Let’s start easy. The bulk of the achievements on this game involve surviving the various modes the game has to offer. This is easy enough if you just stay by an exit and lure the ghosts over. When they get near, go to through the exit and they’ll turn around and head towards you again rather than taking the exit.

The pain in the arse, although it’s not that bad, is;

400,000 Points: Score 400,000 points!

This isn’t the hardest ever but it’s still a pain. Extra Mode 2 seems to be the best mode for high-scoring so go there and then concentrate on comboing the ghosts at the beginning (aim to get 3200 for each one). When the combo runs out you need to concentrate on getting the items. Aside from repopulating the board with dots they also score big points. Grab the ghosts when you can but concentrate on survival (the longer you live, the more you’ll score for regular dots) and items and you’ll eventually break 400k.

Oh jesus…

Chain of Jewels: You performed a 7 chain combo in X or X’ Arcade Mode (Normal or harder).

This is the sort of achievement that just doesn’t happen by accident. Your best bet on this one is to start an X mode match and pick a complete bastard character like Akuma. You won’t be doing much damage to your opponent so you want any attacks to be quite hard to deal with.

The easiest way to get this achievement is to stack seven crash gems in the 2nd column on the left (with whatever they are attached to being in the 1st column). Keep column three clear and use four-six as your regular dumping ground.

Try to only use three colours of crash gems in case a smartbomb diamond appears (let that hit the colour you’re not using or, even better, the ground on column three.

Once you’ve got your seven crash gems stacked put corresponding gems above them in reverse order. Once you’ve done that start CAREFULLY filling up the third column until you can safely trigger the seventh crash gem.

This achievement is unbelievably frustrating as you’ll often get a smartbomb diamond at just the wrong time or you’ll accidentally trigger crash in column two but stick with it because it is doable.

One of the best games on XBLA without a doubt but it does have a handful of tricky achievements. The one that tends to get most people is;

Lair Slayer: Complete all underground zones.

The difficulty with this achievement is that it requires you to clear all four of the underground areas in one playthrough. If you die in a lair, you get ejected so you need to be ultra-careful.

Your best bet for this achievement is to set the game to ‘easy’ and find a good co-op buddy. In lairs three and four you’ll be attacked from all sides especially in the big rooms, so it’s good to have the extra gun and three more nukes.

If one of you covers up and left, the other covers right and down. Move slowly, let your health regenerate if necessary and proceed with maximum caution. Agree that one of you will be on grenade duty, the other one nukes.

When you reach a big room you will be attacked from all sides. Grenade guy needs to spin around launch off about a third of his stash (you’ll pick up plenty on the way) and nuke guy needs to use his nukes sparingly. They don’t stop bullets so be aware of that when you turn half of the screen into a blinding flash.

Save the extra nukes for the end of level bosses (outside of the lair), to get to the later lairs you still have to beat the levels remember!

Level four’s lair is the worst, especially when the blue electric disc things show up. Nuke them nice and quick and watch out for sneaky enemies approaching from behind. You still need to finish level four to get the achievement and, remember, the last boss (a weird train thing) can deal out a fair amount of damage so save a few grenades if possible.

Arguably, your last achievement may actually be to win 100 ranked matches. I got this achievement in November 2006 when there were still people playing it. If people are still playing it they’ll probably be obsessive pros or boosters. You’ll probably run into Smoke a lot. His teleport uppercut move is the cheapest thing in the game and regularly gets abused by bastards. My tip is to learn Sonya’s leg-grab. It makes Smoke players cry (and then they leave you bad feedback).

The trickiest achievement though is;

Beat the Noob!: Beat the hidden character, Noob Saibot while playing the CPU.

To meet this shadowy, but stupidly named (Tobias and Boon were the main devs on this game), ninja start an 8-player tournament using two controllers. Go through all the matches until you win (which you will because there will be no AI matches). Pick the ‘3’ icon as your prize and you’ll get to fight Noob.

Noob is a horribly fast opponent and will destroy you easily unless you exploit this technique. Let Noob approach and then start hammering away at your low punch button. He’ll walk into it repeatedly, allowing you to double flawless him. Hilarious.

Perfection: Qualify on every individual attempt in the first 6 events.

Troublesome but not overly difficult. The main difficulty here comes from the hammer event. If you get near 45 degrees after six rotations you just about clear the qualifying distance but it’s less risky than going for a ninety metre throw.

