Spelunky (2012)

Spelunky is a critically-acclaimed roguelike platformer that will teach you to fear frogs and self-sacrifice.

This game is a remake of the 2008 freeware original, also called Spelunky. To avoid confusion, the older game has been officially called Spelunky Classic and this remake has gained the unofficial community name Spelunky HD.

Prototype Info Prerelease Info Debug MenuFour pages of menus that are still mostly functioning! Early Graphics in Normal MapsSome of the normal maps are based on much earlier versions of the graphics.

Unused Graphics#

Tileset#

Unused graphics from ALLTILES\alltiles.png.

Graphic	Notes
	Spelunky HD-styled versions of the entrance and exit graphics from Spelunky Classic. These graphics are used by the entrance (entity ID 2) and exit (entity ID 3) logic objects, but because they are invisible by having their alpha value set to 0, it is impossible to see normally.
	A stone sign likely intended to be a background graphic. This graphic is used by the Shortcut Station construction sign's logic object (entity ID 53), but because it is invisible by having its alpha value set to 0, it is impossible to see normally.
	A red arrow trap grouped with Hell's normal floor tileset. This graphic uses an early arrow trap graphic found in Ice Cave's graphics, but recolored red. This graphic has a few potential meanings: Arrow traps may have been in Hell at one point in development. The graphic may be a unneeded copy-paste from a different part of alltiles. The graphic may be related to the unused Flame Trap journal entry text.
	A blank background graphic tile for Temple.
	A blank background graphic tile for City of Gold.
	A graphic of a gargoyle statue with a human-like face. Two other gargoyle statue graphics are used for the top of the Haunted Castle, but this third one is unused.
	A 2000m sign intended for the level transition out of 5-4. This is unused because 5-4 is the final level; exiting this level ends the game. With the use of a glitch, it is possible to write the value 90 to the current level number, which causes the display in the Pro HUD to say 23-2 and allows the player to keep playing levels while the graphic for the depth sign in level transitions will begin cycling through part of the tileset. If the player then progresses from level 90 to level 276 / 69-4 and completes the level, then it will display the unused 2000m sign.

Mines (Used)	Ice Caves (Unused)

Grouped with Ice Cave's graphics is an earlier arrow trap graphic. This early graphic appears vertically compressed, causing the mouth of the trap to be shorter and wider. The early graphic also has lighter shading, unlike the final graphic's darker shading.

Items#

Unused graphics from ITEMS\items.png.

Graphic	Notes
	A graphic of a horizontal mattock. While a similar graphic is used during the mattock swing animation, this graphic is unique from it being aligned to the grid differently. This mattock graphic is similar to how mattocks appear in Spelunky Classic when resting on the ground and when held. Spelunky HD uses a different graphic when a mattock is resting on the ground or held that is rotated to make it look more natural.
	A graphic of a normal unequipped cape recolored red.
	A graphic of a machete. While a similar graphic is used as the default machete sprite, this graphic is unique from it being aligned to the grid differently.
	To do: This graphic is used by unused entity ID 158. If a player touches it, they take 2 damage, and getting killed by it uses the "Brain Damage" death cause. A graphic that resembles a slash effect with orange and yellow coloring.
	A debug graphic used to display the location and color of light sources in the level during development. This graphic is still used by the game for this reason, but the object that uses the graphic, entity ID 177, has the flag set to make it invisible. This entity ID 177 floats in the middle of the screen in non-dark levels, and is the main source of light in levels. This entity ID 177 is also used to make a certain background decoration in the Worm have a green glow; if this instance of this object is made visible, then the lightbulb graphic is revealed to be recolored to green. (Source for the use of the graphic in the game's development: u/tubbins on Reddit (Andy Hull, Spelunky HD Lead Programmer))
	An unused transparent copy of the trophy graphic used for Deathmatch. The actual trophy graphic used is in alltex\DEATHMATCH\dmbanner.png.
	It seems that the prize door for the Wheel of Prizes shop was going to allow breaking the individual halves with these unique sprites. In the game, the entire door breaks at once.
	A graphic of an unfurled rope in a wavy pose.
	A graphic of a horizontal black line.
	This icon was used in the Xbox LIVE Arcade version to indicate purchasable playable DLC characters. In the Windows version, these characters are naturally integrated into the game instead of bought as DLC. A lower resolution version of this graphic can also be found in alltex\ATSTART\hudelements.png.

