some of this i've learned even after 100+ hours of play (some of this has been covered in the daily videos)

• small animals (rat, smal frog, penguin, cricket) will take an arrow blow (just like a damsel does) without you taking any damage
• you can 'borrow' any weapon (aside from a boomerang) from the shopkeeper and fire it outward without him going crazy. It's a very rare scenario, but you might be short on cash and have a giant spider on the exact same horizontal level while a shotgun is for sale. Pick it up, fire it outward, kill the spider, drop the gun an walk out and the shopkeeper is fine. I've tested every projectile weapon, and only boomerangs (and bombs) will instantly set him off.
• You can deposit the damsels in a different door than the one you exit and still get the +1 kiss. This includes tossing them into the worm, mothership, etc, and even when killing yourself while eqipped with the ankh. If they are located near an exit different than the one you plan on using, it's a very easy way to 'bank' that +1 for later. Max pointed this out (via chat) to Patrick recently.
• You can fall from *any* distance without taking fall damage as long as you land hanging onto the edge of something (or bounce off the top of an enemy). The 'hanging on the edge' trick can regularly be done intentionally, the enemy one is trickier but definitely intentionally doable. A randomnly placed enemy can sometimes save your bacon on a very long fall.

Don't get hit.

Neat, I did not know that animal trick and will tr it next time I play.

Hm, I never thought about the ledge grabbing. That might be a bit tricky, but good to know.

Practice ghost running. Get comfortable with the ghost stalking you and make sure to carry any chests/pots to lower levels to make things easier. Max tried to claim is was "too boring" to do when actually the max you will spend is an extra minute kiting the ghost around. I regularly walk out of the mines with ~40 thousand collected. Its worth it early on as it helps you stock up on items without pissing off the shopkeepers before the black market. Its also a must if you don't want to piss off the shopkeepers at all.

Pick up the spring shoes whenever you can to familiarize yourself with them. The springs+gloves combo can really help you when you're low on ropes.

Never walk on the same level as an angered shopkeeper, unless you have a shotgun that you can spam. Otherwise you will die.

When you have a ton of bombs and come across a particularly devious trap location just bomb the hell out of it.

And if you haven't already, help out tunnel man if only to learn all different level types and enemies in the ice caves and the temple.

I actually found out that falling trick by myself fairly early on. The damsel exit trick I discovered by accident when I deposited the pug in the level's actual exit on my way to the black market exit. I figured I lost the +1 heart but he showed up in the hall anyways to plant a big wet one on me.

Tip: Best way to try and avoid skeletons is to jump on bone piles. Bones that will turn into a skeleton will automatically break when you jump on them, before the assemble animation even takes place, and that can help you to avoid taking damage by landing next to one and having it walk into you or you just assuming it's just a pile of bones and try to pick up the skull.

Use a proper D-Pad. I used the analog stick on the 360 controller but it's just not quick enough, especially when you routinely use "ledge hanging" instead of "ledge manteling" (the latter makes you throw away things you carry). I used a SF4 pad (not a stick) and remapped the buttons.

Free jetpack in Alien ship-wreck variation in ice caves. It's behind the Alien Lord in the earth.

Go into worm lvl if you're low on loot. Only do it in the first lvl of ice caves cause you might miss the black market if you do it in the jungle.

You can run through spikes if you are level with them. Also, if you have a "small gap" (I think it's half a block), you can run from one block to the other without falling.

2 words: bat tech.

The best way to beat Spelunky, is to not play Spelunky.

You can collect blood from the small fish. Just pick it up like any other small animal and jump out of the water and it will die.

Ghost mine the ice caves. It's wide open and you should have the gear to move around freely.

If you act quickly enough you can pick up the mines in the ice cave and reposition and detonate them where you want.

Corpses block bullets. Found that out the tough way... -_-;;

• you can whip arrows shot from arrow traps, though it's not easy
• ropes and the cape let you descend safely onto spikes, I never remember the ropes one when I'm actually playing
• you can climb up from hanging on a ledge onto a block of spikes safely if you go easy on the jump button
• the kappala (which is the cup you get from sacrificing either 2 damsels or the required number of damsels and enemies) is filled by actually picking up the little blood droplets that fly off enemies when they take damage, you have maybe a second or so to chase them down before they vanish

edit: also if you get hurt you sometimes seem to have a brief window of invincibility. It's tricky to pull off intentionally, but in a desperate situation it's possible to use this to your advantage.

You can kill the shop keeper easily and without taking damage by hugging the wall right above him while jumping and whipping on your way down. This will cause him to drop his shotgun and become stunned, which will allow you to grab that shotgun and blast him in the face.

An alternate method is to stand right in front of him and whip him, which will have the same affect as above, but he will hit you for one point of damage.

Didn't know about the small animals or the ledge falling trick. Thanks!

@cthomer5000 said:

Exercise caution when trying this on frogs in the jungle.

@kaineda77: I was considering buying a USB SNES controller for D-Pad precision in this and other 2D PC games, but I'm worried about the relative lack of buttons. You find the SF4 pad comfy?

So obvious I can't believe I hadn't already thought of it, thanks.

Learn the level "feelings" because alot of them have special items/monsters/entrances with benefits.

Actually, I would say that bat-tech is best used on undropped spiders that are a maximum of two tiles above you. Just jump and face the opposite direction to the spider, then whip.

That works well, although I prefer to use this method. It requires a bomb and a rope, and you can't use it in every situation, but it's practically risk-free:

I've found it does not work if the item you choose to pick up is a jetpack or cape. I've always had the shopkeeper go nuts when I climb up the rope with either one. It's important to set the bomb outside of the boundaries of his shop.

