Go Go Ackman (SNES)
Overview
- Estimated achievement difficulty: 3.5/10
- Approximate amount of time to master: 6-8h
- Minimum number of playthroughs needed: 3 (one for each ending)
- Number of missable achievements: 29
- Do cheats disable achievements?: No known cheats for this game
- Does difficulty affect achievements?: Yes, many achievements must be earned by playing on Normal
- Glitchy achievements: None
- Hardest achievement: The Greatest Angel In Armor
Introduction
Welcome to Go Go Ackman, an enjoyable and humorous platformer released in 1994 for the SNES based on the manga of the same name. You control Ackman, a demon child collecting souls for the devil while battling the Angel Army. You are accompanied by Goodon, a little flying monster who collects the souls of the enemies you slew. There are 5 stages and 3 different endings. There is a vast amount of boss fights (14 in all) and each has a pattern of only 3 attacks or less. The movements and attacks of Ackman are simple but are surprisingly very fluid and responsive for an early console game. You can find a few subweapons that will make your life even easier, which you can keep indefinitely until you get hit.
The level designs and backgrounds are diverse and well made, the levels are very short, most of them can be done in 1 or 2 minutes top, and there is also a timer that will kill you once it reaches 0.
Overall, although it's a fairly short game, which can be beaten in less than 30 minutes, it's a memorable one with fun and colorful cartoony graphics with good controls. Unfortunately though, getting the best ending won't give you the achievements for the other ones, so at least 3 playthroughs are mandatory to master the game.
Roadmap
Step 1: Beat the game on Normal, beat all bosses damageless, weapons achievements and get ending A
First of all, there is not a lot of differences between easy and normal modes except starting the game with more health on easy and having a bit more enemies on normal. All damageless bosses achievements requires a Normal playthrough though, so I suggest starting the game on Normal right away. Use this playthrough to get used to the game and to learn most level layouts. Immediately go for some miscellaneous weapons achievements and try to beat every boss damageless. The vast majority of bosses are extremely easy, easier than the easiest Mega Man boss, with only 3 attack patterns (and most have even less than that) that you can see coming quite easily. If you get hit, you can die on purpose and try again. The only challenge here is that these achievements can only be earned without special weapons, so no sword, gun or boomerang powerup is allowed. Exceptionally, you can use bombs for certain bosses when specified in the achievement description. Also take all the upper options when having to pick a branch at some points in the game. Upon completion, make sure to have less than 2000 points to get ending A. Beating the game on easy will automatically give you ending A.
Step 2: Beat the game on Normal, take all the lower paths, collect hidden items and get ending B
Like previously mentioned, Normal difficulty isn't that much harder than Easy, but ending B and C can only be earned on Normal mode. On Normal you will also be able to choose different paths to play alternate levels at some points in the game. On this playthrough, choose all the lower paths to get the related achievements. A few stages have some hidden items cache (consisting mostly of extra lives or subweapons), try to find as many as you can (see the location of each cache in the achievements description below).
-=WARNING=- You need to finish the game having between 2000 and 4000 points to get ending B, if you beat the game with less than 2000 points you will get ending A and you will need to do another whole playthrough to get ending B
Step 3: Beat the game on Normal, don't lose any continues, wrap up missing achievements and get ending C
Beating the game without losing any continues is a LOT easier than you might think, on your 3rd playthrough, not only will you know this game enough to beat most stages quite easily but it's also shockingly easy to grind lives and give you a comfortable cushion to not be threatened by a game over. It's also the right moment to get any other missing achievements left, if any.
-=WARNING=- You need more than 4000 points to get ending C, be sure to have enough before fighting the final boss.
Conclusion
This game is one of the easiest platformers out there, no part is particularly hard or frustrating. A few damageless achievements might take a few tries but nothing you feel you can't overcome. Having to beat the game 3 times to get all achievements might turn off a few people but the game is so short that it's not really a big deal, and it's fun enough to not be a shore or tedious
Achievements
Clear Stage 1
Beat Stage 1, story-related and can't be missed, can be done on Easy
Clear Stage 2
Beat Stage 2, story-related and can't be missed, can be done on Easy
Clear stage 3
Beat Stage 3, story-related and can't be missed, can be done on Easy
Clear Stage 4
Beat Stage 4, story-related and can't be missed, can be done on Easy
Clear Stage 5
Beat the game, story-related and can't be missed, can be done on Easy
Clear Stage 5 on Normal Difficulty
Beat the game, story-related and can't be missed
Obtain Ending Number 1
Beat the game and get Ending A, to earn this ending you need to simply beat the game on Easy difficulty. If playing on Normal, you need to beat the game with less than 2000 points
Obtain Ending Number 2
Beat the game and get ending B, you need to be set on Normal difficulty and beat the game with 2000 to 4000 points, less than 2000 points will give you ending A, more than 4000 will get you ending C.
