ACA NEOGEO: NAM-1975 Achievement Guide & Road Map

ACA NEOGEO: NAM-1975
ACA NEOGEO: NAM-1975 Achievement Guide

Overview:
- Estimated achievement difficulty: 5/10 [Achievement Difficulty Rating]
- Offline: 10 [840]
- Online: 2[160]
- Approximate amount of time to 1000: 3-4+ hours [Estimated Time to 100%]
- Minimum number of playthroughs needed: 3, one of each mode
- Missable achievements: None [arcade style gameplay]
- Does difficulty affect achievements: No [can change difficulty in Original mode]
- Unobtainable/glitched achievements: None
- Extra equipment needed: None

Introduction:
ACA NEOGEO: NAM-1975 is a side scrolling arcade shoot-em-up where you control a soldier in the foreground and shoot at enemies in the background. Like all NEOGEO games, the achievements are all score-related. Unfortunately this game does not retain your score if you die and continue in Original mode, which means you'll be making heavy use of the Interrupt Save Data. The rest of the achievements will require some solid familiarity with the first level. It's a little tougher than other NEOGEO games but not that bad with a little practice.

Step 1: Original Mode
As mentioned in the intro, this game does NOT keep your score if you lose all your lives and continue. So make sure to go to game settings, lower the difficulty all the way and increase your lives all the way. Now play through Original mode and each time you reach a lull in the fighting, quickly pause and Create Interrupt Save so you essentially make checkpoints for yourself. Continue through the game until you reach 150,000 points, then let yourself run out of lives. Don't continue, and post your score to the online leaderboards. That'll be 5 achievements for 400.

Step 2: Hi Score Mode
Hopefully after Step 1 you're pretty familiar with the first level because now you're going to need to play it almost perfectly. After beating level 1, you'll either go on to level 2 or fight a bonus boss. Beating the bonus boss will get you enough score for all of the Hi Score Mode achievements. If you go to level 2, you'll have to progress through the level about a third of the way or so. The "HI SCORE MODE 100,000 points" achievement solution has more detail on how to do this successfully. This will likely take a pretty good amount of practice and level knowledge, so be prepared to make multiple attempts learning the first level. Upon reaching 100,000 points, let yourself die and upload your score to the online leaderboard.

Step 3: Caravan Mode
For Caravan Mode you just need to replicate exactly what you did in Hi Score mode. The score you need is the same, and since it's an auto-scroller you should have plenty of time to get either to the bonus boss or partway through level 2 to get the points you need. Once you reach 100,000 points you can let yourself die. That'll wrap up this completion.

Conclusion:
NAM-1975 is actually a pretty fun auto-scrolling shoot-em-up. It's got addictive gameplay that's pretty fun to keep attempting. And that's good, because you'll definitely need a little practice to get far enough in Hi Score and Caravan mode. Don't expect to breeze through these achievements, but with some practice they're not really that bad at all.

[XBA would like to thank Necrophage33 for this Roadmap]

Record score

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The score has been posted to the online rankings.
After having game over in any mode, you can choose to upload your score to the online leaderboard. Choose to do so and this achievement will unlock regardless of the game mode.
Mark high score

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High score has been updated.
After having game over in any game mode, if your score is high enough to make the in-game leaderboard you'll be asked to input your initials. Do so to unlock this achievement.
Score 50,000 points

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The score won 50,000 points.
Refer to the "Score 150,000 points" achievement solution for more information.
Score 100,000 points

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The score won 100,000 points.
Refer to the "Score 150,000 points" achievement solution for more information.
Score 150,000 points

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The score won 150,000 points.
In Original Mode you'll need a total score of 150,000 to unlock all the related achievements. Unfortunately, if you lose all your lives and need to use a credit to continue, your score resets to zero. This means you need to score 150,000 points in one credit. Thankfully you can make this very easy on yourself by:
1. Going into the Game Settings and lowering the difficulty to 1 and increasing your lives to the highest.
2. Abusing the Create Interrupt Save option in the pause menu.
For the latter, whenever you have a lull in the action, quickly pause and select Create Interrupt Save. Now, if you die, pause and choose Return to Title Screen and then choose Original Mode again. You'll be back where you created your save. Do this as often as you need, just make sure you don't create a save when you're in the fray so you don't make a save where you're about to die every time.

