A downloadable Commodore 64 game

Buy Now$2.99 USD or more

Spelunky is a cave exploration / treasure-hunting game inspired by classic platform games and roguelikes, where the goal is to grab as much treasure from the cave as possible. Every time you play the cave's layout will be different. Use your wits, your reflexes, and the items available to you to survive and go ever deeper! Perhaps at the end you may find what you're looking for...

Paul Koller brings you the official Commodore 64 port of Spelunky. You can now play the classic roguelike how it would be intended on the best-selling 8bit computer!

System requirements

The file fits within 64Kb, and runs on both PAL (recommended) & NTSC C64 models. Play it in your favorite emulator, or transfer the file and play it on your original breadbin.

Controls

The game is fully joystick controlled from port 2:

  • Directions:
    • Walk, jump, climb, crawl
    • Run (when double left or right tap)
    • Look down (when holding joystick down for a second)
  • Tap button:
    • Whip (when no item carried)
    • Activate item in hand (when possible)
    • Throw item in hand
    • Drop / pick up / buy  item (when also joystick down)
  • Hold button (for a second):
    • Take out / put back bomb (when joystick centered)
    • Throw rope (when also joystick up)

Credits

Original design by Derek Yu

Code and gfx by Paul Koller

Music and sfx by Mikkel Hastrup

Updated 9 days ago
StatusReleased
Release date 31 days ago
Rating
Rated 4.6 out of 5 stars
(11 total ratings)
AuthorPaulKo64
GenrePlatformer
Tags8-Bit, Commodore 64, Retro, Roguelike

Purchase

Buy Now$2.99 USD or more

In order to download this Commodore 64 game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $2.99 USD. You will get access to the following files:

spelunky64_v1_3.zip 84 kB

Development log

Comments

Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.

Viewing most recent comments 1 to 40 of 53 · Next page · Last page
(1 edit)

Very nice conversion and great soundtrack! Our German-language review can be found in our recorded livestream starting at 00:35:32. English subtitles are also available. Subscription to our YouTube and Twitch channel is welcome. 🙂

I think I found a bug.  I was killed by the ghost while setting a bomb.  I may have died while pressing left.

When I returned to the title screen my guy was stuck running left and wouldn't stop.  I could jump bu that's all I could do.  I was stuck running into the left wall and had to reset.

Looks like I'm on v1_3 from the name of the download.

I thought I fixed this bug :( I need to have another look then...

I've only had this happen once but I've only got about 3 hours into the game.

It's super enjoyable and it's the first C64 game I've bought in 25+ years.

Eine richtig tolle Portierung des Spiels auf den Commodore 64. Meine absolute Empfehlung! 🕹

 Auf meinem YouTube Kanal habe ich es im Rahmen der C64 Spielzeit vorgestellt. Schaut doch mal vorbei:

(+1)

Excellent game and really good porting of the game. I also included it in my new "Gameplay of New C64 Games from September 2024" video as well as all the other recently released Commodore 64 games.

Quick question. Would it be possible to hold down the action button to run? Douple-tapping left or right on the d-pad is a bit difficult when standing on a single block and has occasionally lead to my death. lol

I think that would interfere too much with all the other (hold) button functions...

Gotcha. Guess I'll just have to perfect my double-tapping. lol

(+1)

Awesome port! I've really been enjoying this a lot! As someone who's played hundreds of hours of Spelunky, I'm really impressed with how well done this port is. :-)

I did notice a bit of a "bug" while playing today. Sometimes the game will spawn you in a spot where the only way out is to push a gray block but since you can't push them in this version, your only option is to use a bomb. That being said, if you're out of bombs, you're completely stuck. I'm wondering if maybe there's a way to prevent the game from spawning you in a situation like this?

(+1)

Indeed, the lack of "push block" functionality can lead to such situations. Actually, there is a 1/128th chance that either the entrance or exit is blocked-in... I need to think about how/if I want to deal with this.

Btw, running out of bombs is never a good strategy ;)

Very true about running out of bombs. lol Luckily I wasn't actually out of bombs when this happened. 

Oh and one other thing I noticed is that ropes don't trigger the arrow traps. Is this something you could implement? It's a strategy I use a lot in the regular game.

(+1)

Due to memory and cpu constraints, enemies and ropes do not trigger arrow traps. Note that other objects you can throw do trigger them!

