GotG Round 1: Dark Souls vs. Spelunky

Sorry Spelunky, I like you and all... but Dark Souls.

Yup, I think Spelunky is an ingenious game and brilliant fun but I gotta give it to Dark Souls, man. Solid gold pukka shit, one of my favourites.

am i alone when I cringe when I think of the relationship between spelunky and spelunker? that game has a long legacy of disaster.

there are better 2d platformers in this past generation then spelunky

Darks Souls gets my vote without a doubt.

Both awesome games but Dark Souls via slaughter.

Man this is a rough draw. I gave the vote to Spelunky because I've spent more time enjoying Spelunky than I have Dark Souls (which I really need to go back and give another try at some point) - Dark Souls does seem the right choice here, though.

Looks like Spelunky tried to fight the Asylum Demon on it's first go around. It's not going to end well.

Dark Souls vs Spelunky... Fair matchup. Also they are barely related!

Oh man, Dark Souls handily. Spelunky is good fun, but Dark Souls devoured my nights.

I fail to see the connection between these two games.

I think the more apt vote really should be Dark vs Demons souls right there you've got a divisive match. I fail to see how spelunky would qualify on a top 100 of the generation list. Its good but when were talking best of every game since 2005....

Oh Dark Souls, I once mocked you, now I love you.

For the first round at least I tried to get similar game match-up but that wasn't always possible. Anyway, the further we go along the crazier the match-ups are going to be, you've got to decide for yourself how pick between to totally different types of games.

Spelunky is a fun game. Dark Souls? Nah son.

Dark Souls is one of my favorite games of any generation.

There are only a few games this generation that would cause me to think about voting against Dark Souls since it's one of the best games ever. Spelunky is not one of those games.

Edit: Just looked at the full bracket and those are some crazy match ups right from the start. Half the games on the list I don't give a shit about and the other half are directly matched against each other.

I think both games are great, but I'm throwing my vote at Spelunky because it deserves the respect and I know it has no chance of winning this matchup.

I absolutely adore both games, but Dark souls by a mile. In fact, Dark Souls has a very strong chance of being my favorite game of this generation.

Spelunky, I'm sorry man. I fucking love you but I had to go with Dark Souls.

Ah, I really loved Spelunky, but Dark Souls is easily one of my favourite games this gen (second behind RDR, if I had to pick). So Dark Souls all day, every day.

God dammit, I fucking love Spelunky. Pitting it against Dark Souls is a cruel injustice, that game deserved to win at least one round.

But fine. Whatever. Dark Souls.

Here's my plea/eulogy for Spelunky:

It's a perfect game. It has a core ruleset which everything in the game adheres to. Once you've figured out the rules then you truly appreciate the depth the game has. I've played it for nearly 100 hours now across two platforms and I've yet to get the true ending or even discover most of the secret that game has to offer. It can be an unfair experience at times but that's part of the fun. When you pull off an epic dodge and, against all the odds, manage to escape a level then you get an incredible feeling. Basically, everything you like about Dark Souls in a 2D platformer with better music.

Spelunky is an incredible game as it has that Super Meat Boy like quality of constantly making me keep playing it despite how difficult it can be. I haven't played Dark Souls and I probably won't considering that it doesn't look like something I'd enjoy. I'll vote for Spelunky knowing that it has no chance of winning.

Dark souls man, no question! This one was a no brainer for me. I've sunk a good many hours into spelunky, but I've sunk faaaaaar more into dark souls.

Well this is a great way to start. The real question is when this match up came randomly (I figure it would be random?) why didn't you just shake your head in pity and auto advance Dark Souls to the next round?

@mracoon: But does it have a huge fucked up dragon who's entire torso is one large gaping maw? I think not!

A real Sophie's Choice here but I'm going to have to go with Dark Souls. I love Spelunky and all but Dark Souls sucked me in deep.

Poor Spelunky. I played an insane version of the original PC version around the time of its original release.

Spelunky is a phenomenal game, but it's Dark Souls! If I had to chose one game off the top of my head to win this thing, it's Dark Souls.

Dark Souls and Spelunky are both great because of their challenge and depth, they both create a countless number of stories for people to share with each other about their experiences.

But can you play Dark Souls forever? No. In Spelunky, the randomly generated worlds gives you an endless amount of new gameplay to explore.

Is the Giant Bomb community seriously going to allow a game with awful framerate issues beat a perfectly packaged 2D side-scroller that runs at a crisp, smooth, and elagent 60 frames per second? Shame on you, Giant Bomb Community, Shame on you.

Don't make the wrong decision again, Giant Bomb Community. Vote Spelunky.

This should really be Dark vs Demon's, in which case I'd vote for Demon's.

Sorry Spelunky, I love you, but Dark Souls is an indelible achievement, and is probably the game I've gone back to most this gen; probably the game I'll come back to most past this gen, as well. Well, it and Demon's Souls, but I'm not here to have that discussion.

Spelunky did absolutely nothing for me. It's one of the few games I regret allowing the hype to get the better of me. Just... boring.

Not even a close choice. Dark Souls. I imagine with the love it gets from this community it'll go pretty far in this competition.

This is not really a fair matchup.

Daaaaaaaark Sooooooooooulssssssss.

Meh, this is why these topics rarely make sense.

Dark Souls is the game of the generation for me. The road to victory starts here!

I voted for Spelunky for two reasons. First: principle. Second: just to see how badly Dark Souls was wiping the floor with it.

Dark Souls.

Haven't played Spelunky but i've seen enough to know it wouldn't hold my interest for that long.

Spleunky is pretty awesome but Dark FUCKING Souls wins this.

I have had way more fun playing Dark Souls than Spelunky.

Dark Souls annihilates Spelunky. It's unlike any other game that came out this generation (except for Demon's Souls of course).

The Real Vote Poll Starts here

this isnt even a contest.

dark souls all the way.

I voted Spelunky because I'm right.

Not even a little competition here. Dark Souls wins this easy.

Spelunky is hella fun, but I stalled on getting the shotgun to open the shortcut to third(?) world. Dark Souls was one of the finest experiences I had this gen.

Dark souls, I love how I feel like I'm playing a game from my childhood again. Death is a real thing (punishing at times and never trivial), you can outsmart the game, the story is what you make of it, you are not being led through a narrative but instead learning to cope and survive in a inhospitable environment. It's like an early 90's game updated and improved. Best game of the generation (for me!).