Spelunky: Classic vs HD
I happened to be playing Spelunky Classic and HD concurrently relatively recently, was surprised by just how many differences there were between the games as well as some of the specific changes, and I ended up making a list of the changes I could find out of curiosity. This list isn't complete -for one thing, I leave out more "explicit" changes like how HD introduces new item and enemy types- but I suspect it's the most complete list on the internet. I looked for a list, and couldn't find them.
So here we go;
-Stunned enemies are immune to the whip in both games, but in Classic it literally does nothing to them, where in HD it will knock them around, it just won't hurt them.
-More generally, the whip interacts with stuff a lot more in HD: in Classic, anything the whip can't hurt is entirely unaffected by the whip, where in HD it can inflict knockback on items, corpses, stunned enemies, etc, even if it can't hurt them. Among other points this means that in HD a player can 'push' gold and gems with the whip, such as to knock it over an edge and activate an arrow trap, a trick unavailable in Classic.
-Cavemen will hop to try to climb tiles in Classic (And sometimes for no reason I can discern, to boot), making them a lot more dangerous/unpredictable than in HD. This applies to Yetis, too: they hop in Classic, they don't in HD.
-Speaking of Yetis, they have an extremely short stun duration in Classic. In HD their stun time seems to be 'normalized' to be the same as most/all other stunnable enemies.
-Spiders are 'floatier' in Classic, don't bounce back when hitting walls, and have no 'wait' period after landing before they jump again, making them a nightmare to deal with.
-Frogs have the same 'floaty' physics and lack of bouncing in Classic. (They do have a wait period, however) The wiki claims HD makes them invincible in water, but I'm pretty sure this is false.
-Damsels are very bouncy in Classic, with falls leading to them hitting the ground and rebounding, smoothly transitioning into a run. In HD they're only as bouncy as everything else in the game, and in particular will only bounce on a fall if they're stunned. A couple incidental effects of this are that Damsels in Classic are more likely to end up traveling quite far away on their own by virtue of bouncing up out of single-tile pits and the like, and are also more likely to end up incidentally killing enemies for you as they travel, because they have projectile physics when falling/bouncing.
-Bat movement speed is constant in Classic, while in HD their movement speed is actually correlated to their animation, with them getting a small boost to movement when they flap their wings. This is mostly significant because it makes it easy to mistime a whip swing in HD, as it's so small a detail you probably won't notice it on your own.
-In HD, a bomb tossed into a web will sometimes slip and fall out or cause the web to vanish after a delay. This is most pertinent to dealing with Giant Spiders, as in Classic simply tossing a bomb into the webbing underneath them is a 100% reliable way to kill them, where in HD it's possible for the bomb to fall out, particularly if it hit the underside of the web. In HD you're generally better off trying to get the bomb in from the side, which is itself risky since it's easier to accidentally hit the Giant Spider that way.
-Skeletons are momentarily invincible when assembling, in Classic. HD affords them no such protection, and in fact simply jumping on random piles of bones is a risk-free way of checking for/clearing out skeletons in HD.
-In Classic, Vampires take extra damage from arrows. I'm unsure whether HD removed this or not, but it's largely irrelevant as you'll almost never have the opportunity in HD due to the removal of the Bow. Arrow traps and Vampires don't normally share environments, after all.
-Whipping a pot from a distance is safe in Classic: if an enemy spawns, the whip immediately kills it. In HD you'll have to re-swing to kill the released enemy, and if it's a Scorpion it won't even hurt it because it'll be stunned.
-Pots are much more breakable in HD: in Classic, only the whip, machete, pistol, and shotgun can break a pot, aside from throwing the pot always causing it to shatter on impact. In HD, the list is expanded to include pretty much anything traveling at speed through the air: thrown objects, arrows from arrow traps, etc.
