Spelunker

Verified against the spelunky.ai port v0.1.10 on 28 October 2026.

Everything in the game happens around him: he starts at a level's entrance, and the level ends when he goes through its exit, carrying what he can ^{[2] [3]}. The keys that move him are on the Controls page, his hearts on Health's, and what hurts him on Damage and stun's; this page is about the character: how he moves, what he carries, how he dies, and who can take his place.

He walks at up to 3 pixels per step (90 per second) and runs at up to 6 pixels per step (180 per second) while the run key is held on the ground, or once attack has been held for 10 steps of walking ^{[4] [5] [6]}. A jump from the ground goes higher the longer jump is held, up to 10 steps, and farther from a run ^[7]; the Spring Shoes give it half as much push again ^[8]. Holding up while standing still, he looks up ^[9]; holding down, he ducks, and moves while ducking at a crawl ^{[10] [11]}. Down on a ladder's top climbs down the ladder, and on any other platform he can stand on drops through it ^[12].

Hanging. Falling against a wall with the key toward it held, he grabs its edge and hangs, if there's no block above the edge and none under his feet. The Climbing Gloves let him grab any wall, and a tree's trunk or an Arrow stuck in a wall can be hung from too ^[13]. Jump climbs up from a hang, jump with the key away from the wall lets go, and down with jump drops ^[14]. In the clip, he jumps at a ledge with right held, hangs from it, and climbs up with a jump ^[15].

Climbing and crawling. Up beside a ladder or a Rope climbs onto it ^[16]. Crawling toward the edge he's ducking on, he flips over it into a hang, dropping what he holds ^[17]. The clip shows both, in the tutorial: a ladder, then a crawl off a step into a flip hang, and a long fall that stuns him ^[18].

Water and webs. In water he sinks slowly and can jump out from its surface. A Web holds him nearly still, cutting his speed to a fifth each step, and each jump in it wears the web down ^{[19] [20]}. A ball and chain holds him within 24 pixels of the ball, so he can't climb away from it ^[21].

He holds one item at a time in his hands: down and attack beside an item picks it up, and attack throws it (Throwing) ^[22]. Equipment isn't held but worn: picking up a free piece, or paying for one, puts it on for the rest of the game ^{[23] [24]}. Bombs and Ropes are counts, which the item key takes out into his hands in turn ^[25]. His hearts, bombs and ropes stop at 99 ^[26].

Going through a level's exit, he takes a light item to the next level in his hands, puts an unlit bomb or a rope back in his count, and leaves a heavy one behind. A Golden Idol is cashed in, and a living Damsel is saved ^[27].

He starts a game with 4 hearts, 4 bombs and 4 ropes ^[28]. Monsters, traps, explosions and long falls take hearts and often stun him; while stunned he ignores every key and drops what he holds (Damage and stun, which has every source and its hearts). Stomping a monster and the Whip are his own attacks.

With no hearts left on a level, he dies, unless he wears the Ankh: his hearts are set to 0, the HUD goes and the game's records are updated ^[29], and "GAME OVER" shows ^[30]. His body still takes damage, and once his hearts are below −99 it bursts into blood and vanishes ^[31]. In the clip, he drops a Bomb at his feet and stands on it ^[32]. Attack or start then finishes counting the money, and pressed again goes to the high scores room, with everything cleared for a new game ^[33].

With the Ankh, he comes back with 4 hearts, "THE ANKH SHATTERS!", invincible for 2 seconds, and the Ankh is gone: at the level's entrance, or inside the Moai while it's active, or at a set place near the left wall in Olmec's Lair ^[34].

The deaths table. When Spelunky closes, it writes stats.txt, with a table of deaths by level, one by monster and one by everything else (rock, explosion, crushed, long fall, spikes, boulder, the traps, the pit and lava) ^{[35] [36]}. Each death is tallied by the code that deals it, on a real level only ^[37]. Some rows don't count what they say: the explosion row counts the blasts he survives, a few monsters' kills are never tallied (Damage and stun) ^[38], and nothing adds to the boulder row, as a boulder kills by crushing, which is tallied as crushed ^{[39] [40] [38] [41]}. A death adds to its level's row only when the player leaves the game over screen with attack or start, so closing the game on that screen leaves it out ^{[42] [38] [43]}. Pausing on the step after a monster takes his last heart, before his own step sees it, catches him still alive, and quitting from the pause then leaves the whole game out of the high scores too: its play, its death and any record it set ^{[38] [44]}.

Two doors change who the player is, and each changes him back the next time:

The Damsel plays as the Spelunker does, with her own sprites, and the Damsels to rescue become Spelunkers (playing as her). The Tunnel Man swings a Mattock in place of the Whip, only on the ground, and can't jump in the middle of a swing (playing as him) ^{[49] [50]}. Who the player is lasts until Spelunky is closed, and a new game starts each with their own hearts, bombs and ropes ^{[51] [28]}. In the clip, the Spelunker goes into the Changing Room and comes out as the Damsel ^[52].

On the title screen and in the high scores room his hearts are set back to the start's on every step, so nothing there kills him ^[63].

• The player's object is oPlayer1, and his code sets player = 1, with the comment "player 2 uses different keyboard keys than player 1"; there's no player 2 ^[64].
• His create event keeps two values "for debugging": how many levels an exit moves him on, 1 ^{[65] [66]}.
• A new game still gives him 3 flares, "not used any more" ^[67].
• His body is never destroyed. Eaten by a Mantrap, crushed, or burst into blood, it's hidden and held still where it was: "instead of destroying the player instance when dead, we occasionally make him disappear" ^[68].