Author's Note: This is my first guide; please keep that in mind.
This achievement was moderately tricky to obtain in Nightmare difficulty, so I thought I would share some tips. There is a minor spoiler at the end of the solution regarding when you may play the Bash TV side-mission.
If you did not obtain the necessary $750 on your first attempt, you may replay the Bash TV side-mission again (in fact, this "re-run" is another mission in and of itself).
This solution will assume you are playing the Re-run of Bash TV.
You total take is calculated by your total amount of kills, accuracy each round, and how well you compare to the par time of each round. Furthermore, Round 3 is a jackpot round, allowing the player to obtain extra earnings by successfully scoring points.
General Strategy
- Use Wingsticks. They are fast, cheap, and they have slight homing on targets once thrown. If you have the correct armor, crafted Wingstick do even more damage than purchased ones.
- 100% Accuracy across all four rounds will give you $400, well over half of your required take. Again, Wingsticks make it difficult to have an accuracy of less than 90%, assuming the player is familiar with using them. It is generally best to line up your throws after sidestepping a mutant’s attack; they will be unable to dodge and you will have a difficult time missing.
- Beating par time is important; the lower your time under par, the more money you are awarded. However, I have not discerned a formula relating the amount of time under par to the payout. When I first unlocked the achievement, I was averaging about 0:10 – 0:15 seconds under par each round. As long as your accuracy is near-immaculate, shoot for at least 0:10 under each time (which is easily manageable with Wingsticks).
- The jackpot wheel has enormous potential. Each wheel is the same; there are three mutant icons (if you land on these, the “bonus” is over) and in between these there are two “$$$” symbols. Shoot the target under the spinning wheels to stop it at the “$$$” while it is easy to do so. The wheel will spin faster with each successive spin, assuming you do not hit a mutant icon. After the third spin, unless you are confident in your quick reflexes, time your shots to hit the target after the three mutant logos have passed. You will hit a “$” or “$$” each time if you are quick. The jackpot seems to go on indefinitely, spinning faster and faster each new spin until you inevitably land on a mutant icon. My best earning from the jackpot was $122, though when I first unlocked the achievement I had a mere $55.
- Be sure to pick up the caches of bandages and ammo after the first and third rounds. Even if you don’t use any of it while getting the achievement, it will definitely come in handy later.
The rounds are as follows:
ROUND 1
Par time: 1:40
Kills: 20
Note: The fire-throwing mutants on the raised platforms can sometime be difficult to hit with a Wingstick due to the bars on the side. If you are having difficulty, use your shotgun on them to preserve your accuracy rating.
ROUND 2
Par time: 1:00
Kills: 14
Note: The spinning, bladed gorilla has a tendency to steal your kills by mulching the attacking mutants. The loss of money is trivial compared to your time and accuracy, so do not be discouraged or distracted if you miss more than a few potential kills.
ROUND 3
*Jackpot Minigame*
Kills: 6
Par time: 1:00
Note: You will earn an obscene amount of cash from this round due to the jackpot game (see above note). Focus on accuracy, as one miss will severely damage your rating (there are only two waves of three mutants).
ROUND 4
Kills: 11
Par time: 1:30
Note: After playing through three times, I continually arrive at 11 kills. It is possible that the floor spikes kill one of the mutants (11 is an odd number), but I cannot observe this. The spikes are easy to avoid, simply move around during the battle and, again, focus on speed and accuracy.
Thanks for reading and good luck!
*SPOILER*
You may play the Bash TV mission after reaching Wellspring and returning to Dan with supplies. The Sheriff sends you on a mission to obtain the Cuprino, during which you must participate in Bash TV.