See Master Demon for tips on how to control how many points you have by the end of the game
Obtain Ending Number 3
Beat the game and get ending C, you need to be set on Normal difficulty and beat the game with more than 4000 points.
You can exploit the game mechanics to get as many points as you want. Enemies are spawning infinitely like a Mega Man game. When you reach Stage 5-1, an extra life is hidden near the beginning that respawns after you die. After grabbing the extra life, find a spot to kill enemies, go back and forth to make them reappear infinitely until you run out of time, you can farm your points there. If you go for ending B stop the process when you hit 2000 points and then finish the game. If you go for this ending and you get to stage 5-1 with more than 3000 points I suggest losing all your lives on purpose to start the points count over, thus avoiding finishing the game with too many points.
If you go for ending C just farm the points on 5-1 until you get 4000 points and then finish the game.
Beat the game without using a continue in 1 playthrough
A lot easier than it sounds, you need to do at least 3 playthroughs to master this game so I suggest going for this on your last one, you will know the game pretty well by then. Also, don't go for this achievement if you want to get the B ending, you will most likely beat the game with more than 4000 points if you do the entire game without using continues.
You can quickly farm lives in this game, no further than stage 1-2 you can max them out. You get one extra life for every 100 souls you get by defeating an enemy. Since enemies spawn infinitely by going back and forth and that most enemies in this game are killed with one hit you can farm lives very quickly. Grab the extra life on level 1-2 and then farm souls by killing enemies until the timer runs out. Grab the extra life again and repeat the process until you max out your lives count (9), which at this point should be more than enough to beat the game without the threat of losing a continue. If you're starting to fall short of lives, just repeat the process of farming souls on any stage, preferably in one with an extra life in it.
Defeat Mr. Yamada without being harmed or using weapons.
Mr. Yamada is level 1-2's boss. You must defeat him without using any subweapons or bombs. You can avoid his bullets simply by crouching. Between each of his attacks, get closer and closer while avoiding the bullets. Once you are close enough he will run towards you, giving you the chance to hit him. He then will continue to the other side of the screen and repeat his attack pattern. Repeat the process until he's defeated
Defeat Wolf without being harmed or using weapons.
Gaorn is level 1-3's boss. You must defeat him without using any subweapons or bombs. Gaorn will move from left to right. Jump on one of the platforms on each side to avoid him. When he gets past you jump down and hit him. After being hit he will do a small jump and become red. He will then be invincible and will move faster. He will eventually cool off and you can attack him again, rinse and repeat. The only threat here is the small jump he does after being hit, which can damage you even if you stand on a platform.
Defeat Master Yokimo Heydel without being harmed or using weapons.
Yokimo is level 2-1's boss. You must defeat him without using any subweapons or bombs. Yokimo can be quite annoying, as the only real thing he does is run at you like a maniac. The best thing to do is stay on the left side of the screen and jump-kick him when he gets near you. You gotta time your hits right as he stays invincible for a second after being hit, it might take a few tries to do it but the fight goes so fast that even if you have to retry 10 times it won't take more than 2 or 3 minutes
Defeat Unknown Angel without being harmed or using weapons.
Assault Angel is level 2-2's boss. You must defeat him without using any subweapons or bombs. This guy's attack pattern is definitely very simple to read. He will throw 3 sets of bombs and then dive (kinda slowly) to hurt you. You can avoid the bombs by standing directly below him. When he dives, perform a jump kick to hurt him. He will then repeat the same pattern by throwing 3 other sets of bombs and dive afterward. Just keep avoiding his bombs by standing below him and jump kick your way to victory after he dives.
Defeat Giant Frog without being harmed or using weapons.
