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?

• 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

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https://grogpod.zone

Intro music: Herbie Hancock - Thieves in the Temple

Outro music: Eirik Suhrke - Temple A