Gotcha. Makes it a bit more challenging but that's ok. lol You've done an amazing job implementing as much as you have given the limited hardware. Having a great time with it. Happy to have an excuse to get back into the game as I haven't played it in quite some time. Keep up the awesome work! :)

(+3)

Congratulations for giving us this great adventure! I'm having a great time exploring the caves and getting lost looking for their treasures.

so, after playing a bit (and getting to the temple) I was wondering are kali altars not functional? also is there a benefit to beating the mumies? (last encounter it killed me when I tried to kill it)

Not functional, and no benefit sadly :(

The game is awesome, but I am still struggling with bombs. How to lay (not throw) bomb properly is beyond my skills :-)

long click to select bomb, click to activate, crouch+click to place it

(+1)

What an undertaking! This can only have been done in assembler. How many lines of code was this in the end and what was the hardest bit? I can imagine level generation was tricky...would you ever consider releasing the asm files?

(+1)

Hardest bit is actually not the level generation. That part is well documented in the original source code.

Performing all the collision checks between player/enemies/backgrounds/items/traps without overloading the CPU was actually the hardest part.

I finally had a chance to play, and my only feedback is that either the level generation needs a onceover or you need to add in the ability to push grey blocks. There might be some sort of command I'm missing but there's a lot of starts that have you completely trapped, with the only way out being using a bomb and potentially getting yourself killed. There's also quite a few objects that should activate arrow traps but don't, like most enemies and other arrows.

Push blocks sadly didn't make it in :(

Do note that you can place a bomb accurate when crouching. There should always be 3 tiles when "enclosed". If you stand at the other side you're safe from the bomb blast.

Arrow traps only trigger on thrown objects in this version, not on enemies.

Would it be possible to remove those starts? It feels like it goes a bit against Spelunky's design philosophy to be forced to spend a bomb just to play the game.

ok - I just downloaded game.
VICE - C64SC - .d64 or .prg
I get the green title
Then I get the image - then freezes
CPU 100% 49.6FPS
What am I doing wrong??( ihave tried warp etc)
Do I need to change settings???

ok - You need to set a joystick using  keyset in VCE  J2 - to work
Yippee - sorted

(+1)

I love this, but I was wondering, are there any plans to make this work with C64GS controllers? (so it can use more buttons than just one?) i know it wasn't the most popular usage of the system but I would like the option

(2 edits) (+1)

also if possible, could holding the down key while holding the button make it so you place a rope right next to the player? (to be able to go down safely like in the original spelunky classic)

Throwing a rope downwards was on my feature list, but dropped off due to memory constraints :(

(+1)

Memory constraints limited myself to only being able to support a single button joystick control scheme. Multi-buttom joysticks and keyboard controls are sadly not included...

(+1)

It's remarkable that everything is contained within a single .prg. Would it been possible to expand certain things (like multi-button support) if you'd opted for multi-load? Cheers.

(+1)

Dear, Paulko, it is a fantastic game (game of the year for me), and i met a bug: the arrow-spitter stone is active after the explode.. i made a gif

 

Weird, I explicitly remove arrow (and spear) trap functionality when bombed. This might be an edge case though, since there is no left/right tile removal next to the trap in this specific case. Need to investigate further. Thanks for the report!

if you need, i saved .VSF snapshot in WinVice 3.1 x64 before this event, i can send for testing etc.

Please do: paulko64 at gmail dot com

Hi everyone,

I’m having trouble with my Ultimate II+ cartridge on my original C64 and could really use some advice. I’m trying to load D64 files, and while the games get to the title screen, the disk keeps spinning and never finishes loading.

Does anyone know which settings I should adjust to resolve this? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

(+1)

Problem solved! I reset all settings from the menu, and the game finally loaded. I’m not exactly sure which setting was causing the issue, but the reset fixed it.

You brought a great game to the C64 in an excellent way! It's my favorite pastime! Thank you!

Hi PaulKo. Can the music be toggled off? I prefer to play with sfx only, especially after several hours of listening to the same music :)

Sorry, only combined music+sfx is supported. Memory was really tight, so all non-essentially features did not make it.

Best to improve your skill further so that you can regularly reach the other worlds, which have different music :)

First of all, this is awesome!
Possibly the best platformer I have played on C64.

