King Yama (HD)

Spawns:	Level 5-4, the final level of Hell.
Health:	• 40 (Head, will switch to Second Phase after 20 health or lower) • 10 (Each Fist) • 2 (After Eggplant Thrown)
Damage:	• 1 (Falling Skulls) • 2 (Contact)
Stunnable:	Yes (Camera during second phase)
Corpse:	No
Size:	Huge (6x10)
Notes:	• Enters second phase when both fists are destroyed, regardless of health. • Spawns Imps and Magma Men. • Can be stunned by Camera in his second phase • His hands may be picked up.

See also: Eggplant King from Spelunky 2

King Yama is the final boss of Spelunky, appearing in his lair on the last level of Hell, level 5-4.

Properties

Yama is a gigantic figure - by far the largest enemy seen in the game. A fierce and brutal leader of hell, his massive fists are something to be feared. He is not only extremely powerful, but is also accompanied by a horde of lesser enemies as well as his two henchmen - Horse Head and Ox Face.

Behavior

King Yama's appearance atop his bloodied throne in Hell.

Yama's face is the primary target to attack, and after a certain amount of damage he will enter phase 2, where his face will detach from his skull and start flying around the top of the arena.

Phase 1

King Yama attacks when the Spelunker gets near by smashing his fists upon his throne, causing three skulls to fall from the ceiling directly above the Spelunker, or dealing 2 damage if he or the fists themselves hit them.

Yama will also spit Imps out of his mouth and try to use his fists in a punching attack if the Spelunker gets close enough to his head or chest area (such as by climbing onto his shoulders). He may also open his fists, spawning Magma Men that will jump out.

Phase 2

After taking enough damage or having both his fists destroyed, his face will detach from his skull and begin floating around the arena, engulfed in flame, crashing upwards into ceiling to prompt skulls to fall, and spitting fireballs that turn into Magma Men downwards.

If the player moves within two tiles of his head, he will bounce upwards before moving back down to his original position.

Defeating Yama

When King Yama is defeated, the final exit door in the game will open. Once entered, the player will view the end cutscene, where they meet Yang in the flesh and escape with him and the Golden Trophy. Yang will be unlocked, and the player will also receive an extra 100,000 gold to add to their total score in their run from securing the Golden Trophy.

Additionally, with enough bombs the player can destroy the bricks of King Yama's Throne which contain a ruby in every block. The 44 rubies that can be mined from the throne are worth a sum of $140,800.

Strategies and Notes

• Yama can be easily attacked using ranged weapons or Sticky Bombs.
• If flashed by the Camera during his first phase, he will immediately skip to the next one. Doing this again on his second phase will only momentarily stun him.
• King Yama can be defeated in a single hit by telefragging his head, freezing his head and hitting him in his 1st phase or letting his head fall into the ground and get crushed in his 2nd phase.

• One hit from the Crysknife will kill the king instantly. The Crysknife can be smuggled into hell by entering The Worm in the Ice Caves, and then clearing The Mothership to force The Moai to spawn on 3-4.

• If the Spelunker brings the Eggplant to him and throws it at his head, King Yama will turn into an Eggplant Monster that will be completly immovable and constantly sweat. This will also set Yama's health to 2 points. As the Eggplant throw deals 1 damage, this effectively makes him have only a single point of health.
  • Though this strategy makes King Yama much easier to defeat, the challenge of bringing an Eggplant to him does not make it a very viable one.
  • Due to a quirk in the programming where thrown Eggplants set his health to 2 points, it is impossible to kill Yama by throwing Eggplants at him, as they will constantly reset his health back to 2.

• King Yama's hands and face are physics items, and may be picked up.
  • Yama's face won't move during the first phase, but will still be able to spit Imps if he started before the face was picked up by the Spelunker.
  • A held hand of Yama will try to go back to its original position by slowly floating back, as long as Yama is still alive.
    • The hands will keep their smashing animation once started, and will "hit" while being carried by the Spelunker, only dealing damage once the hand is thrown by the Spelunker.
      • If the hand is left in Spikes after the smashing animation, the hands will be "killed" by the Spikes, but will still deal damage to the Spelunker.

• Yama's face won't be able to take damage from thrown items nor crushed if it's placed under the height of his hands, although sticky bombs will still stick to him and the explosions will still deal damage, this also applies to the whip, but the Spelunker won't be able to deal damage with thrown items nor use the Shield to crush his face.
  • Because of this property of the head, an Eggplant used on Yama's face after placed under the height of his hands will set his health to 2 as per usual, but the Eggplant will continue flying and won't deal the point of damage, leaving Yama with 2 points of health, requiring two hits to be killed. This is important to keep in mind if the player wishes to kill King Yama with a Snowball or another unusual item.

Trivia

• King Yama is based on Yama of Buddhism and Hindu mythology, similar to Kali.
• King Yama's hands and face can be picked up because the game still considers them as "monsters".