If you’ve played the excellent indie metroidvania Animal Well for at least an hour, you’ve probably been surprised by a Kangaroo. Aside from maybe giving you a jump scare, this animal will bounce around and damage you on contact until one of you retreats. You might think your only recourse in these moments is to retreat, but that’s not the case. In fact, this Kangaroo hides a secret for you to hunt down. We’ll tell you where to find this elusive marsupial, and what to do when you do track it down.
There are five locations on Animal Well’s map where the kangaroo can spawn. It will move to one of the other four locations whenever you spot it, so you’ll have to check each spot if you’re trying to hunt it down. As for why you’d want to hunt for it? Well, if you throw a Firecracker whenever the Kangaroo appears, the marsupial will retreat and drop a K Shard. Once you have three K Shards, they automatically combine to form a K Medal, which you can place in a Circular Recess near the top-left side of the map (next to the room where the giant bat appears after placing a candle).
This hunt isn’t necessary to complete the game’s first “layer,” but it is essential to achieving 100% completion. Here’s everything you need to know to knock out this optional objective.
How to find the rooms where the Kangaroo will spawn
Before we outright tell you how to find the Kangaroo, you should know that you can figure out where the Kangaroo will spawn on your own. You will need a certain item to do it, though, and there’s a good chance you missed it before you saw the credits for the first time (it’s not the Top). If this information is enough to pique your curiosity, then stop reading here.
Ready for another hint?
The item you need is the UV Wand. You can obtain it after exploring the area that opens after placing the E Medal into the Circular Recess in the bottom-left quadrant of the map (past the room where you got the B. Flame after the seahorse boss battle, there’s a hidden room on the top-right of the screen above the fish head). The UV Wand shows hidden images and messages you can’t normally see, which you’ll need in order to uncover all kinds of codes in Animal Well.
Back to the topic at hand, the Kangaroo can appear in any room in which the UV Wand reveals a picture of the Kangaroo. You’ll find one spawn point near the top-left end of the map, one near the bottom-right end, and three near the map’s center. If you want to explore and find the spawn points yourself, you now know everything you need. Try to remember where you’ve seen the Kangaroo appear before!
All the Kangaroo spawn points in Animal Well
For those of you who want to cut to the chase, here’s where you can find the Kangaroo in Animal Well.
Animal Well Kangaroo Spot 1: In the center of the map
One of the easiest Kangaroo spawn points to reach is one screen to the right of where you place the four flames at the center of the map. You might recognize this area as the place with the duck. This is one of the easier spots to remember, and you’ve likely seen the Kangaroo pop up here already.
Animal Well Kangaroo Spot 2: Beneath the Egg Room
After you check spot 1, head left until you enter the hallway right underneath the egg room. This one’s right in the hallway.
Animal Well Kangaroo Spot 3: In the starting area
This Kangaroo spawn point is one screen to the right of the very first telephone (save point) you find in the game. If you’ve just checked the first two spots, climb down the ladder from the save point in the center of the map, move left one screen, climb down the next ladder you find, and move one screen to the left again.
Alternatively, you can take the bottom-left entrance in the fast travel hub and platform your way over to this spot as well.
Animal Well Kangaroo Spot 4: The dog shrine with the grass bowl
From the fast travel hub, enter the bear’s mouth at the top left side of the screen. Once you emerge, fall down the pit immediately in front of you and then travel one screen to the right.
Animal Well Kangaroo Spot 5: At the “temple” entrance
The final place the Kangaroo can spawn is, fortunately, easy to access. From the fast travel hub, take the bottom-right entrance. From there, simply move one screen to the right. That’s it!
What should you do if the Kangaroo doesn’t spawn?
As mentioned above, the Kangaroo will switch its location whenever you encounter it. It is not a chance-based system, so entering and exiting the same screen over and over again will not work. If you still can’t find the Kangaroo, go down this list and check each location again. You most likely missed a spot, or didn’t think to recheck every spawn point after encountering it.
This objective seems like a grind, but once you know where the spawn points are, you can hunt it down in just a handful of minutes. Once you have the three K Shards, your business with the kangaroo will be concluded (unless you insist on finding some of the game’s incredibly esoteric secrets, but that’s neither here nor there). Enjoy your newfound medal!