Spelunkers (2)

For the Spelunkers in Spelunky HD, see Spelunkers (HD).

For NPCs, see NPCs (2).

There are 20 different playable Spelunkers available in Spelunky 2 that can be used in all single player and multiplayer game modes.

Four are available from the beginning, but the remaining sixteen must be unlocked by finding them throughout the caves, typically trapped inside of a Coffin.

Unlocking all 16 secret characters will cause a large cardboard cutout of a buff dog to appear in the Camp.

Every Spelunker functions identically in gameplay; the only differences are cosmetic. All spelunkers have their own custom rope, while some also have a custom whip. The character used also changes the ending message at the end of a Run Recap.

Spelunkers cannot be unlocked in Online Multiplayer; this includes Guy Spelunky and Classic Guy, who are unlocked by completing specific Endings.

List of Spelunkers

Journal Portrait	Description	Color	Unlock Condition
Ana Spelunky	She's come to the moon to find her mom and dad. An easygoing young lady with the heart of a hero.	Yellow	Unlocked by default
Margaret Tunnel	A fascination with the ocean led her away from the family business. Her dream is to buy her own pirate ship.	Magenta	Unlocked by default
Colin Northward	An inquisitive artist and engineer who's obsessed with Olmec and the Curse of the Caves.	Cyan	Unlocked by default
Roffy D. Sloth	He has a lot of deep thoughts, but not a lot that he wants to say out loud.	Black	Unlocked by default
Alto Singh	He works in physical education and wants to make sure everyone's taking good care of their health and staying positive.	Cinnabar	Found in a Coffin at the bottom of Dwelling's 1-4, on a wooden platform beside the entrance to either Jungle or Volcana.
Liz Mutton	A tough-as-nails adventurer who is hard to warm up to and needs her solitude, but also cares deeply for her friends.	Green	Found in a Coffin somewhere within the Jungle, in a stone brick alcove accessed via a climbable vine.
Nekka the Eagle	A ferocious warrior chief who wants to confront the gods and question them about the problems of the universe.	Olive	Found in a Coffin at the top of The Black Market.
LISE Project	A robot designed to explore and enjoy herself. After 1000 years she'll return to her creators with the data she's collected.	White	Found in a Coffin somewhere in Volcana, in a rock alcove accessed via a climbable chain.
Coco Von Diamonds	The creator of the world-famous Von Diamonds fashion and lifestyle brand. She's on vacation right now.	Cerulean	Found in one of the Coffins in Vlad's Castle.
Manfred Tunnel	He's decided to finally try his hand at spelunking after many years of building shortcuts.	Blue	Found in a Coffin to the left of the Ankh.
Little Jay	A self-proclaimed "Spelunkyhead" trying to become a famous explorer. Gets a little overly excited around his heroes.	Lime	Found in a Coffin somewhere in Tide Pool, in a small building.
Tina Flan	As a relatively unknown caver she managed to hit King Yama with an Eggplant. She tries to downplay her fame!	Lemon	Found in a Coffin just below the surface of the massive trench of water in Abzu.
Valerie Crump	An avid fan of music and video games. She's trying to find creative inspiration through travel.	Iris	Found in a sarcophagus-themed Coffin somewhere in Temple of Anubis.
Au	A monk with bright golden skin. By challenging his mind and body he's trying to find peace in a chaotic universe.	Gold	Found in a golden sarcophagus-themed Coffin somewhere in The City of Gold.
Demi Von Diamonds	The heiress to the Von Diamonds empire. She's lived a pampered life, but is eager to learn more about the world.	Red	Found in a Coffin in the Ice Caves at the very top of the cave containing the Yeti King and Yeti Queen.
Pilot	A strange little spaceman from a far away planet. He can often be found muttering about his UFO, the Campanella.	Pink	Found in a Coffin with the appearance of a green pod in the Mothership.
Princess Airyn	A culinary expert, she travels the world looking for the most exquisite tastes to bring home to her kingdom of Heliotropia.	Violet	Found in a Coffin somewhere in 6-1 of Neo Babylon.
Dirk Yamaoka	A master ninja always looking to hone his skills. When the Moon called, he answered without hesitation.	Gray	Found in the Sunken City, in a Coffin inside the stomach of a deceased Goliath Frog.
Guy Spelunky	He's spent his life in pursuit of adventure (and treasure). A young man no longer, he's re-evaluating what's most important to him.	Khaki	Unlocked by defeating Tiamat and beating the game normally.
Classic Guy	A version of Guy Spelunky from a parallel universe made of large, flat blocks of colors.	Orange	Unlocked by defeating Hundun and exiting through the door at the top, beating the game another way.

Other Features

Custom Ropes

All Spelunkers have a special custom rope. All ropes function identically, and some have their own unique sound.

All custom ropes, in order of each character's number in the Journal.

Custom Rope Sounds

Default: Rope hooks onto wall.

Colin Northward: Rope suction cup attaches to wall.

Nekka the Eagle: The vine-like Rope makes an organic attaching noise.

LISE Project: The electrical plug at the end of the Rope makes a soft attaching noise as it inserts into the background.

Manfred Tunnel: Sound of Rope "Digging" into wall.