-Buying items in Classic involves picking the item up and then confirming the purchase. In HD you just stand in front of the item and press the purchase button. (Exception: buying a kiss/buying the Damsel works the same in both versions) The shopkeep following you when you pick up an item is present in both, though you normally have no reason to see it in HD outside of buying a Damsel.
-Powerup pickup is different between the two, and more consistent in HD. In Classic, most powerup pickups require you to actually attempt to grab them to acquire them, with the exception that powerups in a shop whose Shopkeep is dead or on a rampage are automatically grabbed simply by touching them. In HD, powerups are always picked up on contact, with the only exception being that ones being sold by shop won't do this if the Shopkeep is both alive and not angry with the player.
-Crates are radically different. In Classic, crates have to be opened by standing in front of them, holding up, and pressing the action (Whip-swinging) key, at which point they release their item, with bomb and rope drops being dumped straight into your supply. In HD, crates are broken open by attacking them, and bomb and rope drops will actually release the normal item pickup, which must then be manually collected. Chests share this behavior with crates: in HD you attack them to open them, in Classic you have to get in front of them and push the action button.
-Aerial physics for the player is different: in Classic, whether you are running or not is 'inherited' when jumping or otherwise leaving the ground to determine air speed. In HD, whether you are holding the run button or not influences air speed during jumps on a continuous basis. Let go of run button? Slow down midair. Start holding run button? Speed up midair.
-Spike Shoes: have a base cost of 3600 in Classic+400 per floor, vs 3500+500 in HD. Thus, they're more expensive in HD, as shops are forbidden from spawning on the first floor. All other items that are in both versions are unaltered, cost-wise.
-In Classic, Crystal Skulls are a consequence of getting a Golden Idol on a Restless Dead level. In HD, the Restless Dead level always has a Crystal Skull. (The wiki claims otherwise regarding HD, but I'm fairly sure it's wrong on this count)
So here we go;
-Stunned enemies are immune to the whip in both games, but in Classic it literally does nothing to them, where in HD it will knock them around, it just won't hurt them.
-More generally, the whip interacts with stuff a lot more in HD: in Classic, anything the whip can't hurt is entirely unaffected by the whip, where in HD it can inflict knockback on items, corpses, stunned enemies, etc, even if it can't hurt them. Among other points this means that in HD a player can 'push' gold and gems with the whip, such as to knock it over an edge and activate an arrow trap, a trick unavailable in Classic.
-Cavemen will hop to try to climb tiles in Classic (And sometimes for no reason I can discern, to boot), making them a lot more dangerous/unpredictable than in HD. This applies to Yetis, too: they hop in Classic, they don't in HD.
-Speaking of Yetis, they have an extremely short stun duration in Classic. In HD their stun time seems to be 'normalized' to be the same as most/all other stunnable enemies.
-Spiders are 'floatier' in Classic, don't bounce back when hitting walls, and have no 'wait' period after landing before they jump again, making them a nightmare to deal with.
-Frogs have the same 'floaty' physics and lack of bouncing in Classic. (They do have a wait period, however) The wiki claims HD makes them invincible in water, but I'm pretty sure this is false.
-Damsels are very bouncy in Classic, with falls leading to them hitting the ground and rebounding, smoothly transitioning into a run. In HD they're only as bouncy as everything else in the game, and in particular will only bounce on a fall if they're stunned. A couple incidental effects of this are that Damsels in Classic are more likely to end up traveling quite far away on their own by virtue of bouncing up out of single-tile pits and the like, and are also more likely to end up incidentally killing enemies for you as they travel, because they have projectile physics when falling/bouncing.
-Bat movement speed is constant in Classic, while in HD their movement speed is actually correlated to their animation, with them getting a small boost to movement when they flap their wings. This is mostly significant because it makes it easy to mistime a whip swing in HD, as it's so small a detail you probably won't notice it on your own.
