Overview:
- Estimated achievement difficulty: 10/10 (7/10 with a second controller)
- Offline - 12
- Online - 0
- Approximate amount of time to 200/200 - 15-25 hours
- Minimum number of playthroughs needed - 3 (2 Story, 1 Arcade)
- Number of missable achievements - None
- Glitched achievements - None
- Do cheat codes disable achievements? - No
- Does difficulty affect achievements? - No

Introduction:
The purpose of this guide is to provide in-depth, detailed strategies for earning each of the games 12 achievements. You're going to need a minimum of three playthroughs - two on Story mode (Normal and Samurai) and one on Arcade. I recommend playing the game on easy as well to collect upgrades and spirals to spend on maxing out your inventory of uberfishes, continue hearts, and nutribread. Depending on your attention to detail, there are achievements that can be overlooked, but if you follow the guide, you shouldn't have any problems.

Step #1: Easy/Normal Difficulty Story Mode - The first 8 achievements listed below are best earned on Easy or Normal Story mode. There are a few reasons I'd suggest playing on Easy to start. First, you can pick up all the weapons, items, and upgrades (psycho picks) on easy and they all carry over to higher difficulties. This means you could buy 5 uberfishes on Easy, and then have them on Normal, Ninja, or Samurai. This also cuts down on the number of enemies you face at higher difficulties because when you beat the challenges that award items and picks, you don't have to beat them again.

Step #2: Arcade Mode - Once you've beat the game on Easy/Normal, I'd suggest heading to Arcade mode. By the time you've beaten the story, you'll have a pretty good idea of how the game works and, more importantly, which combos are most effective against which enemies. Arcade mode is not easy. Make no mistake. It's made easier by the fact that you can do all but the final level (The Final Confrontation) with a friend over Xbox Live. So partner up because there will be times when you need help.

Step #3: Samurai Difficulty Story Mode - Save the worst for last. Only players completely in tune with the game, and their inner selves, should attempt this difficulty. It's very challenging. It's very frustrating. And you will die. Several times. To make it easier, collect all weapon upgrades at lower difficulties. Farm Spirals at easy difficulty to spend on uberfishes, continue hearts, and nutribread because you will need them. Another thing you will need is patience. Lots of it. Samurai is better approached with a level head. Because charging in, guns blazing will get you nowhere fast. So, take your time. Evade as much as possible. Try to hold off your attacks until you can land them without putting yourself at too much risk.

Step #3 Alternate: Samurai Difficulty with a 2nd Controller - With the second controller, you can simply press the at any time during the game to drop in and play as the shadow. The best part about this is that the Shadow/Guitar characters can die, but they respawn infinitely. So, all you really need to do is keep the dishwasher shifting constantly at the top of the screen to stay out of harm's way while using the Shadow to kill all of the enemies and bosses you come across. Yes, before you even ask, it is that easy.

Psycho Pick Locations - There are a total of 19 psycho picks to be found throughout the game. 16 of these can be found on Easy, Normal, and Ninja difficulty. The final 3 can only be earned by completing guitar solo mini-games exclusive to Samurai difficulty. The locations are as follows:

