Overview:
- Estimated achievement difficulty: 10/10
- Offline: 50 (1000)
- Online: 0 (0)
- Approximate amount of time to 1000 : Undefined
- Minimum number of playthroughs needed: Over 12
- Number of missable achievements: None
- Do cheat codes disable achievements? Yes (Default Settings Required)
- Does difficulty affect achievements? Yes
- Glitchy achievements: None
- Unobtainable achievements: None
- Extra equipment needed? Second Controller

Introduction: Shmups
Deathsmiles is a shmup, or shoot-em-up, made by CAVE. A shmup is a horizontal or vertical shooter where the player takes control of a character with the abilities to shoot projectiles at enemies, while these enemies retaliate with numerous projectiles. The achievements in Deathsmiles range from as simple as pausing the game to as difficult as completing the whole game on LEVEL 999 without getting hit once. It’ll take a lot of practice and effort to accomplish a 1000, but 40 of the achievements are easily obtainable through this guide.

Step 1: Playthrough 1
Welcome to Gilverado. You can choose any character of your desire, although I recommend starting off with Rosa, as she is fairly easy to pick up. Now, to get the most out of your first playthrough, I recommend you follow the following paragraph exactly as I say to cross off 18 achievements off the bat.

Follow this Stage Path:C-1
C-2
B-1
A-2 (1st LIFE)
A-1 (2nd and 3rd LIVES)
B-2
Extra
Final (4th LIFE)
IMPORTANT: CHOOSE LEVEL 3 FOR ALL STAGES! DO NOT USE ANY BOMBS THROUGHOUT THIS PLAYTHROUGH

As soon as you enter C-1, you will unlock Opening Salvo. Shortly afterwards, you can pause the game and then un-pause it to unlock Everything's Stopped!. Somewhere along this playthrough, you will die and unlock Resurgence. Beating the stage will unlock Boss Milking. Head on over to C-2 and defeat Bavaria to unlock Flame Dragon. Continue to B-1 and defeat Ulan to unlock Putting Down Roots. Go to A-2, picking up your 1st Life pickup along the way, and destroy Jordan to unlock Buried Alive. Loading into A-1, you will unlock Descent into Hell. You will also find your 2nd and 3rd Life pickup. Defeat Deathscythe to unlock Infernal Scythe. Plow through B-2 and defeat Sakura for the achievement Successor. Detour over to the Extra Level, The Gorge, to unlock The Twin Wyrms. Venture into the FINAL Level, Hades Castle and defeat Jitterbug to unlock Gatekeeper. Don’t forget to pick up the Final Life pickup for Sweet Tooth after you beat Jitterbug. Finally, defeat Tyrannosatan to net Emperor of Darkness, To Hell and Back, Explosives Prohibited, and one of the Daughter Achievements.

Do NOT skip any of the cutscenes in the game!

You will now have a choice to either stay in Gilverado with your friends, or enter the portal in hopes of returning to the Real World. The choice is yours, and depending on it, you will receive 1 of two achievements.

Following this will net you 320 and 18 Achievement in the first 20-30 minutes of playing.

Step 2: Playthroughs 2 - 11
Continue running through the game with all characters twice, including a 3rd playthrough for Sakura’s achievement, Mother…. Make sure to do the original four daughters(Rosa, Follette, Windia, Casper) in the Regular Xbox or Arcade mode of Death Smiles. Sakura is a playable character in the expansion within the game, Magic Black Label, or MBL. Throughout your playthrough, try to remember the following:

• Check the Guidelines on how to accomplish Just Barely! And Halfway There.
• When playing as Windia, when you encounter Sakura, remember to not damage her and to survive for about ten minutes of attacks to unlock I Can’t Hurt a Friend!.
  
• When playing as Sakura, the first playthrough should be on LEVEL 999 to unlock Opening the Door to Hell, and A Challenge from CAVE.
• To unlock Mother…, you will need a second Controller. Check the Guide for more details.
• When in MBL, select the 2nd EXTRA STAGE and defeat Ozier for Forgotten Guardian.

Step 3: Beginning Ver. 1.1

Version 1.1 is an enhanced version of Death Smiles, with the added on feature to control your Familiar with the Right Thumbstick. In Ver. 1.1, the controls are significantly changed, so check out the controls options before you jump in. Use your Familiar to soak up the Revenge/Death/Suicide Bullets the enemies will start spewing upon death, unless you’re playing LEVEL 1. You will unlock Getting Familiar by using another continue and Distinguished Angel by clearing Ver. 1.1.

 

Final Step: Mastering the Shmup (1cc)

At this point, you should have 645 out of 1000 and 40 out of 50 Achievements. These Last 10 Achievements are going to be the harder ones of the bunch, requiring skill, effort, and time.

Rosa’s True Power
Follett’s True Power
Windia’s True Power
Casper’s True Power
Hundred Millionaire
Double Millionaire
Triple Millionaire
Deathsmiles Virtuoso
MBL 1.1’s Hidden Challenge
The True Tyrant

These Achievements will determine who is really good at Shmups.

First, the easier of the bunch would be the True Power Achievements. Luckily, we already have a guide for 1cc’ing the characters easily.

http://www.xbox360achievements.org/f...d.php?t=241990

All credit goes to Fox Pocket for the excellent guide.

Next, would be the Millionaire Achievements. My advice would be to check out the leader boards. The top scoring NA in the Original Death Smiles is a little over 300 Hundred Million. You can check his replay by downloading it through the In-game replay feature. Try to duplicate his path and technique and maybe you’ll be able to unlock these.

Afterward, using your Ver. 1.1 skills, beat Ver. 1.1 without using any continues in ALL Stages including the Extra Stage on LEVEL 3. The key to this is practice. Enter Training Mode and start learning the pattern of the enemies. Especially learn how to dodge Boss Attacks. Keep practicing till you’ve mastered all the stages. You’ll need it for…

The True Tyrant. To encounter Bloody Jitterbug, you will need to meet one of two requirements. Either beat MBL with ALL Stages at LEVEL 999 without getting hit once or complete MBL Ver. 1.1 without using any continues. The latter seems to be a lot easier. Keep practicing. All I have to say. Once you become good enough to 1cc MBL Ver. 1.1, you’ll end up getting MBL Ver. 1.1’s Hidden Challenge.

Conclusion: Easy 645, Hard 1000

At this point, you’re either both sick and tired of hitting start to continue, or you’re dodging all the purple bullets of death, and placing first in the Leaderboards. Just remember, CAVE is famous for creating difficult games, so don’t feel bummed out if you can’t complete it. It's a very, very hard game to max out. Enjoy the game. It’s short, sweet, and fun.