Bulletproof: Complete the game in Arcade mode using only 1 credit.

Now we’re talking. On first impressions this will seem nearly impossible. On first impressions of the final level it will seem actually impossible. On first impressions of the final boss this will look like it’s taking the piss completely.

I actually assumed this was one of those Robotron wave 100 type deals until I saw a couple of guys on my list beat the achievement. Bah! It is doable.

For the most part this game is a test of memory with a couple of nasty spikes in difficulty.

Level 1 is easy enough. Take the spray gun from the hovering thing at the beginning of the level and hold onto it. When you reach the end of the level take out the soldier on top of the wall first, then the gun emplacements and finally the door.

Level 2 is super easy. Just don’t shoot when you see an orange jumping guy. If you catch him he’ll probably drop a weapon you don’t want. Duck away from the bullets and shoot the small circular things on the wall. You’ll emerge at a boss. Shoot the gun emplacements and avoid the bullets by standing slightly left or right of the guns. The spray gun will make this bit a doddle.

Level 3 has a spike. Shoot the first two guys, jump up once and then head to the right. Jump again and a gun turret will emerge. Jump and shoot down to kill it. By doing this you’ll have avoided a grenadier over on the left. Make your way up the left side. When you can see the two gun emplacements at the top, clear out any guys and then jump up. Shoot the guns as soon as possible and stand so you are level with the edge of the central bank of guns (you’ll avoid the shots). Destroy everything from here.

Level 4 is like level 2. Use the same tactics until the boss. You need the spray gun for here. He’s a prick. You can only do damage when the four targets at the top focus into two. Shoot these and watch out for the semi-homing bullets (these can be shot).

Level 5 is horror. You can only really stand to have lost one life by now. Take out the first few guys and then shoot up and to the right whilst running. A dropship will appear and you’ll already be shooting it. Hammer that fire button.

The next spike is at the ‘rugby’ guy. He’s a big armoured bastard who flings rugby ball things at you. Jump to avoid these but keep shooting him. The quicker he’s dead, the better.

Things are straightforward until the next ‘rugby’ guy. He’s equally a prick.

Carry on until you start getting these weird machine claw things going up and down. A power-up will appear. Shoot and get it. It’s temporary invincibility. Run! Get to the sub-boss (a giant head) and hammer it before the shield runs out.

After this you’ll hopefully have a couple of lives under your belt. Proceed slowly, take out the weird face things and the stars they shoot. Eventually you’ll reach the final boss (a big heart thing). Ignore everything and just shoot it a lot. You’ll die but keep going. Watch it explode and then put your thumbs in a bowl of cold water.

Perfection: Complete the entire game without losing any lives.

Another pig of an achievement which takes about five minutes to do but weeks of practise to achieve. In this you have to complete a run of the five levels without dying once. Oh.

Level 1 is nice and simple. The patterns can be learned and you’re never really in any danger.

Level 2 is also pretty easy. Stay at the highest height that the aliens reach and then just hammer the fire button.

Level 3 is a bit trickier. Stay low, below the level of the fireballs. When a mound turns up, fly over it and get back down as quick as possible. Stay slightly forward so you can dodge back and forwards.

Level 4 is quite random and horrible. I’ve not got a surefire method for beating it but just keep bombing. I tend to do well if I stay back and to the left and just drop bombs when I’m near the rockets. Use your bullets as well.

Level 5 is horror because of the 360’s slightly lax controls. Stay as far forward as possible. If you move up or down and backwards at the same time you’ll move at the same speed as the scrolling. So always do this. There is a small tricky section that especially relies on those diagonals. Remember, stick with the diagonals. Don’t try and judge it any other way.

The Base. Stay forward. Swoop low as soon you get past the tower. Take out the target with bullets but throw bombs as well. Get up!

Challenges: Complete all 20 single player challenges

This achievement causes much anguish due to the AI’s unerring ability to drop a grenade on your eye in high-wind conditions. Your best bet here is to use guerrilla tactics and fight dirty.

The last three levels are horrendous so what you need to do is find some high ground that you can dig into. Cover your exit with girders and sit tight whilst the clock counts down.

Once it does, let the floodwaters take out the AI and keep your airstrike handy for any stragglers.

It’s not pretty but it’ll work.