Hangyorn is level 2-3's boss. You must defeat him without using any subweapons or bombs. He's one of the hardest boss to beat without getting hit. He will jump out of the water randomly on one of the 3 platforms and then shoot 2 water bubbles at you. The best spot to avoid being damaged by his out-of-water leap is by standing on one of the two ledges of the central platform. As for the bubbles, he will always throw them directly at you. Most of the time, jumping above the first one will be enough, as the 2nd one will be thrown at you mid-air and you will avoid it naturally when falling back down. After he threw his projectiles, jump kick him for damage
Defeat Josephine without being harmed or using weapons.
Josephine is level 3-1's boss. You must defeat her without using any subweapons or bombs. In all honesty, Josephine might be one of the easiest bosses ever created for a platform game. Really all you need to do is walk from left to right back and forth and jump-kick her when you get past her. You will avoid all of her projectiles just by moving that way, the fight will hardly last 10 seconds
Defeat Sandman without being harmed or using weapons.
Mole Angel is level 3-2's boss. You must defeat him without using any subweapons or bombs. Another fairly simple boss. All he does is dig himself down into the sand and move at you from underneath, when he gets under you he will go back to the surface, causing a sand geyser that will hurt you. Fortunately, the geyser's hit box is pretty small and you don't have to move very far to avoid damage. When the geyser goes down you can then hurt Mole Angel. He will dig himself back in the sand afterward and repeat the process.
Defeat Giant Ghost without being harmed or using weapons. Bombs allowed.
Don Skull is level 3-3's boss. You must defeat him without using any subweapons, BUT bombs are allowed for this one. Don Skull is pretty much in the top 3 of the hardest bosses on this set to beat damageless. For the entirety of the battle, you will have to stand on flowing lava that will drag you down, 2 fire lanterns on each side will throw fireballs at you and Don Skull will also throw his head at you.
To avoid dying because of the lava you need to jump constantly to stay on the surface. After every sets of 4 fireballs thrown at you by the fire lanterns, Don Skull will throw his head, that's where you can damage him with a jump kick to the face. So the goal here is to jump to stay on the surface. Avoid the fireballs that will always be thrown at your position, and time your kick with Don Skull's head attack. To make everything a bit more friendly, bombs are allowed for this fight so if you managed to gather a few of them, now would be the time to use them against our ghostly foe
Defeat The Aliens without being harmed or using weapons.
Martian A-B are level 4-1's bosses. You must defeat them without using any subweapons or bombs. Those martians probably have a knack for kangaroos, as they love to jump around. Upon landing they sometimes fire projectiles at you. They might seem hard at first but at some point you'll have them both trapped in a corner, when it happens you just need to pummel them until they die. It might take a few tries, but it won't be long before they put themselves both in a corner for you to punch them at will
Defeat Lightning Angel without being harmed or using weapons
E.Shock Angel is level 4-2's boss. You must defeat him without using any subweapons or bombs. Although E.Shock Angel only have one attack, he can be pretty annoying. He will only throw lightning shocks at you. There is a sweet spot near the left of the screen (just above the larger moss) where you can stand and avoid his lightning attacks. After an attack cycle, quickly jump kick him and return to the sweet spot as fast as possible, repeat this until defeated.
Defeat Dora Doran without being harmed or using weapons. Bombs allowed.
Doradoran is level 4-3's boss. You must defeat him without using any subweapons, BUT bombs are allowed for this one. First of all, you can hit Doradoran quite a few times before the fight even starts. As you gain control of Ackman, Doradoran will start to hover slowly towards the top of the screen, you can jump kick his face 4-5 times before he reaches it. Then he will do one of his two attacks. He will either use his fire breath with considerable length, or he will throw fireballs at you. After each of his attacks, quickly jump towards him while maintaining the jump button to hover higher to reach his face to kick it. Then go away from him and be prepared for his next attack and repeat the process. This fight is also another one where the use of bombs is allowed so don't hesitate to use them to make your life easier.
Defeat Tenshi without being harmed or using weapons.
Tenshi is level 5-1's boss. You must defeat him without using any subweapons or bombs. Tenshi has two attacks, he will either fire his machine gun or drop a bomb that will move left and right until it explodes. To right side of the screen is your friend here, you can totally avoid his machine gun attack by staying on this side of the screen. The bomb is a bit more annoying as it moves fairly fast and you will have to time your jumps well to avoid it, you must also be aware of it's explosion radius. You must jump kick Tenshi to damage him between his attacks
Defeat Michaela without being harmed or using weapons.