Foghorn Cafe:
- At the start of the level, head into the next room. This is where you'll encounter your first enemies in the form of 3 agents. Kill them and head back to the start. Keep heading left for your first timed challenge. Beat it to earn to earn a psycho pick.
Ivy Trail:
- At the start of the level keep heading right until you come across a timed challenge. Beat it to earn to earn a psycho pick.
Gray Fortress:
- At the start of the level just keep heading right until you're in a large room where you first encounter the jetpack cyborgs. On the lower, far right side of the room you'll see a ledge. Jump up and continue right into the next room where you find your third psycho pick.
St. Crux Cemetary:
- Earned by finishing the guitar solo mini-game with a score of 70% or better.
Nord Trainyard:
- Upon entering the first warehouse of the level, you'll start a timed challenge. Kill the enemies in the allotted time to earn a psycho pick.
Drome Rail:
- After your first encounter with the assassins (when you earn crusher magic) exit the train car to the right. Beat the timed challenge to earn a psycho pick.
- (Samurai Difficulty Only) The guitar appears after finishing a mandatory battle on the second screen after meeting the assassins. Beat the Guitar Solo mini-game with a score of 70% or better to earn a psycho pick.
L'Opera Dramatique:
- At the start of the level, head right until you're right outside of the Opera House. Kill the enemies and jump to the roof of the building. Finish the Guitar Solo mini-game with a score of 70% or better to earn a psycho pick.
- While still near the guitar, switch to your Shift Blade and go up. Head through the opening to find a psycho pick.
- (Samurai Difficulty Only) After the chainsaw boss, head right two screens. Kill all of the zombies and a C.A.T.S. will appear. Destroy it, and the guitar will appear. Beat the mini-game with a score of 70% or better to earn a psycho pick.
Metatron District:
- After your first Boss battle, head right to the next screen. Defeat the timed challenge to earn a psycho pick.
Grace Chapel:
- Right outside the Chapel Entrance (in an alleyway) you'll be ambushed by freaks, swat, and jetpackers. Kill them all to earn a psycho pick.
Mono Catacombs:
- In the lower levels of the catacombs, you'll be trapped in a room with a heap of skeletons in the middle. It's the second fight of the level. Kill all of the enemies to earn a psycho pick.
Cam Rooftops:
- Head to the right from the start. Kill the enemies that ambsuh you to earn a psycho pick.
- Beat the guitar solo mini-game (right before the level boss) with a score of 70% or better to earn a psycho pick.
Cam Lobby:
- At the very start of the level, you're falling. Fall through the first screen, then immediately on the second screen, shift to a small ledge on the left side. Destory the container for a psycho pick.
In Processing:
- After the room with the vendor, you'll enter a stairwell with a times challenge. Beat it to earn a psycho pick.
- (Samurai Difficulty Only) The guitar appears after finishing a mandatory battle. Beat the Guitar Solo mini-game with a score of 70% or better to earn a psycho pick.
Cam Core:
- At the start of the level, shift up until you find a hole in the ceiling. Enter the room above to find a psycho pick.

Conclusion:
This game is very difficult. If you want to earn the full 200, you will have to work very hard at it. With the help of this guide, the task ahead of you should be made slightly less difficult. This is a great game worthy of being played. So even if you don't feel like finishing Samurai, hopefully you'll enjoy the hell out of the time you spend with the game.

 

x360a would like to thank ThePumpkinKing for this Road Map

The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai Achievement Guide

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There are 12 achievements with a total of 200 points

  • Beat the game on normal or ninja difficulty.

     
    Unless you enjoy torturing yourself, do yourself a favor and play on Normal to earn this achievement. There's no need to punish yourself until it's absolutely necessary (Samurai Mode).

    First off, I'd recommend playing through the game on Easy. You won't earn this achievement, but you will get yourself comfortable with how the game works. You'll know what combos do the best damage. You'll be ready to face the bosses on Normal. Best of all, you'll be able to collect all of the weapons, psycho picks, and farm spirals for spending because everything you've bought/found/upgraded on easy carries over to higher difficulties. This will make a play of Normal mode much easier.

    In short, a few things to make note of:
    -Play on Easy to build up your Dishwasher (upgrades, continues, healing items.)
    -Always remember to make proper use of the evade buttons to get yourself out of tight spots. Hold , and move the in any direction with the shift blade. left or right with any other weapon. Alternatively, you can use the independently as well.
    -Make good use of context sensitive kills. These are the kills you perform using the (clean kill), (messy kill), and with the chainsaw, the button. These are your only chance of recovering magic and health between vendors/levels. In later levels, you will need to make use of them whenever possible.
    -Make good use of your button. It deals good damage to both enemies and bosses. When used properly, it moves you out of harms way quickly.
    -PRACTICE! This game is NOT easy. You will die. Often. So, play around with different combos and weapons to find the ones that best suit your style of play. Fight the bosses on the Easy difficulty to learn their attack patterns.
  • Pay homage to one of our generation's greatest rock performances ever.

