This a pretty simple game, but seems that it has a lot of depth, let's share what we discover as we play!

• Set your controls - the default controller layout is idiotic, I would recommend puttiong the Switch weapon button on a trigger or a bumper so you don't loose aim when switching. I would go as far as saying this is imperative if you want to make it further into the game
• Disc gun projectiles can totally hurt you, found out the hard way. Same goes for the poison clouds from various other weapons and of course explosions
• If you finish a level and get sucked into a wormhole before you can check what gun just dropped from a chest nearby, the gun will be at your feet at the start of the next level

This video opened my /eyes/ a lot when I getting deep into NT AND

THIS video I liked a lot because I'm TEAM GAMMA GUTS 4 DAYZ SON!

• You can block or bat back certain projectiles with melee weapons

I'll also share this video that has some good tips and some advanced tips, spoilers for people he goes through a whole run + more if you don't want to see later bosses/areas.

Throne Butt isn't always a straight upgrade. I actually prefer Crystal without it, as I find having the longer shielding more useful than the teleport.

On that note, where you are aiming is what determines where you teleport when you use Crystal's ability with Throne Butt enabled. Keep this in mind when fighting a lot of enemies so you don't get yourself murdered.

I don't know the names off hand, but there are two seperate mutations for gaining ammo back on dealing damage. One for when your bullets hit, and one when you get kills. I find that the one that gives ammo on kills is more useful, as it seems to directly deposit the ammo into your inventory. Additionally, using this in conjunction with Bloodlust, which gives you health back on some kills, can essentially let you keep yourself going as long as you can keep killing.

Melee weapons are awesome and you shouldn't underestimate them. Long Arms or whatever makes them even more deadly, allowing you to hit some enemies through walls.

On PC, pressing B (maybe V, it's been a while?) as YV lets you use the airhorn on demand. This is crucial.

Melee weapons are often truly great. One benefit is the knocking back of projectiles, but other things I've noticed that help me as a new player: A) The usually big hit arcs which makes it easy to aim. B) The damage, most enemies die in one hit and larger ones with two hits for most melee weapons I've found. C) You can hit enemies through walls (as long as it's in the reach of the weapon of course).

• When you pause the game, it defaults to "menu" and there is no confirmation when you hit X on it. I was just on a pretty good run, got out of a risky situation and needed to take a breather. Most games default to "resume" on a pause screen you know. So yeah, I flushed that run to the toilet.

Also I need help: what are those portal things that summon cops? Sometimes they spawn a portal which takes me to a room when I can pick a crown which gives a modifier, most of which seems useless?? Whad determines when the portal opens? Is that random? And is there a point to that crown system??

I'm inundated with games at the moment but this one's always hanging around on my radar. I hate to go off-topic but this seemed like the best place to ask.

Depth. I keep hearing people mention this game's depth but I can't seem to see where it comes from. FTL, Rogue Legacy, BoI, I've played tons and I love all these games but I could see where the depth came from before actually playing it myself. Nuclear Throne however, I can't seem to figure out where the "depth" comes from no matter how much I read and watch.

I also really like Spelunky but I've never personally considered that game deep - I've always considered it hard-fun with a vicious RNG and easter eggs, is that where the depth comes from in NT?

@professoress: Yes, the difficulty of the game is meant to be in the same style as Spelunky. Death can come very quickly in both games, health restoration comes in very small amounts and generally quite slowly (unless you get EVERY health restore upgrade in Nuclear Throne, but even then it can be inconsistent). The depth comes from having the reflexes and knowledge of how the game works to be able to quickly respond to dangerous situations using limited resources.

Binding of Isaac has its own style of difficulty, but by comparison, almost nothing in BoI moves as quickly or aggressively as some of the enemies and projectiles in Nuclear Throne, plus the invincibility frames are very short-to-nonexistent in Spelunky and Nuclear Throne, compared to the fairly generous invincibility frames (and the numerous ways to increase max health and restore health) in Binding of Isaac.

@bisonhero: With the videos linked above (that I prolly shoulda watched before posting) and your explanation I think I'm getting it -and thinkin' I'm likin' the sounds of it.

Thanks.

