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Spike City Cheats, Tips, Tricks & Hints to Keep You One Spike Ahead

It’s time to sharpen those spikes and stretch those flinging fingers as you desperately swipe away trying to escape molten lava! Spike City is a game brought to us by Joseph Gribbin. You might recognise his classic 8-bit style from his other titles such as SneakR or MangoMan. Spike City delivers fantastically retro graphics combined with easy-to-understand yet complex mechanics. You can use swiping motions to shoot grappling hook spike out of your head as you frantically try to avoid the rising, rumbling lava!

Players are offered the chance to assert their dominance amongst their friends as the best spike shooter this side of Spike City. The game offers 2 playable modes; Endless wave being exactly what you’d, a continuous battle against the clock as players fly their way through multiple environments, collecting coins and power-ups as they go; and levels, where there is a greater focus on the puzzle element of Spike City and players have to logically think about their approach.

The main goal in Spike City is to 100% all of the levels and then take what you’ve learned and get that number 1 spot on the leaderboard. Joseph Gribbin has decided to throw players in at the deepend, as they have to get 50 coins before they can unlock the slower paced Spike City levels mode. Once there though it really gives them a chance to meet all of the obstacles in a more forgiving play area.

To get you one spike ahead of the rest, we’ve compiled a list of all the top tips and tricks into a single easy to read guide. Below you’ll find the best tactics alongside explanations of how Spike City operates. Now get reading!

1. Focus On Getting The Golden Coins

The infamous gaming currency, gold coins. In Spike City coins can either be purchased with real-world money through the shop or collected during gameplay (in both endless wave and level modes). Coins serve 2 purposes; character customisation and levelling your power-ups. It’s definitely a good idea to save up enough coins to purchase the levels play mode first (50 coins), as this will introduce you to a bunch of obstacles/enemies in a manageable environment, i.e. not having to worry about getting burnt to a crisp by lava.

2. Time To Go Shopping

The shop is where you go to spend your hard-earned cash. Again, gold coins are your means of progressing your character. It’s important to note that customising your character won’t increase any stats, it’s purely cosmetic. However, you can also upgrade your power-ups in the shop and these will help you a lot along your way to Spike City Dominance.

3. Power-Ups

These are you game changers. There are 4 different power-ups available;

Magnet: This will attract all coins in an area around you towards you. This is great as you can focus on blasting through the levels or along the endless wave.

Coin Doubler: Whilst it’s always nice to get more coins for the same amount of work, you do still need to make sure you hit them.

Shield: Another great power-up, mainly in the endless wave play mode, as it lets you take zero damage for a short period of time.

Rocket: Possibly our favourite power-up. This is the one that’ll help you reach the top of the leaderboard with a little less work.

Primarily you want to focus coins on your Rocket and Magnet power-ups, these are the ones that are going to help you get those higher scores. Magnets will easily boost your income whilst also letting you focus on gameplay. Rockets can you help you bypass some of the trickier obstacles whilst adding that little extra to the scoreboard.

4. Avoiding Obstacles

During your time in Spike City, you’ll encounter a wide array of enemies and obstacles, sometimes in singular confrontations other times multiple at once. The trick is patterns, patterns are your best friend when it comes to defeating dastardly enemy units. We’ll list a variety of common enemies you’ll face and how to counteract them.

Spikey Head Men: These guys typically walk around blocks, you can either time it to speed through a gap or hit them side on to kill them.

Rotating Lava: Mostly seen in the endless wave game mode, the only way to deal with these is through timing your swipes just right to zip by.

Floor/Wall Spikes: Typically placed in treacherous locations, make sure to check out the visible play area before you start flying around. One wrong swipe could lead to complete disaster.

Angry Blocks & Happy Blocks: Try not to get crushed or pushed into spikes by these blocks. Angry blocks will drop down quickly once you pass underneath, Happy Blocks will rise when you come into contact with them. Angry Blocks are the more concerning of the two, a solid method is to pass under them and quickly return in order to more easily navigate around them.

There are other obstacles you’ll come across such as key blocks, travellators, moving platforms, and switches etc. but these are typically quite easy to deal with and don’t pose a direct threat to your character.

5. The Key To Swiping

Getting around consists of well-timed and executed swipes. One swipe at a time is great when you have a bit more time to think about your next moves, but when against the clock it just won’t cut it. If you keep your finger in contact with the screen you can perform back-to-back spike shots, this will really speed you up and get you ahead of the lava. This technique is great for the endless wave mode but be sure to still think ahead as swiping so quickly will leave you more prone to making mistakes.

6. Level Mode

Levels are great as they give you more time to practice your swiping and become more familiar with the enemies. Spread around the levels are purple tokens, getting all the tokens in a level will allow for 100% completion and lead to more unlocks in the shop. If you miss any you can simply return and replay the level.

Checkpoints can also be found throughout levels giving players a second chance without having to start all the way from the beginning. Checkpoints do cost 10 gold coins to unlock them but only need to be unlocked once.

The first 2 stages are relatively easy and welcoming to all beginners. Stage 3 however, things begin to escalate as you’ll meet an old friend from the Endless Wave mode, molten lava. You now have to combine getting those tokens with a race against the clock. It’ll really put your new skills to the test.

At the final level of each stage, players will be posed with a new threat, a boss. Each boss is unique so take your time to watch their attack strategy and figure out when they are most vulnerable. Don’t be afraid to die either, you’ll most likely have to have a couple of attempts before being able to clear these stages. Use the level to your benefit and just wait the boss out until the opportune moment.

7. Endless Wave Mode

This is when your finger flicking needs to be at its best. You’re instantly pitted against the clock and face some of the more difficult Spike City obstacles a lot earlier than you’d expect. This game mode requires your utmost attention and where your power-ups become usable.

Hopefully, our above guide has shed some light on the best techniques and tips to utilise when overcoming the enemies and obstacles in Spike City. Just remember Spike City is a game of practice and the more you play, the sooner you’ll be able too to show off your score to your friends! Now, good luck and happy swiping!