Doughlings: Arcade Achievement Guide & Road Map

Doughlings: Arcade
Doughlings: Arcade Achievement Guide

Overview:
- Estimated achievement difficulty: 5/10 [Achievement Difficulty Rating]
- Offline: 50 [1000]
- Online: 0
- Approximate amount of time to 1000: 6-10 hours [Estimated Time to 100%]
- Minimum number of playthroughs needed: 1
- Missable achievements: None [level select]
- Does difficulty affect achievements: No difficulty option
- Unobtainable/glitched achievements: None
- Extra equipment needed: None

Introduction:
Doughlings: Arcade is a brick breaking game akin to games like Arkanoid where you move your paddle across the bottom of the screen and have to bank a ball around the screen, hitting all of the bricks (or in this game, Doughlings) until your objective is met. This game plays slightly differently in that the bricks drop down on a set timer, getting lower and lower. The game is set up with 75 normal levels and 15 secret levels. You'll need to get 3 stars on all 90 levels, and then perform a ton of cumulative tasks to complete this game. Let's get started.

Abbreviated Walkthrough:
To start off, just play through all of the story levels, one after another, getting three stars in each level. One important thing to highlight is that points don't matter. So don't worry about your score or if you lose points, etc. All that matters is that you collect the stars in each level. Stars are in specific positions, and you have to hit them with your ball to make them drop, then make sure to grab them on the way down. Sometimes this may mean sacrificing a life to do so, but there's no point in replaying a level because you only got two stars, so do whatever you have to to collect the stars.

Along the way as you 3-star levels, you'll unlock secret levels. These are harder than normal levels so I recommend coming back to them after you beat the 75 normal levels. You'll have most upgrades at that point, making these somewhat easier.

Speaking of upgrades, as you get 3 stars on levels you'll be getting lots of potions you can use to upgrade your personas. I recommend spacing them out pretty evenly as you progress and unlock new personas. The only ones I'll highlight to NOT waste upgrades on are Smash's 3, 4, and 5 since you won't be using Smash much after the first dozen or so levels, and don't use pretty much any of the Robo upgrades because not only do you not use him often but you also don't have many opportunities to show off with him. Morpheus, Gunner, Webster, Bedrock and Spook should definitely be upgraded fully as you get them. In particular, Gunner, Bedrock and Spook can ravage the field when upgraded.

As you progress through all the levels, you'll make progress towards all of the cumulative achievements. The only ones that won't unlock by the time you finish the levels are the ones for morphing into each persona a set number of times and for showing off with each persona. So make it a point to use each transformation as it drops and to show off with each as much as possible. Either way, you'll need to grind out cumulative achievements when done.

After getting 3 stars on all 75 normal levels, it's then time to get 3 stars on the 15 secret levels. These are much more annoying than normal levels. The "Doctor Jones" achievement solution has more information on this. Once you finish getting 3 stars on all secret levels, you'll be able to fully upgrade every persona.

Mop-Up:
All that should be left at this point are cumulative achievements for transforming into and showing off as various personas. A very important thing to point out here: achievement progress increases only after you complete the level or lose all your lives. You can NOT pause the game and select to restart the level. This will lose the progress you made in that level. Here are the best levels to grind out each one:

Smash - Level 3
Gunner - Level 13
Robo - Level 16
Webster - Level 21
Bedrock - Level 31
Spook - Level 56

Conclusion:
Doughlings: Arcade is a decently fun little title. Unfortunately the lag when a layer moves down can make you want to smash your controller because of the cheap deaths it gives you. With some persistence, patience, and a little luck, the completion should be readily attainable though.

[XBA would like to thank Necrophage33 for this Roadmap]

Ghost Buster

15
Banish 100 Ghosts.
This is cumulative, and ghosts are introduced in the ruins in the 50s. They are present throughout most of the rest of the levels, so you'll easily hit 100 before finishing the game.
Ricochet

10
Bounce ball from walls 10000 times.
This is cumulative and will unlock well before finishing the game.
Bouncer

10
Bounce ball from hero 5000 times.
This is cumulative and doesn't matter what persona you are. This will unlock well before finishing the game.
Magnetic

10
Catch 100 balls with Robo.
This is cumulative and will easily unlock by the time you morph into Robo 75 times.
Heal Them All!

