Something went wrong. Try again later

Giant Bomb News

76 Comments

Someone's Beaten Spelunky in Under Two Minutes

Speedrunners continue to find new ways to shave precious seconds off the race to Olmec. All hail the teleporter!

To anyone who's played Spelunky before, this is going to sound totally crazy: someone has beaten the game in 1:55.35. That honor goes to Pibonacci, who used a combination of the jetpack, compass, and teleporter to beat the previous world record of 2:01.396. Watch the first two minutes of this video to see the madness unfold:

It takes more than a dozen hours to start feeling comfortable playing Spelunky. It's a game full of constantly shifting variables that will surprise even the most veteran player. That's what makes Spelunky so exciting, especially when it comes to world record attempts. It could happen at any time. For Pibonacci, everything fell into place when it came to items, and it's his expert use of the teleporter that even makes the run possible.

A little confused? Let me help.

If you piss off a single shopkeeper in Spelunky, they're all angry at you for the rest of the run, and they carry shotguns. When you're first learning Spelunky, you'll desperately avoid making them upset, but eventually, it's critical to grab items from the shopkeepers without paying for them. Pibonacci doesn't have time to collect treasure, nor wait for a bomb to blow up, so he uses a jump 'n whip technique that allows him to quickly disable the shopkeeper, grab his items--jetpack, teleporter--and move on. There are several techniques for stealing.

When I started playing Spelunky, I'd pick up the teleporter to mix things up if I was frustrated. The teleporter seems random, but it's not. The item moves the player a specific number of spaces in a targeted direction but it's entirely possible (and likely) to teleport yourself into an enemy or chunk of wall that's offscreen. That's what gets most people. But if you spend hundreds of hours with Spelunky, you'll begin to recognize pieces of geometry, and you can start making accurate calculations on which sections can be safely teleported through. That's what Pibonacci is doing here, using a mixture of gut and memory. Just blindly using the teleporter will, inevitably, result in death, but it's clear Pibonacci generally knows where his character is going to end up.

What really sets this run apart from any other run with a teleporter, though, is stumbling upon the compass. The compass allows Pibonacci to know exactly where the level exit is. It doesn't take very long to explore a stage in Spelunky, but during a speed run, every second counts. Each moment applied to the right direction is critical. It's unlikely he would have have gotten the record without the compass.

While it might seem crazy, watching Pibonacci's run reveals room for improvement. It's definitely possible to beat Spelunky faster than 1:55.35. The problem (and genius) of Spelunky is that it's not reliable. If Pibonacci was to practice this exact map layout over and over again, he could shave tons of time off his run, but that's not possible. Every time you head into a new game of Spelunky, you have to be prepared to realize this is "the one." There are tools that allow players to lock the map in Spelunky, but those don't qualify for records.

Someday soon, someone will beat this run. It might even be Pibonacci himself.

As for me? I'll continue to remember my greatest moments in Spelunky in GIF form.

No Caption Provided

Patrick Klepek on Google+

76 Comments

Avatar image for your_name_here
your_name_here

18

Forum Posts

119

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By your_name_here
Avatar image for larrydavis
LarryDavis

1698

Forum Posts

23

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 0

Great I guess.

Avatar image for silverbolt
SilverBolt

24

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Awesome run. Seeing shopkeepers get tele-fragged is the best.

Avatar image for mageemagoo
mageemagoo

276

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By mageemagoo

Can anyone tell me what that music in the beginning of the video is? Its so familiar to me and its driving me insane.

Avatar image for flippyandnod
flippyandnod

758

Forum Posts

2

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

I'm so terrible at this game.

And I can't tell you how many times I've crushed myself with a block when using the mattock.

Avatar image for ripelivejam
ripelivejam

13572

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Back to the vita version and dying on the first world repeatedly for me...

Avatar image for drakesfortune
drakesfortune

369

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 1

I watch stuff like this, and I can't understand why I can't get past the jungle. I watched Patrick play countless hours of Spelunky...and I just don't get why I suck at it so bad. I must just lack patience.