Used	Unused

Like the Wheel of Prizes door, it seems that the Temple ceiling trap doors were also going to allow breaking the individual halves with these unique sprites. In the game, the entire door breaks at once. What makes these broken graphics interesting is that they depict a much earlier design of the door with different skulls.

Liquids#

Water and lava graphics are stored in ATSTART\water.png. Acid (and early lava graphics covered below) are stored in WORM\acid.png.

Graphic	Description
	Each type of liquid has an unused thin texture to go with it. The top two graphics are for water and lava respectively from ATSTART\water.png. The bottom two graphics are for acid and an early version of lava respectively from WORM\acid.png.

Early Lava Graphics#

The sheet that contains acid graphics for the Worm contains an unused early set of lava graphics. This likely happened because of a copy-paste from an early version of water.png. These lava graphics can be seen in the Spelunky XBLA Debut Trailer.

water.png (Used)	acid.png (Unused)

The lava graphics are internally darker because in-game lighting is used to make it brighter. Here is what the lava graphics look like in-game.

water.png (Used)	acid.png (Unused)

Because of how the acid sheet replaces the water sheet in the Worm, if lava generates in the Worm, it will partially use the unused graphics. The surface uses the used texture, while the full lava tile texture uses the early texture. Lava in the Worm can happen outside of normal gameplay if the Worm is visited in Temple or Hell. This is because all liquids share a tile code (a text character used in level generation to represent an entity), and what liquid to generate is based on the world number.

Monsters#

Unused graphics from sheets within the MONSTERS folder.

Hired Hand#

Hired Hands strangely have their graphics stored in the MONSTERS folder. The sheet is named char_slave.png. Some graphics go unused from Hired Hands not being playable, while some graphics become obscure or likely impossible to see from them being AI-controlled.

Graphic	Description
	A Hired Hand walking toward the screen. Playable characters use these graphics exclusively for the character select screen when selected.
	A Hired Hand looking up. While these graphics can be seen in-game, it only happens if the AI inputs up to climb something and fails to start climbing.
	A Hired Hand crawling. While some frames may be visible in-game, it is unknown if there is a situation where the AI may input a diagonal down input long enough for the full animation to play.
	A Hired Hand in the pose after losing a round of Deathmatch. While this is a rotated graphic of one of the used stun sprites, this is still a unique graphic.

Additionally, Hired Hands have sprites for the celebrate jump done after winning in Deathmatch. They appear to be a copy-paste from a slightly earlier version of the jump animation. The celebrate sprites have slightly different shading and details on the body, and the pants strangely have pink-purple pixels mixed in.

Jump (Used)
Celebrate (Unused)

Other Monster Graphics#

Graphic	Sheet	Description
	monsters3	Unused graphic of an Alien sitting in a purple metal seat. This graphic was probably drawn first and then copy-pasted into the Alien Tank's graphics to save time.
	monsters3	Unused graphics for Bats. The first four frames seem to be for a looping fall animation. The last three frames seem to be for crashing onto ground. Maybe at one point in development, Bats could be stunned and would use these sprites?
	monsters5	Unused graphics for Tunnel Man. These five frames depict him swinging his shovel. These sprites are similar in style to other monsters' attack animations, like a Shopkeeper's throw or a Tiki Man's boomerang throw sprites.
	monsters5	Unused graphics for Tunnel Man. These six frames depict him walking with his shoulder out, holding his shovel with two hands at his side, and with a slightly more serious expression. All these unused Tunnel Man sprites suggest that he was going to do more than just stand around at the entrance.
	monsters5	Stun / dead graphics for Croc Men. While not unused, the situation to see these is obscure and short enough to note here. Croc Men teleport to avoid any damage that is not getting crushed or getting frozen and shattering, so seeing these sprites for a dead Croc Man is impossible. The Camera item also does not work for forcing a stun. The only way a Croc Man can get stunned is by falling into lava, which will cause it to teleport and be forced into the stun state. Getting stunned this way does not set a duration for the stun, so the stun timer is set to zero frames, meaning the Croc Man will wake up instantly after landing. Depending on the Croc Man's momentum, the last four sprites can be seen before the stun ends. The first sprite of being stunned / dead on the ground can only be seen for one frame (in this 60 frames per second game) after the Croc Man lands but before it wakes up from the stun.
	monsters5	Unused stun / dead graphics for Green Knights. Damaging a Green Knight breaks the armor instead of stunning. The Camera item also does not work for forcing a stun.