-In HD, a bomb tossed into a web will sometimes slip and fall out or cause the web to vanish after a delay. This is most pertinent to dealing with Giant Spiders, as in Classic simply tossing a bomb into the webbing underneath them is a 100% reliable way to kill them, where in HD it's possible for the bomb to fall out, particularly if it hit the underside of the web. In HD you're generally better off trying to get the bomb in from the side, which is itself risky since it's easier to accidentally hit the Giant Spider that way.
-Skeletons are momentarily invincible when assembling, in Classic. HD affords them no such protection, and in fact simply jumping on random piles of bones is a risk-free way of checking for/clearing out skeletons in HD.
-In Classic, Vampires take extra damage from arrows. I'm unsure whether HD removed this or not, but it's largely irrelevant as you'll almost never have the opportunity in HD due to the removal of the Bow. Arrow traps and Vampires don't normally share environments, after all.
-Whipping a pot from a distance is safe in Classic: if an enemy spawns, the whip immediately kills it. In HD you'll have to re-swing to kill the released enemy, and if it's a Scorpion it won't even hurt it because it'll be stunned.
-Pots are much more breakable in HD: in Classic, only the whip, machete, pistol, and shotgun can break a pot, aside from throwing the pot always causing it to shatter on impact. In HD, the list is expanded to include pretty much anything traveling at speed through the air: thrown objects, arrows from arrow traps, etc.
-Buying items in Classic involves picking the item up and then confirming the purchase. In HD you just stand in front of the item and press the purchase button. (Exception: buying a kiss/buying the Damsel works the same in both versions) The shopkeep following you when you pick up an item is present in both, though you normally have no reason to see it in HD outside of buying a Damsel.
-Powerup pickup is different between the two, and more consistent in HD. In Classic, most powerup pickups require you to actually attempt to grab them to acquire them, with the exception that powerups in a shop whose Shopkeep is dead or on a rampage are automatically grabbed simply by touching them. In HD, powerups are always picked up on contact, with the only exception being that ones being sold by shop won't do this if the Shopkeep is both alive and not angry with the player.
-Crates are radically different. In Classic, crates have to be opened by standing in front of them, holding up, and pressing the action (Whip-swinging) key, at which point they release their item, with bomb and rope drops being dumped straight into your supply. In HD, crates are broken open by attacking them, and bomb and rope drops will actually release the normal item pickup, which must then be manually collected. Chests share this behavior with crates: in HD you attack them to open them, in Classic you have to get in front of them and push the action button.
-Aerial physics for the player is different: in Classic, whether you are running or not is 'inherited' when jumping or otherwise leaving the ground to determine air speed. In HD, whether you are holding the run button or not influences air speed during jumps on a continuous basis. Let go of run button? Slow down midair. Start holding run button? Speed up midair.
-Spike Shoes: have a base cost of 3600 in Classic+400 per floor, vs 3500+500 in HD. Thus, they're more expensive in HD, as shops are forbidden from spawning on the first floor. All other items that are in both versions are unaltered, cost-wise.
-In Classic, Crystal Skulls are a consequence of getting a Golden Idol on a Restless Dead level. In HD, the Restless Dead level always has a Crystal Skull. (The wiki claims otherwise regarding HD, but I'm fairly sure it's wrong on this count)
-Pass-through floors are more 'solid' in HD: enemies can stand on them and blocks won't fall through them. This is particularly noticeable when it comes to block-pushing, as there are terrain formations that can occur where in Classic the block can be pushed out of your way because it will fall through a pass-through floor while in HD you'll be forced to go around or destroy terrain to get through.
-The boulder has a lot more momentum in HD. Its physics have been radically overhauled in general, but the momentum is the most stand-out change specific to the boulder's physics, as in Classic it's actually practical to simply run a screen or so away and watch it burn out its momentum, where in HD you're probably going to die if you think that much distance is any kind of protection.
-Classic has much more 'slippery' physics: you're a lot more likely to come to a stop and then slide off an edge onto spikes than in HD, among other wonky, frustrating problems.