Avatar image for morrelloman
morrelloman

645

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 5

User Lists: 4

Edited By morrelloman

Pibo is a pimp

Avatar image for thiago123
Thiago123

745

Forum Posts

32

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 7

That music...and pewdeepieish accent...

Awesome feat though. Add one more Weltmeister to the week.

While the whole thing was phenomenal (everytime I touch the teleporter I instantly end up inside a wall), for a low level player like myself * I think the part I was most impressed with was the ease of which he took out the shopkeeper.

*- only about 300 runs between xbla and vita, beaten Olmec a few times but never reached Yama

.

Avatar image for quantical
Quantical

793

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Things like this make me feel like some sort of elderly tortoise the way I play (badly).

Avatar image for paindamnation
Paindamnation

875

Forum Posts

1

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

@jonkrag said:

@dasdude: He totally lost his shit for a couple seconds when he completed it though, but to be fair he deserves at least that.

So many years! SO MANY YEARS

Avatar image for hermes
hermes

3000

Forum Posts

81

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 7

That is insane. Just the idea that he can be so fast in a game with random generated dungeons seems mindblowing...

Avatar image for flameboy84
flameboy84

959

Forum Posts

53

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Wow what a run I'm still yet to remotely beat it.

Avatar image for rotnac
Rotnac

1265

Forum Posts

240

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 3

Edited By Rotnac

2014: Year of the Germans

Avatar image for jeffgoldblum
jeffgoldblum

3959

Forum Posts

4102

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 2

What a day for Germany.

Avatar image for peritus
peritus

1155

Forum Posts

175

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 2

Impressive! I managed to do it in 6 minutes and 39 seconds once. Thats more then 3 times as long! And i thought that was pretty fast.

Avatar image for y2ken
Y2Ken

3308

Forum Posts

82

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 2

User Lists: 28

@razielcuts said:

And he did it with keyboard controls, madness.

UGOUISDJFPSOIJDFPOKSJDF

Having used both extensively (pad when I first played on 360, then I played a bunch of classic Spelunky on PC so with the PC release I stuck to keyboard) I find the keyboard controls work waaay better for me. Just depends what you get used to I guess.

Avatar image for ett
Ett

300

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

If only Germany had won EVO they would have the Trifecta.

Avatar image for darthlex
darthlex

57

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By darthlex

@sethphotopoulos: It's the ending theme from Final Fantasy IX, "Melodies of Life". I fucking love that game.

Avatar image for skrams
Skrams

275

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 2

@chinaski: Yes, rerolling until you get that combo a lot of the time

Avatar image for chinaski
chinaski

38

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Doesn't this all kind of hinge on getting the teleporter and jetpack almost immediately?

Avatar image for evo
EVO

4028

Forum Posts

20

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 4

Wow. I'm still working on Speedlunky.

Avatar image for mithhunter55
mithhunter55

1104

Forum Posts

709

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 1

Patrick's ghost dodging skills were cool though.

Avatar image for plasmamachine
PlasmaMachine

260

Forum Posts

21

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 0

I bet he could've done it faster by initiating BatTechâ„¢.

Avatar image for jesterarbo
JesterArbo

95

Forum Posts

1082

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 11

Insane...

Avatar image for slag
Slag

8308

Forum Posts

15965

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 8

User Lists: 45

That was pretty tight, and make me feel crazy bad about my spelunky play.

Avatar image for herbiebug
HerbieBug

4228

Forum Posts

43

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By HerbieBug
@iwashcroft said:
@patrickklepek said:

@razielcuts said:

And he did it with keyboard controls, madness.

UGOUISDJFPSOIJDFPOKSJDF

Don't worry, Pib doesn't actually use the keyboard, it just shows those button prompts.

Now Latedog, the holder of the Hell world record, he uses a keyboard, but he hasn't played Spelunky much lately.

Ouga, WR holder for the 106% Super Meat Boy speedrun, uses keyboard.

I know it sounds mad but it's really just a matter of whatever you learn on and whatever works for you. The guy who won SFIV tourney at Evo yesterday, Luffy (Rose player), plays on a regular PS1 pad.

