Great moments in PC gaming It’s a bite-sized celebration of some of our favorite gaming memories.
Spelunky
Developer: Mosmouth
2013
When I was young, inquisitive, and not very stubborn, I enjoyed attacking harmless NPCs. Like a screaming toddler, you expect a response, but you usually get nothing. The big exception to the general rule of NPC imperviousness is, obviously, Bethesda games, many old CRPGs, the Dark Souls series, and yes: Spelunky. Bless a game that punishes you mercilessly if you try.
It took me a while to realize just how deadly the angry shopkeeper could be. I thought. For example, if the store keeper can be killed, why does he own the store? Derek Yu says you can kill the shopkeeper, but only if he doesn’t kill you. Hundreds and hundreds of times.
What I love about the owner is his responsiveness. Give him a few light, playful lashes with a whip and he transforms into a lightning-fast war machine, sprinting and prancing around in supreme bloodthirsty fury. The accompanying music has been my ringtone for a while, and it perfectly captures the frantic cheerfulness of the shop rogue. (One thing he didn’t like about Spelunky 2 was the change in the angry shopkeeper’s music.)
Even after learning not to hurt angry shopkeepers, it doesn’t mean they won’t get angry. When the shit hits the fan and the shopkeeper cracks down on chunks, the blame always sits squarely on your forehead. If the Exploding Frog explodes within the shopkeeper’s residence, it’s your fault, of course. you Invader, you Weird stuff.
The bastard will chase you too. If you manage to anger the shopkeeper and escape, the shopkeeper will return at the end of the next level, stealthily guarding the exit door, driving you into a bubbling rage the moment the Doomed Spelunker comes within his range. If you can kill him: happy days. However, he tells all his other shopkeeper friends that an angry representative of the shopkeepers’ union is always waiting for you, ready to mow down you with a hail of bullets.
Owners are basically dangerous. But the better Spelunky gets, the more you know the point of killing him the moment you see him. If his shop also has a jetpack, there’s no question whether he should be killed. he should definitely be killed. There is a trick that can be stunned and easily subdued by throwing a bomb at a certain angle from outside the store. Many of Spelunky’s top streamers don’t even care anymore.
The angry shopkeeper’s wrath therefore becomes a tactic rather than a threat, a pattern that shows up again and again in Spelunky. Follow this gruesome path of forced shopkeeper death and you’ll end up marching to the black market. Seven Each one of the poor prairie carves out a business. Kill people one by one in a fun and tense cat-and-mouse game. Why buy when you can steal? If Spelunky teaches the seasoned player anything, it’s that life is short and cruel. More seriously, the angry shopkeeper neatly demonstrates his one of Spelunky’s core pleasures. Yes there are rules. Yes you have to follow it. But until you can ignore it.