@quipido: There's a stone statue that spawns on some of the levels, the earliest I know is in the Junkyard. If you shoot it it will begin sucking up any rads nearby and also make a couple of cop portals appear with said cops trying to kill you. Cop portals are also just apart of some levels/bosses. Once the statue is full you can break it to get into the crown vault. The crowns themselves are more fun difficulty modifiers than anything. They do add somethings to the game (rare cursed weapons that you cant unequipped easily, a storage slot that is shared between games) and probably some other things. You can also unlock more crowns and the ability to start with a crown by looping with them.

No.1 Tip I would give is to play this on a mouse and keyboard. That's what the game was built and designed around and it plays a LOT easier.

That's the IDPD. When you get powerful enough, they'll just start spawning in to try and take you down. They also will spawn as soon as you hit the statue that you need to feed rads to open that portal, and one of the unlockable characters starts the game with them spawning CONSTANTLY. The character has what might be the most entertaining abilities in the game to compensate.

As I said above, that statue opens a portal to the Crown Vault. However, you need to meet some requirements. First, hit it enough to trigger the IDPD. Then, make rads drop nearby. Eventually, you'll "feed" it enough and the portal will open. The crowns don't stack, so if you already have one, taking a second one will replace it. Also, completing the game with one will allow you to select that crown from the start in the future.

The Crown Vault will take you to the next level in order, it doesn't skip anything.

@sdoots: @iamterics: ah awesome, thank you, I will experiment with it some more then

Holy shit, I just came back to reitterate, not only it defaults to MENU and has no are you sure confirmation, but IT TAKES BOTH RIGHT TRIGGERS AS CONFIRMATON on that screen. So if you pause and put the controller on the table or on your lap, you can very easily just erase your mother-puppin run as I just did, AGAIN!!

Yea this SUUUUUUCKS, who would make that design decision? It has screwed me once already on a great run.

REJOICE - it's being fixed in the next update: http://steamcommunity.com/app/242680/discussions/0/485624149170559152/

The day of release Rami mentioned on Twitter that it was the biggest "How did we not catch this" fuck-up they've made for sure.

I was at the fucking Palace. It was terrifying, but I was there.

As for tips...

Holy shit, those videos above aren't joking. Gamma Guts owns. I just stroll through the sewers with it and let the rats run into me now. It's amazing.

Here are the secret areas I've found so far:

I have a question: when Fish rolls is he supposed to also switch weapons? I'm not sure if it's intended because I find it super annoying and I think it might be an issue with my keybindings.

@49th: That sounds like a keybinding issue. I've never had that happen on PC at any point (Early Access or Final), PS4, or Vita.

@sdoots: yeah, I just checked, binding it to spacebar makes you switch weapons at the same time. Kind of annoying that I can't use the key I want.

You can bat away enemy fire with melee weapons

@maxb: There's some rules to that, actually. The screwdriver just makes them disintegrate, and some projectiles will always simply disintegrate. Also, the screwdriver will detonate explosive projectiles like Big Dog's missiles, whereas another melee weapon would deflect them. I don't know what weapons specifically simply detonate/disintegrate, but it seems like a small pool.

Also, red projectiles are the main ones you can do this with. For the most part, others will just disintegrate.

Hitting an explosive projectile knocks it farther and faster than simply firing it would launch it. Naturally, this also can blow you up depending on circumstances I'm still trying to figure out. On top of this, however, you can use Steroids and his dual wield ability to take advantage of this fact. Equip a melee weapon like a shovel and an explosive like a grenade launcher. Fire both at the same time and you'll easily knock the grenade into distance, making it super easy to see this effect in action.

Those floating crystals in the caves that fire lasers at you? Crystal can't shield those. You'll just die and feel stupid.

So yeah.

As of Update 97, this is now no longer the case, it starts at 'continue'. Gamepad support in general has been improved, including use of the D-Pad if that's what you're into.

Crystal's shield doesn't make you invincible. Much like a melee attack, It will reflect red projectiles and destroy green projectiles. Most other sources of damage will still hurt her including lasers, explosions, and melee contact.

I have been taking hammerhead every time because it really helps with those "I just spawned in a killbox well I'm dead" moments. You just crash through the wall and make your own cover!

I am into that, but there has been no updates on PS4 since launch day...

Yes it's actually not a bad mutation to pick up, and as far as I can tell it resets every level, so you can dig a hole each time you progress.