Of course, if he's selling a shotgun or freeze ray, all you have to do is pick one of those up without buying it, then kill him with it.

Thought I'd post this in here, since it's in the PSN thread. The easy method of robbing the black market. Credit goes to @mosespippy

If you fire the shotgun at the same time as you jump, you will jump one block higher. One of the constantly most useful tricks I know.

If you drop a bomb in a corner, pick it up, and place it back down you will place it further over and it will be put down on the "seam" so you will get bigger explosion coverage.

Guess also worth mentioning putting a bomb on any seam between two blocks works, but I'm sure many know that.

If you are trying to bomb down to hell on Olmec, if you stand on the edge of your created pit doing your "about to fall" dance, you can bait Olmec into slamming down in the pit as if you were somehow standing on that open space next to you. Just remember to then move once he prepares.

Had some trouble with the bees today. Anyone have any tips for handling them? I find that unless I have the shotgun and a narrow horizontal entrance to the hive/a way of baiting them out one by one, I'm unable to deal with them consistently.

Edit - or wasps I guess.

You can pick up landmines in the caves, which causes them not to explode. Good substitute to using bombs.

You can whip gold bricks around. I used it once to trigger and arrow trap when nothing else was around.

Shopkeepers will bust out of mantraps, so you can't kill them that way.

If an orange frog blows up and damages the shop, it will piss off the shopkeeper.

Always kill a vampire so you get a free cape. They're not that hard to beat.

Bat Tech is a sham.

I'd go as far as saying that you should never use a bomb in the ice caves, unless something useful is in the corners of the level. There's always plenty of mines and spaceships.

@aajf: In that daily I would have suggested clearing out one block of space above the bees, so you could have jumped up each one as they flew up.

Pro Tip: Vita version is the best version of the game.

You can get the Good Teamwork achievement solo. My method is to just carry the secondary character around with you, making sure to not let him out of your sight for more than ~15 seconds. You can kill them and revive them a bunch, but I kinda feel like that's cheating a little.

You can throw ropes down by crouching. Saved my ass a few times.

I tend to agree, but the framerate can get pretty bad when the game utilizes particle effects (fog in the jungle when its a zombie level, snow in the cave, city of gold, etc). Besides that, the pick up and play nature perfectly suits that style of game, which is why I can look past the framerate dips.

My tip: Look at this

Has a lot of gifs+explanations for some great spelunky tips. Beware, some of them are very advanced; you'll need to practice a bit to get the hang of some of them. My favorite is the method for robbing any shop. Personal advice: that tip cannot be done if you have climbing gloves. You'll stick to the wall that he hides under, but you'll still whip him, angering him in the process and causing your death. Also, if the shopkeeper is selling climbing gloves and they are right next to him, avoid this tip.

@naru_joe93: Some very good images. I'll definitely try out the throwing things at webs trick - getting stuck in webs is always pretty annoying, and I still have the speedrun achievement to go.

Also, you do not need to be prone when having a boulder passing over your head.

The tip I've been using to some great success lately is dropping bombs, specifically sticky bombs, straight down. I wish I could remember where I read about it to give proper credit.

What you need terrain that's no more than 2 blocks thick over top of what you want to destroy, then just drop two bombs with a delay between them. If it's thicker, I've been able to drop 3 bombs with enough delay for them to drop far enough and still get away in time. It's a slight waste of bombs, but it's most useful for taking care of shopkeepers that are guarding your exit. Which, if you have shopkeeps guarding your exit, you've already pissed them off and will likely have the bombs to spare. In those cases, it's less wasteful than chucking bombs at them and hoping, because they're usually stationary before you activate them, and can drop a sticky right on their head.

I haven't gotten to Anubis yet, but it also seems like a good strategy for that fight, too, but I could be wrong. I'm still a fledgling Spelunker, so thanks for all these tips!

Something I just found. If you have a parachute and a rope and accidentally fall off an ice level, you'll deploy your parachute and can then shoot a rope with enough time to climb it and return to solid ground.

@animathias: Best tip I can give for Anubis is to either have a shotgun or sticky bombs. Not sure how many shotgun blasts it takes to kill him, but 2 sticky bombs will get the job done. Having the pitchers mitt + sticky bombs makes anubis a no brainer, since the bomb goes in a straight line instead of an arc; you know exactly where you're throwing. Your strategy should only be employed if completely necessary. I recommend trying to get to the left or right of him and throw everything you've got to kill him (not literally everything. 2 bombs or pump him full of led)

Also, when you encounter Anubis II after stealing the Necronomicon, make sure you kill him. If you dont and just run for the exit, he will appear at the start of the next level, which is 4-4 (so youll have to deal with him and olmec at the same time). And he can pass through blocks, kind of like the ghost.

@naru_joe93: Actually, I find that taking Anubis II to Olmec to be a good idea. Olmec's lair is petty open, so it's easier to attack him without having to avoid obstacles. You can also easily jump on top of Anubis II with spike shoes, which is a very good way to kill him, as he can't hit you with red skeletons when you're on his head.

I've tried this about 10 times now and it seems consistent and easy. If you haven't angered the shopkeepers yet, take a boomerang into the black market. Get right up on the first shopkeep and throw it. His buddy behind him will run forward and right into the boomerang, but has never shot at me yet, which may be the only possible variable. Once you do that, just wait to catch the boomerang and throw it again, and then again. As long as you don't mash on the button, you can easily clear out the first level without throwing a single bomb.