10
Complete a level by clearing the screen before the time runs out.
This can be tough since it's hard to aim the ball with Morpheus to hit the last couple Doughlings on top. Thankfully this will most likely happen naturally as you progress, particularly if you get to the end of a level with the Gunner, Robo, or Webster. Using Gunner is the easiest since you can just shoot down all of the remaining Doughlings, but Robo can use his Show Off to clear most of what's left, or you can use Webster and purposely let one ball fall off the screen and then aim and shoot it wherever you need to get the last Doughlings.
Wild Hero

10
Complete 50 levels.
Refer to the "Constellation" achievement solution for more information.
Time to be a hero!

10
Get your first 3 stars.
Refer to the "Constellation" achievement solution for more information.
Constellation

100
Complete 75 levels with 3 stars.
Only the normal levels count towards this. The secret levels don't progress this achievement. All 75 normal levels in the game are played the exact same way - stars are present on the board, and you have to hit them with your ball to make them fall, then grab them as they fall. To earn 3 stars on a level, you only need to get the star meter in the lower right corner into the 3 star range, just over the second bar. You need not collect every star in the level necessarily. In the earlier levels, there will only be 3 stars on the board so you'll have to collect all of them. Eventually you'll get to levels with 6, 9, and then 12 stars. You just need to collect over two thirds of them to get 3 stars for the level.

As noted in the roadmap, score doesn't matter and neither does anything else while completing normal levels. All that matters is collecting those stars. So if it means sacrificing a life to grab them, do so to ensure you get three stars. Otherwise you'll be replaying the level anyway. There isn't really much else to say because every level works exactly the same way. Focus on the stars and don't worry about what else happens or how many Doughlings you have left.
Explorer Hero

50
Complete 75 levels.
Refer to the "Constellation" achievement solution for more information.
Local Hero

10
Complete 25 levels.
Refer to the "Constellation" achievement solution for more information.
Breaker

15
Destroy 100 Petrified targets.
This is cumulative and petrified targets are introduced relatively early in the game. They need to be hit 4 times with the ball to destroy them. You'll destroy far more than 100 by the time you finish the game.
Heroic Revival

10
Die 10 times.
This is cumulative and you'll die far more than 10 times by the time you finish the game.
Blue Doctor

15
Heal 500 Blue targets.
This is cumulative and healing just means hitting them with your ball. This will come well before the halfway point in the game.
Vitamin C

15
Heal 50 Flu targets.
This is cumulative and healing just means hitting them with your ball. Flu enemies sneeze down at you. You'll be shown them around halfway through the game and will easily heal 50 by the time you finish.
Green Doctor

15
Heal 500 Green targets.
This is cumulative and healing just means hitting them with your ball. This will come well before the halfway point in the game.
Pogo

15
Heal 50 Psychos.
This is cumulative and healing just means hitting them with your ball. Psychos are purple enemies that show up very late in the game but you'll still get this before you finish the game.
Red Doctor

15
Heal 500 Red targets.
This is cumulative and healing just means hitting them with your ball. This will come well before the halfway point in the game.
Yellow Doctor

15
Heal 500 Yellow targets.
This is cumulative and healing just means hitting them with your ball. This will come well before the halfway point in the game.
Shapeshifter

10
Morph 100 times.
This is cumulative across all levels and retries, but be aware that pausing and selecting to restart the level will NOT save your progress. You must either complete the level or lose all your lives.

Considering you have to morph into each persona 75 times, this will come naturally by the time you're done with them.
Rock

10
Morph 75 times to Bedrock.
This is cumulative across all levels and retries, but be aware that pausing and selecting to restart the level will NOT save your progress. You must either complete the level or lose all your lives.

The best level to grind this on is level 31.
Action Movie Star

10
Morph 75 times to Gunner.
This is cumulative across all levels and retries, but be aware that pausing and selecting to restart the level will NOT save your progress. You must either complete the level or lose all your lives.

The best level to grind this on is level 13.
Cyborg

10
Morph 75 times to Robo.
This is cumulative across all levels and retries, but be aware that pausing and selecting to restart the level will NOT save your progress. You must either complete the level or lose all your lives.

The best level to grind this on is level 16.
Angry

10
Morph 75 times to Smash.
This is cumulative across all levels and retries, but be aware that pausing and selecting to restart the level will NOT save your progress. You must either complete the level or lose all your lives.

