Spelunky, a roguelike platformer

I found out my saves were gone when I played Spelunky, which launched fine, and saw that my shortcuts and progress were lost!

I didn’t uninstall. Was just playing it a week ago. And this is where I realize the save game was stored in the game directory under Program Files, and so my File History backup didn’t capture it! Because it’s under Program Files directory, deep within Steam and it’s sub folders, it’s also unlikely I’ll navigate into it to “accidentally delete” the save files!

It’s a small matter, I can still play and get my shortcuts to the Temple, but I’m curious what could have eaten my saves. I have to quickly backup my other stuff in case of a hard disk failures.

I don’t think Spelunky does cloud saves for it’s tiny save file, which is ridiculous.

I forgot that in order for the Tunnel Man to build a shortcut, say to the Jungle level, I have to run the Mines 3 times - give him a bomb, a rope and $10K. That means, I have to run so 3 times to build for Ice and 3 times for Temple… that’s a lot of runs to get the shortcuts going 🙄

And I need to build my Journals again to get the Journals accomplishment.

On the other hand, serious Spelunky players don’t use the shortcuts, so it’s not a huge deal.

I hear ya… the shortcuts though, are for my two kids who are using them to practice. We spent the weekend building all the shortcuts and is now stuck at the Temple one - the one where we had to bring the golden key from Mines all the way to the Temple. That’s challenging, to say the least.

I had my save file get lost but it was after 600+ hours of playing and I’d gotten most of the achievements so it ironically didn’t bother me much, but given it’s just a file I assumed I could google around and get a copy whenever I wanted - and sure enough, here is a thread that contains a link to one that’s “nearly” complete - if you don’t want to re-run for the shortcut unlocks for the kids.

Sorry, not Spelunky 2 related (though, I guess Spelunky 2 adjacent), but this tweet:

image

…led me to this crazy video:

Enjoy! It’s… madness. And amazing.

I love Spelunky, but the wealth of rogue-lite games led to me now seeing the cracks in the design:

  • Not enough useful items and item variety, which leads to runs being too similar if you get through the market.
  • The shopkeeper having the gun means you get the ultimate weapon right away, reducing a lot of the challenge.
  • Beating the shopkeeper is too easy, particularly in the alien caves where they kill themselves.
  • The market having a lot of items + the lack of variety + the ease of beating the shopkeepers means each run ends up with you being fully equipped, including a ton of bombs.
  • Secret-based gameplay isn’t good. You’d probably never figure out the way to Yama if you didn’t look it up.
  • Not killing the shopkeepers is almost never a viable strategy. There are too many resources to gain by killing them.
  • The bonus levels (worm, spaceship) are useless.

Despite my 450+ hours of playing, I’m still not great at killing shopkeepers. I do a pretty good job staying alive and taking care of them on exits, but I don’t piss them off on purpose. Maybe I should practice this more.

The hidden levels all have a (mostly) usable item you can’t get anywhere else. I actually haven’t gotten the knife from the worm yet, but have had the plasma gun and shield.

Still playing this almost every single day for daily runs and getting a little better each time. I haven’t beaten Yama yet (only been to Hell a couple of times).

Yeah, I was going to have the same reaction to “how easy it is to kill shopkeepers” and then having to duel with at least one and probably two on every level after. Getting the shield or the crysknife seems easier.

It really is far too easy to kill them, and they often kill themselves. Not that you can’t have mistakes happen, but the fact that there are surefire way to kill them is a problem.

Almost all the extra items aren’t worth it. The plasma gun will kill you way too easily, and the shield is simply not useful enough. The shotgun is extremely powerful and won’t get you killed. The crysknife is cute, but doesn’t justify risking the worm, which is genuinely difficult.

I am so incredibly bad at this game. I started playing it several days ago and can’t get past the 3rd level in the mines. I know I made it at least a little further when I played it years ago,

You can do it! Don’t stop! If it makes you feel better, my daughter could get to Olmec (almost beat the game) by herself when she was 5 years old. :)

It took me almost 200 hours of play to beat the game, the normal way. I still haven’t done it the hard way. This is 100% a game of player skill. You will get better, but you have to put in your time. I’m happy to provide advice or answer questions!

Ummmm, that doesn’t make me feel better… :-)

You realize in 10 hours (of total play from the release) I can’t get out of the mines?

It seems like most of my deaths are careless, like I don’t notice the arrow that is going to shoot me.

You dirty motherfuckers, this thread bump doesn’t have anything to do with Spelunky 2!!!

The feeling of getting to the Jungle, then the Ice Caves, finding the black market, the Dark Knight, etc… Spelunky is a gift that keeps giving, if you invest the time. I truly think it’s my all time favorite game.

The key, especially when starting out, is learning how to reduce your risk. If you see spikes, avoid them like the plague. Don’t tick off the shopkeeper. Don’t get greedy.

But the ghost and the diamonds! 😍

I have logged in a lot of hours into this game and I have not reached Olmec. But the sense of accomplishment when you beat a level is priceless. It made me happy and not many games do that to me.

If you played with another friend, it is much easier because if one dies, the other could resurrect the dead player in the next level. This is how both of my daughters are playing now.