Monkey

Verified against the spelunky.ai port v0.1.10 on 27 October 2026.

Level generation puts Monkeys on the vines of the Jungle. A Monkey climbs up and down its vine until the player passes below, then leaps down at him and jumps about until it lands on him. It doesn't bite: it clings to his back for a second or two, then trips him or throws away some of his money, a rope or a Bomb. With 1 hit point, it dies to any damage.

On a vine. A Monkey starts out hanging from a vine. It climbs up it at 1 pixel per step to the vine's top, hangs there for 10–40 steps (0.33–1.33 seconds), climbs down to the bottom, hangs again, and so on ^{[5] [6]}. While it climbs, if the player is below it and within 64 pixels of it, counting from the edges of the two, it leaps off toward him, across at 3 pixels per step and up at 2–4, and can't catch hold of a vine again for 30 steps ^[7]. In the air, it catches the first vine or ladder it meets, once those 30 steps are up, or lands ^[8].

On the ground. When it lands, it stands for 10–40 steps, then walks at 2 pixels per step (60 per second), turning at walls and stopping for 20–50 steps with a 1 in 100 chance each step ^[9]. Whenever it's standing still and the player is within 64 pixels, it jumps at him, up at 4–5 pixels per step and across at 2, and chatters as it leaves the ground ^{[10] [11]}. Unlike a climbing Monkey, it jumps at a player above it too.

Clinging. When a Monkey touches the player, within 4 pixels of its middle across, and he isn't invincible, it grabs him and holds on, moving with him, for 40–80 steps (1.33–2.67 seconds) ^{[12] [13]}. Then it does one thing ^[14]:

If none of those applies, it takes nothing. Either way it then leaps off away from him and can't grab him again for 60 steps (2 seconds) ^[20]. The clip shows a Monkey leaping off its vine, jumping onto the player and throwing away one of his bombs, then jumping on him again and throwing away a rope.

The money it throws out is worth what it took: a Gold Nugget is worth $500, plus a quarter of that for each area after the Mines, when it's picked up, the same sum the Monkey takes ^{[21] [22]}.

The player can shake a Monkey off by flipping down from a ledge to hang from it, and leaving the level through its exit throws one off too ^{[23] [24] [25]}.

Items. A Monkey knocks away any item that touches it while it isn't clinging to the player, at most once every 60 steps (2 seconds): the item flies off the way the Monkey faces at 5 pixels per step, and up ^[26].

Like most monsters, a Monkey only acts while it's on screen or just off it ^[27].

A Monkey never takes the player's hearts. Its touch code replaces the one most monsters share and has no damage in it: touching a Monkey either stomps it or lets it grab him ^[28]. What it can cost him is what it takes (above), the fall after a trip, and a lit bomb it throws away, whose explosion hurts him like any Bomb's.

A Monkey has 1 hit point, so any damage kills it ^[29]:

Monkeys killed count toward the player's kills, and the screen between levels draws a Monkey icon for each ^{[39] [40]}. One that Spikes, Lava or a Spear Trap killed doesn't count ^{[41] [42] [43]}.

Level generation makes Monkeys only in the Jungle, on its vines: each vine block has a 1 in 15 chance of one ^[44].

Custom levels can have them, as the level editor's tile m ^[45].

• A Monkey on a vine only leaps at a player below it, so passing above or level with it is safe until it comes down.
• A Monkey takes nothing a player doesn't have: with no money to spare, no ropes and no bombs, its grab only costs time, or a trip.
• Flipping down from a ledge to hang from it throws off a Monkey that's holding on.
• A clinging Monkey can't be stomped, and while it's on the player's back, it moves with him.

• The Monkey's touch code is a copy of the one most monsters share, first line included, a comment that names other monsters:

  // jumped on - oCaveman, oManTrap replaces this script with its own

• Monkeys have a kill count of their own, which a comment says "is for stats", rather than a slot in the monsters' kill counts: the kills table the game writes to stats.txt adds it as a row after the Frog's ^{[46] [47]}.

• Its code names a drowned state that nothing ever puts it in, and has a commented-out line, copied from the Frog's, that would have played the Frog's croak when it jumps ^{[48] [49]}.