Watch Spelunky beaten in 101 seconds in a world record speed run

Spelunky God has finished Spelunky in 101 seconds. The video of this achievement can be seen above, and it's amazing, not to mention a new world record.

In a run like this the player has to beat the game, it's not a matter of score or completion percentage. It's a straight sprint to the finish line. This feat was accomplished with some of the best use of the teleporter you're likely to ever see. The record for finishing a hell-run is three minutes and 44 seconds.

How it was done

"The teleporter is standard for a Spelunky speed run, so it's not unique to this run," game designer Douglas Wilson told Polygon. "Spelunky speed runs are so impressive in part because the teleporter is tricky and dangerous to use"

That's a bit of an understatement. In the hands of an unprepared player the teleporter means death. Here are the rules of its use:

Pressing the action button while carrying one will teleport you in the direction you are facing. You will appear a random number of tiles away in the direction you are holding, either 4-8 tiles horizontally or upwards, or 5-9 tiles downwards. Note that you have to jump in order to teleport downwards; otherwise you will just drop the teleporter.

If the destination tile is a solid block, the teleporter tries to find an empty space up to 3 tiles above the selected location - If there is no viable space, the teleporter will warp you into a solid block and you will be killed.

Buying a teleporter is generally not recommended for the unprepared, as they are a quick path to death if you don't understand and accept the risks and limitations they have.

"Also note that you can tele-frag enemies — the runner does this in a number of levels, especially when they teleport into the Shopkeeper standing guard at level exits," Wilson explained. "If you attack or steal from a shopkeeper, which the runner does in 1-2, the Shopkeeper stands guard in future levels."

Look at the rules above. Imagine being able to navigate that system well enough to use it as a targeted weapon. It's not like walking and chewing gum, it's like counting cards while juggling calculators.

Here's a quick look at what this looks like in action. Don't blink.

Is this luck?

Here's the thing about a run like this, you can't just decide to do it. A big reason this was possible is the fact that Spelunky God was given an amazing "seed," the starting conditions of the randomly assigned levels and item placement. There's an impressive amount of skill at play, but it wouldn't matter unless the seed was optimal.

"Nearly everything about this seed was fantastic!" the video's description states. "Incredible start, great jungle, great Ice Caves, good enough Temple."

This is important, as it would be impossible to compete with this run without a similar seed. "In order to even compete for a top Any% time, the runner needs a very particular random seed — a 1-2 shop w/ a teleporter and compass (and jetpack)," Wilson said. "The compass tells you where the exit is, so saves you time searching."

There were other bits of luck the runner was able to see instantly and bend to their will. "In 3-2 the runner saves time by teleporting into the Moai statue," Wilson continued. "Usually that statue is part of the path to the secret Hell world, but here the runner can just teleport inside of it. (Usually, you'd get the Ankh in the Black Market and kill yourself in the Moai level, thereby resurrecting within it)."

"Note that the Moai statue placement is another good stroke of luck, it's literally right underneath the level start," he said.

So this is a fortuitous setup for a speedrun, mixed with some of the best high-level play in the game. Enjoy!