50 Fun Facts About The Binding of Isaac

What does Isaac fire like bullets at monsters in The Binding of Isaac, in the style of a twin-stick shooter?

Tears are Isaac's basic shots, and the items he collects can replace them with lasers, guided missiles or a thrown knife.

In the Book of Genesis story that gives The Binding of Isaac its title, which patriarch is ordered to sacrifice his son?

Abraham binds his son on an altar before an angel stops him, and the game recasts him as a mother who hears a voice from above.

Which classic game's dungeon structure did Edmund McMillen reuse for the room-by-room floors of The Binding of Isaac?

The Legend of Zelda shaped the game so directly that the physical Switch edition came with a manual modelled on the Nintendo original's.

Which sandbox hit beat The Binding of Isaac to Best Independent Game at the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards?

Minecraft took the prize in a year when Edmund McMillen had expected his odd little game to sell only a few hundred copies.

Nintendo blocked a 3DS port of The Binding of Isaac in 2012 after objecting to which aspect of the game?

Religious content was the reason given, yet three Nintendo staff championed the remake and it reached the company's consoles in 2015.

Four playable characters in The Binding of Isaac were modelled on the fighter, thief, cleric and wizard of which game?

Dungeons & Dragons was among the pastimes that some of Edmund McMillen's devout relatives condemned, a family rift that fed the game's story.

Missing No., an item that scrambles Isaac's items in The Binding of Isaac, is named after a glitch in which series?

Pokémon's MissingNo. glitch garbles graphics and item counts in Red and Blue, chaos the item echoes by rerolling Isaac's items and stats.

Which figure from Alpine Christmas folklore appears as a mini-boss in The Binding of Isaac, dropping A Lump of Coal?

Krampus punishes naughty children in the folklore, which is why coal sits in the item pool of the game's version.

Which infamous group supplies the mini-bosses of The Binding of Isaac, each one dropping its own specific rewards?

The seven deadly sins also have much stronger alternative versions, which cannot appear during the first chapter of a run.

Which character in The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth starts with an extra life and returns stronger after his first death?

Lazarus revives in a Risen form with above-average damage, speed and range, a nod to the man Jesus raised from the dead.

How does Isaac escape his locked bedroom at the start of The Binding of Isaac as his mother bursts in?

Down a trapdoor hidden under his rug is the way out, and every new run is assumed to begin the moment he jumps.

Which book falls from a shelf and strikes Isaac's mother in the ending after The Binding of Isaac's Mom fight?

The Bible is also an item that kills Mom instantly when Isaac uses it during her fight, a nod to this ending.

In the Genesis story behind The Binding of Isaac's title, which animal ends up sacrificed in the boy's place?

A ram appears and is offered instead, though the game's Isaac gets no such rescue and has to flee on his own.

Which software platform, whose limits blocked a second expansion, was the original 2011 The Binding of Isaac built in?

Adobe Flash let the pair build it quickly, but its creator later said he would never have used it had he known anyone would care.

Which other Edmund McMillen game's villain inspired Dr. Fetus, the explosive-firing item in The Binding of Isaac?

Super Meat Boy's sales also bankrolled the risk, leaving Edmund McMillen free to make a game he feared could be career suicide.

Which company at first rejected the mobile port of The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, citing violence towards children?

Apple refused the game in 2016, then worked with the publisher on preapproval before an iOS version arrived in January 2017.

Which crowdfunding site funded the card game The Binding of Isaac: Four Souls within 90 minutes of its 2018 launch?

Kickstarter backers passed the $50,000 goal within 90 minutes and went on to pledge more than $2.6 million.

Which pickup do players normally spend to get into the hidden Secret Room on each floor of The Binding of Isaac?

Bombs set against the right wall open the room, which usually sits beside three or four other rooms on the map.

What is the roguelike rule called that ends a run of The Binding of Isaac for good when Isaac loses every heart?

Permadeath sends the player back to a freshly generated dungeon, though Rebirth at least lets a run be saved and resumed midway.

Which kind of fan uploads did Edmund McMillen credit for The Binding of Isaac's sudden surge in sales?

Let's Play videos turned a game selling a few hundred copies a day into a hit that passed a million sales by November 2012.

Which item in The Binding of Isaac swaps Isaac's shots for a charged blood laser that pierces every enemy?

Brimstone's beam passes straight through obstacles too, hitting everything in its path once a short charge-up is finished.

Which item in The Binding of Isaac makes Isaac lob explosive, poisonous shots in an arc at a slow rate?

Ipecac is named after syrup of ipecac, a powerful emetic that was used to make people vomit.

Which Binding of Isaac item, a nod to Greek myth, trades a slower fire rate for a massive boost to damage?

Polyphemus is named after the Cyclops of Homer's Odyssey, and a shot that kills an enemy flies on with its leftover damage.

The Ludovico Technique, a Binding of Isaac item that gives Isaac one steerable shot, takes its name from which novel?

A Clockwork Orange has its narrator's eyelids forced open during the treatment, an image the item turns into one controlled, hovering shot.

Collecting three items tied to which pet cat turns Isaac into a flying, fly-spawning form in The Binding of Isaac?