    This achievement is can first be earned on the "St. Crux Cemetary" level. At the start, head to the right. Keep heading right through the first six screens until you come to a screen with a guitar. While standing next to the guitar, hit the button. This will start the guitar minigame. Now, simply press the xbox guide button on your controller (no guitar controller is required) to unlock the achievement.
  • Beat the game on Samurai difficulty.

    This achievement will test you. Samurai difficulty is as unforgiving as it is relentless. Not everyone will have what it takes to beat it. Enemy attacks deal much more damage to you than they do on Normal and you do less damage to them. Stronger enemies from later in the game start showing up right from the first level and bosses start showing up from the start of the third stage. To your advantage, you've already beaten story mode at least once - twice if you took my advice - and you should've finished arcade mode by now as well. So you've got a grasp of how to deal with everything headed your way.

    Just remember:
    -Play on Easy to build up your Dishwasher (upgrades, continues, healing items). Healing items and continues are staple to Samurai difficulty. You will both need them and use them. Often. So when you're running low, try to finish up whatever level you're on. Then drop back down to Easy to farm more Spirals ("Cam Lobby" is a good place to go for this. You'll net roughly 100+ Spirals for every 3-5 minute run of the level.)
    -Always remember to make proper use of the evade buttons to get yourself out of tight spots. Hold , and move the in any direction with the shift blade. left or right with any other weapon. Alternatively, you can use the independently as well. This leads me to:
    -Use your Shift Blade often! This weapon will be you best defense on Samurai Difficulty. There will be several times where you'll find yourself surrounded by more enemies than you should try taking on from the ground. So use the Shift Blade's evasion to teleport to the top of the screen, as well as back and forth between enemies, using a hit and run strategy to thin their ranks.
    -Make good use of context sensitive kills. These are the kills you perform using the (clean kill), (messy kill), and with the chainsaw, the button. These are your best, and only chance of recovering magic and health between vendors/levels. On Samurai Difficulty, you will need to make use of them at every possible opportunity.
    -Make good use of your button. Spamming the button is actually safer and more effective than some of the combos in the game in certain situations. Especially with weapons like the Shift Blade and Kama. It deals out good damage to both enemies and bosses. And when used properly, it moves you out of harms way quickly.
    -Make good use of the exit game feature. Sounds odd, sure, but if you're running low on magic or continues at the start of a new level, you can exit the game and restart the level with everything refilled.
    -Throwing your enemies! If you manage to throw an enemy to the ground from the top of the screen, you'll be rewarded with a few bonus hearts for your trouble.
    -PRACTICE! This game is NOT easy. And you will die. Often. So play around with different combos and weapons to find the ones that best suit your style of play. Fight the bosses on the Easy difficulty to learn their attack patterns.

    Now for the really easy way to beat Samurai Difficulty! - Single player Co-op!

    Obviously, you need two controllers to do this. Now, with the second controller, you can simply press the at any time during the game to drop in and play as the shadow. The best part about this is that the Shadow/Guitar characters can die... But they respawn infinitely. So have a buddy take controller one and keep the dishwasher at the top of the screen using the shift technique, or (if you don't have one) grab a rubberband and position the so that it's pulled upward on the controller. Now, grab the second controller and tear everything apart as the Shadow. Dying isn't a problem as I said, because you always come back. So, what are you waiting for? Have at it!
  • Secret.

     
    Story Related. Cannot be missed.

    You will earn this achievement by beating the Horse Rider on the first level of the game, "Foghorn Cafe."
  • Earn 100 million points in an Arcade level.