Michaela is the first form of the final boss (level 5-3). You must defeat him without using subweapons or bombs. Beating Michaela's first form is just a matter of speed. Michaela will levitate towards the top of the screen and will disappear. Only his scepter will be visible then. It will quickly move above you and thrust down to impale you. To avoid it, simply move from left to right. After 3 thrust attacks, Michaela will reappear and move either on the left or the right side of the screen. You have to quickly hit him otherwise he will throw projectiles at you. If you hit him fast enough it will cancel this attack and he will move to his scepter attack again. Keep on avoiding the scepter and hit him before he throws his projectile to win this surprisingly simple fight for a final boss.
Defeat Armored Michaela without being harmed or using weapons.
Armored Michaela is the 2nd and final form of the final boss. You must defeat him without using any subweapons or bombs. Not the hardest one to beat without being damaged but the most annoying, if you get hit and let yourself die to try again you must restart at the beginning of stage 5-3, defeating his first form again before another attempt.
Armored Michaela have 3 attacks: lightning strike, homing energy ball and an explosion of 5 energy balls. By staying on the far left or right side of the screen you will avoid his lightning attack 100% of the time. For his homing energy ball he will drop it down below him and the ball will very quickly go towards you when it reaches your horizontal position, be prepared to jump over it. His only real threat is his burst of 5 energy balls, stay focused to avoid them.
After each of his attacks, jump on the moving platforms then get high enough to jump kick him in the face. Don't get greedy, after you land an attack go back to one of the screen's ends and wait for another attack before doing another move to damage him. The key to this fight is patience. If you don't try to overdo it you will cruise your way to victory damageless
Take the Over Water Path
See Another Way
Take the Water Path
See Another Way
Take the Over Water Path
See Another Way
Take the Caves Path
See Another Way
Take the Continue On Path
See Another Way
Take the Try To Go Home Path
See Another Way
Take the Stay On Road Path
See Another Way
Take the Let's Try Another Path
When playing on Normal difficulty, at multiple points in the game you will be prompted to choose one of two level paths, there is an achievement for every possible path that can be chosen. Since you need to do a minimum of 2 Normal playthroughs I suggest doing a normal run by choosing only the upper paths and then choosing only the lower paths on your second normal playthrough
Take the Caves Path and find the hidden items
After defeating Assault Angel on stage 2-2 (Normal), you will be asked to choose between 2 paths, pick the lower option to go to the Caves. At one point you will be able to jump into the water (near the end of the level). Go underwater and swim to the left, you will need to deal with some annoying enemies along the way. When you reach the end of the path you will find a secret cache with some weapon powerups and an extra life. Grab it to get the achievement.
Find the hidden items on Stage 4
On level 4-1, after the section with the spiders and trees you will cross 2 bridges, under the 2nd bridge is the secret item cache. After the 2nd bridge you will fall down, instead of continuing right backtrack to the left to reach the cache. Grab the items to get the achievement.
Find the hidden items on Stage 5
On level 5-3, you will come to a point where you need to move up some ladders with trash can enemies along the way. Just before the part with 4 green armored guys, fall down all the way to the bottom to find a bomb and a gun. Grab them to get the achievement
Obtain more than 1 bomb
This will be earned naturally through the game as a lot of these powerups are available pretty much everywhere. You can get it on the very first level (1-1), go down a ladder to find 2 bomb icons down below
Obtain more than 2 lives
A lot of extra life icons are scattered through the game, the first one being on level 1-2 if you fall down after jumping two moving platforms. You can also get an extra life by collecting 100 souls, which is very easy to accomplish as enemies respawns infinitely
Obtain the Skull Power Up
One of these powerups is pretty much on your path in level 1-1, you just need to move up one of the ladders and it's setting right on top of it
Obtain 20 Souls while using the Boomerang Weapon without being hit
See Gunslinger
Obtain 20 Souls while using the Sword Weapon without being hit
See Gunslinger
Obtain 20 Souls while using the Gun Weapon without being hit
For the Boomerang, Sword and Gunslinger achievements, you need to kill 20 enemies with the named powerups without getting hit. Both sword and gun powerups can be found on level 1-1 and the boomerang can be found on level 1-2. After getting one of those, just farm kills against tiny angel enemies by going back and forth to make them respawn a la Mega Man
Obtain 100 souls while using your fists without using weapons
Like the aforementioned weapons achievements, you can farm these kills by making enemies respawn and killing them over and over again. This can be earned as early as the very first stage (1-1)
Thanks to mickyt888 for the creation of the achievement set