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Critters are the tiny harmless creatures that can be seen in many different places in the caves.

They can be picked up and thrown like light objects, but don't cause any damage to enemies (with the exception of the Spiderling) and are mostly useless. They aren't usually worth paying attention to, but they are able to trigger traps which makes them able to affect gameplay.

Types of Critters[]

Rat Rats appear in the Mines and inside Shops. They crawl along the ground and run around faster when the Spelunker is nearby. Use them to set off Arrow Traps.
Baby Frog Baby Frogs appear in the Jungle. They are small juvenile Frogs that hop at the Spelunker, but are too small to cause any harm.
Penguin Penguins are found in the Ice Caves. They ignore the Spelunker and waddle around aimlessly. They will occasionally hop off ledges. They sometimes set off Mines which is dangerous to the Spelunker.
Locust Locusts are found in the Temple. They will hop at the Spelunker like Baby Frogs do. While they cause no direct damage, they often trigger traps around the level.
Maggot Maggots are found in the Worm. They will be found wriggling around on the floor, and will also spawn from Worm Eggs.
Spiderling Spiderlings sometimes appear when spider egg sacs are destroyed in Spider's Lair level feelings. They behave like miniature Spiders, but do no damage to the player. They will damage enemies when thrown.
Fish Fish appear in pools of water in the Jungle. They ignore the Spelunker, and will die if picked up and taken out of the water.

Potential Uses[]

  • Holding a critter will absorb any projectile that hits you from the front, such as arrows, much like an unconscious body.
  • Critters set off Arrow Traps, Tiki Traps, Powder Boxes and Mines, so can be used as decoys to help disarm certain traps. They are too small to be hit by the arrow launched from arrow traps, but will be killed by tiki traps. Critters are immune to explosions.
  • They can be killed with certain weapons such as the Shotgun or throwing corpses, and the blood splatter can help to fill up the Kapala if you have it.
    Small Fish are easy to kill for blood even without weapons by simply taking them out of the water.

Trivia[]

  • Critters escape into the Shortcut house when each shortcut is completed. A Baby Frog escapes from the Jungle shortcut, a Penguin escapes from the Ice Caves shortcut and a Locust escapes from the Temple shortcut.
    Rats, Maggots, Spiderlings and Fish do not appear in the Gateway Cave.
  • Critters can't be taken through doors.
  • Critters have the lowest pickup priority, so can only be picked up when there are no other items overlapping them.
Spelunky HD Monsters
The Mines SnakeCobraBatSpiderSpinner SpiderGiant SpiderScorpionCaveman
Jungle BatCavemanTiki ManFrogFire FrogGiant FrogMantrapPiranhaOld BiteyKiller BeeQueen BeeSnailMonkeyJiang ShiVampire
Haunted Castle Jiang ShiGreen KnightBlack KnightVampire
Worm BacteriumWorm EggWorm Baby
Ice Caves YetiYeti KingMammothAlienUFOAlien Lord
Mothership AlienUFOAlien TankAlien LordAlien Queen
Temple CobraScorpionCavemanHawk ManCroc ManMagma ManScorpion FlyMummyAnubis
City of Gold Anubis II
Olmec's Lair Olmec
Hell BatJiang ShiVampireMagma ManVladImpDevilSuccubus
Yama's Throne Horse HeadOx FaceKing Yama
Miscellaneous SkeletonDamselShopkeeperTunnel ManScarabGolden MonkeyGhost
No Journal Entry CrittersHired Hand
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