Avatar image for bongchilla
bongchilla

377

Forum Posts

16

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 2

Avatar image for fredchuckdave
Fredchuckdave

10824

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 2

Cool run, annoying voice.

Avatar image for spraynardtatum
spraynardtatum

4384

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 1

What a day for... Germany... I guess : )

Avatar image for bisonhero
BisonHero

12787

Forum Posts

625

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 2

"Don't bullshit me, 4-3."

Avatar image for generic_username
generic_username

943

Forum Posts

1494

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 2

User Lists: 7

@razatron said:

@nightriff said:

Didn't need the yelling at the end of the video but that was interesting to see and its making me want to play Spelunky again....

Yeah that kinda hurt my ears, nice run though.

I feel that he totally earned the yelling.

Avatar image for razatron
razatron

39

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Didn't need the yelling at the end of the video but that was interesting to see and its making me want to play Spelunky again....

Yeah that kinda hurt my ears, nice run though.

Avatar image for leadcat
Leadcat

333

Forum Posts

400

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 2

Impressive. I managed to defeat Olmec for the first time recently, but haven't even managed to make it to Hell yet.

Also I went and listened to Melodies of Life after reading this article.

Avatar image for razielcuts
RazielCuts

3292

Forum Posts

8

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By RazielCuts

Woah I had no idea you could even pull off that kind of craziness with the teleporter. I literally picked it up once, instantly teleported into a wall, and vowed never to touch it ever again, ever.

You're lucky it was a wall, I teleported above some spikes on a pretty good run :(

Avatar image for csl316
csl316

17001

Forum Posts

765

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 10

Edited By csl316

Guys, play more Spelunky on Vita so I have more people to play against for dailies (csl3l6 with two L's).

I CAN'T STOP

Avatar image for tehpickle
TehPickle

693

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

Woah I had no idea you could even pull off that kind of craziness with the teleporter. I literally picked it up once, instantly teleported into a wall, and vowed never to touch it ever again, ever.

Avatar image for mr_creeper
mr_creeper

2458

Forum Posts

13

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

@razielcuts said:

And he did it with keyboard controls, madness.

UGOUISDJFPSOIJDFPOKSJDF

My thoughts exactly.

Avatar image for peterdotorg
peterdotorg

77

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By peterdotorg

Thanks for the link about robbing shopkeepers, btw. I've only been able to do it reliably with the ice gun or in the black market, but I was just practicing the jump + bomb move and it works every time. Maybe that's an obvious move for advanced Spelunkers, but it's new to me. I only wish I knew it before getting the 500,000 gold trophy. It would have saved me a lot of grief and failed trips to the Mothership!

Avatar image for mike
mike

18011

Forum Posts

23067

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: -1

User Lists: 6

I can barely make it through 1-1 in under two minutes.

Avatar image for spiderjerusalem
SpiderJerusalem

230

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Fuck the World Cup, THIS is Germany's finest moment.

Avatar image for alwaysbeclothing
alwaysbeclothing

2077

Forum Posts

6765

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 2

User Lists: 4

Edited By alwaysbeclothing

....It took me 30 minutes to beat the game last time I did it. Congrats to this guy!

Avatar image for spiderjerusalem
SpiderJerusalem

230

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By SpiderJerusalem

You guys...this is fucking crazy.

Avatar image for patchmaster
PatchMaster

361

Forum Posts

107

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Dem teleporter skills. Damn.

Avatar image for katsu044
katsu044

309

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By katsu044

saw this few hours ago, i knew patrick was gonna write about it at some point :P

Avatar image for leftpersona
LeftPersona

53

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

@razielcuts said:

And he did it with keyboard controls, madness.

UGOUISDJFPSOIJDFPOKSJDF

Don't worry, Pib doesn't actually use the keyboard, it just shows those button prompts.

Now Latedog, the holder of the Hell world record, he uses a keyboard, but he hasn't played Spelunky much lately.

Avatar image for jimmyfenix
jimmyfenix

3941

Forum Posts

20

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

I haven't reached the ice caves yet :(

Avatar image for benderunit22
benderunit22

1978

Forum Posts

9567

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 6

User Lists: 1

Just gonna put this out there: Fuck Spelunky.