Miscellaneous#

UI / HUD#

Graphic	Sheet	Description
	dmicons	In the sheet that contains the graphics used for Deathmatch level previews, a graphic for a landmine exists. While landmines can randomly spawn in Ice Caves arenas, none are guaranteed, making this graphic unused.
	hudicons	Very old HUD graphics left over from the development of Spelunky HD. These HUD graphics can be seen in the earliest public screenshots of the game, when the HUD was using a Spelunky HD-styled version of the HUD from Spelunky Classic.

Title Screen#

The background of the title screen, alltex\TITLE\temptitle.jpg, has an early version of the Spelunky logo that goes unseen from alltex\TITLE\spelunkylogo.png being layered over it. The only differences the early logo has are the top-right of the "K" being sculpted differently and the registered copyright symbol is missing.

spelunkylogo.png (Used)
templetitle.jpg (Unseen)

Trial Version#

Two images, nagscreen.png and trialscreens.jpg, for use in the PSN and XBLA demos.

Unused Music#

The music of Spelunky HD is stored in .ogg format in Spelunky\Data\Music, allowing all the music to easily be listened to. The full soundtrack was released on Bandcamp here, and will be referred to in this section.

Additionally, two copies of songs used by the game exist:

• An unused, slightly louder copy of the song heard in the first level when Quick Start is not used, A01_first.ogg exists in the Music folder. This copy is unused because the actual song played is adventure.ogg. This is track #6: Adventure begins in the soundtrack.
• An unused copy of the jingle heard when going through the door to the Mines, Lobby_jingle.ogg exists in the Music folder. This copy is unused because the actual jingle played is lobbydrum.wav, a sound effect. This jingle is unaffected by the player's music volume setting, further confirming that the sound effect version is used. This is track #1: Adventure jingle in the soundtrack.

Unused Sounds#

Additionally, a copy of a sound used by the game exists:

• An unused copy of the ominous sound heard during the camera pan up Yama's Throne at the start of the level, yamaamb.wav exists with the sound effects. This copy is unused because the actual sound effect played is yamaamb.ogg, a song in the Music folder. This "song" is affected by the player's music volume setting, further confirming that the music version is used.

Unused Text#

The English text of Spelunky HD is stored in plaintext in strings.pct in Spelunky\Data\Localization, allowing all the text to easily be viewed and edited. For every line of text presented, the internal string key is said, then the actual text is said on the next line.

Unused Journal Entries#

Text for a few journal entries not obtainable in the game exist.

A journal entry for a trap not present in the game at all: Flame Trap. This text is placed after Ceiling Trap's text, and is before Spike Ball's text. Note how the text has a typo from "shoot" not being plural.

IDS_JOURNAL_FLAMETRAP
Flame Trap
IDS_JOURNAL_FLAMETRAP_DESC
It shoot jets of flames in short bursts.

The trap was possibly implemented, but ultimately abandoned at a very early stage of the game's development. The design would have been similar to an Arrow Trap, but with a flamethrower-style effect of around three tiles' range, cycling between an on and off state.

A journal entry for the dead are restless level feeling in Jungle, revealing that its official name would have been Cemetery. Strangely, the string key uses a misspelling of cemetery using an "a" in place of the final "e".

IDS_JOURNAL_CEMETARY
Cemetery
IDS_JOURNAL_CEMETARY_DESC
This barren place is home for all manner of undead creatures.

A journal entry for the wet fur level feeling in Ice Caves, revealing that its official name would have been Yeti Cave. Note how the description text's first sentence appears to be missing a word between "family" and "yetis".

IDS_JOURNAL_YETICAVE
Yeti Cave
IDS_JOURNAL_YETICAVE_DESC
Home to a family yetis. No wonder it smells!