Second:
I found a bug.
If I spam down and up really fast, I can perform multiple jumps mid-air.
https://static.juiffi.eu/spelunky4_infinite_jump.mp4 

x64sc.exe

3.8
(GTK3 3.24.39, GLib 2.78.3, Cairo 1.18.0, Pango 1.50.14)

Oops, that needs to be fixed...

(+3)

Now we can finally beat the game without free jetpack from robbing the shopkeeper! XD

Awesome game, works on all of my setups. C64 breadbin, c64 forever, my modded c64 DTV.

(1 edit)

Been playing it for 4 days, a few hours every day now because it's so addicting, and while I love it, there's one part of it that I've actually come to really fear -- the way you get off ladders mid-ladder.


Help? What kind of mechanic am I not picking up on?

(1 edit)

To get off ladders, you have to press diagonally up. To reach a corridor directly next to a ladder, you should be positioned roughly a tile lower before jumping.

This is a consequence of having only a single button controller...

With some practice this should not be difficult anymore.

eye2eye ... the engine and finish is absolutely awesome


the controls for a c64 game with 1button joystick are superb and really responsive theres a ton of props and background tiles and theres more than one tune too, in a game which i think loads only once (i finished it on vice tho for a reason i'll mention in a moment) its a real neo-retro ("post-2020") classic in the making , this thing has potential HOWEVER, i couldnt escape the "apshai remastered" feeling due to its randomness.

If any of the bedroom coders is watching, my suggestion would be to add a finishable game, like 15 to maybe max 30 designed which increase sequentially in complexity and difficulty but remain the same so you can as you would in platformers memorize the layout and mob movements and traps (as you would do patterns in a shmup) so you can get through the second (or 3 4 5 ... ) time around. The generator is great but it leaves blind jumps and i dont think i wouldhave had the courage to go through 17 levels without VICE snapshots here.
IF you had that (designed levels) and then the generator on top as a hiscore chaser with or without friends id give the game five io 4 stars and call it up for GOTY '24 lol this is some really awesome work ... item shop and all included, like "monster boy in wonderland meets rick dangerous" perhaps ?
its fluid too, the music is not too much and not too little its catchy but stays in the background everything is just "done" xept this one thing lol : the randomness without a finishable game.

I looked at the other stuff, canabalt was also quite a nice piece of passtime, completely well done and i dont know the others but ill probably check them some time later this month or next month , if this is "one side" or "64kb" i cant wait to see what these guys do with a 3to6 (ultima-size , monkey island ...) or an easyflash

okay thats more than 20 words sorry

yea so "designed levels" is missing imo, otherwise im utterly and totally impressed, i usually dont do a lot of platformers

GREAT WORK, great potential ... hope to see more

the engine alone can probably spawn 20 titles

im really really really impressed by the versatility of the controls with just a one-button joystick and no keyboard ...

well there

my 2cents

well more like 299 + vat (i cant believe the eurosuits demand VAT on these things, its like they dont want you to have a beer for it)

anyway ... its late ... i have to cycle

impressive , really

but : "a game" on top of the generator ... would make it impressive +1

:)

o btw : i had a screenshot but it seems to only have taken a quarter , on the boss level the bossman boinked the floor out from undre the exit door so after he .. "passed on" i couldnt reach it lol ... major bummer :)

but we persevered
(+1)

The blind jumps actually aren't as blind as they initially seem, at least in base Spelunky. You can always hold the down direction to move the camera downward a bit, letting you see what's coming before you jump down.

(+1)

i know, i finished it last week , ah six days ago it says but from what i found you dont always see the bottom even when looking down. Its an awesome engine that could spawn several platformers of different style with responive versatile mechanics/controls imo. I just feel this specific game would benefit from like at least 15 to at most 30 designed consistent levels on top of the hi score chaser random generator. 

It might be a lot to ask for a 3 euro game lol but im not really asking, i just think it would make the thing total GOTY material, i enjoyed it anyway, great stuff, these guys got skills lol

Memory? What about a C128 version?

(-1)

Thank you for this - here is my tribute to your great game.  A subscribe would be most welcome from anybody that is new to the channel - thank you.

Very impressive work! Great to see a proper retro version of an all-time classic.

Love it, another quality release.

Created a longplay video today. Brilliant game, and I got used to the controls pretty quickly.

