Horned Lizards are enemies in Spelunky 2.
They spawn exclusively in Dwelling.
Behavior[]
Before spotting the spelunker, Horned Lizards walk back and forth on the ground they are on, turning around if meeting a ledge. If the spelunker gets in front of a Horned Lizard and is within their line of sight, it hops in the air, curls into a ball, and rolls in their direction. This roll can damage any entity, dealing 1 damage and flinging them or their corpse away, which tends to leave them vulnerable to another roll attack.
While rolling, Horned Lizards are immune to the whip and from being stomped on without Spike Shoes. Horned Lizards don't know how to stop rolling after starting, and only bouncing off a wall or damaging them ends the attack.
Uniquely, throwing a Horned Lizard will have it immediately roll out of the spelunker's hands. A Pitcher's Mitt will Cause the Horned Lizard not to jump, but will still be affected by gravity during the roll.
Reducing a Horned Lizard to 1 HP will change its reaction to seeing the spelunker; instead of preparing a roll, it instead hops once before pacing back and forth, occasionally squirting two drops of blood from its eyes. Horned Lizards will only do this if they are standing in a space wider than a single gap, as they will still roll at the player if they are standing in a 1 tile space, regardless of HP.
Trivia[]
- If a dung beetle is close to a Horned Lizard, they will eat it.
- Horned Lizards squirting blood at 1 HP is based on the real world horned lizards/horny toads, who squirt blood from their eyes to intimidate predators.
- In a Developer AMA, Spelunky's creator Derek Yu reaffirmed that he has absolutely no regrets on adding both Cave Moles and Horned Lizards to the same stage.