I first got Spelunky when it first came to XBLA in 2009, since then I've put countless hours into a game that, at first, seemed impossible to beat (this was back when I thought Olmec was the end goal). I even put it down after a few weeks of playing on and off because I stopped progressing, unable to move past the ice caves. I came back to it when Patrick started his Spelunking with Scoops feature, equipped with the knowledge of the black market and the Kapala playing Spelunky became a daily affair, and my vita became my Spelunky machine. When I finally vanquished Olmec I was conflicted, on one hand it had been one of the most rewarding victories I've had in video games, but on the other hand the path to Yama seemed downright crazy. And so began the dark middle chapter of my Spelunky saga. Beating Olmec was meaningless, I would jump on spikes if I burned through my ankh before getting to the statue in 4-2/3. I pushed on, finally reaching the city of gold only to be killed by a golden crush trap.

Eventually I rode Olmec's corpse to Hell, now the pressure was on, and one miss timed jump later I was crushed by a spike chain. My next milestone was entering Yama's lair, I was overjoyed, I'd seen Patrick's Yama kill and knew that the boss fight was pretty simple, I thought I could finally close the book on Spelunky. A certain spike trap had other ideas, and even though Yama had been killed at my hand, I did not make it to the last exit. A few more trips to Hell later and I was once again facing the ruler of the underworld, and this time I beat the bastard. I exited his lair grinning ear to ear, collected my 100 grand, and eventually died of old age atop a throne of dead shopkeepers. Derek Yu made one hell of a game, the depth of gameplay is unprecedented in an indie platformer, and the amount of secrets stuff to learn is refreshing in this day and age. I recommend it to anyone who has ever remotely enjoyed a 2D platformer. It holds a top spot in my favorite games of all time.