The best level to grind this on is level 3.
Halloween Costume

10
Morph 50 times to Spook.
This is cumulative across all levels and retries, but be aware that pausing and selecting to restart the level will NOT save your progress. You must either complete the level or lose all your lives.

The best level to grind this on is level 56.
Wallcrawler

10
Morph 75 times to Webster.
This is cumulative across all levels and retries, but be aware that pausing and selecting to restart the level will NOT save your progress. You must either complete the level or lose all your lives.

The best level to grind this on is level 21.
Savior

15
Save 100 Stuck targets.
Stuck targets are only in the 15 secret levels. There are 15 secrets levels and over 10 Stuck targets per level, so this will come naturally while completing all secret levels with 3 stars.
Sharp Shooter

10
Shot 500 bullets with Gunner.
This is cumulative across all levels and retries, but be aware that pausing and selecting to restart the level will NOT save your progress. You must either complete the level or lose all your lives.

As long as you spam while morphed into the Gunner (which you always should be) you'll unlock this pretty early.
Payback

15
Shot 50 Killers.
Despite the misleading description, you don't actually have to shoot the Killers with the Gunner persona, you just have to hit them with your ball like all of the other enemies. Killers show up very late in the game, and are black enemies that teleport around the screen and turn adjacent Doughlings petrified. They are quite the pain and should be hit as soon as possible. You should easily kill 50 by the time you finish the game.
Showman

10
Show Off 100 times.
This is cumulative across all levels and retries, but be aware that pausing and selecting to restart the level will NOT save your progress. You must either complete the level or lose all your lives.

Since you have to show off with Morpheus 100 times and all others 50 times, this will come naturally along the way.
Louder

20
Show Off with Bedrock 50 times.
This is cumulative across all levels and retries, but be aware that pausing and selecting to restart the level will NOT save your progress. You must either complete the level or lose all your lives.

The best level to grind this on is level 31.
Hitman

20
Show Off with Gunner 50 times.
This is cumulative across all levels and retries, but be aware that pausing and selecting to restart the level will NOT save your progress. You must either complete the level or lose all your lives.

The best level to grind this on is level 13.
Professor

10
Show Off with Morpheus 100 times.
This is cumulative across all levels and retries, but be aware that pausing and selecting to restart the level will NOT save your progress. You must either complete the level or lose all your lives.

This will almost assuredly unlock by the time you finish the game, but if not you can load up any of the first few levels to grind it out.
Blaster

20
Show Off with Robo 50 times.
This is cumulative across all levels and retries, but be aware that pausing and selecting to restart the level will NOT save your progress. You must either complete the level or lose all your lives.

The best level to grind this on is level 16.
Thunder

20
Show Off with Smash 50 times.
This is cumulative across all levels and retries, but be aware that pausing and selecting to restart the level will NOT save your progress. You must either complete the level or lose all your lives.

The best level to grind this on is level 3.
Necromancer

20
Show Off with Spook 25 times.
This is cumulative across all levels and retries, but be aware that pausing and selecting to restart the level will NOT save your progress. You must either complete the level or lose all your lives.

The best level to grind this on is level 56.
Weaver

20
Show Off with Webster 50 times.
This is cumulative across all levels and retries, but be aware that pausing and selecting to restart the level will NOT save your progress. You must either complete the level or lose all your lives.

The best level to grind this on is level 21.
Super Hero Team

10
Unlock all personas.
This will occur naturally as you progress. You don't need to do anything special to unlock new personas. As you complete the levels where you're introduced to them, you'll unlock them. This achievement will unlock after unlocking Spook in level 56.
Stone Wall

20
Fully upgrade Bedrock.
Refer to the "Mad Scientist" achievement solution for more information.
The One

20
Fully upgrade Gunner.
Refer to the "Mad Scientist" achievement solution for more information.
Mad Scientist

100
Fully upgrade all personas.
In order to fully upgrade all six personas, you'll need to get 3 stars on all 75 normal levels and all 15 secret levels. Every persona upgrades the same way: 10, 20, 30, 40, and then 50 potions for each of their 5 upgrades. The roadmap has more information on prioritizing upgrading. Basically don't worry much about Smash or Robo because you won't use them much. Prioritize Morpheus, then Gunner, then Webster, then Bedrock, then Spook. Come back to Smash and Robo later.