    (3)  
    This achievement can be earned on several of the arcade levels as well as the "Dish Challenge." I personally earned it on "The Killing Yard" with practice and by keeping a combo going throughout the level, but there are much easier ways. Others have earned it on "Robot Rampage" by spamming the button back and forth from one side of the screen to the other (I earned over 200 million by doing this on Xbox Live co-op). Then there's always any of the later levels with a level 2 (or higher) chainsaw. With the chainsaw equipped, holding on the and pushing results in a devastating attack that will land an average of 30 hits on each enemy you hit with it. Chaining this move back and forth between enemies is by far the best way to consistently rack up a high scores. Good levels to try this on include are "Enter the Catacombs" and "Skyscraper!", although I'm sure there are several others after those.

    Past that, there are always the Arcade leaderboards. Look for any levels where scores over the 100 million mark are relatively common.
  • Secret.

    Story Related. Cannot be missed.

    You will earn this achievement by beating the Sinthesis A.I. on the final level of the game, "Cam Core."
  • Complete St. Crux Cemetery using only the Chainsaw.

     
    In order to do this achievement, you'll need to find the chainsaw, which you won't do the first time through St. Crux, so don't even worry about it. The chainsaw is found half way through the "L'Opera Dramatique" level later in the game after beating the pumpkinhead boss. After you've killed him, finish the level (to save the item to your inventory) and head back to St. Crux. Equip the chainsaw, run through the level with it and the achievement will unlock.
  • Do 10 wall slams in one combo.

      
    You should be able to earn this achievement easily on the first level. To do it, all you need to do is slam an enemy into the wall 10 times during the same combo. With the cleavers equipped, simply hit , . The Dishwasher will kick the enemy into the wall. Do this to the same enemy 10 times and the achievement will unlock.
  • Air juggle an enemy for 10 seconds.

     
    Best done on the arcade level, "Night at the Opera." It's the first level with bullet time. Move to the center of the room and start performing aerial combos with the Shift Blade (hold , spam ). This will knock enemies directly up into the air. The achievement should pop after knocking up the first couple of enemies. If it doesn't, just keep at it, and eventually it will.
  • Get 21 kills without getting hit once.

     
    Best earned on the "St. Crux Cemetary" level. At the beginning of the level, head right to the second screen. Drop down and zombies will start popping out of the ground. Kill 21 of them with quick combos, without getting hit to unlock the achievement.
  • Complete Arcade mode.

    First and foremost, I need to make it clear that you must beat the final level of Arcade mode in Single Player (and supposedly local co-op as well.) You currently cannot earn it on Xbox Live due to certain issues that are currently being worked on by the game's developer.

    That said, here are a few suggestions:
    - Partner Up! You can play the first 49 missions with a friend locally, or over Xbox Live. So do it!
    - Set the difficulty to Beginner. It's hard enough as is. No need to make it any harder.
    - Make good use of your button. It deals good damage to both enemies and bosses. And when used properly, it moves you out of harms way quickly.
    - Know what you're dealing with. Several of the levels can be finished in one go. Many cannot. And on those levels, you'll need to work together with your partner to figure out the best way to deal the enemies and bosses you have to fight.
    - PRACTICE! As I said, knowing what you're dealing with, and how to deal with it will decide how far you'll make it through Arcade mode. So play around with different combos and weapons to find the ones that best suit your style of play.
  • Impale 13 freaks.

     
    Your first encounter with the freaks will be during "L'Opera Dramatique." Freaks are the enemies that carry a silver hook in each hand. In order to impale a freak, you must beat them down until they are sparking (a button prompt appears over their head). When this happens, walk up to them and hit the button. The Dishwashwer will impale them on their own weapon. You'll need to do this 13 times. Now, there are not enough of them to earn the achievement on this level, but there will be plenty more of them in the following levels to do this. So, I'd suggest just playing through the levels as you normally would. Eventually, the achievement will unlock.

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