RAdvantage June 2022
This month in RAdvantage, in addition to the usual quick tips for tricky achievements, we're proud to feature a couple extensive mini-guides covering entire achievement sets! As always, our DMs remain open at {% rauser RANews %}, and we welcome any strategies you wish to share for a future issue.
| Achievement | Game |
|---|---|
 MM1 Ultra Survivalist X (Dr. Wily) |
![Mega Man [Subset - Bonus]](https://retroachievements.org/Images/047970.png) Mega Man [Subset - Bonus] |
- Tip by: {% rauserpic Gamechamp %}
One important note before you start: the Select button is disallowed entirely, thus preventing any use of the pause glitch. In the first rooms, run for the ladder and use your buster on the first two enemies that pop from the ceiling. One properly timed shot will kill them before they attack. Ignore the rest and continue up the ladder. In the Gutsman emporium, take out every turret with Thunder Beam from a safe distance. Magnet Beam past the conveyor belt room and you'll reach the boss rush.
When fighting Bombman, try to keep relatively close while spamming Atomic Fire, jumping to the side of each bomb he throws.
Against Fireman, run straight for him without firing, jumping over his shot if he happens to fire, then jump over Fireman himself and tailgate him. Fireman's AI forbids him from attacking unless 1) You're distance from him, or 2) You attack him. By constantly tailgating you'll be temporarily safe. Each time he changes direction and after you've jumped over him, hit him with Ice Slasher. He'll be baited into a single attack, which you can jump entirely over if you space yourself properly. Remember that his attacks leave a flame on the ground where they pass under you, so you'll need to distance yourself more than it feels like you should. Repeat until death.
Against Iceman, just spam Thunder Beam the instant you teleport in, without moving. Iceman will always die before his attacks can reach you, and you'll teleport away safely.
Against Gutsman, start the fight off by throwing a properly-distanced jumping Hyper Bomb towards Gutsman. If done correctly you'll be able to hit Gutsman regardless of which direction he randomly jumps. From there, you'll have to improvise, being careful to always jump just before Gutsman lands. This is a bit random, if he decides to jump left too many times in a row you're pretty much screwed.
Against Wily Machine Number 1's first phase, use Atomic Fire and carefully weave between the bullets while getting shots in. It's difficult to describe this in text, but these bullets are always fired towards your current position so you can lead them and ensure you always have a safe place to escape to. When you're approaching left you can also jump to give yourself more wiggle room in midair. In Phase 2, Wily is incapable of hitting you if you're walking towards him at a close distance: his shots will circle around you without actually making contact. Since you need to be approaching for this to be most reliable, you'll have to actively run back and forth to give yourself room. In between dodges, jump and hit Wily with Atomic Fire. Repeat until victory.
| Achievement | Game |
|---|---|
 Webby's Challenge V (The Moon) |
 Duck Tales |
- Tip by: {% rauserpic StingX2 %}
You need to reach the boss without the pogo so this is pretty simple if you know Moon Skip. Essentially normally you'd play the moon level to reach the green beam that Gizmoduck would blast for you. But in this case you need to reach the boss without all of the puzzle platforming the stage has at the center top structure. So head right from the start dodging enemies and keep going. When you reach the two squids tightly together you'll need to jump between them and reach the other side then quickly jump the pit.
Why? A robot duck will spawn and fly towards you, this is actually good! You need this guy to follow you to the green pillar. Now to line yourself up you face the pillar, turn around and hold duck. The robot duck will punch you thru the wall and you'll spawn near the bosses lair.
Just make sure you have a hit to spare to do this!
| Achievement | Game |
|---|---|
 Silence is gold |
 Prince of Persia |
- Tip by: {% rauserpic JAM %}
The goal of this achievement is to beat the game deathless. Here are some tips I can give you.
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Get all other achievements before this one. Beat the game, do it fast, understand battle mechanics. Number zero because it's preparation.
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Explore the levels and clearly remember where you can get potions, what battles with guardians you can avoid, etc.
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Keep in mind that the max health you can get is 6, but the game remembers only up to 5 after you beat the level. So you need to get health expansion potion every time it's possible.
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Beat the game several times under 60 minutes and remember where you die almost in every run. It's a good idea to make saves in such places to train them before actually trying to get the achievement.