Lush Leftovers#

In Spelunky Classic, several things point to the second area being named Lush. Spelunky HD officially names the area in-game as Jungle, but it was going to be named Lush like Spelunky Classic. In the development of Spelunky HD, the concept of giving areas more interesting names like Lush was tried, but it "ended up not feeling right". This concept of more interesting area names was tried again and used in Spelunky 2.

Despite Lush not being the final name, there are unused strings that use the name Lush. There is enough unused text to replace every instance of Jungle with Lush, suggesting that this rename was done very late in development. The string key for Jungle's journal description still uses LUSH. The background graphic assets for Jungle are also stored in a folder named LUSH, using the filenames lushbg.jpg and lushsmallbg.png. Journal entry name:

IDS_JOURNAL_LUSH
Lush

Deathmatch level group name:

IDS_LUSH
LUSH

Level name displayed at start of level:

IDS_LEVEL_2_1
LUSH 2-1
IDS_LEVEL_2_2
LUSH 2-2
IDS_LEVEL_2_3
LUSH 2-3
IDS_LEVEL_2_4
LUSH 2-4

Unused Shop Text#

Shop text to buy an item exists for all items found in the Items section of the journal, including items never sold in shops. Strangely, there is even a string to buy an Idol.

IDS_BUY_ITEM_CRYSKNIFE
Buy Crysknife
IDS_BUY_ITEM_LASERGUN
Buy Plasma Cannon
IDS_BUY_ITEM_SHIELD
Buy Shield
IDS_BUY_ITEM_VLADSWINGS
Buy Vlad's Cape
IDS_BUY_ITEM_ROYALJELLY
Buy Royal Jelly
IDS_BUY_ITEM_IDOL
Buy Idol
IDS_BUY_ITEM_KAPALA
Buy Kapala
IDS_BUY_ITEM_VLADSAMULET
Buy Vlad's Amulet
IDS_BUY_ITEM_UDJATEYE
Buy Udjat Eye
IDS_BUY_ITEM_HEDJET
Buy Hedjet
IDS_BUY_ITEM_SCEPTRE
Buy Sceptre
IDS_BUY_ITEM_BOOKOFDEAD
Buy Book of the Dead

In Spelunky 2, Plasma Cannon, Shield (in the form of Metal Shield), Royal Jelly, and Hedjet would go on to be sold in shops, making the strings viewable there. Spelunky 2 constructs the shop text dynamically instead of manually defining a message for every item like Spelunky HD.

Unused Level Name Strings#

Some levels have unused text that appears in the top-left of the screen when entering a level from a different level name being displayed instead.

IDS_LEVEL_4_4
TEMPLE 4-4

Unused because the game instead displays "OLMEC'S LAIR".

IDS_COMPLETED_4_4
4-4 COMPLETED!

A similar string also exists for clearing 4-4, which goes unused because the level transition to Hell 5-1 instead says "LAIR COMPLETED!".

IDS_LEVEL_5_4
HELL 5-4

Unused because the game instead displays "YAMA'S THRONE".

Spelunky Classic Leftovers#

A few strings relating to content from Spelunky Classic exist and are unused. This suggests that the related content was going to return, but it ended up getting cut.

Tunnel Man#

Tunnel Man has text suggesting that the shortcut requirements at one point was going to be exactly like Classic: donating money instead of donating specific items over multiple runs. The * character inserts a line break into the text.

IDS_TUNNELMAN2
You can donate a little bit of money each time. I'll remember how much you've paid me.
IDS_TUNNELMAN3_1
So what do you say?*I still need $
IDS_TUNNELMAN3_2
 to build this shortcut.

There is also text to control how much money to donate.

IDS_DONATION
DONATION
IDS_DONATION_GUIDE
@L Change Amount*@A Confirm

Kali#

Kali's messages has one unused line. This text is almost the exact same message said in Classic when Kali rewards you by setting your bomb count to the maximum of 99.

YOUR SATCHEL FEELS VERY FULL NOW!

IDS_KALI_SATCHEL
Your satchel feels very full!

Shopkeeper Text#

Duplicate Welcome Text#

Shopkeepers have 26 possible names, and there are 8 possible types of shop. Instead of dynamically creating the welcome message for a shop during the game, every possible permutation of name and shop already exists in strings.pct. The list of shop welcomes includes an unused 9th entry for every name, which is just a copy of the used 1st welcome for a General Store.