Wow, you actually managed to make proper Spelunky for the 64… Amazing feat – massive respect and thank you for all the effort you put into this!

I have only played for 2-3 h so far, but looks like it has all the essential gameplay elements. Not only is it impressive to cram this into a single C64 executable, but the gameplay, controls and movement feel spot on & super fun!

How cool is it to have one of the all-time best games for the all-time best computer in 2024 :-)

Did BTW water just stay floating in place in the original Spelunky too? I can't remember anymore… Not that I'm expecting realistic water physics here :-D

Thanks for the nice words!

In Spelunky classic you could "empty out" the water sections by bombing a hole in the bottom. That is one effect I did not have memory for in the end...

I can imagine :-) I guess figuring out when there's a leak is the tough part?

(1 edit)

just bought it, amazing work - really enjoying it.

Loving it, although the controls are a challenge sometimes. How the heck do you buy stuff in shops? I keep accidentally whipping the shopkeeper and getting killed.

Same way as you pick up other items: joystick down and fire. Indeed best to not anger the shopkeeper ;)

Hmm, I tried that repeatedly, must just need to keep trying until I get the positioning bang on.

One of the most fun games I've ever played on the C64. Didn't know about the original game, but the original concept is right here at home on the Commodore I would say.

(2 edits)

Really the only small downer for me is that, having no previous experience with the Spelunky games, there is no real manual in here, or a tutorial. 

There are a lot of items you can throw, but can you do something else with them, for example? 

How do you just gently place a bomb at your feet without throwing it? Even when pressing down they roll a bit.

What are the grey blocks? Are they any different from regular dirt blocks? They look like you're supposed to be able to push them or ... something.


Can you get extra lives at all? I've never been past cave 2 so far...


Things like that. It's a bit tough to figure this out.


But I'm in love with the game itself!

Yes you supposed to figure out almost everything by yourself. Anyway the Spelunky wikia pages can be used for the C64 version aswell. Grey blocks should be pushed if I remember correctly, however I can't move them in this version. For extra life save the damsel (or use Kali's altair).

There was a tutorial in the original game though :3 I looked that one up now. Thanks for the tips! <3

(+1)

Liking it so far. Plays so smoothly! Very impressive!

I find it a bit difficult to use the rope/bomb.

Could it be possible to configure to use keyboard or multiple buttons (A:jump, B:whip, C:bomb/rope) ?

Game is designed to work with a single button joystick.

You can only take out a bomb or throw a rope when not carrying another item.

To take out or put back a bomb, hold button for a second while joystick is centered. Note that at this moment the bomb is not armed yet, so you can walk around freely while carrying it. Only after a short button tap, the bomb will be armed. Now you have a few seconds to drop it (joystick down and button tap) or throw it away (button tap). You can only put a bomb back when it's not armed...

It takes some practice to master this :)

(1 edit)

I really like the one joy button control you designed! I've always found the classic's controlling scheme confusing, maybe because I rarely using controller. I only missing that we cannot throw stuff up.

Actually you can. Joystick up and button tap will throw an object upwards. Takes some practice...

Thank you for your answer. You did a great job making it work with a single button. Takes some practice for sure :) 

Just a suggestion: If jump, whip, bomb, rope was assigned to keys, it would be possible to map those keys to different joypad buttons.

(+1)(-1)

Loving it on handheld - fantastic game 👏👏

ill have to set up my c64 now! just created a crt and bin from the prg just got to burn it to a eprom and play it 

This game is so awesome 😍 I love the Hires graphics, the animation, the sound... everything ;) 

Is it intentional that there is no manual so that you have to find out every trick of your own? ;) I'm not sure what to do with the portable objects...

Indeed, the fun is trying to figure out what you can do with all the different items :)

(1 edit)

Kiddo loves the game. Is easy and challenging at the same time. We are having fun! 

Great work. 

Edit: animation when close to the edge is hilarious. 

(-1)

very good

Really nice game. Good playability, nice gfx and great music.

fantastic!! thanks so much for this port, it rules!

c64 jewel ;D

(1 edit)

Really enjoying it so far , just passed lvl 13

You got to tell me how you did that. There should only be 16...

lol my bad I just passed 13  , so 16 in total ? Im so close!

Viewing most recent comments 1 to 40 of 53 · Next page · Last page