Guppy was Edmund McMillen's first cat in real life, and the pet's head, paw, tail and collar all appear as items that count toward the change.

Which tarot card in The Binding of Isaac teleports Isaac back to the starting room of the floor he is on?

The Fool is numbered zero in the game's tarot deck, a fitting ticket back to the spot where each floor begins.

Which item in The Binding of Isaac grants a shield that cancels the first hit Isaac takes in every room?

Holy Mantle belongs to the Seraphim set, and collecting three items from that set transforms Isaac into an angel.

Which dice item, which Isaac himself starts with once unlocked, rerolls every item in the room in The Binding of Isaac?

The D6 was simply called The Dice in the original game, where it recharged twice as fast as it does in Rebirth.

Which type of collectible, held in its own slot, did the Wrath of the Lamb expansion add to The Binding of Isaac?

Trinkets give subtle passive bonuses and normally only one can be carried, and the expansion that introduced them shipped with 33.

Which optional area can open after a boss fight in The Binding of Isaac, selling powerful items for heart containers?

Devil Room deals carry a hidden price beyond health, because paying for one normally stops the rival Angel Room from appearing.

Which secret character did The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth players uncover by data-mining within 109 hours of release?

The Lost was meant to stay hidden far longer, and Edmund McMillen said he was disappointed that fans dug it out of the game's files.

Which Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth character, who uses coins as health, was revealed through a real-world puzzle hunt?

Keeper's hunt sent players to real spots around Santa Cruz, where they even dug up a buried figure of one of the game's mini-bosses.

Which character in The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth starts every run able to fly and armed with a short-range blood laser?

Azazel begins with three black hearts and no red heart containers, and shares his name with a fallen angel from the Book of Enoch.

Which character in The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth costs a token per run and starts with random stats and items?

Eden is generated afresh for every run, and the tokens needed to play are earned by beating late bosses such as Mom's Heart.

Which pair of twin brothers from Genesis did The Binding of Isaac: Repentance add as two characters controlled as one?

Jacob and Esau are the sons of the scriptural Isaac, and in the game they share movement, coins and keys but keep separate health and items.

What name is given to the 17 alternate versions of existing characters that The Binding of Isaac: Repentance added?

Tainted characters keep each original's theme but twist it to an extreme, and they are unlocked in the expansion's final endgame area.

What does The Forgotten swing as a melee weapon in The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth instead of firing ordinary shots?

A bone club is The Forgotten's only weapon, dealing triple his damage when swung, and it can also be charged up and thrown.

Which two-piece item must be assembled and then used in the Dark Room to unlock The Forgotten in The Binding of Isaac?

Mom's Shovel digs up a dirt patch in a grave room, and until both halves are joined Mom keeps trying to stomp on Isaac.

The Forgotten joined The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ in the fifth and last of which updates drawing on fan mods?

Booster Packs folded popular community mods into the official game, starting in March 2017 and ending with the fifth in May 2018.

Which wave-based way to play, built around an arena button, did Afterbirth add to The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth?

Greed Mode swaps exploration for money, with each wave dropping the pennies Isaac spends in an oversized shop between fights.

Which boss always waits at the end of Sheol, the dark floor reached from The Binding of Isaac's Womb?

Satan rules a floor named after the Hebrew underworld, and he first appeared in the original game's Halloween update.

Which boss of The Void in The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ keeps shapeshifting into bosses the player has already met?

Delirium stands for the white light at the end of the tunnel, with Isaac's whole life flashing past in the shapes of bosses he has faced.

Which final boss of The Binding of Isaac: Repentance is fought at Home straight after Dogma falls?

The Beast is modelled on the first beast of the Book of Revelation, and is the only boss introduced by a cutscene instead of a VS screen.

On which floor of The Binding of Isaac, one of two paths after the Womb, is the boss always Isaac himself?

Cathedral is reached through a beam of light, and was once the only non-final level without unique enemies until Repentance added some.

Which Austrian programmer built the original The Binding of Isaac with Edmund McMillen during a week-long game jam?

Florian Himsl and his partner had a working game inside the week, written in ActionScript 2, and finished it in about three months.

Which act scored The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth and its expansions, taking over from the original game's composer?

Ridiculon is the duo of Matthias Bossi and Jon Evans, and Bossi also performs the narration heard before the game's very last boss.

Which studio, known for bringing Cave Story to consoles, developed and published The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth?

Nicalis took on the remake after its founder Tyrone Rodriguez approached Edmund McMillen, who asked to be kept out of the business side.

Which fan-made mod for The Binding of Isaac was reworked into the official Repentance expansion?

Antibirth came out in December 2016, just before Afterbirth+, and some of its creators were later enlisted to help build Repentance.

On which browser-game website did Edmund McMillen post a demo of The Binding of Isaac a week after its Steam launch?

Newgrounds had already published Spewer, an earlier Edmund McMillen browser game, two years before it hosted the demo.

To which arcade twin-stick shooter did Edmund McMillen compare the controls of The Binding of Isaac?

Smash TV borrowed its twin-joystick controls from designer Eugene Jarvis's earlier Robotron: 2084, with enemies pouring into each arena in waves.