Road Map

[Apple]

Overview:
-Estimated achievement difficulty: 5/10
-Offline 48 (1000)
-Online 0
-Approximate amount of time to 1000: 12-15 hours
-Minimum number of playthroughs needed: 2
-Are there any achievements that can be missed? Yes
-Glitched achievements? No
-Does difficulty effect achievements? Yes

If you look at all the difficult parts of this game, the only place you'll find them is near the end on Hard difficulty. Most, if not all of this entire game is as simple as spamming and and your occasional In-Focus techniques. If I was just rating the Normal difficulty I would give this game a 2/10, but since you're forced to play on Hard I've bumped it up a couple to a 5/10.

Introduction
You will at least need to play this game two times; once on Normal and again on Hard for the Completionist achievement. Although, it may take you 2 1/2 playthroughs to reach 2000 kills and/or 2000 gallons of blood spilled for the Let It Flow and Kensei achievements.

Several achievements can be missed from switching from Normal mode to Hard mode because of how the game is setup. To switch properly you will need to start a New Game and choose Yes when it asks you if you want to lose all Level Progress, this is normal. It will then ask you if you would like to keep your stats and skills that you have already earned, this is where you must choose Yes otherwise your stats for most of the achievements will reset. Which will result in you having to replay the game to regain all of your stats. After you choose Yes, it will then ask you which difficulty you would like to play on, either The Number One Headband or The Number Two Headband. Select The Number One Headband to play on Hard, as The Number Two Headband is the Normal difficulty.

Step #1: Starting the Game
Before you even start keep in mind that This Little Piggy is pure luck and should be attempted from when you start, until you get it. Use the strategies in the guide to help you out, but just remember to always go for it and it shouldn't give you a problem. You'll start on Prelude and you're bound to get Give Me a Hand, Hip Hop, Hats Off to You, Closer to God, and Mash Medley. Once you actually complete the Prelude you'll be awarded And so it begins.

You'll notice when you start the next level The Daimyo's Story you'll learn about mementos, which are actually collectables. There are a total of seven levels that have 5 mementos each. The mementos are a group of five or so birds, so keep an eye out for them when you're collecting.

While in The Daimyo's Story you'll get Meijin, but don't miss The Child Without a Name while you're there. Then, when you finish you'll get A Secret History as well. In the next level you'll pick up Afro Samurai, Ashigaru (for 10 skills), and The Death of Innocence for completing it.

The next level is Sword Master's Story which doesn't have any memento's to collect, but you'll receive The Price for Vengeance when you finish it. Once you start Okiku's Story make sure you collect the memento's and get The Demon of Vengeance, then Love Lost for completing it. You'll soon acquire Rhythm Section (3000 combos) within the next few levels.

When you start The Lowdown East you'll have your 25 Skills if you've been collecting the mementos and pick up Hatamoto. Now would be a perfect time to go for Made Hand Ronin. You will also learn about Slicing and Reflecting bullets in this level, in which you should attempt to pick up I Am Rubber, and You Are Glue. Collect the mementos for The Number Two, and complete the level for The Path to Godhood. You should receive Bushi (40 skills) soon after completing the level.

Complete The Doppelganger, Kuma's Story, The Empty Seven's Story, and collect the memento's in all levels to get Death Bringer, Copy-Cat Killer, Widow Maker, The Past Laid to Rest, The Samurai Ghost, and All That Stood Are Gone. I would suggest going for Gutshot Android Straight and Off Suit Samurai when playing The Doppelganger, and No Limit Ninjas and Kunoichi Suicide Queens during The Empty Seven's Story, as these are probably the easiest levels to do so.

Once you complete those levels you will play Ninja Ninja's Story and Justice's Story. Complete Justice's Story for Revenge Served? and that will be the end of your first playthrough. You should have around 700-800 kills around this time, 59/61 skills unlocked, and just under 1500 gallons spilled (Click and hold both sticks to view your stats).

Step #2: Before You Start Hard Difficulty
This would be a great time to clean up any odd achievements you may have missed on your first playthrough by using the level select. You should attempt Two Birds One Sword, Three-way, Four to the Floor, Slow Your Roll, and F*!# Gravity at this point.

