Pug Pet Trading Card Artwork
Pets are cute and clumsy non-hostile characters that can be found in the caves calling for help, and can be occasionally sold in Pet Shops by a Shopkeeper or by the Caveman Shopkeeper.
Functionality
The main purpose of Pets is to give the Spelunker 1 HP by kissing them after completing a level after bringing it to the exit.
While in Spelunky HD they will only give health to the player that brought them to the exit, they'll kiss every player in Spelunky 2, healing them each.
If the player is poisoned, the kiss that the pet will give the player at the end of a level will cause them to instead inherit the poison for the player, curing them. Note that this will replace the 1 HP bonus that the kiss normally awards.
However, they do have some other uses as well:
- Sacrificed at an Altar for a large amount of favor (8 points)
- Used as a makeshift throwing weapon
- Used as a meat shield to soak up damage from Arrows.
Pets can occasionally spawn encased completely in the ground. Reaching them in this case requires either a mattock or careful use of bombs. They may also be found atop high ledges where the player must use precise jumping or special equipment like Climbing Gloves or Rope.
Other Behavior
- Pets will always give you a kiss in the exit tunnel after you rescue them, even if you leave the level through a different exit than the one you sent the Pet into. This can happen on levels that have multiple exits, such as 1-4.
- The only exception to this is if the player visits the Duat, as they will simply fall and be unable to kiss the player. This also happens if a player cheats and spawns in a pet in the Cosmic Ocean.
- Note that attacking the Pet does not ruin the chance of getting a kiss for saving them, so long as they are still alive, so whipping them once or twice in an enclosed space is a good way to collect blood to use it to work towards an extra health point with the Kapala.
- Picking up a Pet will stun them until they are set down, meaning that they will never get up and out of the player's arms. A Pet who has been dropped or thrown will eventually come to their senses and begin running around in panic.
- A panicking Pet will run blindly forwards, only turning if they hit a wall. They will also fall off ledges, which makes them prone to getting killed by Spikes and other hazards. Dead Pets can still be carried and thrown at enemies or used as an arrow meat shield, however.
- No reward is given for carrying their corpse to the end of the level, so it is recommended to sacrifice their body if one finds an altar.
Types of Pets
There are three pets that can appear in game: Monty the Dog, Percy the Cat, and Poochi the Hamster. By default, Monty will be the only pet that appears. In the gameplay tab of the options menu, the player can pick which pet they wish to encounter ingame, as well as an option for the game to randomly pick which pet appears on each level.
Monty is the same Dog Damsel from Spelunky HD, originally rescued by Tina Flan from the caves of the first adventure.
Although the sloth damsel from Spelunky HD no longer exists, sloths remain present in Spelunky 2 with Roffy D. Sloth, a new playable Spelunker. This also goes for the female damsel, who is now playable in the form of Demi Von Diamonds.
Each pet is connected to three of the default spelunkers:
- Monty was rescued by Tina Flan and is currently the companion of Ana Spelunky.
- Percy was a stray cat that snuck onto the spaceship of Margaret Tunnel.
- Poochi was a hamster brought to the moon by Colin Northward "in the name of science", who escaped.