You'll have to progress to the third level to get this many points. You can also use the video in the "HI SCORE 100,000 points" achievement solution as a reference for the first level and some of the second.

Once you reach 150,000 points, let yourself die until you run out of lives, don't continue, and then make sure to post your score.
HI SCORE Player

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The score has been posted to the online rankings in the "HI SCORE MODE".
Upon having game over in Hi Score mode, you'll be asked if you want to post your score to the online leaderboards. Select Yes and this achievement will unlock.
HI SCORE MODE 50,000 points

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The score won 50,000 points.(HI SCORE MODE)
Refer to the "HI SCORE MODE 100,000 points" achievement solution for more information.
HI SCORE MODE 80,000 points

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The score won 80,000 points.(HI SCORE MODE)
Refer to the "HI SCORE MODE 100,000 points" achievement solution for more information.
HI SCORE MODE 100,000 points

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The score won 100,000 points.(HI SCORE MODE)
To reach 100,000 points, you'll need to complete the first level for sure, and then a little bit of the second level. You can't change the settings for this mode so you'll only have two lives. This means you'll need to be pretty good at the first level so you can beat it with ease. Dying is okay, but it depends on where you die. If you die during an intense part, it's unlikely you'll be able to recover from all the enemies now on screen. You really need to stay ahead of the enemies and be ready for what's coming next.

User CTM AudiRS6 has recorded a video showing the first level being completed without a death, and then enough of the second level to reach 100,000 points. Use it as a reference to see how he handles each part. Here are the highlights to be aware of:
- Stay in the left corner as much as possible. Bullets rarely go there. Grenades do, but they're very slow, so you can either move out of the way or just shoot them out of the sky.
- Don't put yourself at risk for a 200 point power-up or two. On the other hand, you'll see 500 or 1000 pointers sometimes. These are definitely worth grabbing.
- Save up your grenades for the boss. You'll want at least 12 grenades, but 15 to be safe.
- You need to anticipate the vehicles that are going to enter, and destroy them ASAP. Specifically, once you get to the river, be aiming to the left after each pair of grey enemies so you're ready for the boats. Also be ready for the set of four helicopters just after the river. Destroying three of them rewards you with a 1000 point power-up.
- Practice makes perfect. It's highly unlikely you'll manage this in your first couple attempts. But as you get to learn the enemy patterns and anticipate their entrances onto the screen, it'll become much easier.
One final note before the video. It's possible to beat the first level and instead of going on to the second level, go to a bonus boss fight against a giant machine. The general consensus is that killing the two guys in the boss fight at the end of level one at the same time triggers it. I believe that's why you see him pause in the video below after the first guy dies. In my experience, if you go to the bonus boss fight instead of level two, there's no reason to panic as long as you didn't die in level one. If you defeat the bonus boss, you should get enough points from defeating him to reach 100,000. As soon as the boss level starts, spam him with grenades. He'll undoubtedly kill you, but as soon as you spawn continue to spam grenades. I was able to kill him a couple times with this method, and both times resulted in my reaching 100,000 points upon destroying him.

Here is the video:
CARAVAN MODE 50,000 points

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The score won 50,000 points.(CARAVAN MODE)
Refer to the "CARAVAN MODE 100,000 points" achievement solution for more information.
CARAVAN MODE 80,000 points

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The score won 80,000 points.(CARAVAN MODE)
Refer to the "CARAVAN MODE 100,000 points" achievement solution for more information.
CARAVAN MODE 100,000 points

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The score won 100,000 points.(CARAVAN MODE)
In Caravan Mode you have 5 minutes to get as much score as possible, and you can't change the game settings. For these achievements in Caravan mode, you're essentially going to be doing the exact same thing you did for Hi Score mode, only you have a 5 minute time limit. Since this game is an auto-scroller, you'll have plenty of time to progress past level one to get the point total you need. Refer to the "HI SCORE MODE 100,000 points" achievement solution for more information.