For example, here are welcomes 1 and 9 from just Ahkmed. The only difference is in the string key, with 0-25 representing the name and A-I representing the welcome.

IDS_SHOPWELCOME0A
Welcome to Ahkmed's General Store!

IDS_SHOPWELCOME0I
Welcome to Ahkmed's General Store!

Unused Isolated Shopkeeper Names#

As mentioned above, Spelunky HD already has every permutation of welcome message for a shop in strings.pct. This is done instead of dynamically creating the welcome message during the game. The strings.pct file also has unused strings of all 26 Shopkeeper names without the welcome.

IDS_SHOPKEEPER_NAME1
Ahkmed
IDS_SHOPKEEPER_NAME2
Bob
IDS_SHOPKEEPER_NAME3
Cosmo
IDS_SHOPKEEPER_NAME4
Darwin
IDS_SHOPKEEPER_NAME5
Error
IDS_SHOPKEEPER_NAME6
Frank
IDS_SHOPKEEPER_NAME7
Garth
IDS_SHOPKEEPER_NAME8
Hakim
IDS_SHOPKEEPER_NAME9
Iggy
IDS_SHOPKEEPER_NAME10
Jimbo
IDS_SHOPKEEPER_NAME11
Kevin
IDS_SHOPKEEPER_NAME12
Lou
IDS_SHOPKEEPER_NAME13
Max
IDS_SHOPKEEPER_NAME14
Nacho
IDS_SHOPKEEPER_NAME15
Omar
IDS_SHOPKEEPER_NAME16
Pancho
IDS_SHOPKEEPER_NAME17
Quincy
IDS_SHOPKEEPER_NAME18
Ron
IDS_SHOPKEEPER_NAME19
Sparky
IDS_SHOPKEEPER_NAME20
Tarn
IDS_SHOPKEEPER_NAME21
Ulf
IDS_SHOPKEEPER_NAME22
Vern
IDS_SHOPKEEPER_NAME23
Willy
IDS_SHOPKEEPER_NAME24
Xorn
IDS_SHOPKEEPER_NAME25
Yoshi
IDS_SHOPKEEPER_NAME26
Ziggy

All the names match the used welcome messages, except for one: IDS_SHOPKEEPER_NAME22, which is Vern. The used welcome messages use the name Verne, which has an extra "e" at the end of the name compared to the unused Vern.

IDS_SHOPWELCOME21A
Welcome to Verne's General Store!

IDS_SHOPKEEPER_NAME22
Vern

This name oddity does not end in Spelunky HD, as this Shopkeeper name returned in Spelunky 2. The sequel uses Vern, which is the unused name from HD. The developers of Spelunky 2 likely looked at the unused name strings in HD, unaware that these strings are unused, and based the Shopkeeper names off of that. This resulted in the used name not returning, and the unused name finally becoming used in a different game over 8 years later.

Unused Death Message Text#

Text that is displayed on the game over screen describing the cause of death.

Odd death text related to Kali that is not the same as the text used when getting sacrificed.

IDS_GAMEOVERDESC_SACRIFICED
I offered myself to the Black Goddess.

IDS_GAMEOVERDESC_KALI
I was cast into oblivion by the Black Goddess herself.

IDS_GAMEOVERDESC_FRIEND
At least I made a friend!

This message was likely related to Hired Hands or unlocking a character mid-run.

IDS_GAMEOVERDESC_FAR
Alright! That was the farthest I've ever gotten!

A message that would have been perfect for dying after setting a new depth personal best. Spelunky 2 would go on to have a similar message for that exact situation.

IDS_GAMEOVERDESC_BREAK
Whew, I could use a break...

Maybe this message would be displayed to encourage taking breaks after dying a lot in a session?

To do: Dying to an enemy with an entity ID of 0x4BB or 1211 displays this death message with the one-line cause being listed as "Death".

IDS_GAMEOVERDESC_SLAMMED
I was slammed hard into a wall.

A message that would have been perfect for dying from the throw of a Shopkeeper, Yeti, or Hawk Man.

Deathmatch Group Names#

Deathmatch has unused strings for names of arena groups that are leftovers from the Spelunky: Arenas DLC for the Xbox LIVE Arcade version of the game.

