It's much different than traditional roguelikes in that there is no food to worry about and the default mode is one that gives you a few deaths rather than just one.
Spelunky is retarded. You look at it and think "wow cool game, exploring underground levels, looking for hidden secrets and loot, sounds great!" and then you realize you CAN'T explore because if you hang around the levels for a while (and I mean a while, not even a long time), this fetching ghost shows up and keeps chasing you. You can't kill it and he kills you in one it. So they basically ruined their own game with a poo poo design decision.Why they decided it was a good idea to FORCE you to rush through the game is beyond me. Imagine if in Skyrim an invincible NPC appeared if you spent too long in a dungeon/town/etc, forcing you to move on or die
Roguelikes that I like:Dungeons of DredmorRogue LegacyFTLmaybe there are others, I dunno. I am mainstream and boring