The original Spelunky – the free, low resolution Game Maker-made Classic version – is open source. That means it can be broadly modified, which is what Ukrainian programmer Vadim has done in Spelunky SD. The project merges features from the polished remake Spelunky HD with the lo-fi original, most notably adding two-player, online cooperative multiplayer.

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Oh dear, I’m going to have to buy one of those Xbone pads now that they’re PC-friendly, aren’t I? Too often lately I’ve scowled at a game only to find that it improves immeasurably when played with a gamepad instead. Last week it was Watchunderscoredogs (still a bit dull though, innit?), this week it’s indie Metroid/Spelunky mash-up Crystal Catacombs. All ready to dismiss it, I was, as its core wall-jumping mechanic was a miserable and oft-fatal chore when hung around the space bar, but now I’m rather taken with its odd creatures and caverns and its gently punishing aRPG qualities. … [visit site to read more]

If you’d rather not read spoilers on whether a cool mod exists, you’d better stop reading this sentence right now because – SPOILERS – it does. If you’d rather not be spoiled as to the name of that mod, you’d probably be better off not reading the rest of this post, really. Because – SPOILERS – it’s called the Blue Frog mod. It’s for Spelunky, and it turns every character sprite in that game – the player, plants, bats, exploding frogs, the ghost, everything – into the blue frog sprite. That sounds initially dumb, but actually it’s clever and great. If you don’t want spoilers as to why, you definitely shouldn’t read on.

… [visit site to read more]

Do you want to compete against your friends at Spelunky, the randomly generated platforming roguelike? That’s what the Daily Challenge is for; each day, a single set of levels is generated which is the same for everyone and which can be played only once.

But if once isn’t enough to satisfy your competitive urges, there’s now Seedlunky HD. The user-created tool lets you set a custom seed from which to generate levels, which you can then share with your friends while you continue to compare your adventures. (more…)

Some of you are going to think this isn’t news, but I want to talk about it anyway. Caster Bananasaurus Rex has completed Spelunky in a Solo Eggplant Run. Don’t know what that means? Come inside. Sit down. Let me explain. (more…)

If you’re anything like me, you’ve played so much Spelunky that you can close your eyes and generate new levels for Derek Yu’s roguelike platformer inside your own head. Here, look, I’m doing it now – bet on what’s going to kill me…

It was a frog. Sigh.

For a more technical understanding of Spelunky’s procedural level generation, take a look at Darius Kazemi’s browser-based Spelunky level generator and associated guide. (more…)

First there was Salty Bet, the 24/7 Twitch stream where AI-controlled fighting game characters do battle with one another in front of an audience who can bet on the winner with fake money. Now there is Spelunky Death Roulette, a similar wrapper for a group of Twitch streams where viewers can use fake money to bet on how they think the player will die. (more…)

Here’s some splendid news. Earlier this week I had a little grumblefest about the state of Spelunky’s PC port, with a lack of resolution options, and very poor windowed mode support. I also had a dig about the unskippable intro animations that were also a pain in the 360 version. Whether it was in response to my moaning, or something they were doing anyway, the really good news is that it’s all fixed! And as a result, Spelunky feels splendidly at home on the PC.

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First impressions are pretty important. Especially when you come sauntering over to the PC after a year of absence. Spelunky, beginning as a PC game, upped and left for the 360 as an advanced version last July. And it was brilliant. It’s now back, promising an even more advanced version for PC. So how is the transition?>

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Are you ready to be positively buried> under amazing games? Well too bad. Games are largely distributed via non-physical means now, and that’s a weird thing to do with them anyway. Take your sick, fetishistic disc orgies somewhere else. (Note: RPS does not actually discriminate against fetishes. Just physical media.) There are, however, a lot of brand new, positively excellent games suddenly populating our hobby’s infinitely expanding sea, and you should really just probably play all of them. I quite liked what I played of Papers, Please, the consolefolk enjoyed Guacamelee, and everybody with air in their lungs and a beating heart in their chest loves Spelunky.

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