-Arrows vanish outright in Classic on impact. In HD the arrowhead is lost, but you can pick up and throw the harmless shaft. The distinction matters because broken arrows can trigger arrow traps, break pots, be used to knock about and stun enemies, detonate Powder Boxes... even though they can't directly do damage once the arrowhead breaks.
-Thwomps, officially called 'crush traps', do not rely on crush mechanics in Classic. They do 10 HP of contact damage and if they are moving toward you are prone to instantly killing you regardless of HP. This is radically different from HD, where they are only dangerous by virtue of being capable of crushing things between them and a solid object, such as a wall. This is one of the nastier surprises if you've gotten used to HD and go back to play Classic.
-Similarly, Olmec doesn't actually have proper crushing behavior in Classic. He simply kills you if you touch any part of him except the top while he's in motion.
-For that matter, falling stone blocks aren't using true crush physics in Classic, simply killing the player or any enemy caught in their path as they fall.
-Item crushing is not a thing in Classic. You can still find yourself unable to reach items, such as by landing a pushable block on top of a stack of gold, as the item will be stuck inside the block, impossible to reach without moving or destroying the block, but items can't actually be destroyed by crushing. This makes the boulder essentially a pure benefit in Classic, as it's likely to release gold and gems you can then pick up, where in HD it will tend to destroy them, among other implications.
-UFOs drop straight down when killed and then explode on impact in Classic. In HD they have actual physics, which can lead to results like one UFO's explosion killing another UFO, launching it to some entirely different location it then detonates at. This makes groups of UFOs a lot more dangerous in HD, even though their beam attack has actually dropped from 3 HP of damage to 1. Additionally, UFOs have a distinctive sound effect when on-screen in Classic. In HD they don't seem to have this sound effect, or if they do I've never noticed it.
-Piranhas have a constant, slow speed in Classic, only slowly modify their height in pursuit of you, and have a fairly short aggro radius. In HD they'll notice you from more or less the edge of the screen, will increase their speed substantially to chase you, and will modify their vertical height to match your much more quickly. The difference is most pronounced on Rushing Water levels, as in Classic the horde of Piranhas in the water at the bottom can be slowly whittled down if you have patience and time, where in HD you'll be piled on by pretty much every Piranha you can see the instant you're in the water.
-Dark level feelings are notably different, with the darkness handled differently (Classic covers the screen in blackness wherever there's no light, where HD has a more realistic/gradated approach to shadows), a box of flares in Classic vs HD's single lit torch, no background torches in Classic...
-'The dead are restless' can spawn an Ash grave in both versions, and will always have a shotgun buried directly underneath it if it does spawn, but in HD the Ash grave is guaranteed to appear on a Restless Dead level.
-In Classic, a destroyed arrow trap generally won't release an arrow. In HD it always will, bar crushing immediately destroying the arrow.
-Entering doors is achieved differently. Classic is 'press/hold up in front of a door'. HD has a dedicated 'enter door' button.
-The 'frozen region' is a thing in Classic, and is not in HD. This has all kinds of implications, the majority of which boil down to 'there are exploits in Classic that don't exist in HD'. (A major example: in Classic you can fire a series of shots from a fair distance away from a Shopkeep, "stacking" shots in the Frozen Region so that when you approach him he will be simultaneously hit with enough bullets to instantly kill him)
-Blood persists longer, tends to be produced in larger quantities, and is far more visible in Classic.
-Vines are, as far as I know, indestructible in Classic. Not so in HD, where destroying the terrain above them can break them.
-Mantraps can be safely stomped in Classic if you have Spiked Shoes, and are never safe to stomp in HD. Conversely, in Classic Mantraps yawn after eating an enemy, and will still instantly kill the player if touched during the yawn animation. In HD Mantraps are instantly stunned/immediately safe to touch after eating something.
-Water causes you to fall more slowly in Classic. The removal of this in HD is frankly an enormous relief.
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