Spelunky (with Woody Ciskowski)

It belongs in a museum! For our listener request week and the landmark 75th episode, we cover one of the foundational early roguelikes with Spelunky! Released in 2012 on the Xbox Live Arcade as a full-scale HD remaster of the 2008 freeware hit, Spelunky marked the watershed moment of stealing fire from the Berlin Roguelike gods and applying it to platformers. It’s undeniable legacy looms large, but does the nostalgia factor still stand strong? Will the hosts go hollow trying to make THIS one THE run? I mean, even the great Liz Mutton had to fall on a spike or two, right? Custom RSS Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube Music Transcript 1:10 - game stats 4:35 - one sentence description 6:14 - Thesis about Spelunky as definitive video game 8:14 - Historical context of roguelike games pre-Spelunky 11:20 - Game difficulty and bounce-off rates discussion 16:14 - Comparing Spelunky difficulty to Dark Souls games 19:35 - Standard run walkthrough and tutorial explanation 28:47 - Controls mastery and engagement requirements 36:25 - Biome progression and level design philosophy 43:07 - Shopkeeper mechanics and vindictive AI behavior 54:02 - Olmec boss fight and final temple challenges 1:06:53 - Hell runs and eggplant challenge explanation 1:28:57 - Spelunky 2 comparison and sequel discussion 1:31:30 - Community feedback and player perspectives 1:41:11 - rankings and final thoughts 1:53:06 - similar games Next episode: Elden Ring Nightreign Contact us at [e-mail]! https://grogpod.zone Intro music: Herbie Hancock - Thieves in the Temple Outro music: Eirik Suhrke - Temple A