded and genuinely supportive of the whole thing. I couldn't ask for more.”
Yeah, this guy is a Spelunky god. I think I'm a reasonable player, but he takes it to a ridiculous level.
Giantbomb interview with bananasaurus rex (around an hour long)

http://www.giantbomb.com/podcasts/it-s- ... /1600-783/
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