Step #3: Playing on Hard Difficulty
Use the method in the Introduction to start your Hard Difficulty playthrough. A little into your second playthrough you should unlock Kengo (1000 kills), and The Number One (all skills) shortly after that. A little bit later on you'll reach 2000 gallons of blood spilled and unlock Let It Flow. Now you should only have a few levels to complete before you can pick up Completionist.

You may or may not have a few achievements left including: Hundred Head Hunter, Head to Toe, Torso From Tail, and Kensei. For all of these achievements it's best to start a New Game using the same method as before, but choose The Number Two Headband (normal) and play until you reach the School Invasion level. Play through the level until you reach the end where there are four ever-spawning ninja's and jump over fire when they spawn. This is the perfect spot to attempt Hundred Head Hunter, Head to Toe, Torso From Tail, and then keep spawn killing them until you reach 2000 kills and unlock Kensei.

Conclusion
How to beat Robo Afro on Hard >>
How to beat Number 6 (Flamethrower boss) on Hard >>
How to beat Kuma on Hard >>
How to complete The Empty Seven's Story on Hard >>
How to beat Justice on Hard >>

[Apple]

Please let me know if you find any inaccuracies, thanks.

[Alfman1]

I think its worth mentioning the Alfronado combo as its incredible against large groups of enemies on Hard..

It saved my ass on many occasions.

Its X, X, X, Y, Y, Y, X+A, X, X... You have to land each hit before tapping the next in the sequence.

And nice work so far mate.. good job

[A 2rue boofer]

thanks for this apple nice work

[zimzvm]

excellent road map.
definitely worth sticking.

kudos to you, Apple ! : ]

[DemonI81]

5/10? Did you even try to get all the Straight Flush achievements? I do have them all and would rate this a 7/10. Given the straight flush achievements and beating some of the bosses on hard make this a pretty hard game to 1000.

[Apple]

Originally Posted by DemonI81

5/10? Did you even try to get all the Straight Flush achievements?

Yeah, I have 1000/1000. They're not tough if you do them in the right locations.

[zimzvm]

it's also very easy to get Gutshot Android Straight when playing the Empty Seven Story - the fight right before going down on the big platform. it's really easy as there are plenty of Androids and only them.

[GOG909]

how come this hasn't been stickied or attached?

[Apple]

Haha, because I haven't bothered a Mod.
Or perhaps it's just not sticky-worthy.

[GOG909]

i did move all skills to hard playthrough but didnt save and turned off before finishing the prelude so now i have to collect all momentos again for the skills again never mind the first playthrough only took 4.5 hours.

[v_thorne]

Great road map.

You do know you're suppose to submit it first though, right?
Not sure if you did and it was moved here or not. Just a heads up.

[Andrew x360a]

Originally Posted by v_thorne

Great road map.

You do know you're suppose to submit it first though, right?
Not sure if you did and it was moved here or not. Just a heads up.

That's not actually not the case. Just like a guide, road maps can be written in the forums and left open for comments. Once the author is happy with the state of the road map, it can be submitted. It would be silly to require someone submit a guide for publication before it had been looked at by the community. The community will catch typos and errors before we on the Guide Team get it, saving us tons of time.

[Sploitz85]

Bumping - This should get stickied. Or added into the existing guide.

[OMGLOL1111]

Originally Posted by Sploitz85

Bumping - This should get stickied. Or added into the existing guide.

definitely sticky this, if i saw that earlier i would not have started my hard game before doing my last straight flush, toe_fingers and slice4

[MrFrost]

Sorry to necrobump, but I just had to say this is how all roadmaps should be formatted.

I love the way Apple lists the acheeves in the order you would get them following the guide, and how you should be at certain stats at those times.

This makes it very easy to blow thru the game in the least amount of time, almost assuring you wouldn't need to go back for anything you miss.

No idea why this wasn't submitted and stickied, I found this guide/roadmap way easier and achievement-whore friendlier than the stickied one.

Awesome work Apple.

[tincann]

Definite Bump! Great Work on the RoadMap & This should be stickied.

[ZombieH2]

Game is Awesome

[Chada Darkmane]

This is a very well written guide