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Most death pits can be trained if you know the trick. Usually you can only jump over a 4 tile pit when running; however, if stand on the edge of the pit, turn the back to the pit by holding left and as soon as you start moving, press and hold right + jump, then you can jump over the 4 tile pit starting from a standing position. This only works when moving from left to right.
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Practice the enemy fights at levels 7-11 before actually doing the achievement and remember that the enemy behavior is different on levels 1-6.
| Game |
|---|
 WWF Super WrestleMania
|
- Tip by: {% rauserpic Retrokaiser %}
Kick! Punch! It's all in the mind! Actually, that's all that you'll really need to do to master this set.
For the single/one-on-one wrestler achievements: Select your wrestler, select medium difficulty, and keep on pressing Y to throw punches. The computer isn't very smart, so they'll walk right into them. Once your opponent has hit the floor, get close to your fallen rival and start hitting R and you'll start to stomp a mudhole in the other wrestler. Now why X is to punch and R is to kick is beyond me. Then again it's an LJN game.
Keep on doing that until your opponent is out of energy and then pin them. If you happen to get into a grapple, mash any button that you can and you'll more than likely get a slam or headbutt on your opponent. There's a chance that you'll get slammed, but I wouldn't worry about that too much. Do all of this with each wrestler and you'll have all of the achievements for the one-on-one matches.
I have noticed some slight differences in the way that your opponent will act. The easiest wrestler to beat is Road Warrior Hawk. He is a push-over. While the most aggressive wrestler is Ted DiBiase. He'll grapple you to high heaven.
For the tag-team achievements: The method for getting all of the tag team achievements is mostly the same as getting all of the one-on-one ones. Except this time there will be four people in the match. Keep on punching your opponent while they stand and keep on kicking while they are on the ground. Your opponent will go to tag their partner when their health is lower, so do the same to their tag partner as you did them.
Other things to know. The tag team achievements are currently on the broken side. They'll only unlock if you pin the opponent as the wrestler that you started in the ring with. Tagging in and winning with your partner will stop the achievements from unlocking. Also, if you (or your opponent) tries to pin while the person being pinned is not at zero health, the other wrestlers will come into the ring for some extra action. If the person who is being pinned is at zero health, no run-ins will happen.
For the Survivor Series achievements: Lastly, we have the Survivor Series match. A four-on-four elimination tag match where you must pin all four of your opponents. Eliminating them one by one by one by one. The same can happen to you. Actually, you want that to happen to you in this case. Select the four wrestlers that you want to use, then choose the hard difficulty. Yes, you'll need to play this one on hard mode. Why? Because one of the achievements demands it.
Funny enough, there are three Survivor Series achievements and you can knock out all three of those in this one match. One for winning the match, one for winning the match with your last guy, and one for winning the match on hard mode with your last guy while your opponents team still has all four of their guys. Sheesh! That sounds hard! Don't worry, it's easier than you would think.
Once the match starts, use the first three wrestlers on your team to wear down the other team. The method is still the same here. Punch while your opponent is up and kick them while they are down. The big difference here is that the opponents are more aggressive on the hard difficulty. Thankfully, your team is still more powerful and you'll be able to wear down the opponents before you are on your last guy. Now let three of your wrestlers get pinned. Now the fun begins. Use your fourth wrestler to knock the opponents to the ground and pin them one by one. BAM! Upon winning the match you'll have all three Survivor Series achievements and a new mastery to your name.
| Game |
|---|
 Castlevania II: Simon's Quest
|
- Tip by: {% rauserpic Akai %}
Welcome to Castlevania II: Simon's Quest. Going for a full mastery of this set will require at least 3 different playthroughs; two of which you'll want to play either with the weakest weapon (Curse's Destruction) or without continuing (A Belmont Legacy). There are also 3 different endings, each with associated achievements depending on how fast you can complete the game...
- True Belmont requires you to beat the game in 7 days, or before 10,799 in-game minutes pass.
- Simon Belmont requires you to beat the game between 8 to 14 days, or between 10,800 to 20,879 in-game minutes pass.
- Victory at a Price is what you get if you take longer than 14 days.
