10 Impossible Video Games Utterly Destroyed By Speedrunners

Spelunky is a 2008 indie title developed by Derek Yu. Combining elements of roguelike games with classic side-scrolling platformers, it sees players take the reins of an unnamed adventurer on a quest to obtain as much treasure as possible whilst avoiding the hazards and traps that line these cave walls.

But, the cute visuals are certainly deceiving for just how troublesome a playthrough of Spelunky can be.

Whilst never necessarily feeling unfair, every enemy deals hefty damage from the start and deaths can come out of nowhere. Yu's vision for the game was to teach players that death in roguelike titles can come with just a moment's notice; which is perhaps why the average time to complete Spelunky currently sits around 20 hours to complete.

The game also features random procedural generation, making memorisation impossible and the best runs for speedrunners are reliant on quick uses of in-game items. Despite this, the world record for an Any% run on classic Spelunky is currently held by American runner HectiqueX, who set a 2:31 in May 2022.