Tina Flan: The carabiner clip at the end of the Rope "clanks" onto the background with a loud metal sound.

Valerie Crump: The chewed gum at the end of the Rope sticks to the wall.

Au: Deploying plays a loud, tube like unfurling noise.

Pilot: The arm-like Rope makes a rubbery flailing sound as it is thrown upward.

Classic Guy: The Rope makes the same sound effects as it did in Spelunky Classic.

Custom Whips

Some characters have their own custom Whips. These whips function identically to the default whip, and only appear different. Notably, Hired Hands and the Eggplant Child also have their very own custom whip.

Pictured Whips from left to right: Default, Nekka the Eagle, Au, Princess Airyn, Classic Guy, Hired Hand, Eggplant Child

Player Ghosts

When a Spelunker dies in co-op, they drop all of their items and a Player Bag containing their bombs and rope, before leaving their body and becoming a Ghost. The colors and features of the Ghost resemble the player character that died.

A Coffin will spawn for each dead player in a level after the one they died in. Freeing a player from their coffin causes their ghost to disappear, immediately resuming control back to their newly-freed body.

• Player Ghosts can use the attack button to quickly release a puff of air, knocking anything forward and about half a block upward. This attack can be used very often and can be a help or hindrance to other players.
  • They are also able to hold their breath and release a stronger puff of air, knocking anything even further forward and about 1.5 blocks upward.
  • If a player ghost holds their breath for over 2.5 seconds, they instead shoot a short-ranged ice blast that acts identical to that of the Freeze Ray's.
• Pressing the "Bomb" button while playing as a ghost will boost them forward.
• Pressing the "Rope" button while playing as a ghost will cause them to shake and make a loud rattling noise. This has no effect on gameplay.
• Pressing the "Jump" button will cause the player's ghost to spin. This also has no effect on gameplay.
• Player Ghosts can also hold down the sprint button to move slightly faster. Combined with pressing the bomb button to boost forward, a Player Ghost can move quite fast.

A Player Ghost can rescue themselves from a coffin by shooting their own coffin with an ice blast attack. This will open the coffin and freeze the player inside. They will fall on the ground safely, albeit frozen.

One thing to note is that a Player Ghost is restricted to a screen's worth of area around the main player of the game. They are able to move freely within this area, but they cannot leave the area to explore on their own. The restriction for where Player Ghosts can go does not move higher or lower if the main player looks up or down. In local multiplayer, the main player is simply whoever has the "leader" flag. Online, the main player is whoever joined first in the game.

There is a "queue" system online for the main player; at the start, a player's position in the queue is equal to their join order, but when a player dies and is revived, they drop to the last position of the queue. For example, if 3 people are dead and 1 of them is revived, the one who is revived is now 2nd in the queue.

Player Ghosts can help living players by:

• Using their held breath to blow objects (such as Crates) from high elevation down to prevent players from wasting ropes.
• Provoking Pets from their idle state.
• Blowing away The Ghost.
• Freezing enemies and potentially killing them by charging up an ice blast.
  • This can include very powerful enemies as well, such as Bosses or angered NPCs.

For each player ghost that exists, the amount of time in a level before The Ghost spawns reduces by 30 seconds.

Taking a picture of a player ghost using the Camera will momentarily and forcefully freeze them into an odd shape or expression.

Every single special pose that Spelunker Ghosts perform when a picture of them is taken with the Camera.

Dialogue

All playable Spelunkers have their own special dialogue in the Camp.

See: Dialogue (2)

Trivia

Spelunky 2 adaptations of playable Spelunkers and NPCs from Spelunky HD.

• Colin Northward is based on Colin Northway, a friend of Spelunky and Spelunky 2's lead designer Derek Yu.
• Tina Flan's description is a reference to how she was the character used by the Youtuber/Streamer BananasaurusRex during the first successfully recorded solo eggplant run in Spelunky HD. The run can be seen here.
  • This reference is taken further by a unique dialogue string from the Eggplant King if he is killed by her: "Ah, you've come to finish the job!"
• The Pilot appears to be a reference to one of the games in the upcoming UFO 50 (also by Mossmouth), known as Campanella. He appears here in the game's trailer.
• Demi Von Diamonds is a reference to the Damsel from Spelunky Classic and HD. Her dialogue suggests that she is the same character from the first game, seeming to know Guy Spelunky and the original Yang from the original adventure.
  • The same applies to Manfred Tunnel, who previously served the role as the Tunnel Man (Fufilled by his wife in Spelunky 2, Terra Tunnel).
• Dirk Yamaoka and Sparrow are implied to be siblings, as seen with Sparrow's line when initially encountering him: "Big brother! I never thought I'd catch you thieving..."
• Au is the Periodic Symbol for Gold, hence the Golden Monk's name.
• The lemur on the back of Coco Von Diamond's head is named Pearl.
• Although "Cyan" does not make a reappearance in Spelunky 2, he is referenced in the credits as developer Andy Hull's cartoon icon has him wearing the same outfit as them.
• In a Developer AMA, Spelunky Creator Derek Yu confirmed that the cave of Spelunky 2 was connected to the cave of Spelunky Classic, potentially explaining how Classic Guy is a playable character in the game.