You can see the current time by pausing the game, or if you're playing with leaderboards enabled, as a counter in the lower right hand of your screen. It's VERY important to note that time will only increase when you're outdoors. Being inside rooms in towns, inside manors, or inside Castlevania itself will freeze the timer. Use this to your advantage when going for the better endings!
It's up to you how you'd like to run this game, but the following are my suggestions.
I suggest you follow this walkthrough on your first run, making sure you check all town signs for Informed Traveler and get all clue books for 13 Raging Clues. Limit any farming for hearts to mansions to minimize your time loss. As such, make your first purchase with your initial 50 hearts the White Crystal, which will allow you access to the first manor where you can farm to your heart's content.
Speaking of farming, keep your eyes out for areas with two or more monsters a short distance from each other. Scrolling the screen back and forth between them will respawn monsters, making it an easy way to rack up hearts. An example would be right inside the first manor, after you kill the first knight. The two skeletons afterwards can be killed as you go back and forth between them. Most manors have a spot like this, and I highly suggest using these areas to get more hearts and experience.
Experience is very important, as each level you get will reduce the damage done by monsters, as well as raising your own health every even level. You gain exp at a slightly lower rate for every heart you collect, though certain levels require you to earn hearts from monsters in higher areas. This page has a good table for exact figures, but my suggestions are as follows...
- Level 1 Vampire Hunter should be earned inside Berkely Manor.
- Level 2 Vampire Hunter should be earned inside Rover Manor.
- Level 4 Vampire Hunter should be earned inside Bodley Manor.
- Level 6 Vampire Hunter should be earned inside Laruba Manor.
Level 4 is more than sufficient to survive through the entire game, but you'll want to at least get level 6 on one run for the achievements, preferably your no continue run for the added safety.
One important tip: The first item of Dracula you'll get is Dracula's rib inside Berkely Manor. I suggest using this whenever you don't need another item, since it acts as a shield for fireballs whenever you're not moving. It'll trivialize fireball monsters, including one boss.
Other than that, follow the guide and enjoy your first run! Staying inside as often as possible let me get all items in 8139 in game minutes, earning the best ending, so it's certainly possible to do!
This run will be your stressful run, aiming for A Belmont Legacy. You have 3 lives, with no way to earn more. Luckily, going slow and making sure you farm levels when needed will leave most of the danger to instant death pits. A good tip for vertical moving platforms that you'll run into; when a platform is moving up you'll have an increased jump height. Likewise if it's moving down you'll have a decreased jump height. Be careful, you'll run into at least two areas you'll need to deal with these jumps.
This is a good time to make sure you earn the 3 damage-less boss achievements: No Tears, Dance of Death, and Curse's Defeat. All 3 bosses can be easily cheesed, as seen in the videos on each respective page. Death can be stun-locked with the holy flame, Camilla can't hurt you if you have Dracula's rib up and stay away throwing gold daggers at her, and if you're fast on Dracula you can likewise keep him stun-locked with the golden dagger. If you do take damage, leave the room to take another attempt at the boss.
Assuming you're going for a normal/worst ending with this run, remember that you can heal in churches. If you have to idle in a safe outdoor area waiting for sunrise, feel free to do so. It's better to be safe than sorry while doing this.
Curse's Destruction is going to be a painful run. Your dagger deals damage equal to the thorn whip, and will be your best friend for damage early on. Unfortunately it won't work on bosses, which will be the most grindy part of your run. The holy flame and silver/gold dagger deals damage equal to your current whip, which means you'll need 128 hits on death and both 256 hits on Camilla and Dracula. When preparing to face these bosses, you'll want to farm enough hearts to be able to kill them.
Assuming you're able to suffer this run, you have one last obstacle for mastery: Home Before Sundown. This is a good achievement to "trigger" the mastery of the set, for Daily DistRActions and/or Peak Streak. There's a video on the page showing an example run. Note that jumping and swinging your whip as you're moving does not slow you down, whereas just using your whip on the ground will take precious in game minutes. Since the monsters will be in the same spot each run, it comes down to getting used to where everything is and executing it quickly. Expect to make it into the manor with around 10 or less in game minutes remaining. You'll be cutting it close.
Hopefully with this you too can have a