Hello, this is The Gemsbok, and today's topic is Spelunky HD, a game developed by
Mossmouth and originally released in 2012.
The first version of Derek Yu's Spelunky, a platforming game about exploring
a heavily randomized and inhospitable treasure-packed cave system, appeared as
a freeware game in 2008, and it soon became a beloved piece of software for
many gamers in the know, including acting as one of the biggest influences on
Edmund McMillen's design for the original Binding of Isaac. Derek Yu then
turned his attention, enlisting the help of Andy Hull under the Mossmouth heading,
to producing a ground-up HD remake of Spelunky, and its release garnered a
victory in the design category of 2012's IGF, followed by PC gamer naming Spelunky's
PC release their 'Game of the Year' for 2013. That second accolade resulted in a
fair amount of controversy, with gamers all over the internet commenting
concerns about how a simple 2D indie game could possibly beat all of the
massive studio games that released on PC in 2013, including Dead Space 3, Crysis 3,
the Tomb Raider reboot, DotA 2, Metro: Last Light, Rayman Legends, Assassin's Creed 4,
and BioShock Infinite. If you've been following this channel, then you've
already got a pretty good idea of my personal reaction to those negative
comments. Principally, I was forced to assume that most of those commenters
were merely judging the game by its cover art, as it were, and had not
actually played it. As it stands, I would not only concur that Spelunky was the
best game released in 2013, but I would go yet further and say that Spelunky is
one of the best games I have ever played. To explain why, I will now compare
Spelunky to what is perhaps the quintessential platformer, the original
Super Mario Bros.
In that PC Gamer article mentioned earlier, editor-in-chief Evan Lahti had
this to say: "Spelunky is our Mario. It hasn't had the same impact (although it's
fun to imagine what gaming would be like if Spelunky had been released in '85),
but it's far and away the most important platformer to ever grace the PC. As an
FPS player, what I appreciate most is how well tuned the subtleties of movement,
distance and danger are in Spelunky." Now, I would not necessarily agree with the
phrase "far and away" there, as I consider Tommy Refenes and Edmund McMillen's Super
Meat Boy a not-too-distant second, and an extensive list of other great 2D indie
platformers not too far further. But otherwise his comparison is totally apt;
what the original Super Mario Bros. provided in terms of challenge, level
design, and secrets, Spelunky satisfyingly delivers. I may have confused some
viewers just now when I switched from complimenting Spelunky's game design to
complimenting Spelunky's level design, as, you may be aware, Spelunky is
partially a roguelike and it's individual level layouts are randomized.
In what sense, then, is the level design as strong as that in Super Mario Bros.?
Well, to simply label it random is to be a bit misleading. There are a huge number
of individually designed level pieces, which are shuffled and slotted together
to make each runs levels. These level chunks had to be designed in such a way
that they would fit together in almost any orientation and remain both
navigable and interesting. Moreover, each of the game's five principal sections
have their own design styles—not just aesthetics—so that making your way
through the densely constructed and threatening jungle, for instance, feels
totally different from leaping through the expansive and looser ice caves. For
all of its randomization, Spelunky remains a game with a carefully
established gameplay rhythm and carefully governed level design logic.
But Spelunky having similarly careful level construction to Mario is certainly
not where the comparison ends. Before returning to closer analysis, it is
interesting to note the various ways in which Spelunky actually has a lot of
surface-level overlap with classic Mario: both games feature a platforming
adventurer who breaks blocks; both characters face hordes of enemies with
simple and clearly defined movement logic, rather than intricate AI; both
defeat many of those enemies by jumping on their heads; both can cross one-tile
gaps when the run button is held; both can access later areas of the game via
shortcuts; both rescue damsels and bachelors in distress; both seek refuge
in tunnels; and both ultimately defeat the end boss by dumping it into a pit of
lava. Now, moving on to the controls, it is no surprise to me that Derek Yu cites
the Super Mario Bros. series as one of Spelunky's biggest feel influences, as
the care that went into the physics and controls of Spelunky are reminiscent of
Nintendo's work at its very best. The character's movements are responsive and
weighty, with a predictable-yet-controllable jump height. The jump height in question is
considerably smaller than is the jump length, making ascent inconvenient and
reinforcing the game's downward momentum. The feeling of moving through the world
in Spelunky is smooth and predictable, and I think these aspects of the
movement are what Evan Lahti meant when he mentioned the movement being "well
tuned." As for tone, there is a feeling when you pick up a Nintendo franchise
for the first time that you are in for something that is purely about joy. This
is not to say the Nintendo games are always easy, although they often are. But
beating Super Mario Bros. without warp zones is challenging; beating The Legend
of Zelda without a walkthrough is challenging; getting the best ending in
the original Pikmin is challenging. It's less about whether a game is tough, as
there are great games across all levels of difficulty. It's more about whether a
game is fun. In such Nintendo titles, story is secondary to mechanics and
thematic content is secondary to cultivating immediate player happiness.
