- Estimated achievement difficulty: 3/10
- Offline: 35 (1000)
- Online: 0
- Approximate amount of time to 1000 : 5-10 hours
- Minimum number of playthroughs needed: 1
- Number of missable achievements: 3 (see 'Glitchy achievements' for more info)
- Do cheat codes disable achievements? No cheats are available
- Does difficulty affect achievements? Yes. Unlocking Hard Little Ninja requires you to play on Hard difficulty. They are stackable, so doing this will also unlock Little Ninja.
- Glitchy achievements: Yes. If you replay a level before finishing the game, the counters for Tengu Friend, Animal Friend and Stop! Futo Time! will be messed up.
- Unobtainable achievements: None!
- Extra equipment needed: None!
- Awards: 2 gamer pictures can be unlocked
Introduction:
Mini Ninjas is a fun and easy game, and definitely one of the better kids’ games out there. All achievements can be unlocked in one playthrough, and any achievements you are missing upon completion of the game can be obtained by replaying levels.
NOTE: There is a glitch which is affecting Tengu Friend, Animal Friend and Stop! Futo Time! (maybe also Completist and Sightseeing), and it occurs if you replay a level before completing the game, so make sure not to do so.
Playthrough:
I recommend playing the game on Hard difficulty straight away, as it is relatively simple. This saves you from having to play through twice, since the difficulty achievements are stackable. If you are having trouble with a certain level, the difficulty can be changed from the in-game menu. The game records this on a level-to-level basis, so you may replay the level on Hard difficulty at a later time to unlock the achievement (again, do not replay levels before completing the game).
First of all, make sure to use THIS excellent guide by ErmacVersion1 for finding all the Jizo Statues for Completist and THIS guide for finding all the caged animals for Animal Friend. Make sure to take look at the lists of Temples for Sightseeing and Tengu missions for Tengu Friend in the achievement guide so you'll know when to look for them. Also, make sure to use Futo at least once on every level for the Stop! Futo Time! achievement (Boss levels do NOT count).
IMPORTANT: If you forget to free any caged animals, kill an enemy with Futo, help any Tengus or pick up any Jizo Statues, do not replay the level before you have finished the game! Simply take a note of which level it was and replay it after completing the game.
General tips: Try to kill as many enemies as you can with stealth attacks, to work towards the Now you see me.. achievement for 100 stealth kills. Always pick up flowers you come across, as they are useful in the game, and at least one of each must be collected to unlock Botanist. Hit any fruit trees you come across to eventually unlock Tree Hugger. Lastly, don't be cheap on the Ki for Kuji Magic, as you will get No Conjurer of Cheap Tricks for spending 1500 Ki. Refer to the guide for the remaining achievements.
Conclusion:
All in all, this is a very easy and enjoyable game. As long as you follow the guide and this Road Map you should unlock the full 1000 in a very short time.
A note on the glitch: If you by any chance managed to replay a level before completing the game, thus causing the glitch to affect certain achievements, try to replay the replayed level(s). The achievement might pop if you are lucky. If not, then you must start a new game. (I was missing all three, and got Tengu Friend when I performed the task for the Tengu in Haunted Forest and Stop! Futo Time! when I replayed an early level. For Animal Friend I had to replay the whole game).