Spelunky Xbox Live Arcade release date revealed

One of the most well-regarded indie platformers in gaming history is coming to Xbox Live Arcade soon, and today we found out exactly when. To our surprise, Spelunky will be hitting XBLA in just a little over a week on July 4.

Created by designer Derek Yu (Aquaria), Spelunky is a fairly non-traditional platformer. Rather than the pre-made levels of games like Super Mario Bros., Spelunky features randomly generated environments which foster a unique experience every time you play.

This is compounded by the fact that death is permanent in Spelunky. A single wrong move will force you to restart the game and tackle the 10 (randomly generated) stages all over again.

It's been one of the most highly anticipated XBLA titles for quite a while now so we're eager to try it out and see if the experience has been faithfully ported. It has also been available as a freeware download since its launch in December 2008.

The XBLA release will be coming just two weeks before the start of Microsoft's Summer of Arcade promotion. You can view the game's release trailer below.