Comments on: Spelunky Tips

By: Veni, vidi, whippi – thoughts on Spelunky strategy | Bold and Dashing

Veni, vidi, whippi – thoughts on Spelunky strategy | Bold and Dashing — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 13:11:57 +0000

[…] how to do it. This isn’t basic tips or do’s and don’ts like Tom Francis’ blog post from a few years back but more of a general attitude with which to approach the […]

By: Veni, vidi, whippi – thoughts on Spelunky strategy | Boulder Dashing

Veni, vidi, whippi – thoughts on Spelunky strategy | Boulder Dashing — Thu, 04 Dec 2014 09:59:13 +0000

[…] how to do it. This isn’t basic tips or do’s and don’ts like Tom Francis’ blog post from a few years back but more of a general attitude with which to approach the […]

By: Pentadact

Pentadact — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 16:57:15 +0000

Huh! I’m getting an insane amount of spam that my spam filter doesn’t catch, so comments with links get held for moderation now. But I only just now approved that one, so I don’t know why it showed up for you at any point.

By: Jason L

Jason L — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 16:21:46 +0000

And it’s suddenly back and I look silly. What! It was gone, I swear! (I’d guess I boned a tag…? Whatever!)

By: Jason L

Jason L — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 16:19:28 +0000

Comment died without my notice, let’s see if I screwed it up or rephrasing/not linking helps.

If you’re playing the freeware Game Maker version, you need to pick up the object and then press P. If you’re playing HD, the version described here, the buy control defaults to Spacebar.

By: Jason L

Jason L — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 00:41:04 +0000

If you're playing the old free version (in which case I'll recommend in passing upgrading to '1.3'), you need to pick up the item, then press P while holding it. If you're playing the version described here, the sequel/remake Spelunky HD, the keyboard control defaults to Spacebar.

By: Brenda

Brenda — Thu, 06 Mar 2014 15:05:52 +0000

Playing with a keyboard, presing (P) to purchase does nothing. I tried every key and still no luck. I also tried to program a gamepad, but it was not much help either.

Please help ASAP,

Brenda

By: FTL tips | Word Mercenary

FTL tips | Word Mercenary — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 10:47:21 +0000

[…] little while back I read Tom Francis’ excellent compilation of Spelunky tips. I suck at Spelunky, but after reading those, I sucked marginally less, and now I’m going to […]

By: Pentadact

Pentadact — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 16:28:37 +0000

Climbing gloves are in, but the Xbox version has auto-hang: you hang on to everything you can if you brush it, unless you’re holding down. That makes them a goddamn nightmare – almost every time I get them, I’m killed by hanging onto something I didn’t mean to.

Worse, they’re an auto-pickup item, so sometimes I whip a crate or sacrifice something and I’ve instantly got them, like it or not.

By: Caleb

Caleb — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 15:16:23 +0000

I’ve only played the PC version (~2500 attempts, 2 wins so far), but are Climbing Gloves not in the console version? Or did you just leave them off your list of preferred items? Because My list would be Jetpack > Cape > Climbing Gloves > Shotgun… They allow for so much versatility, and especially when you have the cape but no jetpack they make the cave levels and such far easier.

By: Pariahpism aka Loner Boner

Pariahpism aka Loner Boner — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 20:42:59 +0000

I wrote a while back a pair of stories on Spelunky back when it was still Beta. I wanted to do four total, but it lost my interest. They’re a horribly dark and brutal take on the games shtick, which is one of my strengths as a person. They are still pretty enjoyable.

http://www.dailyvillain.com/gaming/?p=95
http://www.dailyvillain.com/gaming/?p=77

By: Plumberduck

Plumberduck — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 20:01:44 +0000

God, I love this game. It reminds me a lot of Valve’s “learn to play the game by playing it” philosophy, except turned toward utter sadism. There are so many things to figure out about the environment and the enemies and how they all interact with each other, and so, so satisfying when you can apply that knowledge to run flawlessly through a level.

Unless one of those #%$@#$ jungle frogs jumps into you and kills you. God, I hate those things.

By: The_B

The_B — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 22:27:07 +0000

Extra tip Tom – if the exit is indeed between two Tiki traps, make sure you’re already hitting RB as you land. If you’ve even started the exit animation, the tiki trap (and anything else -so handy for pissed off shopkeepers) can’t hurt you.

By: Pentadact

Pentadact — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 20:38:28 +0000

Oh yeah. Exit’s between two tiki traps? Gotta use a bomb I guess. Bomb missed? Throw another bomb! Out of bombs? Oh well, back to the mines.

By: Jason L

Jason L — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 20:23:37 +0000

Heh, yeah, from my own experience and a few hundred pages of the official thread Jungle’s definitely the difficulty hump. Sure, I’ve died quicker on the five occasions I’ve gotten to 3, but I can feel that’s just inexperience. Fucking frogs, man. Nowhere is safe.

Repeating from http://www.pentadact.com/2010-02-11-pc-gamer-spelunky-and-the-robot-apocalypse/#comment-261184 , when you’re bashing yourself against Jungle as I am, it’s really funny going back to Stone sometimes. I mostly find myself just truckin’ on through and walking into Jungle.

I’m oddly proud of the fact that I’ve never, ever, gone after anything between two spike totems or in one of the two-block pits walled by one that the generator spits out. In theory it’s no more dangerous than routinely climbing one; in practice it’s a way to instamurder yourself so stupidly that you’ll have to hurt yourself in real life.

By: Pentadact

Pentadact — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 19:35:08 +0000

211 I think.

By: Duncan

Duncan — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 19:31:07 +0000

Which issue was this in? I had a look through a couple of old ones when it went up on the site but I didn’t spot it.

By: Pentadact

Pentadact — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 19:17:21 +0000

Wow, Dark Black Market? I’ve never had that!

Humiliating how many times I’ve spent 3 minutes agonising over what to buy, only to fall on some spikes on the short bit of actual level you have to do at the bottom.

By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 19:07:18 +0000

I did actually find the Black Market yesterday, for the first time ever (mainly because I never know it existed until I started reading about the game). But I couldn’t afford anything cool. Also, they made it one of those dark torch-carrying levels, which made it hard to find my way around.

I do try to play cautiously, but I wind up being so cautious I run out of time and the ghost chases me and either kills me or forces me to flee which then kills me. Confound this game!

By: Pentadact

Pentadact — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 18:23:40 +0000

Haha. If it’s any consolation, jungle usually kills me too. If I survive that, I usually make it to the last world.

The main difference between how I play now and how I played when I started is caution, rather than skill. I still suck at everything, I’m just a lot more paranoid now.

There are at least three secret levels, only one of which I’ve seen in this version. I died immediately. One of them I don’t even know how you get to, I’ve just heard whispers of it from more experienced players who promptly went quiet.

By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 17:46:50 +0000

You can whip darts? Oh thank you. Thank you. I had no friggin’ idea. I absolutely hate darts, they constantly kill me and yet I constantly forget to look for the dart blocks.

Reading this makes me feel like we’re playing two different games. Spelunky, to me, is a four screen game that takes place in a cave, and once in a very rare while, I reach the final level, which, to me, is the first jungle level. That’s the entire game for me. I never survive long, or survive past the jungle. I read things about mummies and aliens and ice and it makes me feel like there’s a Spelunky 2 that I just haven’t bought yet.

25-45 bombs? Oh, is that a good amount? Once I had 11 bombs. I was all proud. Until now.