Spelunky: Guide to the Mines

Spelunky is a roguelike platformer by Derek Yu, with randomly generated levels and one twist after another. And another. Beating the game is ridiculously difficult, and will likely take hundreds of tries per win, if you’re not careful. Careful. The motto of Spelunky. You must exercise massive caution before jumping off of a ledge, with a landing slightly out of reach. Be careful, or your fate could be a very impaled one. You must always look for arrow traps in the mines. Be careful, or you may never make it out alive. This repetition of watching out for ledges, traps, and other obstacles such as enemies, abysses, or the King of Hell himself raining skulls down from the ceiling will test some of the most quick-witted gamers out there, and has spawned speedruns and walkthroughs a plenty, quickly popularizing the game to the masses. You can also try virgin games promo. Some publications have even cited it as one of the greatest games of all time. But how exactly does one thrive, and, more importantly, win, such a tough and intensely stressful game? That is… a difficult question to answer. Instead, we shall start small: how to pass the mines, first. A lot of pieces of advice that you will acquire from the mines, will get you farther than you’ll ever imagine in Spelunky.

Traps: Traps are the biggest threat in the mine. Watch out for pesky arrow traps. They can make or break a run if you’re not careful. Spikes will continue to exist throughout your every run, and they are one of the few things that will kill no matter how much your HP reads as. Watch your head! If you are stunned it can be absolutely disastrous, particularly if you fall into those “lovely” spikes. When you pick up a Golden Idol, it will send out a boulder from the ceiling. I recommend you don’t stand near it when it does that. Preferably, use a rope. If you make it to the exit intact, the Idol is worth $5000. You can hang over a ledge to avoid falling, and to see what’s below. Fall damage can be taken in this game, as well.

Enemies/Entities: If you happen to encounter a Giant Spider, use a bomb to throw it into its web. You will collect Paste, allowing you to stick bombs to walls. Shopkeepers, naturally, don’t like stealing, or being hurt by their customers. If you do any of the above, any shopkeeper that you encounter (and you WILL, because they spawn a lookout outside of every exit once you have killed/stolen/beaten a shopkeeper.) following an incident like the above, will immediately be hostile towards you, and will develop some sort of instinct to shoot to kill. The other enemies, such as snakes, spiders, and bats, aren’t too threatening, so long as you have more than 1 HP. Damsels, which are peaceful, will reward you with a heart of HP, if you bring them to the exit. ALIVE. There is a sacrifice altar that accepts any corpses, including Damsels, and will pay you back in gifts, ranging from a Jetpack, to a meager Web Gun. Speaking of…

Items: You can find items in crates, or in shops. Crates can have any item (almost) in the game in them. Shops will not, but can carry items NOT in crates, such as an Ankh, but you don’t need to worry about that in the mines. But if you do see a key, it goes to a chest, which will net you the Eye of Udjat, allowing you to find the Black Market in the next stage: the Jungle. Don’t worry though, because that won’t be relevant for now. The mattock will allow you to break blocks without using bombs, and you will most likely find it at the bottom of a “I hear Snakes” level. If you see a jetpack, please get it. It’s value cannot be understated. Same goes for a cape. Other items, such as bomb boxes, and climbing gloves, are great, but don’t need as much explanation. Any item, honestly, is great. Just try NOT to anger the shop keep.

Over all, the mines aren’t too terribly complicated, and aren’t that important when compared to the remainder of the game. But, you still need to learn their traps, and enemies, and how to beat them in to submission. This guide is just the start, though. After all, learning is only half of the process. The rest is DOING. So get out there, and spelunk!