IDS_ARENA_DLC1
EGG
IDS_ARENA_DLC2
LARVA
IDS_ARENA_DLC3
PUPA
IDS_ARENA_DLC4
ADULT

The Windows version comes with all the DLC and naturally integrates it with the game. The DLC arenas are instead unlocked by defeating certain enemies and are named after the enemy instead of the strings above. EGG, LARVA, and PUPA are unlocked by defeating Old Bitey, Yeti King, and Alien Queen respectively. What is interesting about this leftover text is that a completely unused fourth DLC group is here: ADULT. This suggests that the Arenas DLC was going to include 8 more arenas for a total of 32, but the ADULT group was cut. The name for this cut arena group also continues the name theme of the other DLC groups.

Miscellaneous Unused Text#

This text is placed after the "The sceptre fits, but nothing is happening!" text, and is before Anubis II's warning in City of Gold.

IDS_WRONG_KEY
The key doesn't fit in this door.

This text was very likely intended to be displayed when the key used to open the locked chest containing the Udjat Eye was brought to the locked City of Gold door. Nothing happens when this is done in the game.

This text is placed before the "SPELUNKY" text displayed at the beginning of the credits.

IDS_CREDITS
CREDITS

This text is not the same string as the credits menu option in the Help & Options menu, which only has the first letter capitalized instead of being in all caps.

IDS_HEADER_BOMBS
BOMBS
IDS_HEADER_ROPES
ROPES
IDS_HEADER_MONEY
MONEY

These strings seem to be for some kind of UI/HUD element, but are unused.

XBLA Leftovers#

There are a bunch of Xbox Live related text leftover in the Steam release.

IDS_ERROR_NOTCONNECTEDPOST
You are not connected to Xbox LIVE. Your score will not be added to the leaderboards.
IDS_ERROR_NOTCONNECTEDVIEW
You are not connected to Xbox LIVE. Please connect to view leaderboards.
IDS_ERROR_SIGNEDOUT
A player has signed out or changed gamer profile. You have been returned to the title screen.
IDS_ERROR_NOTCONNECTEDCONTENT
Sign in to Xbox LIVE to access online content.
IDS_ERROR_NOTCONNECTEDLOCAL
Sign in to Xbox LIVE to post your score to the leaderboards.
IDS_WARNING_NODEVICE
You have not selected a device. Your game will not be saved. Would you like to continue anyway?
IDS_ERROR_CORRUPTDLC
The DLC could not be loaded and may be corrupt. Please redownload it from the Xbox LIVE Marketplace.
IDS_ERROR_NEWSTORAGE
The storage device has been removed. Would you like to select a new storage device?
IDS_ERROR_CORRUPTSAVE
The save file appears to be damaged and cannot be loaded. Would you like to overwrite it with a new save file?
IDS_ERROR_BADSTORAGE
The storage device appears to be damaged and cannot be accessed. Would you like to select another storage device?
IDS_ERROR_CANTSAVED
The game was unable to save. Would you like to select a different storage device?
IDS_ERROR_FULLDEVICE
The destination device is full. Would you like to select a different storage device?
IDS_GUIDE_CONNECT
@A Connect to Xbox LIVE
IDS_GUIDE_GAMERCARD
@A Gamer Card
IDS_ERROR_FAILTOSIGNIN
You must be signed into a gamer profile to play Spelunky.
IDS_ERROR_AVASSET_FAIL
The game failed to write to your gamer profile. An Avatar Award could not be saved. Try again?
IDS_ERROR_TRIALAVASSET
You have earned an Avatar Award! Upgrade to the full version now to unlock it.

Miscellaneous Content#

Unused Kali Favor Values#

Some entities have unique Kali favor values that cannot be seen because the entity is impossible to sacrifice.

Dead entities are worth half favor (if they have a corpse that can be sacrificed).

Unused Health Values#

Some entities have health values that cannot be seen either because the entity is invincible or because the entity cannot be damaged with normal methods.

Oddities#

Items	How to Play

The How to Play menu in Help & Options features a bomb bag with a unique design. This unique design uses a white "B" painted on the bag instead of a bomb icon. The How to Play bomb bag seems to be a Spelunky HD-styled version of a Spelunky Classic bomb bag, suggesting that this is an unnoticed leftover from early in the game's development.

References#