Refer to the "Constellation" achievement solution for getting 3 stars on all the 75 normal levels and the "Doctor Jones" achievement solution for getting 3 stars on all 15 secret levels.
Full Stack Hero

20
Fully upgrade Morpheus.
Refer to the "Mad Scientist" achievement solution for more information.
Law Enforcer

20
Fully upgrade Robo.
Refer to the "Mad Scientist" achievement solution for more information.
Laborant

10
Upgrade any persona with one slot.
Refer to the "Mad Scientist" achievement solution for more information.
Biologist

20
Fully upgrade any persona.
Refer to the "Mad Scientist" achievement solution for more information.
Green Giant

20
Fully upgrade Smash.
Refer to the "Mad Scientist" achievement solution for more information.
Haunted

20
Fully upgrade Spook.
Refer to the "Mad Scientist" achievement solution for more information.
Friendly Neighborhood

20
Fully upgrade Webster.
Refer to the "Mad Scientist" achievement solution for more information.
Inception

10
Teleport your ball 50 times between wormholes.
This is cumulative and should definitely unlock by the time you finish the game. Wormholes don't show up until level 71 but you'll unavoidably use them constantly in those levels.

Treasure Hunter

10
Complete 1 secret level.
Refer to the "Doctor Jones" achievement solution for more information.
Doctor Jones

100
Complete all Secret levels.
There are a total of 15 secret levels, three sets of 5. They branch out from specific normal levels, I believe after getting 3 stars on the normal level:
- Level 13 - Village secret levels
- Level 38 - Forest secret levels
- Level 63 - Ruins secret levels
For the purposes of this achievement, it doesn't matter what star rating you get, but in order to fully upgrade all personas you will need to get 3 stars on all of these levels too. Star rating works differently on these levels. The goal is to free stuck Doughlings. You do this by healing the Doughlings below and on both sides of them. Like the normal levels though, you only need to get the meter in the lower right into the 3-star level above the second bar.

Most of these levels aren't difficult at all, but the Forest 4 and 5, and especially Ruins 5, can be very difficult and frustrating depending on your luck. The problem is that dropping a section off the bottom of the screen doesn't count as freeing those stuck Doughlings. They must smile and fly off the top of the screen. So you really need to approach them from the bottom. Chopping off the top of a section will just cause it to fall and you'll lose all those stuck Doughlings.

The last level, R5, is particularly brutal. There are tons of stuck Doughlings but it's really tough to free them because of all the indestructible things and how fast the columns come down. Compounding the problem is that the Psycho purple guys will not only kill the stuck ones but can also strafe across the top of a section and drop it completely, causing you to lose many stuck Doughlings. So here are some specific tips for the last secret level, some of which will apply to other ones:
- Aim for the purple Psychos first. These guys can really ruin your run.
- Try not to accidentally hit your ball to the top and knock down whole sections.
- It should go without saying, but upgrade your personas for this completely. The only one you should have left is Smash since his extra skill is useless.
- The color ball as Morpheus may seem great but you'll find yourself inadvertently lopping off entire sections with it. I highly caution against using it at all.
- When you morph into Webster, there is a trick you can use to free stuck Doughlings easier than normal: once you have your two balls as Webster, do NOT show off to create the safety web. What you want to do is keep one of your two balls in the air and purposely let the second fall. This lets you shoot the second one wherever you want. It'll take some coordination but essentially you're going to keep deflecting one ball and keep shooting the second ball right at the spots next to the stuck Doughlings to free them. Purposely let the second ball fall after each shot so you can shoot it again.
- When you morph into Spook, this may seem like a perfect time to use him but you have to be VERY careful. What you absolutely don't want to do is slice the ball so it cuts across the top of the screen high up. This will result in your lopping off entire sections of stuck Doughlings. You need to aim for the lowest Doughlings and try to keep your ball as vertical as possible.
- Space out your morphing as much as possible. The last thing you want is to morph and then immediately drop another morph item. You need to maximize time spent while morphed.
Aside from that, practice and try to get lucky. You always need to maximize your time spent morphed. It'll likely get pretty frustrating but keep at it and you'll eventually manage. Remember, you just need to get into the 3-star range.