Nintendo's art assets are often bright and cartoonish, their color palettes
often warm, and their music often jaunty and upbeat. There are a few notable
exceptions, like Metroid, but those are nevertheless the conventions that
dominate Nintendo's offerings. Spelunky has that same joyous light-hearted tone
and aesthetic design. Don't get me wrong: I am the first person to rush to the
defense of great games that are not conventionally fun or entertaining. But
that does not preclude me from relishing both. Just as I can enjoy the
films of John Landis on some occasions, and the films of David Lynch on other
occasions, so I would like to play games with a wide variety of genres, mechanics,
and ambitions. Sure, I can imagine a close reading of Super Mario Bros. as being
some kind of allegory for romantic aspirations, and I can imagine a close
reading of Spelunky as having something to say about the difficulty, absurdity,
and potential cultural atrocities of acquiring wealth. But unlike when playing
a game like Dark Souls or Infinifactory or Spec Ops: The Line, I do not feel
compelled by Spelunky to consider its sparse, loosely implied thematic content
while playing. In the case of Spelunky and Mario and all of their lesser
relatives, these potential thematic functions are extrapolations from (or at
least, subdued psychological implications of) a set of attributes which more
readily appear to provide a mechanism for imparting a simple, satisfying, fun
experience—an adventure. And in that regard, they never disappoint.
In this section, I will be discussing the ways in which Spelunky differs from Super Mario
Bros. As I've already discussed at some length, however, the randomized levels and
high difficulty are not really big differences between the two at all. The
key difference between Spelunky and the Mario series, then, is not in the game's
roguelike elements. It is worth pointing out that the lives in Super Mario Bros.
are as scarce as health in Spelunky, and that running out of them does indeed
send you all the way back to the very beginning. Insofar as there is any big
difference between the two, it resides in Spelunky's straying from Super Mario
Bros.' purity, where Mario's only mechanic, except for his occasional powerup or
swimming segment, is his platforming. What Spelunky gives up in terms of fidelity
to platforming, however, is more than made up for by the quality of the three
primary additions that are made. First, there is the item system, which
grows organically from Spelunky's highly interactive environments. The rope
and bomb resources, and the arsenal of upgrades and active items, add additional
texture to different runs while opening up the gameplay into something
constantly malleable. Furthermore, the items themselves are often balanced in
some fashion—like the lightning fast but dangerously unwieldy teleporter—and may
have hidden benefits—like the kickback of the projectile weapons allowing for
precise high jump. Second, there is Spelunky's extensive network of secrets.
Mario's various shortcuts and bonuses pale considerably in comparison to the
hidden depths of Spelunky. Everything from a haunted castle to a sacrifice
mechanic to the game's true final boss to several more bizarre regions and
elements are interspersed into the levels with varying degrees of
hiddenness. These secrets are enmeshed into the game in such subtle-yet-
discernible ways that they expand the longevity of the game's intrigue without
harming the impeccable cohesion of the base game. Third, one area where Spelunky
may even be said to surpass Super Mario Bros. (if you will forgive such blasphemy)
is in its scoring mechanic, which feels much more fleshed out and integrated
into gameplay than Mario's score counter ever did. In addition to feeling
perfectly matched to the game's chosen aesthetic, the treasure doubling as the
score incentivizes the player to take on the considerable extra risk of robbing
the game's zealous, violent shopkeepers. Further, the high-risk-high-reward
practice of ghosting gems, which means using the one-hit-KO ghost enemy to turn
gems into valuable diamonds, opens the door for dedicated players to optimize
their runs beyond all reason.
Spelunky also boasts several non- essential but amazing features, including
frustratingly wonderful local co-op, intimidating daily run leaderboards, and
a frenetic local deathmatch mode. In closing, it is a testament to the
excellence of this game's design that I could spend this entire video with
barely more than a nod toward the game's graphics and music, which are thoroughly
appropriate to the game's mix of light-hearted fun and mysterious
adventure, and which complete the crisp execution of this flawless title. That a
game with this caliber of gameplay and this level of cohesive execution could
be the work of one or two human beings makes it all the more embarrassing that
entire teams of people often produce significantly worse games. In addition to
its mastery of Derek Yu's preferred parts of the Mario formula, Spelunky
draws on strengths from greats like La Mulana and Castlevania, with a heaping
helping of its own original style and substance. It is a game where a win is
truly earned, and it is a game which I am always proud to beat. It is a game that is
different every time, but in which no element ever seems out of place. Spelunky
is a clean execution of a top-notch design, and anyone who has ever enjoyed a
platforming game would be doing themselves a tremendous disservice if
they never play it.