This achievement is unlocked by completing all 8 Stages of Arcade Mode without ever losing all of your health bars. In other words, you must complete Arcade without dying (losing a life). Do not get this confused with losing a continue. This achievement may appear menacing and overwhelming at first; however, after assessing the game’s locations of best weapons, logging in hours of practice, and using the character that best fits you, it will be achieved. Here are some quick tips that will be explained later into the guide:
° If you're hit while running you lose 2 health bars
° Using a Turbo Controller can make this achievement easier
° Using the DLC character
Sayuri should make the Boss fights easier
The bulk of this achievement comes down to memorizing the stages and boss fights. Further, once you know where some of the more effective weapon pick-ups are, you should be able to steam roll through most of the game with practice. Also, be sure to memorize all health pick-up locations to keep your health high to avoid death.
StagesThe first step to tackling this achievement is to do multiple play-throughs of the game to help familiarize yourself with it. Practice playthroughs will allow you to:
1. Memorize Stage Layouts
2. Practice against Boss fights without getting hit
3. Predict enemy spawns, and timed helicopter jumps
4. Locate the best Weapon Upgrades
5. Locate all Health pick-ups
6. Familiarize yourself with any Instant Kill sections to avoid
Practicing can be done in Arcade or in Rising Mode (if you want to focus on certain stages). In Rising Mode, you must play through the game in order to unlock all 8 Stages. Below is a list of all 8 missions that must be cleared without dying:
Stage 1 - Desert
Stage 2 - Jungle
Stage 3 - Ruins
Stage 4 - Capital Highway
Stage 5 - Capital Laboratory
Stage 6 - Capital Railway
Stage 7 - Capital Tower Building
Stage 8 - Battleship
Characters to UseDepending on your play-style, there are a total of 5 characters you can use when attempting this achievement, each one with their own strengths and weaknesses. Three of those characters, are DLC-only and must be purchased for $2.50 apiece. They can be downloaded from the link supplied here:
http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-us/Product/hard-corps-uprisin...Below, there will be a general rundown of each character to see which one may suit you best for this achievement. Due to receiving the achievement as Sayuri, descriptions for other characters will be severely limited and are meant to give a general idea of what they bring:
Bahamut: He has average movement speed and has 3 Health bars. Using Bahamut over Krystal will trade off speed for health giving you more room for error.
Krystal: She has faster movement speed than most of the cast; however she only has 2 Health bars. This leaves less room for mistakes from the player if they are to use her for this achievement.
Harley Daniels: He has slower movement speed than most of the characters, however he has 4 Health bars giving you plenty room for error compared to most of the cast.
Sayuri: She has a slightly faster movement speed than most of the cast, rivaled by Krystal. She has a useful charged Sword Slash projectile that can travel through walls and clear enemies offscreen without actively engaging them. To perform this move, press and hold the
-button; you'll hear a sound chime indicating the attack can be released (then let go). Sayuri also has 3 bars of health. Though, outside her sword projectile, she lacks any ranged attacks so you'll be pressing and holding the
-button constantly when playing as her. She cannot use any gun pick-ups but with a Turbo controller set to the X-button she will completely devastate bosses up close. Stage progression may be slower and problematic for her than the gun wielding characters, but at least the majority of Bosses will be easier. Despite this, Sayuri is a popular character to use for this achievement.
Leviathan: He has 1 health bar and only 1 weapon slot. However, he has a moonsault and grenade move that can be very effective in the hands of an experienced player.
Best Weapons & StrategiesDepending on the character you use, there are certain weapons you must make use of. This boils down to personal preference though so if there are weapons that suit your play-style best, then use them.
Sayuri is a great start for going for this achievement especially if you use a Turbo controller for her close range slash attack with X-button. Setting turbo fire on the X-button will make it extremely powerful in melee range. It will make quick work of the Bosses however, stage progression will be the main challenge when using her. A full Sayuri playthrough for the “I’ll make them pay…” achievement is provided below.
On the other hand, if you plan on using a gun-wielding character, you will be relying on some of the more potent weapons in the game. Weapon pick-ups are found floating by in capsules that must be broken to acquire. In Arcade Mode, every time you pick up the same weapon type it will upgrade to another level and become more powerful. The max weapon Level is 3. If you ever get hit while holding a weapon, you will lose it. Here are the weapon pick-ups to keep a look-out for:
Chain Laser: This blue laser is a great weapon for killing weaker enemies. The laser has tracking abilities and can bend 45 degrees towards the nearest enemy. Try to overshoot when aiming for the locking ability to work better. It's quite weak at the beginning of the game, but Level 3 Laser is very useful for Stage 7 and 8 and ideal for Bosses. With this weapon, you can speed through most of the game just by spamming it to take out incoming enemies while moving forward. To make life easier, avoid getting hit while holding it at all costs. Keep it as long as possible.
Heated Plasma: This is a great defensive and offensive weapon. It's the only weapon in the game which can destroy enemy bullets by shooting them (can't destroy some boss's shots), saving you the hassle of dodging. It shoots short range shots and is very weak at the start of the game, but Level 3 + Automatic Fire makes this weapon inflict large amounts of damage.
This is the only weapon in the game (other than Sayuri's sword) that can be charged. Hold down the Fire button to charge it, then release the Fire button to fire a Charged Shot which travels the entire length of the screen while bowling over all enemies in its path. Most charged shots can also destroy poison gas from plants and folliage in Stage 2.
Machine Gun: A solid alternative to the 2 weapons above. It’s much better than your Starting Gun and a very common drop in stages. It fires incredibly fast and does good damage at Level 3.
Spread Shot: Shoots slow, but fires in a spread pattern, which is great for clearing out waves of incoming enemies. It is weak against bosses however so I only recommend it for stage progression or if it's the only weapon you have aside from the pea shooter.
Additional Note: If you have a Turbo Controller, you can set the rapid fire to the Fire Button (X) to increase damage output for weapons. Same goes for Sayuri's Sword. Tapping the Fire button is always better than holding it down if you do not have a Turbo.
Discussion Threads and Video Guides